list of databases by subjects?

[xi chen]

Hello again Andrew and other SubjectsPlus developers!

I am wondering in version 1.01 if there is a way of listing databases
by subjects ( in addition to the current databases A to Z list). I
looked through the subject guides created by current SP users and
found University of Southern Maine had a drop down option for users to
pick databases by subjects. Seems to me it was possible in SP's older
version (0.8?) by using display.php .

We'd also like to have such way of listing databases ( by subjects).
Is there any way to do it in version 1.0.1?

Thanks for your advice!

Xi Chen

Oberlin College Library

[McManus, Molly]

You can use the index.php file like we do here:

http://library.millsaps.edu/sp/subjects/index.php

Grinnell shared a script for a drop down menu that we have working on our home page if you need a drop down.

Molly McManus

Thanks for your advice!

Xi Chen

Oberlin College Library

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[xiche...@gmail.com]

Thank you Molly!

Sorry maybe I didn't make myself clear. The current version makes this A-Z list readily available - http://www.oberlin-college-library.org/sp/subjects/databases.php?letter=All

In addition to that, would it possible to have a list of databases by subjects? for example, Anthropology,  East Asian Studies, Economics etc.  University of Southern Maine has a nice drop down on the upper left corner of their library website http://library.usm.maine.edu/  I believe it was done in some previous version.  v.0.8?  

Best,

Xi 

[Gemma]

Hi Xi,

We are still using version 0.9, but we added a Databases by Subject
page. You can view it here: http://libraries.wichita.edu/subsplus/subjects/index2.php

Basically it just links directly to the Databases section in each of
our subject guides. It did take some tweaking to get it working, and
it took a little bit of rewriting some SubsPlus files and adding new
files.

[William Sargent]

Xi-

You are correct... this was done in version 0.8  I have been playing around with the new version and have not yet found a way to do the same type of dropdown.

Bill Sargent

=======================================
William Sargent
Webmaster http://library.usm.maine.edu/
Electronic Reserve and Computer Support Specialist
Albert Brenner Glickman Family Library
314 Forest Ave
PO Box 9301
Portland ME 04104-9301
(207)780-4270  FAX:(207)780-4469
will...@usm.maine.edu



>>> "xiche...@gmail.com" <xiche...@gmail.com> 6/22/2011 1:56 PM >>>
Thank you Molly!

[McManus, Molly]

If you are looking for a dropdown - I’ll attach a zip file with the code that I use (given to me by Grinnell).  It is pretty easy to install and allows you to create dropdowns for subject, course and topic guides.  There is a readme file with instructions in the zip file. 

 

Let me know if it does not come through and I can send it directly.

 

Molly

[xiche...@gmail.com]

This is great! They will definitely come in handy when we are to publish our guides.

Thanks Molly and Grinnell College Library!

Xi

[Andrew Darby]

Hi all,

After talking with Xi, I think he was looking for something slightly
different from all the (excellent) suggestions everyone gave. He
wanted a page that would show, say, all the databases associated with
Biology. I had already started something along these lines a while
ago, so I decided to finish this and share.

If you follow the instructions, you will end up with a dropdown of
subjects that appears in your Database List page (see attached
screenshot for an example). What follows are the instructions plus
some notes plus a zip file.

1. Add the new function getDBbySubBoxes to control/includes/functions.php
2. Add a call to this function where you want the box to appear. I
added it to the getLetters() function in the

if ($table == "databases") { }

section, right before the close curly brace. But you could try
sticking this wherever you want the dropdown (I haven't tried this).
It's styled to match those A, B, C etc. boxes on the Database List
page, but you can change that.

3. Swap in the new databases.php file -- subjects/databases.php

4. Swap in the new sp_DbHandler.php file -- control/includes/classes/

Note that this new query in sp_DbHandler is slower than the old query
because it has to join with another table (rank) to get the associated
subjects into the mix. The old query is commented out in case you
want to revert and not use this after all. The dropdown box as of now
just pulls up the guides with a type of subject, and doesn't check
that it actually has any databases associated. You could tweak that
query in the getDBbySubBoxes function.

This hasn't been properly tested, let me know if it works for you. If
it does, I guess I'll add this into the next release as an option.

Andrew

[xiche...@gmail.com]

Andrew, thanks for the code!

The dropdown worked. But I found a new problem about record display in version 1.0.1. That is the database a-z list does not display the new records that I created in admin.  Record display (Records->Browse Items) in admin works well though. 

Records created in 0.9 displayed fine, just the new records won't show up.  The re-installation didn't solve the problem. After a fresh installation, it seems that only the record with title_id as 1 can be displayed in database a-z list. I wonder if anyone has experienced the same problem (when you create new records after the upgrade). 

Xi

[xiche...@gmail.com]

Andrew and all,
Problem solved!
Sorry about the dumb mistake I made. It's been a while since last
installation. I should have checked the A-Z button to make the
database show up in the A-Z list.
Thanks again Andrew for your help!
Xi