In the daylily forum members are putting the lists of the plants they ordered this year. I am wondering if there is already a way to have those names in the list come up with a link to the data base info, or if it would be possible to create a way to have the listing come up with the listed names? So that for every plant someone lists you would be able to see the pictures of it with a click.

I'd suggest to each person that they post a link next to the name as they show it in their list ... that's how I'd do it. For instance:

Big Smile: Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Big Smile')
Butter Dish: Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Butter Dish')
Cherry Cheeks: Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Cherry Cheeks')

plantladylin,
Yes that method works, but the only way I know to do that is to look up each plant individually, the copy the url and paste it, half the time if my list is long, I have gotten distracted, and deleted my post, and after several tries I may finally get it finished, but I think the reason most people don't do it is it takes so long. Do you have an easier method than mine?

Nope, that's the only way I know that it can be done, by the individual who's posting their personal list. I doubt someone in Admin. would have time to watch the thread and post the links for each member.

plantladylin,
No I am sure they would not, I was more hoping for a computer solution, if there was not already an easier way, an auto match type of thing.

LOL, I'm so technically challenged I'm not sure what you mean by auto-match. Is that like the ATP system would know when someone typed in a name and it would automatically link to that plant in the database? Wow, now wouldn't that be something ... but then again it sure would keep the system busy because plants are mentioned in almost every post on almost every forum here. I can just picture a major mainframe computer exploding from the overload.

plantladylin,
I doubt any of us could type fast enough to overload the computers, that is what is so great about them, they can do millions of matches in a jiffy! It could be limited to just auto match on lists.

I looked into this a long time ago and it wasn't feasible because so many cultivar names are common words or phrases and you end up with words throughout your entire post getting linked to plant names all over the place.

Yes I can see it would be a total mess in the general posting, but would there be some way to limit it to lists, say a list of daylilies.

How can I program it to know a post is a list of plants rather than any other kind of text?

dave said:How can I program it to know a post is a list of plants rather than any other kind of text?

We'd have to specify in our post, maybe? Which means we'd have to educate users, but that's not hard with the folks we have here -- they pick up on stuff quickly.

Or it could look for formatting (yeah, that would only take it forever, right).... when it sees something like this:

plant a
plant b
plant c

then it could generate a pop-up asking "is this a list? And if so, would you like to auto-match to the db?"

if it was a common name, it could then provide a list of possibilities.


Honestly, I think it's way more coding work than is feasible, for a relatively small return.

My thinking is, it's just so easy to copy and paste the link to the plant in question.

Two browser windows open, one open to the search page of the database. Search for the plant, right-click the result and select "Copy link location" and paste that into your other browser window. Repeat until your list is complete.

The ATP system will convert each link into a nicely formed plant name along with the link to its entry in the DB.

dave said:My thinking is, it's just so easy to copy and paste the link to the plant in question.

Two browser windows open, one open to the search page of the database. Search for the plant, right-click the result and select "Copy link location" and paste that into your other browser window. Repeat until your list is complete.

The ATP system will convert each link into a nicely formed plant name along with the link to its entry in the DB.

or just grab the "bbcode" for a picture you like...similar result.

You could all be right, I just don't see that is what is actually happening over in the forum with the lists presented, just saying...I just see a list daylily names.

Can I get a link to a post or thread where you're seeing this? I'm curious to see what such a list looks like.

dave said:My thinking is, it's just so easy to copy and paste the link to the plant in question.

Two browser windows open, one open to the search page of the database. Search for the plant, right-click the result and select "Copy link location" and paste that into your other browser window. Repeat until your list is complete.

The ATP system will convert each link into a nicely formed plant name along with the link to its entry in the DB.

Seedfork said:You could all be right, I just don't see that is what is actually happening over in the forum with the lists presented, just saying...I just see a list daylily names.

Then you might want to make a post in the particular forum, such as the DL forum, suggesting we do this. Or even in that particular thread. Most times, folks don't do it becuase they don't see a need to. For instance, I figure that if someone's interested in a plant I bought, they now know the name of it, and can look it up themselves. It would never have occurred to me to link it to the db, unless someone specifically requested it.

So you're wishing you had something other folks haven't thought of doing, that's all. I'm fairly confident that once you mention it over there, lots of them will say: Wow, never thought of that! and start doing it.

dave said:Can I get a link to a post or thread where you're seeing this? I'm curious to see what such a list looks like.

The thread "What daylilies did you order this year?" in Daylilies forum

Here's the thread that seedfork is referring to regarding folks posting their daylily lists: The thread "What daylilies did you order this year?" in Daylilies forum OOPS ... cross-posted!

One more pitfall: there are often cultivar names that are present in multiple genera.

For example:

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Mercury')

Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum 'Mercury')
Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris 'Mercury')
Dahlia 'Mercury'
Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum 'Mercury')
Cucumber (Cucumis sativus 'Mercury')
Onion (Allium cepa 'Mercury')
Coral Bells (Heuchera 'Mercury')
Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia 'Mercury')
Hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus 'Mercury')
Daffodil (Narcissus 'Mercury')
Clematis 'Mercury'

So if I wanted 'Mercury' to automatically be a link to a plant, the software would need to guess which of the above is being referenced. I just can't see it happening.

I have concluded that this is never going to be really feasible. We have a solution of either a) giving a link to the database or b) just write the name out and if anyone wants more info on that plant they'll search the db for it.