Events list for church services

Anon

I like to automatically display the upcoming events for my church on our webpage.

I imagine having a simple text file with one line entries, where the first element on the line is the date of the event.

I like to have that file scanned and only the events for the next 8 weeks or so returned. Events that are past would be skipped, as well as anything that is further into the future then 8 weeks.

I want the output in a simple format, i.e.
4-1 Rev. Max: Lent = Let's eliminate negative thinking
4-8 Rev. Max: Resurection is for all

New events would be appended at the end of that file, but not necessarily in chronological order, but the output should be in chronological order.

My server supports php as well as mysql, which I think we could do without.

I have no experience with php or mysql and and would appreciate if somebody could suggest an easy solution for this.

craigh

I have a project that may solve this for you. It is geared toward schools, but I think it could be easily tailored to your church.

Check out:

http://quake.eecs.umich.edu/~craigh/go/AMS/

and email me back at craigh@mac.com if you are interested.

kparker

mysql, which I think we could do without.

Actually, mysql or another reasonable dbms is your key to doing this effectively. Add items in any order, no problem. Pull them out in date order, no problem. Restrict them to a certain data range, again no problem. Doing this with text files can be described on one word: PAINFUL.

Anon

I have looked at many systems that are offered here or elsewhere and found them too sophisticated for our needs. Our database will at most have 100 records. I don't need any fancy display options, since all I want to show are the next up to 8 events.

I have had a look at your site and got the impression that it might too fancy as well.

I do not plan to buy a system or pay hundreds of dollars for somebody to develop something.

I was hoping to find a simply example that I can implement and possibly tweek to suite our limited needs.

Anon

You may be right, it is only that I am overwhelmed by the solutions that I have seen so far.

I think my needs are very simple and would like to have an equally simple solution for it.

kparker

Fine; using mysql where you can simply say

  insert into schedule (date, time, event) values (...);

to add something, and

  select * from schedule order by date, time where date >= $begin and date <= $end

is simpler than sorting and selecting from a text file, and when you get to deleting and can just say:

  delete from schedule where date < now()

it's no longer merely simplyer, it's orders of magnitude simpler.

kparker

Oh, and I forgot to point out that when using mysql, you can do all that inserting, retrieving, and deleting without any other user ever seeing a corrupt view of the data. Try that with text files--you can, but it involves lots of careful planning, use of flock(), etc.

Anon

Frank,

I'm currently free to work on such projects. I am getting quite good with php programming, and mysql databases, if you would like to take me up on my offer give me a email.

Anon

Okay, I am convinced. thank you.

Now where can I find a simple script that will do just that for my church?

Anon

Frank,
I could help you out as well if you don't want to do it yourself and would consider a link back to my Christian site as being payment... email me if you are interested.
Jim

kparker

Not really, I'm just speaking conceptually.

Anon

That is very kind of you and I like to take you up on your offer.

I would like to do it myself, hoping I could learn something, but I am overwhelmed by the solutions I have seen so far and don't want that level of sophistication at this time.

At this point, all I am looking for is a script that will read 8 records out of the database starting with today's date.
The records I want to display in sequential order in my webpage.

From my previous experience in other programming languages, this doesn't seem to be a big task.

BTW: I will be happy to give you credit for your help. What is your site's URL, mine is http://unityofthevalley.com.

Thanks again and abundant blessings,

Frank