The collection database for BibClass and all other classes is managed through the collmgr program. The collmgr application mediates access to creating and updating the metadata, and has online, in-context documentation, for example, the DLPS implementation of collmgr documentation. This documentation notes fields that are "required," as well as the types of values that each field supports. In those cases where a field uses the reserved keyword "default," a system-supplied default value or function is used. For example, in BibClass, if "default" is used for short filter, records will be displayed according to the rules used in the default BibClass short filter.

For most of your BibClass collections, you will add the following fields. The instructions below assume a sample collection named "nyt". Please replace these sample names with your local filenames.

• collid = [The unique ID string used for the collection, e.g.,] nyt
• collname = [The collection name as it will appear on the cross-collection results lists, in the collection picker (sorted alphabetically), and on the home page for the collection, e.g.,] Historical Index to the New York Times (1863-1905)
• appmodule = [The module name (without .pm suffix) of the Application Object or subclass thereof supporting the basic application functionality for the BibClass middleware, e.g.,] BibApp
• homesite = [The URL for the host webserver hosting the middleware, e.g.,] http://www.hti.umich.edu/
• host = [The host name for the machine hosting the collection data and data indexes, e.g.,] www.hti.umich.edu
• map = [The location of the TerminologyMapper map file for the collection, e.g.,] nyt.map [or default]
• minmaxyearend = [The maximum valid year value to be used to check user input for date searches, e.g.,] 2002
• minmaxyearstart = [The minimum valid year value to be used to check user input for date searches, e.g.,] 1912
• objdir = [The directory where text/image objects are stored, e.g.,] /n/nyt
• port = [The access port for the XPAT daemon on the machine identified in "host" above. Only necessary for collections where data and indexes are on a different machine than the middleware, e.g.,] 620
• primarytitle = [The first title (or graphical banner) that appears at the top of the initial web page, e.g.,] text:Historical Index to the New York Times (1863-1905)
• subclassmodule = [The name of the subclass module (without the ".pm" suffix) that defines the subclass of the BibClass object for the collection, e.g.,] BibClass/NytBC
• webdir = [The directory path relative to DLXSROOT for the collection (usually in the form /c/collid), e.g.,] /n/nyt
• dd = [A list of one or more XPAT .dd files for the collection. Their location is specified by the dddir field, e.g.,] /idx/n/nyt/nyt.dd
• regionsearch = [The regions which are retrieved for Boolean searches (minimally, "entire record"), e.g.,]
• entire record
• author
• title

Submit your changes and check them in.

Related Information

You must also create templates for the new collection. For more information on creating and altering templates, please see Creating and Editing HTML/Template Files.

You may also add new fields, not previously defined. For more information on adding new searchable fields, please see Adding New Searchable Fields.

You may also wish to create special filtering routines for the new collection. For more information on creating and editing filters, please see Creating and Editing Filtering Routines.