Capabilities

FLATTEXT scripts have no preset maximum data file size (depends instead on the speed and settings of your server), although if your data file is likely to grow larger than several MB in size, you should migrate to an SQL application (since they are designed for that kind of load). All Perl flat text scripts (regardless of the author or product) are low end applications, so if you try to compete with Yahoo! using a FLATTEXT script, you will lose. However, if you need a database that is likely to contain only tens of thousands of records or less, then FLATTEXT is likely the solution for you. The upper limits are determined largely by your server, not by the script itself. Some people are using FLATTEXT to search databases containing hundreds of thousands of short records (in some cases > 1 million), although this is neither typical nor advisable.

System Requirements

You must have access to Perl on your server and you must have some way of determining the path to Perl and the path to directories on your server. FLATTEXT scripts are compatible with WinNT servers, provided some version of Perl is running correctly on the server. If you have a WinNT server, contact your system administrator and get instructions for installing Perl scripts. This is not an ASP script and is not compatible with ASP.

Specifications

It is difficult to talk about the specifications of FLATTEXT scripts, because there are so many options (some options are activated or deactivated based on other options you select... for instance, you don't set add record preferences if your database is not addable). The FLATTEXT Perl Script Generator gives you the following options to select from (depending on previous options):

Base Options
• Create a script totally from scratch
• Create a script capable of searching your existing data (you export your database to a text file and paste a sample of it into a form... the script examines this sample and figures out the number of fields you have and uses this data when you test your database)

Search Options
• You select and configure the type of search interface
• You select which fields are searched
• You select the type of HTML form elements you want to use in a search (regular text fields, select menus, radio buttons)
• For select and radio buttons, you set initial values that user can select from
• You can set search requirements to limit access to your database
• One search style is fully customizable and lets you select range searches for prices or numbers (i.e. to find all cars priced between $5989-$9857)

Add/Access Options (Classes of Script)
• You configure whether or not your database is addable and editable online and under what conditions
• Data screening for all addable databases to make sure that data submitted by user looks the way it should before adding it to the database
• You select the type of HTML form elements you want to use when adding records (regular text fields, select menus, radio buttons, large textareas)
  Select from the Following Classes of Script:
• Class A (not addable/editable online)
• Class B (addable and editable using single password)
• Class C (addable and editable using single password and publicly addable)
• Class D (addable and editable using single password and publicly addable to a temporary file for record approval)
• Class E (addable and editable using single password and addable and editable by person who posted the record--individual record ownership)

Display Options
• Search results are inserted any web page of your choice. Simply insert three plusses +++ into any HTML page of your choice, and your search results will be inserted where +++ appears. This saves a lot of time and prevents you from having to make these changes inside your script.
• You have enormous control over how your results are displayed:
  • Down the page without labels
  • Down the page with field labels
  • Down the page with each record bulleted
  • Down the page with each record numbered
    • Ability to skip blank fields
    • Ability to combine fields on a single line (i.e. City, State Zip)
  • Across the page in a table
  • Across the page in a table with field lables as table header
    • With table formats, you set table border, cell spacing, even alternating row colors!
  • Ability to set the number of results to display per page
  • Ability to set the number of total results to display search
  • Ability to display e-mail addresses as hyperlinks
  • Ability to display images, using either full URL, or relative path to image on your server
  • Ability to show links to images, sound files, and other web pages

Online Testing Options
• You are able to fully test all aspects of your script before you download it, including adding, editing, and deleting records.

Download Options
• There are several ways to license your script and download it