I'm a noob, and I'm just browsing through the list of modules
bookmarking ones that might be useful on my site.

Can anyone tell me:

1)
For a school website, could this module be used to index a couple of hundred policy documents?
They are pdf format and would be kept in tree-directories on the webserver.

2)
If so, what would be the advantage of using this module over, say, creating a 'policy' CCK
content-type and using 'Views' to display and filter the index of policies?

Thanks.

Comments

rjerome’s picture

It's difficult to answer your questions definitively but here goes...

1) Yes you could index these documents *however* it would require manually inputing information for each of them and attaching each pdf to the appropriate entry. This would be a bit of a bore :-O Typically if people have hundreds of publications they want to enter, they use one of the supported import file formats (BibTex, RIS, EndNote Tagged, EndNote XML).

2) The advantage of this module (and being the author I'm somewhat biased here) is in the output formatting. Publication databases seem trivial on the surface but the devil is in the details.

Would I recommend the biblio module for your application... Probably not if you have to enter all the data by hand and you don't anticipate adding additional or other types of publications. If you do choose this module, I would look very hard for ways to get the data into the system without having to do it manually.

Ron

-Anti-’s picture

> ... they use one of the supported import file formats (BibTex, RIS, EndNote Tagged, EndNote XML).
> ... if you have to enter all the data by hand

Ah I didn't realise that there is an automated way to add docs.

OK, but our pdf files aren't published, nor on any database anywhere,
so at somepoint I am going to have to upload them and write a taxonomy
entry and description for each one manually anyway.

I was just going to create a node for each one and attach each pdf separately,
and then create a view to display a list of them. Can the biblio module offer
anything above and beyond that work flow?

Cheers.

rjerome’s picture

> I was just going to create a node for each one and attach each pdf separately,
> and then create a view to display a list of them. Can the biblio module offer
> anything above and beyond that work flow?

You will have the same work flow but your data will be far more granular so you can filter on any of ~ 50 different fields.

I presume you have looked at some live sites that are using this module? (http://liiscience.org/biblio, http://www08.iiia.csic.es/en/publications, http://www.annenbergonlinecommunities.com/biblio)

-Anti-’s picture

> You will have the same work flow but your data will be far more
> granular so you can filter on any of ~ 50 different fields.

For our school website I'd like to filter and order by:

'authoring department' Eg. admin, infants, primary, secondary, summer school, etc
'area of policy' Eg. finance, school rules, bullying, homework, exams, etc
and possibly by keyword and year.

I've not used CCK yet, but with the exception of the XML & BibTex import/export,
I suppose the same sort of listings can be achieved with CCK (and Views)?

In fact, thinking about it:

1)
If I uploaded all the pdf files into a folder on the server, couldn't I have a CCK field called
'pdf', for inputing a url link to the file, without having to actually attach it to the node using
the core 'upload' system?

2)
Could I create a CCK input page with 'multiple entry' creation, so I could input the info for
ten pdf's at the same time (without having to continually save an entry before starting another)?

Thanks for any further advice.

rjerome’s picture

CCK and Views are not my forte, so I will defer to others on these questions.

Ron.

-Anti-’s picture

Status: Active » Closed (fixed)

OK, thanks for your help.
I'll pursue this further in the forums.

Cheers!