Re: Calendar

by Nick <Nick(at)nlewis.freeserve.co.uk>

 Date:  Fri, 25 Aug 2000 7:15:7 +0000
 To:  HWG Basic List <hwg-basics(at)hwg.org>
  todo: View Thread, Original
Hi all

I'm with the Captain! wouldn't trust the software to produce valid and
working html, of course you could hand check, edit and validate the 
result to make sure it was ok.

Easiest thing is probably to write a Perl script (or other server side 
script language) to generate the calender complete with content 
links or whatever on demand from a database (maybe a simple text 
file). This approach sounds heavy handed but it gives complete 
control while eliminating repetition and attendant human errors. 
Unfortunately if you don't know Perl you will either have to learn 
it or employ someone else to write the program :-)

If it's just a straight calender you could do it in Javascript, in fact 
many moons ago when I was learning Javascript I wrote a script for 
a calender that had controls in one frame (type a date , pick a 
month/year etc.) and wrote a neatly formatted 3 month calender
into another frame and it wasn't hard. Trouble with this is:

a) if you want to mark active dates etc as links to content you need 
the whole database sent with the page, presumably hard coded in the
JS, so 'orrible to maintain it's not even worth thinking about!

b) what about those browsing without JS?

Although I personally would never use such a thing perhaps a WYSIWYG
table editor, still leaves you with the same doubts as the calender 
generator though.

I have coded large complex tables myself and don't see why this one 
shouldn't be done that way. But if you script it it will run for years, if it is 
hard coded you are going to have to recreate it month by
month, it's a full time job if you need one I suppose :-)

I would definitely script it server side.

Strictly my personal views, sorry if I've rambled on.

Nick

At 22/08/00 23:21:00, Captain F.M. O'Lary wrote:
>Edward,
>
>this is another of those "between a rock and a hard place" things.
>
>At first thought the answer seems simple enough: A Table.
>
>It took about another millisecond for the though; "Wow, *I* would not want
>to have to write that table - what a PAIN!" to cross my mind.
>
>I saw the recommendation for a "calender maker" a few minutes ago who's
>site offers the typical " . . and publish it to the web" line. Now, in all
>honesty I know _nothing_ about the software or the vendor, but I do KNOW
>that I would write it by hand before I would trust a canned editor to do
>something I was actually going to stand up and charge (good) money for and
>represent as "it _works_".
>
>Obviously, this is very heavily laced with my own opinion and almost no
>factual information at all. Please, feel free to completely ignore it :-)
>
>HTH,
>Fuzzy
>
>At 07:14 PM 8/22/00 -0500, Charla & Ed Springer wrote:
>>I am working on a web site for a client that has a calendar of events they
>>would like to include. This will be for on-line viewing only, no on-line
>>updating. Recommendations?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Edward Springer
>>
>__________________________________________________________________
>Captain F.M. O'Lary
>webmaster(at)canopy.net
>"Common sense is that layer of prejudices which we acquire before we are
>sixteen." - Albert Einstein
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

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