MWeb™ News

The easiest way to a Web catalog

March 2008

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MWeb Flash Prototype Now Available

Did you know that your MWeb Enterprise Database can be used by other programs? We are developing a prototype Flash interface to MWeb Enterprise Databases to demonstrate the possibilities. We will provide the source code free of charge, for you to build on. This lets you concentrate on the interface and leave the database access and XML to us.

You may try the prototype at collectionsonline.lacma.org /mweb/mwebflex.htm. We are grateful to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for hosting the prototype.

Adobe Flash is a way to present users with interactive multimedia experiences beyond what can be done with an HTML interface such as MWeb Enterprise. Flash is excellent for displaying animations, movies, sound, and visual effects, and these can be used with the data in an MWeb Enterprise Database by using the MWeb Enterprise XML Server (priced separately).

MWeb Flash is written in Flex, a free programming language from Adobe. It is easy to use and has superb documentation.

For more information, please see systemsplanning.com/ mweb/features.asp#flash.

MWeb Expands Database Offerings

If you need high performance, your MWeb Enterprise Database can be stored in SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, or DB2. In 2007 Systems Planning delivered an MWeb system to Theodore Front Musical Literature, Inc., that uses SQL Server, and will soon provide the Autry National Center with MySQL support.

In addition, the Preprocessor, which builds the MWeb Enterprise Database, is being completely rewritten using Perl and SQLite. For sites using SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, or DB2, the Preprocessor will not use FoxPro in any way after June, 2008.

We still recommend Visual FoxPro tables for most sites because they are fast, reliable, and free. They require no database software and there is nothing to manage. You do not need to purchase Visual FoxPro.

Visual FoxPro provides excellent performance -- it is in a completely different league from desktop tools such as Access and Filemaker. Our three largest installations all use Visual FoxPro, and one of them, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is now serving one million searches per year using this technology.

The MWeb program is the same, regardless of which database system you use, because MWeb accesses data using ODBC (Open Database Connectivity, a universal standard). For more information on our database technology, including the future of FoxPro, see systemsplanning.com/mweb/features.asp#tech.

PastPerfect-Online Upgrade Coming Soon

We will soon be testing a major upgrade to PastPerfect-Online, powered by MWeb. Get ready for more flexibility, new layouts, and more features, including Google Sitemaps, search statistics, and user-response forms.

This month we expect the 100th organization to sign up for online access to their collection catalogs using PastPerfect-Online. For a clickable list of all sites, go to systemsplanning.com/mweb/ppo.asp.

Beta Sites Needed for MWeb Universal 1.2

MWeb Universal 1.2 will provide web-based searching of multiple MARC21 files in their native format -- no need to convert or export! We are now looking for sites to test this release. Your input would be highly valued! Please email us at info@systemsplanning.com if you are interested.

Release 1.2 will support any number of MARC21 files of the same format (bibliographic or authority) and in the same encoding (MARC-8 or UTF-8). Later releases will allow mixed formats and encodings, as well as UNIMARC and MARCXML.

Searches can be limited to one or some of the files. In addition, searches can be limited to content-based subsets that cut across files, such as reference, rare books, orientalia, etc. If records have images coded in the 856 field, these will display in Search Results and Full Records.

For more information, see the MWeb Universal homepage at systemsplanning.com/mweb/universal.asp, which includes server requirements and a link to a full demo system.

Tech Tip

Caching is a technique by which the browser stores files on the user's computer so they do not need to be reacquired from the web-server. This avoids the time delays of downloading the same files over and over. Normally browsers do this automatically.

However, you may not realize that even when the files are cached, each one still requires a call to the server to see if it has been changed since it was cached. Although this saves the time of downloading, it still is a burden on the server.

Each graphic on each page of your MWeb site is a separate file. This includes buttons, logos, background images, and other graphical elements. So whenever your users request a page, every single graphic requires a separate call to the server, even though the same graphics are used over and over on every page.

See the Performance section of the MWeb Administrator's Guide for instructions on how to configure IIS to stop the browser from checking the date of each graphic.

Older announcements

Older announcements may be found at systemsplanning.com/mweb/news0712.asp.

We welcome all comments and suggestions!

MWeb, MWeb Enterprise, and MWeb Universal are trademarks of Systems Planning.