twocolist

screenshot

twocolist ("Two Column List") is a free program, written in php, that will accept any text file as input and display it in two sorted columns across the web page.

this file will be formatted by twocolist as this. the same list can then be formatted in bold like this.

the actual url used in the last example is:
 http://www.cashen.com/software/twocolist.php?fname=example.fl&format=b

download

the current version of twocolist (v1.4, 04/15/2008) can be downloaded here:

• winzip format
• tar format

report any bugs or send comments to Dean Cashen

after downloading, simply install twocolist.php on your web hosting server in any directory you choose. the webserver must have php installed and working, of course, for twocolist to run. the program can then be invoked in its most simple form as follows:

http://www.yourwebsite/somedir/twcolist.php?fname=file_to_display

See the following syntax/usage details for an explanation of the options available in twocolist.

twocolist.php?option&option...:

• fname=file_to_list
• format=any_html_tag
• link=link_to_file
• exclude=strings_to_exclude (separated by commas)
• only=strings_to_only_display (separated by commas)
• stripTags

"fname" parameter

the fname is a required parameter and is the name of the file to be formatted by twocolist. (omitting this option displays a usage screen). the filename can be a local reference (e.g., "../pub/mylist.txt") or an absolute url such as "http://www.someurl.com/pub/mylist.txt".

"format" options

any valid (or invalid) html tag, such as:

u - underline

b - bold

i - italicize

blockquote - indent the text

cite - format as a citation

etc. - any tag can be added, there is no type-checking performed.
      please note: some care should be taken, therefore, since certain tags will
     compromise the display output (e.g., "td" will create unwanted table data cells)

"link" option

the link option will add a hyperlink to each displayed record, for those cases where you want to link the output listing to files located somewhere on the net. the specified link will simply be prepended to the listed filename, example: "http://someurl.com/file". if you are hosting files on a server you can then create the file list and have the files listed and linked using twocolist. this is handy if you, for example, house files "pic1.jpg, pic2.jpg..." on a server and want twocolist to generate a linked list to them. (e.g., if you store these files in a directory "pub" on "http://someurl.com" the link will then be "http://someurl.com/pub/pic1.jpg," etc.)

"exclude & only" options

the exclude and only options operate similarly. exclude will allow you to exclude the display of any records that contain the passed strings, separated by commas (e.g., "exclude=e,A" will cause twocolist to suppress displaying any text lines that contain either "e" or "A" (case-sensitive). So "Angels.mp3" will not be displayed (both A and e exist in the record), but "Boring song.mp3" would be displayed). Likewise, "only" will only display records that contain the passed strings (e.g., "only=mp3" would only display records that contained the string "mp3"). The two options can be used in conjunction to allow "fine-tuning" of the output display.

"stripTags" option

the "stripTags" option will remove html tags from the input file. this is useful when displaying .html files. without this option the file will still be displayed, however any embedded html tags will confuse the display output since the browser will try to process them

examples:

twocolist.php?fname=myMp3s.txt&format=b&link=http://somewebpage.com/mymp3s

the above example will:
- open and display the filename "myMp3s.txt"
- display the list in bold font ("format=b")
- link each file to a directory located at "http://somewebpage.com/mymp3s"

bugs and limitations

yes, this program has bugs. I haven't found many yet, but it's version 1.2, and without a lot of testing (by users like you), I can't be sure it won't fail in ways I haven't yet seen. that's where you can help out, let me know when you find something wrong with it, or if you have suggestions for general improvements and features.

other limitations or areas of improvement:

• there is no "balancing" of the column lengths. for example, if your file has a preponderance of entries that begin with "B", the adjacent "A" column (assuming there is one), will be relatively empty. the fix I'm considering is to count the entries in adjacent columns and balance them, to improve the layout of the display
• the program does no type-checking, so you could load up a "jpg" file and it will attempt to display it. obviously that won't produce a meaningful output, but I'd rather leave the choice of file input to users than to limit them within twocolist.
• there is no option to "skin" the program. if anyone wants to attend to this, great! and let me know.
• the code is fixed to display two columns. that can be changed, but at this time it's limited to two.
• files that have html tags don't, usually, display properly. it depends on the tags, but paramount are tags that affect tables (e.g., <td>, <tr>, etc) will confound the display because they are taken literally by the display and will disturb the format of the output. in version 1.1 the "stripTags" option was added. this option will remove the embedded html tags and improve the display output.
• others? again, let me know

this program is provided to you as free software. you are allowed to modify it as needed, however I would ask that you leave the footer identifying me (Dean Cashen) as the original author. also, by using the software you understand that this is provided "as is", with no warranty of any kind, and you further agree not to hold me liable in any way related to the use or operation of this program. that should be simple enough, right? you can do what you like with the program, but if it doesn't work as you'd like, or causes you any problems, don't blame me!

report any bugs or send comments to Dean Cashen

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