James H. Zisch - Computer Services

Solutions : Site Search : Manufacture Directory

 

Manufacture Directory

PRICE:  $149.99 (subject to change without notice)

Description
Requirements
Usage
FAQs

Description

Manufacture Directory dynamically generates a directory look up for all manufactures defined in the Item Information Dataset (IID).

Invocation

Supported both via GET and POST methods, optionally supporting the passing of alphanumeric start and end values as input.

Results

Results are sorted alphabetically and formatted using a fully customizable template. Template processing automatically generates links and controls supporting:

Web Server Requirements:

  • Operating Systems Supported: Unix, Linux, Macintosh OS X® and Windows®
  • HTTP 1.x with CGI (Common Gateway Interface) PERL 5.x (check with your ISP or Server Administrator; this requirement is typically supported on most systems)
  • Optional: SENDMAIL (supported on most all Unix/Linux platforms), or PERL NET:SMTP (available from CPAN) (commonly used on Windows® server platforms) with an SMTP system pre-installed and configured. This optional requirement supports automatic email notification to the webmaster when execution errors are detected.
  • Optional: For configurations using an RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) data source requires a supported RDBMS, the PERL DBI module and the RDBMS specific DBD module to be previously installed and configured

Manufacture Directory
Installation and Usage

FILENAME: mds.html

PURPOSE:

Describes installation and use of Manufacture Directory.

DEPENDENCIES:

se.pl - Search configuration and common logic modules (see: pg.html)
jhzcs.pl - JHZ-CS configuration and common logic modules (see: jhzcs.html)
IID (Item Information Dataset)

REQUIREMENTS:

mds.cgi (web interface component)
mds.htm (template)

OPTIONAL:

Support for Text Search and Banner Rotator System requires those components to be installed and configured according to their specifications. Inclusion of Special Template markup supporting those components must also be included within the templates supported by this product.

PACKING (PARTS) LIST

PACKING LIST
PRODUCT ID: MD
COMPONENT TYPE SIZE AUTH*
cgi-bin/dbmtabs/dbmparms.txt TEXT 1501 750
cgi-bin/dbmtabs/dbmtabs.incl TEXT 1970 700
cgi-bin/dbmtabs/dbmtabs.pl TEXT 1998 750
cgi-bin/geog.pl TEXT 11750 750
cgi-bin/jhzcs.pl TEXT 47225 750
cgi-bin/license.incl TEXT 7565 700
cgi-bin/se/mds.cgi TEXT 11519 750
cgi-bin/se/mds.incl TEXT 11955 700
cgi-bin/se/se.incl TEXT 4399 700
cgi-bin/se/se.pl TEXT 3465 750
images/JHZCS.gif BINARY 745 750
logs/errorlog.txt TEXT 91 750
tmpls/se/mds.htm TEXT 2957 750
*AUTH - Authorization/permissions octal equilvalents where:
7=RWX, 6=RW, 5=RX, 4=R (R=Read W=Write X=Executable)
1 char indicates Octal number
2 char Owner
3 char Group
4 char All Others

INSTALLATION:

It is strongly recommended that you read the entire installation process steps prior to performing any installations. Each solution has specific instruction that must be followed precisely.

The Installation Process

The installation process follows this order:

  1. Download solution to PC development platform and expand installation package (use any standard archive application such as WinZip®, StuffIt Expander® or TAR command)
  2. Modify configuration settings
  3. Upload to server
  4. Set access authorization permissions
  5. Test
  6. Customize Templates
  7. Test

Authorize non-Logic Components

Authorize non-logic components as follows:

  • authorized all images for read and execute access; see NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS below
  • authorized all static HTML ".html" documents for read access; see NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS below
  • authorized all HTML Templates ".htm" documents for read access at the logic level; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below
  • authorized all images for read and execute access; see NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS below.

NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS: Use the minimum required permissions to achieve most secure configuration; permission requirements for non-logic modules are dependent on the server configuration whether authorization is required for group only or for both group and other.

Modify Logic Components

Modify all logic components "*.cgi" and "*.pl" logic modules as follows:

  • first line of code (#!) correctly points to the PERL executable on the server (use command "which perl" or consult your server administrator)
  • all "requires" statements contained in all "*.cgi" and "*.pl" logic modules must use absolute directory paths (beginning with a forward slash "/")

Authorize Logic Components

Authorize logic components and dependent components (HTML and Email templates, and others) as follows:

  • authorized as all "*.pl" logic modules for read access; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below.
  • authorized as all "*.cgi" logic modules for read and execute access; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below.
  • authorized all HTML and Email Templates documents for read access at the logic level; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below

NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS: Use the minimum required permissions to achieve most secure configuration; permission requirements for logic modules are dependent on the server configuration whether authorization is required for owner only (i.e., Apache with SUExec active), or for both owner and group.

TEMPLATES:

Customize templates for content and appearance as desired:

mds.htm

Any variable contained in the IID may be referenced using the variables (column header name) wrapped in less than greater than pairs. The variable name cannot contain spaces.

Two special keywords are available for use when using a variable reference within web page anchor names, anchor references and CGI URL parameters. This allows use of referenced variables that equate to an item values containing spaces. The use of these special keywords causes spaces to be translated or escaped using the required character sequences.

The special keywords are: 

ANCHOR
PARAM

EXAMPLES: 

c.cgi?c=<<category PARAM>> 
		
<a href="#<<category ANCHOR>>">
<a name="<<category ANCHOR>>">

Special mark-up within Category List (Found) and Category List (Not Found) Templates must respect group order sequence to support nested repeating groups. Indentation illustrates nesting relationships: 

 
<!-- Page Header End -->
<!-- Body Start -->
<!-- Manu Dir Entry Start -->
	<!-- Manu Dir Col Start -->
	<!-- Manu Dir Col End -->
<!-- Manu Dir Entry End -->
<!-- Body End -->
<!-- Page Footer Start -->

Uploading to Web Server

All dependent and required components must be installed and successfully configured. All components, with the excpetion of images, must be FTP uploaded as TEXT. Images must be FTP uploaded as BINARY.

TEST:

Test installation and configuration by invoking mds.cgi from a web browser.

Enter the URL to mds.cgi with and without parameters; see example in USAGE section below.

  1. Test passing a valid parameters

  2. Test passing an invalid parameters and verify installation and configuration is correct.

Add hyperlinks to Manufacture Directory to static pages and dynamic page templates as desired including the appropriate parameter and value to yield the desired results.

USAGE:

Following successful installation and satisfaction of dependencies and requirements, "mds.cgi" should be invoked via the GET method either with or without parameters.

EXAMPLES:

Without parameters invokes Manufacture Directories default processing, resulting in all Manufactures being displayed. 

	mds.cgi

With parameters invokes Manufacture Directories default processing, resulting in all Manufactures being displayed. 

	mds.cgi?M1=A&M2=A

where "M1" and "M2" (variable name value pairs) qualifies the list of Manufactures to those within range starting with M1 and ending wqith M2. The example above is using the value of "A" for both the start and end of the range to display.

FAQs

I do not use any other JHZ-CS solutions. How can I use Manufacture Directory?

Define your manufactures in the "m.dat" file of the IID. Add a data column that will contain the manufacture page URL's at your website. Change the "m.cgi" links in the "mds.htm" template to refer to your new data column specifying it as a replacement variable; example, naming the new IID data column "manufacture_page", then specify <<manufacture_page>> in the template.

Do I upload my template as Text or Binary?

Upload templates and data files as Text.

How do I put links to Manufacture Directory in my static pages and templates?

Specify a link pointing to "mds.cgi"

JHZ-CS Solutions are distributed exclusively under terms and conditions of the JHZ-CS Software License Agreement.