Parasite Web Database Documentation – an ongoing part of the database development in the HWML!
Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology
The “Parasite” Database
The database and database-access server are operating on Windows 2000/Windows XP machines. The daily database use and working machine is located in a different room than the
web server machine (which you are accessing now while reading this).
The Parasite database running on the web server and on the working machine is in Windows ACCESS 2000 format. On this machine (as with the daily working machine which is not connected to the web and is not running a web server), the database “PARASITE” is stored in the HWMLDatabase directory. The file name is HWMLParasites. The database has been configured with multiple tables for parasite records, contributor information and related information.
Tables are relational as required to provide consistent input of names and other information. Forms are used for data input with data entry for some fields based on entries already entered into the database. A variety of interactive queries and summary reports have been developed for presentation of the data.
Parasite on the Web
The web services of the HTTP Server are used to provide the services to query Parasite database information is automatically started when the computer is turned on. The status of the server can be checked by clicking on the Start button and then selecting Control Panel and then clicking on the Services icon and scrolling to the bottom of the list to view the status of the Service: World Wide Web Publishing Service. The settings for this entry are Status: Started and Startup: Automatic.
ODBC Connectivity
An ODBC connection is required for the web database searches to find the database and extract the records. The entry is shown by selecting the Start button, selecting Control Panel and then clicking on the ODBC Data Sources icon. Select the System DSN tab. The Parasites entry is the option for the HWMLParasites access database. Click on the entry to review the settings. The proper entries are: Data Source name: Parasites; and Description: HWML Parasitology Collection. The database option is c:\HWMLDatabase\HWMLParasites.mdb. If the Data Source Name is changed the web query will not work since the datasource name is included in the ASP files.
Web Files
The web search page called HWMLSearch.htm is stored in the wwwroot directory of the InetPub directory on tenora.unl.edu. This page can be reached from the Manter Laboratory of Parasitology laboratory home-page. The web page background files called paper.gif is also stored in this directory.
HWMLSearch.htm
This is the database search page provided for web users. The page has brief information on how to search and the forms used to 1) do either a fuzzy search or exact search for specimens or 2) list the scientific names of the specimens within the database.
Script files that provide interactive access to Parasite data are stored in the InetPub/scripts directory on the computer Manter.unl.edu.
Files Backup
Files are backed up daily, and a DVD-RAM disk copied and taken off site weekly, a paper copy of the database has been printed and is stored in a fireproof safe of the UNSM along with a copy of the latest backup CD and DVD-RAM disks.
(Last edit date: March 4, 2004 by S.L. Gardner; This documentation is a html document stored in the inetpub/wwwroot directory on tenora.unl.edu.)