Hi all,

Excuse the preamble, but I think it is necessary to make sense of my request.

I maintain a web site for the American Killifish Association, using XOOPS 2.2.4 (soon to be updated to 2.2.6) at http://www.aka.org. This organization is a national hobbyist group that has, as one of its primary interests, the responsibility of maintaining records of the currently accepted scientific nomenclature pertaining to these fish (killifish).

We have a printed document, the Killifish Master Index, in which those current names are recorded. Each genus is listed and, under that, each species has an entry, with information such as common name, scientific references, etc. The book also has a "table of concordance" in which current and previous names can be cross-referenced.

Scientific names for fish (like many other organisms) are constantly changing as new research is done. That makes a book pretty much obsolete as soon as it appears. Keeping track of these changes is an obvious application for a database, which we'd like to be web accessible.

My question, therefore, is whether there is a XOOPS module available that would be used for this. The Document Management System module does not appear to be suitable, as it is designed to keep track of individual documents.

An entirely new module might have to be created to provide the online access to this data. If so, I would like to get some idea of whether there is someone out there in the XOOPS community who might wish to work with us on it, and a rough idea of what it might cost to do it.

Hope to hear from some of you programmers.

Barry Cooper

It's quite possible that you could modify the mxDirectory or other directory modules to do what you are suggesting. Any module can be repurposed by changing the language files for the module. Some can be easily cloned (so the module directory name is changed and can be used alongside the original module). The better modules already can do that as well. It's also possible the SmartSection module would do what you need as well. However, looking quickly at your site, I'm not sure where the information is you're trying to track, so maybe a little more about your requirements is in order.

Finally, subject lines.... (the more specific the better).

mboyden, thanks for your reply.

First, I'm aware of the value of a specific subject heading, but in this case it was hard to think of one that conveyed the need in a succinct way. Sometimes casting a wider net attracts more responses. Not arguing, just explaining.

Second, the information is not yet present on our site. We are interested in adding it. As I explained initially, the data is presently available in book form, although the author has the manuscripts in digital format. Perhaps I should have explained, "only in book form".

I agree that a currently existing module might well be modified to suit our purposes. If so that would presumably be less expensive and, of course, that would be welcome news. I would still need help from a programmer, as I am not one myself.

I'm hoping that someone will express interest in working with me on a paid project, creating a module, or modifying an existing one to produce a new one. Once I have someone who is interested, I could work with them to develop detailed requirements. I am a bit reluctant to try to express them in detail here as the post would become quite long, which I think could have a negative effect in that people sometimes skin over very long posts.

Barry Cooper

Hey Barry, I'm not a coder, but I have customized many XOOPS modules by editing the php files and such. If you need any help .. send me a PM

Take a look at efqDirectory which offers user-defined fields. Development on the next version was supposed to have begun in December, but I can't say where that stands.

Also, FYI, the developer, wtravel, has recently joined the ImpressCMS development team, and I don't know what his intentions are regarding Xoops. As of now, anyway, the two CMS's are compatible, so there will be no problem in the near future. Any module for one will work on the other.

http://www.efqdirectory.com

Jere

I think you might consider Wikipedia as a source to add to ...

NominalSpeciesList Family Rivulidae


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killifish

You might be able to add a wiki to your existing site and take advantage of the input of other enthusists.

Just a thought.

BlueStocking

Thanks for the suggestion. I have been considering using a wiki and am in the process of testing mediawiki and dokuwiki. I have had problems getting the latter to run on my test site (both it and the live site run XOOPS 2.2.4).

A wiki would lend itself to displaying the information and could be edited. However, we definitely do NOT want anyone but authorized individuals to be able to edit. I won't go into details, but believe me, allowing everyone to edit it would end up as a mess. The texonomy of these fish is complex enough that even real experts can disagree. Therefore, we have to have an "authority" who is the final arbiter.

That raises a problem with mediawiki, because I can't see a way, in the small amount of time I've had to look at it so far, to limit who can edit the pages. I'm still studying it though.

I'll put up a couple of pages of content from the book on our web site, then post a URL here so that anyone interested can see what the display of data will have to mimic.

Barry Cooper

Thanks Jere,

I'll take a look at efqDirectory.

BC

Also, if you are considering a wiki, try Wiwimod. I think it's the easiest XOOPS version to implement.

http://www.zonatim.com/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=WiwimodHomePage

Jere