Keep it Simple

I don't know about you, but I find that almost any data can be made more interesting by mapping it. By using the ExtJS combo box field and Lotus Domino full text indexing, a type-ahead drop down search field can be created that becomes a very efficient way to find data points on the map. And by using Ajax to load the data points in small blocks, the map performs quickly even with large data sets. Using the free PDQ Portal CMS system (http://www.pdqportal.com), I have created a site that demonstrates these elements together.
 
A Demo site
Being familiar with the horse business, I decided it would interesting to create site that would show all of the riding stables in the area on a Google Map.
Try it out at http://www.equimap.com.

• Click on any point to see the details of the barn in a popup.
• Use the search field in the toolbar to find any stable by name, town, etc. (click on the results to jump to the point on the map).
• Click on the "view details" link of a popup to jump to a details page.

Search for 'boylan' to find a listing that has a two tabbed popup with pictures and an active 'view details' link.
 
Features

• Data set contains 1500 horse stables.
• Ajax is used to retrieve points in small blocks of less than 100 each as the map is moved.
• When the map is zoomed out past a specified level, a random selection of 500 points is displayed to show a general distribution of the points.
• As the map is zoom in again to a particular area, Ajax is used again to fill in all of the points.
• The map is initially opened to an area near the user based on the user's IP address (using the http://www.maxmind.com service).
• The map position and state are saved so that it will re-open to whatever location the user last dragged it to.

 
How it was done

1. Using the "scrape" feature of the PDQ Portal CMS system, 1500 stable listings where gathered from other web sites into the CMS database using the predefined CM_SITE form.
2. Using a "Geolocated" type field that is available in the PDQ Web Forms system, the latitude and longitude for each listing was automatically calculated as the data was loaded (it uses the Google Geocoding HTTP service http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/geocoding/index.html).
3. The CMS Configuration document was updated with a Google map key for the the equimap.com domain along with a couple of other parameters to make the Ajax retrievals efficient for the expected point density.
4. The home page for the equimap.com site was created using the predefined 'QMMAP' portlet (as well as the BANNER, NAVIGATOR and ARTICLE portlets).
5. @Formula's were created to generate the HTML for the popup window.

 
By the way, if you happen to be interested in horse related activities (as many Domino developers are), please feel free to add a few listings.

I am excited about this latest update (http://www.pdqportal.com). It addresses two areas that will make a big different in the sites that we create. We can now:

• Create web forms that are integrated with the CMS in a fraction of the previous time (and that was already pretty fast).
• Generate multiple related web sites from a single database (Great for organizations with departments or branches).
• Display documents as points on a new Google Data Map portlet.

 

Quick Forms

Let's face it, there is always room for improvement in the speed of form development. With our latest update, web forms can now be created with a single "Quick Form" definition document. A variety of common fields can be selected from a drop down. Other fields on the form allow additional customization:

• The labels and help messages can be overridden.
• Security is selected from a drop down using PDQ Groups.
• Custom fields can be added using the Design tab in the ADMIN area.
• Selecting "Newsletter section" will display the newsletter section on the form with fields and buttons that allow documents to be added to specific newsletter issues.
• Selecting "Site section" adds the buttons and fields needed for the multi-site feature.

To save even more development time, we also have a new view definition form that allows these documents to be connected to a section in the CMS system. We also have several new portlets for displaying the documents (including the new Google Data Map portlet).

 

Multi-Site

A single database can now be used to generate multiple branch or departmental web sites. Different types of site profiles can be created for individuals, departments, outside dealers, etc.

• Articles or sections can be selected for inclusion in each site.
• Banner graphics can automatically be generated from text and uploaded images.
• Contributors can control the availability of their article to other sites.

 

Google Data Map

A new geolocation type field is available on both dynamic forms and the new quick forms.

• Location information is automatically determined based on either street address or IP number.
• A new Google Data Map portlet lets documents with this information be plotted.
• An @formula can be used to generate a tabbed popup information window for each point.

 

Demo Database

To demonstrate these features a new demo database has been created. It is multi-site and newsletter enabled and has two quick forms for a photo gallery and a simple ride sharing application. It also contains the report definitions for our own HTML newsletter to give you a head start on your own. A working version can be accessed at http://demo.pdqportal.com although you will have to install it on your own server to access the newsletter definition documents.

The free PDQ Portal CMS can be downloaded from http://www.pdqportal.com.

In my next posts I will go into detail on the code behind some of these features....

Does the free software model really work? Is it a viable marketing tool? It has certainly been used successfully for some well known open source products but how well does it work in the Lotus Notes market... and so a marketing experiment begins. I will be posting updates and additional thoughts in this blog...here is the pitch from a recent newsletter:

PDQ Portal (http://www.pdqportal.com)

I've spent a number of years developing this Content Management system. Over numerous projects I added more features to make it do everything I needed. I added every tool I could think of to web site development faster. I made it flexible so that it could create PDF's from data and images and could even send and receive faxes.

But I also made it simple so that just about any application could be created with some basic HTML knowledge and some @formulas.

And now I'm giving it away...

No, it's not old technology, it uses the very latest JavaScript libraries (ExtJS) and is entirely Ajax based. I'm giving it away because I want more people to use it. I've seen the power of a product community and the open source model both for support and for development and I want to encourage other developers to use it in their projects.

To have a successful product these days it helps to have a community. In the short time I've started this program, I have received generous assistance from a number of people around the world who, when they have found a problem have taken the time to sent me complete solutions.

I still have to pay the bills though,  so there is another paid version of the product, although the only difference is in the number of servers it can be installed on. However, even the paid version is not expensive. I usually make a living from helping clients to get it up and running and by creating vertical market applications with it.

So far the feedback has been very positive. While most downloads are for the free version, the support and encouragement from all is very rewarding.


Alan Lawson