Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a 
website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java 
and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?

Sorry if this is the wrong group - if so, please could you point me in the 
right direction?

Cheers!

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a 
> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java 
> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?

I would be inclined to check from outside.  Any internal checker
will, most likely, not spot network configuration problems and DNS
issues that might hind your site from the work for significant periods
of time.

If you have another machine that is reasonably reliable (e.g. a system
at home), you could script access to a simple page at some desired
interval.  I'd make it a CGI or PHP page (if your site uses these) so
you are testing the whole site mechanism.

If you site (or sites) get enough hits, the logs will give you a very
good idea of its availability.  If you have several sites co-located
on one host, looking at the merged access logs will give you even more
detail.

-- 
Ben.

"Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a
>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java
>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>
> I would be inclined to check from outside.  Any internal checker
> will, most likely, not spot network configuration problems and DNS
> issues that might hind your site from the work for significant periods
> of time.
>
> If you have another machine that is reasonably reliable (e.g. a system
> at home), you could script access to a simple page at some desired
> interval.  I'd make it a CGI or PHP page (if your site uses these) so
> you are testing the whole site mechanism.
>
> If you site (or sites) get enough hits, the logs will give you a very
> good idea of its availability.  If you have several sites co-located
> on one host, looking at the merged access logs will give you even more
> detail.

Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.

This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that 
potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!

On 4 Jul, 14:28, "Marcus Redd"  wrote:

> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!

There are two ways to do this:

The simplest is just to have a text file that the owners can update
and upload to the site whenever they get a booking.  So it starts off
with all the dates listed and then you mark them "Booked" as they get
taken.  The index page then has a link to "booking.txt" so people can
see what's available.

On the other hand you can build a database-based interactive system,
but TBH unless you're looking at a significant amount of business, it
tends to be OTT for what's actually needed.  Any one holiday cottage
can only be occupied for a max of 52 weeks a year, and IME they tend
to be used rather less than that, probably about 36 weeks?

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a
>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java
>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>
<snip all my stuff about server availability
>
> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>
> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that 
> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!

I don't think it would be hard, but I know of no off-the-shelf
solutions.  Your main problems will be legal (can you use the "target"
site in that way?) and engineering -- you site will break if the
target site changes its interface.

-- 
Ben.

Ben Bacarisse  writes:

> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>
>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a
>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java
>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>
> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>
>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>
>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that 
>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
>
> I don't think it would be hard, but I know of no off-the-shelf
> solutions.  Your main problems will be legal (can you use the "target"
> site in that way?) and engineering -- you site will break if the
> target site changes its interface.

Oh just ignore me.  I think I've got the wrong end of the stick
again.  I was think of having to get the availability from another
site.

If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.

-- 
Ben.

"Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>
>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to 
>>>>> a
>>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some 
>>>>> java
>>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>>
>> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>>
>>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>>
>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
>>
>> I don't think it would be hard, but I know of no off-the-shelf
>> solutions.  Your main problems will be legal (can you use the "target"
>> site in that way?) and engineering -- you site will break if the
>> target site changes its interface.
>
> Oh just ignore me.  I think I've got the wrong end of the stick
> again.  I was think of having to get the availability from another
> site.
>
> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.

Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for sample 
code...?

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
> news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>>
>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>
>>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to 
>>>>>> a
>>>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some 
>>>>>> java
>>>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>>>
>>> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>>>
>>>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>>>
>>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
<snip>
>>
>> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.
>
> Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for sample 
> code...?

Sorry, no.  The closest match that I've done is an events/diary system
but I don't have the right to give that away. 

-- 
Ben.

"Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
news:87644zhpbz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>
>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>> news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>>>
>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>
>>>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>>>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker 
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some
>>>>>>> java
>>>>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>>>>
>>>> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>>>>
>>>>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
> <snip>
>>>
>>> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.
>>
>> Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for 
>> sample
>> code...?
>
> Sorry, no.  The closest match that I've done is an events/diary system
> but I don't have the right to give that away.

Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
something else? And what type of database?

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
> news:87644zhpbz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>
>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>> news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>>>>
>>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>>>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.
>>>
>>> Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for 
>>> sample
>>> code...?
>>
>> Sorry, no.  The closest match that I've done is an events/diary system
>> but I don't have the right to give that away.
>
> Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
> something else? And what type of database? 

PHP (I prefer Perl, but one does not always get to choose) and a flat
file.  I often prefer flat files if the data is very simple, but in
this case, a DB would have been helpful (mainly because DBs have good
date functions!).

-- 
Ben.

Ben Bacarisse  writes:
> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
> > Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
> > something else? And what type of database? 
> 
> PHP (I prefer Perl, but one does not always get to choose) and a flat
> file.  I often prefer flat files if the data is very simple, but in
> this case, a DB would have been helpful (mainly because DBs have good
> date functions!).

A nice compromise between the two (at least, if you don't require huge
amounts of concurrent write accesses) is SQLite - http://www.sqlite.org/
I've just been using that for one of my projects and it's zero
configuration, a nice API [1], and has the major advantage of flat files
in not needing to have a separate database server running.

[1] Well, the C API is nicer than Postgres and *much* nicer than
MySQL. Obviously in Perl you'd be going via the generic DB layer
anyway, and the PHP API is a little lacking (no support for prepared
statements, as far as I can tell)

-- 
Chris

Chris Morris  writes:

> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>> > Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
>> > something else? And what type of database? 
>> 
>> PHP (I prefer Perl, but one does not always get to choose) and a flat
>> file.  I often prefer flat files if the data is very simple, but in
>> this case, a DB would have been helpful (mainly because DBs have good
>> date functions!).
>
> A nice compromise between the two (at least, if you don't require huge
> amounts of concurrent write accesses) is SQLite - http://www.sqlite.org/
> I've just been using that for one of my projects and it's zero
> configuration, a nice API [1], and has the major advantage of flat files
> in not needing to have a separate database server running.

Good pointer.  I will look into it some more.  It was the problem of
adding another point of failure that bothered me about DB servers.

-- 
Ben.

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a 
> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java 
> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?

I would be inclined to check from outside.  Any internal checker
will, most likely, not spot network configuration problems and DNS
issues that might hind your site from the work for significant periods
of time.

If you have another machine that is reasonably reliable (e.g. a system
at home), you could script access to a simple page at some desired
interval.  I'd make it a CGI or PHP page (if your site uses these) so
you are testing the whole site mechanism.

If you site (or sites) get enough hits, the logs will give you a very
good idea of its availability.  If you have several sites co-located
on one host, looking at the merged access logs will give you even more
detail.

-- 
Ben.

"Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a
>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java
>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>
> I would be inclined to check from outside.  Any internal checker
> will, most likely, not spot network configuration problems and DNS
> issues that might hind your site from the work for significant periods
> of time.
>
> If you have another machine that is reasonably reliable (e.g. a system
> at home), you could script access to a simple page at some desired
> interval.  I'd make it a CGI or PHP page (if your site uses these) so
> you are testing the whole site mechanism.
>
> If you site (or sites) get enough hits, the logs will give you a very
> good idea of its availability.  If you have several sites co-located
> on one host, looking at the merged access logs will give you even more
> detail.

Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.

This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that 
potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!

On 4 Jul, 14:28, "Marcus Redd"  wrote:

> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!

There are two ways to do this:

The simplest is just to have a text file that the owners can update
and upload to the site whenever they get a booking.  So it starts off
with all the dates listed and then you mark them "Booked" as they get
taken.  The index page then has a link to "booking.txt" so people can
see what's available.

On the other hand you can build a database-based interactive system,
but TBH unless you're looking at a significant amount of business, it
tends to be OTT for what's actually needed.  Any one holiday cottage
can only be occupied for a max of 52 weeks a year, and IME they tend
to be used rather less than that, probably about 36 weeks?

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a
>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java
>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>
<snip all my stuff about server availability
>
> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>
> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that 
> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!

I don't think it would be hard, but I know of no off-the-shelf
solutions.  Your main problems will be legal (can you use the "target"
site in that way?) and engineering -- you site will break if the
target site changes its interface.

-- 
Ben.

Ben Bacarisse  writes:

> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>
>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to a
>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some java
>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>
> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>
>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>
>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that 
>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
>
> I don't think it would be hard, but I know of no off-the-shelf
> solutions.  Your main problems will be legal (can you use the "target"
> site in that way?) and engineering -- you site will break if the
> target site changes its interface.

Oh just ignore me.  I think I've got the wrong end of the stick
again.  I was think of having to get the availability from another
site.

If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.

-- 
Ben.

"Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>
>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to 
>>>>> a
>>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some 
>>>>> java
>>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>>
>> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>>
>>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>>
>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
>>
>> I don't think it would be hard, but I know of no off-the-shelf
>> solutions.  Your main problems will be legal (can you use the "target"
>> site in that way?) and engineering -- you site will break if the
>> target site changes its interface.
>
> Oh just ignore me.  I think I've got the wrong end of the stick
> again.  I was think of having to get the availability from another
> site.
>
> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.

Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for sample 
code...?

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
> news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>>
>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>
>>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker to 
>>>>>> a
>>>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some 
>>>>>> java
>>>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>>>
>>> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>>>
>>>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>>>
>>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
<snip>
>>
>> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.
>
> Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for sample 
> code...?

Sorry, no.  The closest match that I've done is an events/diary system
but I don't have the right to give that away. 

-- 
Ben.

"Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
news:87644zhpbz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>
>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>> news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>>>
>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>
>>>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>>>> news:87ir90gyiz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>>>> Just wondering, how easy would it be to add an availability checker 
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> website? Would this require an off-the-shelf component, or just some
>>>>>>> java
>>>>>>> and a database? Any special requirement of the hosting server?
>>>>>>
>>>> <snip all my stuff about server availability
>>>>>
>>>>> Ah! Very very sorry - just realised I hadn't made this clear at all.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
> <snip>
>>>
>>> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.
>>
>> Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for 
>> sample
>> code...?
>
> Sorry, no.  The closest match that I've done is an events/diary system
> but I don't have the right to give that away.

Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
something else? And what type of database?

"Marcus Redd"  writes:

> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message 
> news:87644zhpbz.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>
>>> "Ben Bacarisse"  wrote in message
>>> news:87abucggn6.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
>>>> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>>>>
>>>>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is to do with bookings - in this case, a holiday flat - so that
>>>>>> potential customers can check availability. Sorry about that!
>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>> If you hold all the data it is relatively simple scripting task.
>>>
>>> Ah, great - thanks for replying! Don't suppose you have any links for 
>>> sample
>>> code...?
>>
>> Sorry, no.  The closest match that I've done is an events/diary system
>> but I don't have the right to give that away.
>
> Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
> something else? And what type of database? 

PHP (I prefer Perl, but one does not always get to choose) and a flat
file.  I often prefer flat files if the data is very simple, but in
this case, a DB would have been helpful (mainly because DBs have good
date functions!).

-- 
Ben.

Ben Bacarisse  writes:
> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
> > Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
> > something else? And what type of database? 
> 
> PHP (I prefer Perl, but one does not always get to choose) and a flat
> file.  I often prefer flat files if the data is very simple, but in
> this case, a DB would have been helpful (mainly because DBs have good
> date functions!).

A nice compromise between the two (at least, if you don't require huge
amounts of concurrent write accesses) is SQLite - http://www.sqlite.org/
I've just been using that for one of my projects and it's zero
configuration, a nice API [1], and has the major advantage of flat files
in not needing to have a separate database server running.

[1] Well, the C API is nicer than Postgres and *much* nicer than
MySQL. Obviously in Perl you'd be going via the generic DB layer
anyway, and the PHP API is a little lacking (no support for prepared
statements, as far as I can tell)

-- 
Chris

Chris Morris  writes:

> Ben Bacarisse  writes:
>> "Marcus Redd"  writes:
>> > Of course - no problem. But can I ask what you used - was it Java, or 
>> > something else? And what type of database? 
>> 
>> PHP (I prefer Perl, but one does not always get to choose) and a flat
>> file.  I often prefer flat files if the data is very simple, but in
>> this case, a DB would have been helpful (mainly because DBs have good
>> date functions!).
>
> A nice compromise between the two (at least, if you don't require huge
> amounts of concurrent write accesses) is SQLite - http://www.sqlite.org/
> I've just been using that for one of my projects and it's zero
> configuration, a nice API [1], and has the major advantage of flat files
> in not needing to have a separate database server running.

Good pointer.  I will look into it some more.  It was the problem of
adding another point of failure that bothered me about DB servers.

-- 
Ben.