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Here you will find information on the PDFdirectory member directory creation application.
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Description
PDF Directory is an application for creation of a printable directory in PDF format. Uses could be for church groups, sports teams etc. Selected members of the organization can directly enter information on members, teams, clubs etc. Custom pages can be created offline, exported to PDF and uploaded to be included in the document. These pages will be combined with the auto-generated output from the database to create the final document
The PDFdirectory application is designed to save time and frustration in the process of creating a printable directory for your organization. Much of the difficulty is in the exchange of information from group members to whomever is assigned the task of creating the directory. This difficulty is overcome by having select members enter member data into a database, defining the organizations hierarchy and managing page insertion into the hierarchy. The member information will be auto-generated in the final document. Uses could be for church groups, sports leagues etc.
Why PDFdirectory
Putting together a member directory for publication can be a time consuming chore. Typically, one person using a desktop application will design, format and enter information about their organization. This includes getting the information from other members of the organization and compiling that information into the final document. The exchange of information can be one of the most time consuming and frustrating aspects of this process. That is where PDF Directory comes in.
With PDF Directory, members who are in charge of a particular group, the same members from whom you would have to get the information with the previous method can directly enter information themselves. The application automates the generation of the document including the member information. The collaborative effort makes a shorter lead time possible without the headache and frustration.
Background
My wife and I have been Secretaries serving a 3 year term with the local Christian Family Movement. Our main responsibility is for creating the organizations directory. We used desktop apps for the first 2 years. These proved to be cumbersome and time consuming as well as having the difficulty with the exchange of information from the different members responsible for their groups. Lead time was very high. The third year, I decided to try to do this via a web based application. The responsibility for entering the information was delegated to those who were more closely in contact with the different segments of the organization. It worked great and lead time has been drastically reduced. I wrote it in a very specific manner with hard-coded administration. The concept has been proven to work. Knowing that this works I took it to the next level. I re-wroked the project so that it will not be so specific and it can be open to the general public.
Features
General
- Template support for auto-generation of member data.
- Standard PDF output or booklet format.
- Choice of various languages.
- Create pages offline in your favorite desktop app.
- Automatic generation of Table of Contents and Index.
- Gutter support.
Administration
- Assigning of users.
- Restrict users as to what they can access.
- Defining the organizations structure and assigning of enumerations reflecting that structure.
User level access
- Maintaing the database of Members.
- Create custom pages and define their location in the document.
- Assigning members to there groups.
Available Languages
- Bulgarian translated by Nikolay Damianov
- Dutch translated by Niels Timmer(a.k.a. Spike)
- French translated by Matt Kerma
- German translated by Robert Metzger
- Hebrew translated by Yotam Rabinerson
- Italian translated by Tara Kelly (a.k.a. katytid)
- Russian translated by Cyrill Gorcunov
- Spanish translated by Martha Bondi
Screen Shots
Project Links
- Demo (http://pdfdirectory.homelinux.org/) : Try PDFdirectory here.
- Sourceforge Project Page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfdirectory/) : Where this project is hosted (you too can help with the development (mailto:rbondi@users.sourceforge.net)).
External Links
- PHP (http://www.php.net/) : This is the scripting Language used in this application.
- MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/) : The Database Server used.
- Apache (http://httpd.apache.org/) : Web Server well suited for this application.
- FPDF (http://www.fpdf.org/) : Free PHP class for generating PDF documents.
- FPDI (http://fpdi.setasign.de/) : Free extention of FPDF (http://www.fpdf.org/) for reading PDF templates.
- PHP Layers Menu (http://phplayersmenu.sourceforge.net/) : Menu system used for PDFdirectory.
- phpMyAdmin (http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php) : Easily administer your MySQL database.
