I've started testing XOOPS as a CMS system to replace the aging, non-dynamic and frankly annoying static HTML that was previously in use for a site I admin (http://www.bb.org.nz).

I've installed XOOPS (v. easy! :) ), played around with all the default modules, found the excellent multiMenu module (which I'll be using to link to sub-sites), and after reading around here a ton, I've decided to clone the excellent 'News' module, and reuse several times . Turns out that module is REALLY flexible!

But still have two problems to get around, and am unsure of how to go about it.



There is a need for one page/section of the site to be a very large tabulated list, with the values coming from an MS Access database. Similar to this page:
http://d3229106.x59.kiwihosting.net.nz/company/index.html

ATM that list was made by hand (arrrggghhh), and is as a result VERY out of date. So:

1) Are you guys aware of any modules/tools that would aid the creation of such a section of the site? If I have to make a module, so be it - but I would REALLY appreciate a pointer in the right direction if anyone has had to do a page with content all out of an Access DB before



Finally, there are a few sub-sections of the site where I would like to include content that has been running for a few years already. While a cloned 'News' module would come close to what I want, the content is current in CSS'd HTML files such as:
http://d3229106.x59.kiwihosting.net.nz/publications/officers/2004_02/index.html

2) What is the best way to add existing HTML content like this into a site. Given there are many such pages, is there any XOOPS module out there that will display the content (between tags) of an existing HTML page inline (inside your XOOPS sites' interface with menu's etc), using the CSS stylesheet etc that is in-use by the content page? Similar to a 'News' module - but instead of showing a short news item that you post, showing the contents of an existing HTML document (which is W3C compliant).

(if not, at least I had the forethought to use the same CSS template between all HTML content pages )



Any help/advice much appreciated.

1) I would create your own custom module, perhaps based on the current links module. If you feel confident that you can customize this it will be the easiest solution I think. That way you can maintain the data dynamically.

2) I do not use any of them, but there are a couple of modules available for displaying html pages. You can look them up with the search box on this site or just browsing the downloads.

Regards,

Martijn

Regarding the MS Access task, I'd suggest that you create static html reports, format them to your liking and post them using of the the content wrappers that people will suggest for your 2nd question (I use TinyContent myself). Dynamically linking your valuable MS database to your website sounds like a no-no for me .

You might want to take a look at the xDirectory module. It's might be able to help you out.

My only suggestion for the access db, is extract the data to a CVS file, and try to import this into the xDirectory tables in your MySQL db. Then toss the access db in the garbage :P (joking) Just run the cvs export/update whenever you need to update your site. Still a little manual but I think easier than what you are doing.

HTH