Hi Benign Vanilla,

Each ad will have an auto-expire date which will default to 30 days.
The
poster can extend this, if (s)he chooses.

I will suggest a webpage to let members key in what they have(keep it
in a XML file), and another webpage that provide dropdown list(content
from previous XML file) for that member to chose what they will offer,
and a field to key in the amount available.

What members have should be keep permanent(static data), the amout
they offer will have a retention period(dynamic data).

This will help if someone look for a hard to find item, they can ask a
favor personally to the owner(when owner does not provide the offer or
offer are expired due to retention period).

Regards,
Wong

Hi BV -

Lat and Long is okay but not a good indication of Zone. Perhaps a field for
Zone and a field for Country. If I'm swapping for a hardy lily I know what
zone I'm in and whether or not it will grow here. What I need to know is
whether or not the trader can legally ship to me.
JMHO
Heather

"nswong" wrote in message
...
Hi Benign Vanilla,

Good tip on locations,

I will suggest the location break to two fields, one is latitude and
the other is longitude, this data should get while the member
registration stage.

It's easier to define a range on this than the location's name.

I'm a software developer.

Regards,
Wong

Hi Heather,

Lat and Long is okay but not a good indication of Zone. Perhaps a
field for
Zone and a field for Country.

From the latitude and longitude, we can pinpoint the Zone and Country
either from atlas or by program.

Zone and Country just like the calculated cell in Lotus/Excel, they
can derive from latitude and longitude, so the program can write in a
way that also show the Zone and Country by mapping the latitude and
longitude.

In software design, a field content that can get from the result of
other field, should not get input from user. Human input are tend to
be error.

Regards,
Wong

As a retired analyst I understand what should and should not be input to
data tables.

However to debate the issue, I would expect that more gardeners know their
plant growing zone far better than they know their lat and long. In
addition some people live in micro climates and even tho' they live in Zone
6 may be able to grow Zone 7 plants if they have a very sheltered area or
maybe only Zone 5 plants if their gardening area is very exposed to the
elements.

In software design, a field content that can get from the result of
other field, should not get input from user. Human input are tend to
be error.

I would foresee many more human input errors in lat and long entries than in
Zone entries. In addition Lat and Long requires two fields whereas Zone
only requires one field of one character. The field does not need to be
numeric as no math calculations would be used thereby saving space. And
taking up CPU time to compute a result that can be stored in a character
field in my opinion does not make good programming sense, not to mention the
time and effort to write the program to calculate where a person lives.

At any rate since BV is doing the work it is up to him to decide the merits
and methods he chooses.

Cheers,

Heather


'
"nswong" wrote in message
...
Hi Heather,

Lat and Long is okay but not a good indication of Zone. Perhaps a
field for
Zone and a field for Country.

From the latitude and longitude, we can pinpoint the Zone and Country
either from atlas or by program.

Zone and Country just like the calculated cell in Lotus/Excel, they
can derive from latitude and longitude, so the program can write in a
way that also show the Zone and Country by mapping the latitude and
longitude.

In software design, a field content that can get from the result of
other field, should not get input from user. Human input are tend to
be error.

Regards,
Wong

Hi Heather,

As a retired analyst I understand what should and should not be
input to
data tables.

Sorry if the way I express do offend you. :-)

However to debate the issue, I would expect that more gardeners know
their
plant growing zone far better than they know their lat and long.

I'm not sure the zone system are use by how many country, but in the
place I live, none of the people I know do know about zone. This as
well apply to the lat & long. g So I do think that if I'm the one
doing it, I may provide and input screen to let people chose where
they come from by country, town..., but save it as lat & long. The
lat & long will be useful on a lot of thing, e.g. for GPS, a online
atlas showing where are you and the route to your destination...

In
addition some people live in micro climates and even tho' they live
in Zone
6 may be able to grow Zone 7 plants if they have a very sheltered
area or
maybe only Zone 5 plants if their gardening area is very exposed to
the
elements.

I don't know about Zone, anywhere can find the good definition of it?

I would foresee many more human input errors in lat and long entries
than in
Zone entries.

I do know about this, in my implementation, I'm thinking of get input
as location name from dropdown list.

In addition Lat and Long requires two fields whereas Zone
only requires one field of one character.

In my design, the lat & long are use to identify location, and from
the location lookup other info from some tables. One of it are local
climate.

The field does not need to be
numeric as no math calculations would be used thereby saving space.

In my design, lat & long are a pair of keys, but it can store as
numeric to save space. Think about it, to represent 58 in character,
we need at least two bytes, in numeric, it can store in one byte. But
storage are not the point of it, the most important to consider are
which way are more simple and less job.

And
taking up CPU time to compute a result that can be stored in a
character
field in my opinion does not make good programming sense,

This can make it a one time job, lookup in the table and save it to a
field at the time of user registration.

not to mention the
time and effort to write the program to calculate where a person
lives.

I think in another ways round, as long as this is the most cost
effective way to provide output, the input(resource) are justifiable.

This is one to many situation. A software are develop by a few
persons, but use by thousand people, to save a minute of user are more
important than an hour of developer.

At any rate since BV is doing the work it is up to him to decide the
merits
and methods he chooses.

Agree, BV is the decision maker in this case. But I do think he will
like to know all the possible options he can chose from. I myself
believe the only choice are the worst choice, if I do not have more
than one choice, I will not even consider to do it.

Glad to see and talk to another software developer here. :-) You
know, a lot of software developer are quite lonely. ;-)

BTW: Agriculture are my hobby, but thinking of switch to it to earn my
living.

Cheers,
Wong

Hi Wong:

You must not live in North America. We have a zone system here to guide
gardeners as to what plants will grow in their area. When purchasing plants
at the nursery, there is usually a tag that states information about the
plant.

Example:
Myriophyllum Aquaticum - Parrot's Feather
Sun to part shade
Zones 6 to 11
6 inches tall
Moist soil to floating

Here are some links you can check out for more information on Zones.
Gardners in North America, England and Australia use a zone system. I don't
know about other countries. Very useful.

http://www.gardenersnet.com/atoz/hardy.htm Scroll down and click on Plant
Hardiness Zone Map
http://www.icangarden.com/zone.cfm

Hope this helps your understanding.

Heather



"nswong" wrote in message
...
Hi Heather,

As a retired analyst I understand what should and should not be
input to
data tables.

Sorry if the way I express do offend you. :-)

However to debate the issue, I would expect that more gardeners know
their
plant growing zone far better than they know their lat and long.

I'm not sure the zone system are use by how many country, but in the
place I live, none of the people I know do know about zone. This as
well apply to the lat & long. g So I do think that if I'm the one
doing it, I may provide and input screen to let people chose where
they come from by country, town..., but save it as lat & long. The
lat & long will be useful on a lot of thing, e.g. for GPS, a online
atlas showing where are you and the route to your destination...

In
addition some people live in micro climates and even tho' they live
in Zone
6 may be able to grow Zone 7 plants if they have a very sheltered
area or
maybe only Zone 5 plants if their gardening area is very exposed to
the
elements.

I don't know about Zone, anywhere can find the good definition of it?

I would foresee many more human input errors in lat and long entries
than in
Zone entries.

I do know about this, in my implementation, I'm thinking of get input
as location name from dropdown list.

In addition Lat and Long requires two fields whereas Zone
only requires one field of one character.

In my design, the lat & long are use to identify location, and from
the location lookup other info from some tables. One of it are local
climate.

The field does not need to be
numeric as no math calculations would be used thereby saving space.

In my design, lat & long are a pair of keys, but it can store as
numeric to save space. Think about it, to represent 58 in character,
we need at least two bytes, in numeric, it can store in one byte. But
storage are not the point of it, the most important to consider are
which way are more simple and less job.

And
taking up CPU time to compute a result that can be stored in a
character
field in my opinion does not make good programming sense,

This can make it a one time job, lookup in the table and save it to a
field at the time of user registration.

not to mention the
time and effort to write the program to calculate where a person
lives.

I think in another ways round, as long as this is the most cost
effective way to provide output, the input(resource) are justifiable.

This is one to many situation. A software are develop by a few
persons, but use by thousand people, to save a minute of user are more
important than an hour of developer.

At any rate since BV is doing the work it is up to him to decide the
merits
and methods he chooses.

Agree, BV is the decision maker in this case. But I do think he will
like to know all the possible options he can chose from. I myself
believe the only choice are the worst choice, if I do not have more
than one choice, I will not even consider to do it.

Glad to see and talk to another software developer here. :-) You
know, a lot of software developer are quite lonely. ;-)

BTW: Agriculture are my hobby, but thinking of switch to it to earn my
living.

Cheers,
Wong

Hi Heather,

You must not live in North America.

I'm from Malaysia.

When purchasing plants
at the nursery, there is usually a tag that states information about
the
plant.

Here we just get the plant, no tag, sometime not even know what plant
is't. g

Here are some links you can check out for more information on Zones.
Gardners in North America, England and Australia use a zone system.
I don't
know about other countries. Very useful.

http://www.gardenersnet.com/atoz/hardy.htm Scroll down and click
on Plant
Hardiness Zone Map
http://www.icangarden.com/zone.cfm

Hope this helps your understanding.

Thanks for your links.

Thanks,
Wong

"Heather" wrote in message
m...
As a retired analyst I understand what should and should not be input to
data tables.

However to debate the issue, I would expect that more gardeners know their
plant growing zone far better than they know their lat and long. In
addition some people live in micro climates and even tho' they live in
Zone
6 may be able to grow Zone 7 plants if they have a very sheltered area or
maybe only Zone 5 plants if their gardening area is very exposed to the
elements.
snip

I tend to agree.

If we were dealing with a more sensitive topic, Lat/Long may a good idea,
but we're talking about porgs. I think that level of accuracy is unwarranted
and would do more to scare users away.

BV.

"nswong" wrote in message
...
Hi Heather,

You must not live in North America.

I'm from Malaysia.
snip

This leads to the obvious question...How extensive do you guys/gals think I
should make this system? I had just envisioned supporting North America. I
figured/assumed (naughty analyst, naughty analyst) that nobody was sending
plants overseas...Hmm. How narrow minded and American is that of me? LOL.

I had pictured allowing users to pick a location, and a zone. If I build
this to meet the needs of the world, I'd have to expand that to be sure.

BV.

"Heather" wrote in message
m...
As a retired analyst I understand what should and should not be input to
data tables.

However to debate the issue, I would expect that more gardeners know their
plant growing zone far better than they know their lat and long. In
addition some people live in micro climates and even tho' they live in
Zone
6 may be able to grow Zone 7 plants if they have a very sheltered area or
maybe only Zone 5 plants if their gardening area is very exposed to the
elements.
snip

For giggles, I pulled up a hardiness map for MD, my home state.

http://images.meredith.com/bhg/pdf/g...s/maryland.pdf

It appears we have everything from 2a to 11. It seems asking for Location
and Zone will be important.

BV.