Directory structure of unzipped POD files:

Step 1: Unzip Files Unzip the POD files in POD5_0.zip, POD_shared.zip and POD_static.zip to an empty or new directory on your computer. In the example on the left, files were unzipped into a directory named "package". Please note that when you unzip the files, you must preserve the original directory structure in the zip archive. If after unzipping, you do not see a directory structure as shown on the left, you should remove the unzipped files and unzip again, and make sure you preserve the directory structure (for example, if you are using winzip to unzip, just make sure you enabled "use folder names" in unzip settings). Detailed explanation for files in the package can be found below.

A list of files included in POD package:

How to use pod.chm to read POD documentation: Simply double click the file on Win95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP platforms to read it.

Explanations for the template files: (DBName below is the name for your DB, like "fldb" or "gbook". Note that even if you decide to build an online guestbook or other DB, you must rename the DBName to "fldb" in the unregistered version and put them in "/cgi-bin/fldb" directory. Usage of the DBName.lann is explained here, and here explains usage of all the html files):

File Name	Eventual Location on Server	Function of the File & Note
DBName.ini	/cgi-bin/DBName/	POD configuration file. Must be the same name as the subdirectory name, which can only be "fldb" for unregistered version.
DBName.lann	/cgi-bin/DBName/	language file. Useful for making POD DB in a language other than English. Read below for details on usage.
DBName-add.html	anywhere on server	Used for adding entries to POD DB.
DBName-search-user.html	anywhere on server	Used for searching entries in POD DB and entries are displayed in format designated in sing-user.html
DBName-search-admin.html	anywhere on server	Used for searching entries in POD DB and entries are displayed in format designated in sing-admin.html, and then used for change/delete entry.
NotFound.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Displayed when no entry is found for user query.
InfoNeed.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Displayed when user did not enter required information.
opcomplete.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Displayed when an add, change, or delete operation is completed successfully.
PWD.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Displayed when password user entered is incorrect.
multi-admin.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Displayed when user query returned more than one entry, each entry is linked to sing-admin.html
multi-user.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Displayed when user query returned more than one entry, each entry is linked to sing-user.html
sing-admin.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Display a single entry. Change/delete allowed.
sing-user.html	/cgi-bin/DBName/	Display a single entry. Change/delete disallowed.

Instructions on how to use the .lann file included in the template files (usage of other files see below)
1. This file is used when you need to change the last tiny bit of POD-displayed message to your language of choice or your customized message. Because you are able to write your own html interface in your language, the only situations that utilize .lann file are usually not important at all. In fact, many a time your user may not even see any message using translations in the .lann file (except for the page link, see below). However, you probably would want to modify .lann file anyway just to keep the language consistent.
2. Rename the .lann to the same name as your DB name (which is the name of the subdirectory under the cgi-bin directory. If you are using unregistered version of this program, the DB name must be fldb, therefore you rename the file to fldb.lann). 3. Open fldb.lann (or whatever file your renamed it to) using any text editor, e.g., notepad.
4. Translate and replace every sentence that's on the RIGHT side of "=". Do not modify anything that's on the LEFT side and do not modify the first line "[translations]"! For example, when you change a line that says: "sorted by=sorted by", you change it to "sorted by=("sorted by" in your language)".
5. Sit back and relax and watch all program-produced pages now in your language of choice (well, except for error pages which should not happen if you set up DB right and your web server's set up right and working fine)! Note: If you decide that you just want English as your language of choice, then you can even delete the .lann file. It will make the program use the default language---English. In FLDB.lann file, the "page1=page" and "page2=page" are for displaying summary of search results, say, "Page 1 Total: 4 pages". page1 will be the first "Page", page2 will be the second page, "s=..." in the .lann file will be used to produce the plural form (the "s" in "pages"). I set both page1 and page2 to accomodate my own language: Chinese. You can probably use the same word for both of them.

Explanation for the relationship of all the html files in the .zip archive (e.g. fldb.zip):

The relationship among these html files as sketched above seems quite complex, but in fact, it takes little effort to memorize it once you understand what each document does. For example, fldb-search-admin.html contains an html form that can be used for searching for entries in your DB with administrative mode which allows you to change or modify the found entry. Therefore it is natural that its result can be NotFound.html, Pwd.html (which displays message that password is missing), sing-admin.html (single entry found, administrative mode), multi-admin.html (multiple entries found and displayed with links leading to each individual entry). xxxx-user.html documents means user mode which only displays entry information but not forms that can be used to change the entries. The separation of these two sets of operations came after many users' requests because they do not want all the users of their DB to view the forms, which is both boring aesthetically and useless in many cases.

A rule for customization of these html files: For Win32 (Win9x/NT/2000) version of POD, the case for the names of these files can be either capitalized or not. However, for both of the two Unix verions of POD, the POD-specific tags used in the database, and the names of the database entry items on Windows/Unix, you should always use the same case as those in the configuration file (fldb.ini) or sample html files.  This applies to other customizable items for POD too. Be consistent using case. In addition you should always surround the value of your html tag with quotation marks. For example, if you have "<input type=text name=DBItemName size=20>" in your html file, some browers recognize it. However, POD only recognizes "<input type="text" name="DBItemName" size="20">".

The explanation of and rules for individual html files (the following table is more a remindar to you after you have read user manual, especially How-Tos, thoroughly):

File Name	Html form to be included	Tags to be included in form	Tags to be excluded in form
DBName-add.html	Add entry form	<input type="hidden" name="act" value="add"> <input type="hidden" name="DBName" value="fldb"> (if your DB name is fldb)	all other POD-specific tags
DBName-search-user.html	search entry form	<input type="hidden" name="authority" value="User"> <input type="hidden" name="act" value="search"> <input type="hidden" name="DBName" value="fldb">(if your DB name is fldb)	all other POD-specific tags
DBName-search-admin.html	search entry form	<input type="hidden" name="authority" value="Admin"> <input type="hidden" name="act" value="search"> <input type="hidden" name="DBName" value="fldb">(if your DB name is fldb)	all other POD-specific tags
NotFound.html		None	all POD-specific tags
InfoNeed.html		None	all POD-specific tags
opcomplete.html		<!--DBRedisplay--> allowed but not required
PWD.html		None	all POD-specific tags
multi-admin.html		a pair of tags: <!--DBRepeatStart--> and <!--DBRepeatEnd--> <!--DBItem="DB Item Name" Link="index">(substitute the "DB Item Name" with a real DB Item Name you assigned)
multi-user.html		same as multi-admin.html
sing-admin.html	change/delete entry form	For change form: <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="act" VALUE="newinfo"> <!--DBAutoNumber--> <input type="hidden" name="DBName" value="fldb"> For delete form: <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="act" VALUE="delete"> <!--DBAutoNumber--> <input type="hidden" name="DBName" value="fldb">
sing-user.html		None required

DBName-add.html, DBName-search-user.html, DBName-search-admin.html are DB-access pages from which POD gets input. Again, these 3 html files can be put anywhere on your web server and be renamed to any name you want. You can even combine these 3 files into one html file if you want (be sure to include appropriate tags too).

You can put any html tags and content in the above html files. These files constitute the html interface between your DB and users of your DB.  For more information on POD-specific tags and usage of html forms and tags, please check out How-Tos and if you encounter problems please check out Problems & Solutions.  Sample files at http://www.ming-yi.org/Work.html is always a good source to study the usage and effect of POD-specific tags.