Jim’s Development Blog

I’ve had a number of requests for an import function. The difficulty with letting users import data is that the database has so many relationships among the tables, and it is hard to set up a CSV to get them all correct. All the same, it would make the package more useful, so this has moved to the top of my list of proposed changes.

Another useful feature would be to supply a copy of the software that cannot edit the database - a read-only or view-only version. That’s easy to do, and I will start working on it.

Users from outside of the US have requested a method of changing the date format. Right now the program uses mm/dd/yy. This is on my list.

I am experimenting with the idea of creating methods of publishing (and editing) the museum project’s database. One of the options I am currently looking at would be great for remote access by authorized individuals. It involves creating two pieces of software: a single-purpose web server and a remote client application. The web server would directly read and write the same database used by the desktop version, but it would be more secure than most web apps because it will only respond to requests that originate from the remote client application. Any attempts to access the data from a browser or ftp client would fail.

Smaller organizations could use their broadband connection to allow staff members to work remotely by making the single-purpose server listen on a port other than the usual port 80 (which is probably blocked by their ISP) and hooking up with a dynamic DNS service.

I should have some preliminary results available soon. I am also looking at some more traditional ways to allow users to publish the database online - these will be in addition to the client/server idea.

Check it out at http://www.musarch.com

The Museum Archive Software Project (located at www.musarch.com) is off to a pretty good start. The accompanying book is available on Amazon, and there has been some positive feedback from various types of organizations - including schools, small community museums, and private individuals.

I am looking at creating some additional modules to go along with the premium version of the software. Candidates include:

• Import functionality
• Export functionality beyond that provided by the Send-To feature
• Stand-alone web server for the database
• Creation of static web pages from database entries

Check back here to see what happens next…

The images in the header section of this blog are from locations in Alaska and in Glacier National Park. The scenery in those places (and in the other national parks, particularly Crater Lake, Bryce Canyon, and Zion) is too beautiful to be adequately captured by our digital camera; you have to see it in person. Go! Take a walk on the wild side.