pcplantdb

[webmaster@pfaf.org]

Bear Kaufmann wrote:

> Hey Chad,
>
> Also, good to hear from you. I was wondering what had happened.
>
> Yes, not a whole lot of activity on the project, though I have been 
working on a tag based system for the database.
> It's up on http://piw.openpermaculture.org/ since I couldn't/didn't 
want to mess with the DB on ibibio. I've got a new version coming that 
makes better use of the blocks, and adds back some features I had to cut 
to make it run on MySQL 4. I'll let you know when that's up. Feedback is 
welcome.
>
> Cheers,
> Bear


Bear I like this a lot. Still a few tweaks needed but it does offer a 
very intuitive way to browse the data.

I've also being working on some stuff, namely I've imported the database 
into MediaWiki, the software which runs wikipedia.

This allows the plant information to be editable, which has always been 
one of my key objectives.

I've also used a simple semantic markup scheme. Basically any term can 
be marked up in the text for example
*{{use|Wood}} adds the plants to the list of plants with a use of wood
*{{range|China}} adds the plant to the list of those which grow in China.
*{{common name|Meyer Bamboo}} marks-up a common name of the plant.

Once the marked-up document is saved, each term becomes a link which can 
be clicked on to see other plants with the same use. Furthermore the 
data can be exported in an xml format to allow the data to be used in 
other applications.

Currently its running on my machine at home, I do have broadband so it 
should be quite quick but its not going to be online the whole time.
You should be able to find it at 
http://82.138.219.137/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page
your welcome to experiment, but any changes are likely to be lost as I'm 
still periodically reloading the whole database. (Actually changes will 
not be lost, but stored in the article history, as is the way which 
wikisoftware works).

Enjoy

    Rich


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