Re: [Refdb-users] Re: interface mockup

[Bruce D'A. <bd...@fa...>]

On Jan 30, 2004, at 11:26 PM, Matt Price wrote:

>> So what would happen if you click on the link?
>
> you get a page with a full reference, including notes and abstract &
> whatever else...

How would that then relate to the mark-and-view/export interface, and 
note pop-up buttons?  Do me a favor and compare what you're thinking 
about to this example:

http://130.83.186.203/exist/xquery/biblio.xml

>>> So, missing from here is still the code for _adding_ references and
>>> notes, correct?  How do you think this should be done?
>>
>> A series of template defined fields that map natural language names to
>> underlying metadata model/format.
>
> ...  ok, as marcus said recently, how does that translate into
> language that a plain old PhD like myself can understand?  though I
> actually don't intend any snide overtones that might be inadvertently
> comunicated.

Well ... if you wanted to avoid being snide you could have just said "I 
don't understand; please explain." ;-)

>  when you say 'map natural language', I take it you mean
> "take data entered in fields whose names are readily comprehensible
> to users, and pass the data on to the database in fields whose names
> the db understands." but what's the importance of "template-defined"?

OK, you have a pop-up list with reference types of, for example:

book
edited book
journal article
legal case
film
etc.

You then choose "create new record" and a form specific to that type is 
then displayed.  The template -- maybe an XML configuration file -- 
simply says (using ris stuff):

JOUR = "journal article"
T1 = "title"
t2 = "journal title"

..and so forth.  It's just an abstraction that makes it a) easier for 
the user and b) easier to later modify/add reference types.

>>> 1) this is important -- choosing a reference format.  Do you think 
>>> risx
>>> is hte way to go again, or would something simple like bibtex be more
>>> appropriate?
>>
>> I despise bibtex myself.  I think the input UI should be designed for
>> flexibility; it should work elegantly with risx, but be capable of
>> being moved to handling mods data later.  The trick is to define the
>> key user input fields in a generic way, and then allow configuration.
>> So, the generic fields might be:
>
> Though I like the way that sounds, it sounds pretty ambitious.  For
> now it might be much less labour-intensive to write some php that
> generates bibtex or other simple data structures; though again, my
> pref would be to have the interesting part abstracted as much as
> possible from the scripting language.

Well, if you want to avoid XML, use RIS (it's richer, and 
unicode-possible).  But Rob, doesn't the XML support in PHP allow you 
to basically say "take date in field X and create XML code Y"?  If yes, 
that'd be preferable.

Bruce