CLOG is a web-based database system for keeping track of rock climbing achievements.
The system is based on PHP and PostgreSQL, and is a toy project to learn about these languages.
The current home for the database is at :http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/php/clog.php
A more chatty description of climbing areas around Uppsala can be found at : http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/climbing/climbing_areas.html
In order to add new information to the database, you need to be a registered user, but I'm not really expecting outside users since it is a toy system, and I don't know how well it will be maintained or what its future is. However, outside users logged in as "guest" (with no password) can access all the information assembled by us, and that could be useful, but note that we have generally only included routes that we have actually done, so the listing of routes at each area is far from complete. To see a list of routes at an area click first on "show all areas", then click on the link to the chosen area.
Data entry is mostly through pull-down menus containing previously-entered data. This is because free-text entry would lead to all sorts of duplication and search misses due to spelling and punctuation inconsistencies. One of the implications of this is that a new area has to be registered before a new route there can be entered, and the new route has to be entered before a new climb of that route can be logged. Click on the 'replace' button if you want to overwrite an existing entry, otherwise you will get an error if you submit a new entry that clashes with an existing one.
Note that 'climb' is used to denote an individual ascent of a 'route', and that an 'area' can include a number of crags, but to simplify the interface, crags within an area have no special entry point, but they can be named in the free-text 'description' field.
The first page contains entry points to pages adding and listing information, and also a search
facility for climbs. In the search section, you can search for 'climber", meaning anyone named
as 'leader', 'second' or 'other', or search for just leaders etc. If options other than the wildcard 'Any'
are chosen, then all those conditions must be met for a climb to be listed.
It's fairly intuitive, and probably more obvious when using it than reading this explanation.
The database is organised around leading, so for top-roped climbs I still name a leader and second, but put the words 'top rope' in the comment field. If there are more than two climbers, the others can be listed in free text in the 'others' field. They will all be found in searches.
The database also contains as much information as possible about prompting, formatting and data typing, so that I can write generic reusable code. To this end the first 10 entries in each table contain fake entries, for example the dummy users 'Any' and 'None' that become available as wildcard options. Those names are actually preceeded by a space, to make sure they filter up to the top (default) position when sorted. Just in case you wondered.
The source code is freely available to anyone who would like to set up their own databases. Mail me if you are interested (click on my name at the bottom).
Known bugs :
1) Some browsers (notably Netscape on a Mac) have trouble with links containing Swedish characters, so that selecting information on some areas fails.
Mark Harris 9 Aug 2001