Open Sourced Cataloguing Packages?

mcse_knowthyenemy asks: "I am cataloguing a HUGE private collection for a magician (No, we cannot waive a wand...) with an item count of at least 100k. The end result will be a searchable website. There are several Windoze packages that fit the bill (item data ad nauseum, image inclusion, reports, website). But these invariably requires numerous Microsoft products plus IIS. So, any input on a solution that is based on Apache, instead?" There are plenty of cataloguing and e-Commerce bases out ther that would work for this, one only has to perform a quick Freshmeat search to find them, however this being a museum, maybe there are better options? Would you use the already available software for this sitution or would you write something custom, instead?

Comments

first post

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, im a dork.

Nice try Cliff...

[Eagle7]

I like how you tried to fend off the "Just f*cking use Google!!!" responses. But again, this sounds like someone with a job taking a shortcut by asking the /. community rather than just spending time searching and experimenting.

for a magician...

[tps12]

Why doesn't the magician just keep track of everything with magic?

Re:for a magician...

[seann]

because magic isan't real and magicians are fake.

google is real, he should use google.

Re:for a magician...

[PD]

No, magic is quite real, it's just not done the way you might imagine it's done. Once you figure out how the trick is done, it's not magic anymore.

Re:for a magician...

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought Google was magic!

LDAP

[babbage]

Set up an LDAP server. I'm just learning about it myself, but it seems to be designed for just this sort of thing. (Well actually no, it looks like it might be designed for phonebook / addressbook type applications, but this sounds like a close corollary to that model.) There are lots of tools available for running LDAP in conjunction with web servers, database servers, command line interaction, GUI interfaces, programming APIs, etc.

Poking around a little, it looks like there's a good (but old?) FAQ from Netscape, though there some other sources of information out there.

Re:LDAP

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

You are a dumbass. That your post was modded anything other than -5, Retarded only serves to further destroy what little respect I still have for the moderation system.

LDAP is ***NOTHING*** like what he needs. It's not even close. You even say what LDAP is for in your post, but you state it in a way that makes it seem almost irrelevant. I feel like barfing.

He needs a SQL database, with maybe 20 minutes worth of design. Hell, not even anything complex, a small number of tables/relationships. I just don't understand anymore. 500,000 accounts on slashdot, and I'd bet my life 75% of them are trolls.

My god. You even have a relatively low user id. This makes no sense. It may be that the sole purpose of the universe, the single reason it was created, is simply to torture me with stupidity like this. I honestly can't think of any other plausible explanation.

Database

[Chacham]

Why not create the tables in a database? If all that is needed is a cataloge of items, it should be a trivial task. Add an index or two, and searching will be done very quickly.

Re:Database

[fishebulb]

i have been looking at this as an option for some programs, but whats irritating is some programs require full database such as PostgreSQL, when i like mysql. I usually dont want to run both. fortunatly i have a bit of programming experience and i can usually modify it. but some programs it seams that a real database would not be needed. To bad there wasnt a way for easy plugin access, ODBC could work, but still thats not a great example. something in a standalone "db", like access 2000 is used (on the windows side)

In my programming C# book, Microsoft has come a long way with using xml database recordsets. its kind of cool and pretty easy to implement. which works perfects in smaller applications.

custom work would be my shot

[tuanjim_2001]

I have to jump in on this being that this is my current profession. More than likely a custom made approach would work best here (Ofcourse GPL/BSDL the work). Try a *SQL database, with apache for the web (like you said). Use perl and cgi scripts to access and create your catalogue. Take a look at Endeavor . They are what alot of libraries use. It would be hard, not going to pull punches here, but it would garuntee contract work for life. Good luck with this and I know I'd like to keep up with how this pans out.

"Waive" a wand?

[Anonymous Coward]

(No, we cannot waive a wand...)

A tip for later in the project: spell things correctly when you're cataloguing. Sure, it's better to have a bad catalogue than none at all, but a good catalogue is better still.

The workflow for the project should require that a second person proofs all publicly displayed text, and all search terms.

There are search tools that correct for bad spelling, but they're designed to use badly spelled input to find correctly spelled targets. A misspelled word in an item description can effectively hide that item from your search.

Re:"Waive" a wand?

[mcse_knowthyenemy]

Please note, worthy AC, that /.'s input page does not include a spellchecker.

ad nauseum[sic]

[Anonymous Coward]

If you can't spell latin phrases, please don't use them. You're failing miserably in your attempt to look smart.

Re:ad nauseum[sic]

[mcse_knowthyenemy]

An attempt to look smart? Sort of like posting anonymously (and with incorrect capitalization), you mean?

Actually, I thought being smart was soliciting input from seriously-clueful techies such as read /.

Mea culpa.

Yet, some posters have been quite helpful.

However,

[karb]

invariably, somebody responds who has actually _done_ this, which is 10,000 times better than a google search. I.E. any moron can search google, but only somebody who has done it before can tell you what works and what doesn't, which is extremely important, considering the scale of the project.

LAMP

[phutureboy]

Write a quick custom app using Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP

Easy as cake.

A Quick Freshmeat search?

[Havokmon]

Reveals:

4. cowsay
An easy way to add speaking and thinking cows to anything.

Yeah, that obviously applies. On top of that, did anyone notice the spelling of Catalog?
catalogue
That wouldn't have been my first attempt (was it Cliff's?).

And some of you wonder why the guy just asked ./ instead of looking for himself.

That's my project to learn mySQL, C, and perl

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

That's exactly what I want to do. I am getting the new learning mysql book from oreilly's, and I will learn how to create a mysql database, and have a perl module connect to it, so I can see my database from the internet, and I will write a C prog to adminster the database. The database will be an index of all of my DVD's, with cross-references by actors, directors, crew, effects, genre, music, etc, etc, etc.

You have 2 options, roll your own or adapt somethi

[Vader82]

I've done something like that myself, I wrote a MySQL, PHP, and Apache webapp called ReciPHP. It was a multi-user, searchable, categorized database for recipes. Even had a rating system and favorites lists.
When I moved from school to home the HD was destroyed and like a champ I didn't back any of it up. It only took me about 3 months of sporadic work (when I didn't have class and I was motivated). If you sat down and did it "full time" you could probably knock it out in a week or two. If you need any help mail me vader82[at]vader82[dot]net