Return-Path: info.ph
From: gp@llnl.gov (George Pavel)
Date: 17 Mar 93 18:02:45 GMT
Newsgroup: info.ph/504
Message-Id: <9303171802.AA10727@ocfmail.ocf.llnl.gov>
Subject: Re: Still need help getting started

>I have all the source and I have read the Installation manual.  I am not
>sure how to proceed.  I am hoping for some general hints.

I'll take a stab at it.  If you have compiled and installed qi and ph,
presumably the question refers to how to get the data into the database. 
The exact procedure will of course be dependent on where you get the data
from, but the general steps are:

Create the configuration file for the database itself.  This is often
called prod.cnf (or replace "prod" with whatever you choose to call your
database; this name is set in the configuration file for the compilation
step--a file you created in the configs directory which contains examples).
 prod.cnf contains the definitions of the fields you wish to use in the
database and their properties (Indexed, Public, etc.).  You can keep all
the fields, or comment out the ones you don't want.

Next you need to create an input file of the directory (database)
information.  This file will contain one line for each person.  Each line
contains the fields for each person with the fields tab-separated.  The
field information looks like fieldNumber:fieldValue.  The fieldNumber is
defined in the prod.cnf file; the fieldValue is whatever the data for the
person is.  Each line only needs to contain the fields that have values;
fields without a value can be left out.  The fields can appear in any
order.  For example, lets say you have the fields name, phone, and email
defined in prod.cnf; these fields have the numbers 2, 1, and 3
respectively.  The following lines are all valid lines to have in this
input file (<tab> is the tab character):

3:George Pavel<tab>1:510-422-4262<tab>2:gp@llnl.gov
3:Joe Blow<tab>1:123-4567
1:24262<tab>2:jdoe@llnl.gov<tab>3:Jane Doe

Once you have this input file (lets call it qi.input), you need to figure
out the appropriate size for your database.  This can be done by guessing
or by running the command
        sizedb prod.cnf qi.input
which will result in a number that I will just call SIZE.

Your prod.cnf file must exist in the directory that will contain the
database when it is running.  This directory is defined in the
configuration file in the configs directory when you compiled.  You can
create the database in another directory and then copy the files to the
running directory.  This is what I do so that the current database can stay
running while the new database is being created. Then, to create the
database, you do:
        credb SIZE databaseName         #databaseName is either "prod" or
                                         whatever you called it
        maked databaseName < qi.input
        makei databaseName
        build -s databaseName
        echo off Installing new database... > runningDirectory/databaseName.sta
        mv databaseName* runningDirectory

That should do it.  You can check it by making queries using Ph or Qi.

George