# MVD Add/Edit Entry Form

Note: If this is *not* the first entry you are creating and/or editing during this session you will need to hit the reload button on your browser to make sure you are editing the file you want and not one held in the cache. Change whatever default values need to be changed in each of these input boxes and then press the "Save" or "Preview" button. "Preview" will allow you to see what your entry will look like before saving. You can then use your browser's 'Back' button to return to this page if you need to make further changes."Save" will create a new entry or overwrite the existing one with the new values. You can't undo any changes made after pressing "Save" except by returning to this page to re-edit. Use the "Reset" button to restore the form to it's default values. Please be careful! Be careful I say! It took a lot of time to enter all this information in these files. You should only enter new comments and leave other's information alone. Thanks FILENAME Enter the .html filename here: The standard convention used is the title with all white space removed and a lower case w prefix. The "w" prefix is a nice way to keep all the files organized in one place in an alphabetically sorted subdirectory. e.g. Title = wTitle.html TITLE Enter the title here: HEADER Put anything extra that needs to be in the header here, such as META tags etc.: BODY ATTRIBUTES Change any attributes here (Bg color; text color etc.) Warning! Do not use quotation marks. BODY Enter your main text in this box. Use html line-break and paragraph-break tags. Hitting enter is useful for clarity in editing these files but will not affect the way these files appear in a browser. See the Reload and Insert Breaks link below to automatically insert html breaks. <center><p> <FONT SIZE="3"> <h1>About Mariposa's Variorum Dadabase</h1> <b>A description for MVD members of what the MVD is and how to use it.</b><br> <font size=-1>( This page in progress... if you have a question that you need to have answered see the last item in the list below )</center> </font> <center> <table width=85%><td> <a name="top"> <hr size=2> <ol> <li><a href="#Hey">Hey I didn't mean to come to this page!</a> <li><a href="#what">What is the MVD?</a> <li><a href="#name">What does the name <font color=black><b><i>Mariposa's Variorum Dadabase</b></i></font> mean?</a> <li><a href="#links">How do I link to MVD documents?</a> <li><a href="#create">How do I create MVD documents?</a> <li><a href="#custform">How do I customize forms including adding the ability to send a letter from a document?</a> <li><a href="#getit">Where can I get the scripts for this program?</a> <li><a href="#help">What if my question isn't answered here?</a> </ol><hr><p> <a name="Hey"><b>Hey I didn't mean to come to this page!</b></a><p> Then you must've found a broken link. This is the default page which is displayed if a file in a link you used cannot be found. Please report this broken link to the administrators of this site if you know the email address or else add a comment below. <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p><hr><p> <a name="what"><b>What is the MVD?</b></a><p> The MVD is a program which allows one to create, manage and search through documents on a web site. It is actually a collection of three different <b><i>cgi</b></i> scripts. One script allows one to create and edit html documents through the use of one's browser. This means one does not need to have telnet or ftp access to the server where the MVD documents are stored. But one does need to be an MVD member with a username and password in order to do this ( <a href="#create">see item #4</a> ). Another script parses and filters those documents and displays them to people browsing the web site which any particular instance of the MVD serves. <b><i>Filtering</i></b> means that extra items can be added, on the fly, to basic html documents as they are served to the browser. This keeps the size of each document to a minimum as well as allowing one to make certain changes only once in one central location and having it applied globally to each document in the MVD dadabase. The last script allows one to search for text strings and <b><i>regular expressions</i></b> in the collection of MVD documents. <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p><hr><p> <a name="name"><b>What does the name <i>Mariposa's Variorum Dadabase</i> mean?</b></a><p> The MVD originally started out as a learning exercise in writing interactive and dynamic webpages and developed into a way of organizing the video-tape library of the programmer's (Gerry Smith) very good friend Mariposa 'Posy' Perkins. Posy helped greatly with ideas and suggestions and even bits and pieces of code and algorithms. The name was early on called "Mariposa's Video Database." It soon developed into much more than a way of cataloging video-tapes and so a new name was needed... hopefully something that used the same initials so that the programmer didn't have to change too much in the scripts ( variables? what are variables? ). Posy is responsible for the 'Variorum Dadabase' name... she likes playing with wurds and is a very wyrd and silly one. I invite you to pick up a good dictionary at this point. More and more features were added to it and it later became blended into being a part of The Global Dialog project. The force behind the GD project, Valerie Gremillion, has also contributed greatly to the development of this software. I thank both of these wonderful ladies for their input while at the same time taking all the blame for these script's shortcomings. See the end of <a href="#links">item #3</a> for more about the names of these scripts... <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p><hr><p> <a name="links"><b>How do I link to MVD documents?</b></a><p> In order for the MVD to do what it does best one needs to link to pages in a such a way that they are processed and parsed by the filter script. This is basically done like this:<p> *<a href="mvl.cgi?&NextName=documentname.html">Document Title*</a><p> <a name="asterix">Don't input the asterisk before each left bracket...</a> that is just done here in order to display the brackets instead of having them being treated as html tags. This is not part of the html language... just something built into the mvd.<p> "documentname.html" must be a file previously created in the MVD, otherwise it will not be parsed correctly. When a file - document - is created in the MVD file-creation script special tags are inserted for use by the file-parser script.<p> If one wants to have navigation buttons, which will allow one to move through the MVD documents, to appear on each page you can add "shonav=1" to the URL right after the question mark. For example:<p> *<a href="mvl.cgi?shonav=1&NextName=documentname.html">Document Title*</a> <p> Normally one doesn't want to allow those navigation buttons to appear on pages served to the public as that would allow anyone to move through *all* the public files in one's MVD, which may not be the way one would want their files presented to visitors to the site. In other words this is mainly as a convenience to MVD members.<p> One may also not want the "Add Comments" form to appear on certain MVD documents. In this case one would add "noaddc=1" to the URL after the question mark:<p> *<a href="mvl.cgi?noaddc=1&NextName=documentname.html">Document Title*</a><p> Both "noaddc=1" and "shonav=1" can appear in the same link in any order behind that question mark:<p> *<a href="mvl.cgi?shonav=1&noaddc=1&NextName=documentname.html">Document Title*</a><p> or:<p> *<a href="mvl.cgi?noaddc=1&shonav=1&NextName=documentname.html">Document Title*</a><p> Note the use of the ampersand ( where did I put that dictionary? ). And yes the filter script part of the MVD 'is' called "mvl.cgi" and not "mvd.cgi"... Before being called "Mariposa's Video Database" it was called "My Video Library". <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p><hr><p> <a name="create"><b>How do I create MVD documents?</b></a><p> You need to be a member to create and edit MVD documents... A lot of information already appears on the various MVD administration web pages. To access the main MVD Administration page you can use the administration link on the main MVD page... you probably used a link on that page to get you here... or ask the person who brought you here for that url... or you can input a certain command-string into any MVD search engine form and submit it. The default command-string is "C:admin" but could have possibly been changed... more detailed information will be added here as I get time to work on this... <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p><hr><p> <a name="custform"><b>How do I customize forms including adding the ability to send a letter from a document?</b></a><p> Instead of using the default form which appears on each MVD document one can choose to customize a form, or forms, for themself. Adding or substracting various fields as they see fit. One can also point to a previously prepared file which can be emailed along with ones comments or displayed using the preview button in order to be printed out. <p>Before one starts putting their own forms on a page it is probably best to suppress the addition of the default form which is added to the mvd documents as they are processed by the mvl.cgi script. This is done by adding the following tag to the top of the document. ( these instructions assume you are editing the document in the MVD Add/Edit form window. ) <p>*<!--NoCommentForm--> <p>( Make sure it is exactly like that... except leave out that <a href="#asterix">asterisk</a>... case is important... no spaces... etc. ) <p>Now here is the code one would use to add a form to a document. (remember to leave out all those asterisks) One can add this block multiple times for each form one wanted to add. This block of text can appear in tables or anywhere on a page. <p>*<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="mvl.cgi"> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=ThisFile VALUE='wTest.html'> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=inputnum VALUE='form-id'> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=AddFile VALUE='includefile.html'> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=shonav VALUE='0'> <br>URL:*<br> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='URL' size=40>*<br> <br>URL Title:*<br> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='URLTitle' size=40>*<p> <br>Blurb/Quote from article:*<br> <br>*<TEXTAREA NAME='blurb' ROWS=3 COLS=40 WRAP>*</textarea>*<p> <br>Your pithy comment:*<br> <br>*<TEXTAREA NAME='inputcomment' ROWS=3 COLS=40 WRAP>*</textarea>*<p> <br>Your name:*<br> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='inputname' size=40>*<br> <br>Your email address:*<br> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='inputemail' size=40>*<p> <br>Mail your input to someone else:*<br> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='mailto' size=40>*<p> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT NAME=NextName VALUE=Input> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=RESET VALUE=Reset> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT NAME=NextName VALUE=Preview> <br>*</form> <p>Certain parts of this code will need to be configured for each page and each instance of the form on the page. Each line of this code will be discussed below. <p>*<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="mvl.cgi"> <p>This line above needs to remain unchanged. It is the basic html form tag and specifies the method of sending the info to the cgi program and the name of the cgi program which will accept and work with the input information. <p>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=ThisFile VALUE='wTest.html'> <p>The next three lines are hidden fields. They won't show up in the browser but they pass important info to the cgi program. This first tag specifies the filename of the page on which the input information will be added. This is usually the same page on which the form appears ( hence the NAME=ThisFile ) but can be any valid mvd document. The NAME field must remain unchanged. The VALUE is what one sets. Don't include any path information... just the filename as it would appear in a directory listing. In this example: 'wTest.html' <p>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=inputnum VALUE='form-id'> <p>This next hidden input tag specifies the location within the previously set file where the input will be added. ( Don't change the NAME of any of these tags ) Change the VALUE to any name that you want. You may want to choose something meaningful to keep things clear if more than one form is to appear. For instance if you have 2 forms on a page you can change the VALUE to 'form1' for one instance and then to 'form2' for the next. This value must then be used in another tag and put in the proper location in the file. <p>Here is the form that tag takes: <p>*<a name=form-id> <p>So if you set the inputname VALUE in the form code to 'form1' that tag would appear like so:<p> *<a name=form1> <p>This tag must be included in the document for the cgi program to know where to put the input and can appear anywhere in the document. Before the form... after the form... beside the form in a table... or even on another page. It just has to be in the file specified in the "ThisFile" form tag. <p>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=AddFile VALUE='includefile.html'> <p> This optional line specifies a separately prepared file, which may or may not duplicate text appearing in the document with this form on it. It is used to when one presses the "preview" button. The contents of that file will be displayed along with that particular users comments. No other comments or contents of the original page on which the form appears will be seen in the preview. This makes for a good way to prepare a document for printing out including only that users comments. One use of this is allowing someone to print out a document with their comments so they can mail it via traditional snail-mail. When this line appears in the form and the file pointed to exists it is also added to any "mail-to" submissions. In this way one can prepare a letter which a visitor can choose to email to someone else including their comments and only their comments. In the prepared file specified in the VALUE area ( 'includefile.html' in this example ) one needs to leave out the finishing *</body> and *</html> tags as these will be added by the cgi script after the user comments are appended. One should also be aware that the background is often ignored in emailed html documents so one should choose font colors and other elements which will show up well on a plain white background. <p>*<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=shonav VALUE='0'> <p>Set the VALUE of this tag to '1' to have "next" and "back" navigation links show up on the page. You will usually want to keep this as '0' for documents served to the general public. <p>The next seven input tags below are the form fields which will appear on the page. The fields where the user will enter the info which will be added to the page. One only needs to include the fields one wants. Don't change the NAME values of any of these but you 'can' change the text title and size, rows and columns associated with each field... the parts highlighted in blue can be changed, but make sure whatever text you change is relevant to the type of field it is... for example the "URL" field expects one to input a url in the form of www.someplace.com or *<a href="http://www.someplace.com">http://www.someplace.com*</a>... the "inputemail" and "mailto" fields expect email addresses... so choose field names ( e.g. My Favorite URL!*<br> ) that reflect this. <p><font color="#3333FF">URL:*<br></font> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='URL' size=<font color="#3333FF">40</font>><font color="#3333FF">*<br></font> <p><font color="#3333FF">URL Title:*<br></font> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='URLTitle' size=<font color="#3333FF">40</font>><font color="#3333FF">*<p></font> <p><font color="#3333FF">Blurb/Quote from article:*<br></font> <br>*<TEXTAREA NAME='blurb' ROWS=<font color="#3333FF">3</font> COLS=<font color="#3333FF">40 WRAP</font>>*</textarea><font color="#3333FF">*<p></font> <p><font color="#3333FF">Your pithy comment:*<br></font> <br>*<TEXTAREA NAME='inputcomment' ROWS=<font color="#3333FF">3</font> COLS=<font color="#3333FF">40 WRAP</font>>*</textarea><font color="#3333FF">*<p></font> <p><font color="#3333FF">Your name:*<br></font> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='inputname' size=<font color="#3333FF">40</font>><font color="#3333FF">*<br></font> <p><font color="#3333FF">Your email address:*<br></font> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='inputemail' size=<font color="#3333FF">40</font>><font color="#3333FF">*<p></font> <p><font color="#3333FF">Mail your input to someone else:*<br></font> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME='mailto' size=<font color="#3333FF">40</font>><font color="#3333FF">*<p></font> <p> If an email address is input into the above 'mailto' field then that previously prepared file pointed to in the HIDDEN 'AddFile' line will be mailed to that address along with the contents of the other fields. If no 'AddFile' is pointed to then just the values of the other fields... comments, name etc... will be sent. <p>*<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT NAME=NextName VALUE=Input> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=RESET VALUE=Reset> <br>*<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT NAME=NextName VALUE=Preview> <br>*</form> <p>The last four lines add the submit, reset and preview buttons and then <br>the end /form tag. Don't change anything with these lines. <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p><hr><p> <a name="getit"><b>Where can I get the scripts for this program?</b></a><p> Nowhere... yet.... I plan on fixing and cleaning up these scripts and then releasing them under some kind of open-source plan... more information will follow... check this page for any news on the development of this software... <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p><hr><p> <a name="help"><b>What if my question isn't answered here?</b><p> You can input questions into the "Add Comments" form below or send an email to the site administrators.<br> <br><font size=-1><a href="#top">goto top</a></font> <p> </td></table><p> </center>

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