[78-L] 78 database

[Steven C. Barr]

From: "David Palmquist" <davidpalmquist at dccnet.com>
> Hi David
> Rhetorical question:  What is this date?  12/09/11
> For dates, I suggest using 4 digits for the year and 2 digits for the
> month and date to facilitate sorting.  If you plan to share
> information, using the metric format might be wise: 1939-07-??
> The mm/dd/yy format is primarily an American form; other English
> speaking countries use dd/mm/yy, or flipflop between the two, so your
> database may not be shareable with us foreigners.  You'll receive
> information in various formats, increasing the work involved in
> importing the data.
> For the missing information, just an alphabetical character would do
> instead of a question mark or asterisk:  1939-07-dd  or 1939-07-xx.
>
I substitute "99" for date items if I don't have the actual data. This 
allows
"unknown" items to be grouped at the end of a month or even year!
Note, however, that many database apps will NOT allow such entries;
I was doing this in text-based "random access" data files (which is
essentially what the "Abrams Files" contain).

> I haven't figured out how to get a usable huge database onto a
> webpage yet.  If you've got thousands of rows of data, html sortable
> tables don't work well.  I don't know how to upload a user-friendly
> database that can't be interfered with by visitors.  Any ideas?
>
Try to find a copy of MS Access 97; that was the most web-capable
version of this well-known database application! It is also possible
to insert the requisite HTML in text-based data files manually;
AFAIK this is how Ty S created his discographic web facility...?!

Steven C. Barr