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Open Sourced Cataloguing Packages?

Posted by Cliff on from the keeping-track-of-it-all dept.

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?

8 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. for a magician... by tps12 · · Score: 3, Funny

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

    --

    Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
    1. Re:for a magician... by PD · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  2. LDAP by babbage · · Score: 2, Interesting
    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.

    --
    DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
    1. Re:LDAP by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

  3. custom work would be my shot by tuanjim_2001 · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

    --
    "If a quarter is two bits, then a dollar's a byte." -R Deric Miller
  4. LAMP by phutureboy · · Score: 2

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

    Easy as cake.

  5. Re:Database by fishebulb · · Score: 2

    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.

  6. A Quick Freshmeat search? by Havokmon · · Score: 2
    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.

    --
    "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)