# DB Based Appalachian Trail Distance Calculator # Version 2.3 # README File # By Mike Calabrese # http://www.mikecalabrese.com/index.shtml # 2-3-2008 # This program is available for free on an AS-IS basis. I am not # responsible for consequential damages, loss of income or whatever # else that may happen as a result of the use of this program. This program is designed to calculate the approxamate distance in miles on the Appalachian Trail between two given points. It is based on the original Appalachian Trail Distance Calculator. However, this version pulls it's data from a MySQL database as opposed to flat files. Please note that you must have access to a database, preferably a MySQL data- base, to properly run this application. If you don't, then you need to obtain the original flat file based Appalachian Trail Distance Calculator, which is available at http://www.mikecalabrese.com. The 4 files included are this README file, the Perl script dbatdist.pl, the HTML page that points to this script called dbatdist.html and a data file called points that contain the various distances along the trail. The way the script works is that the starting and ending point are passed to the Perl script. The appropriate distances for these points are then selected from the data base. The starting point is then subtracted from the ending point and the absolute value of the difference is then passed to the user. This script has been tested in Linux environments successfully. The following configuration changes need to be made in order to successfully run this program: 1) Place the HTML page dbatdist.html on your server where your other HTML documents reside. Be sure to change the "FORM ACTION" line to point to the url location of dbatdist.pl. (For example- <FORM ACTION="http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/dbatdist/dbatdist.pl"> ) 2) Place the perl script dbatdist.pl in your cgi-bin directory within it's own directory called dbatdist. Be sure to chmod dbatdist.pl to 755 and the dbatdist directory to 755. On some servers you will have to chgrp these files to the proper ownership name for your site. The following configuration changes need to be made to this file: a) Make sure that your path to Perl is correct (typing "which perl" at the command line will answer that. Be sure that your Perl path is the first line of the dbatdist.pl script. b) Make sure that the $refurl variable is set to the exact url path to your dbatdist.html file. The bad referer subroutine keeps others from copying your html form and pointing to your cgi. Please note that on some servers you have to change the extension of the Perl script from .pl to .cgi. c) Replace the word databasename with the name of the database that you intend to load the various points and distances into. d) Replace the word "username" (keep the quotes here) with the user name that you use to access your database. e) Replace the word "userpwd" (again keep the quotes here) with the password that you use to access your database. 3) Place the points.dat file within the atdist directory and chmod it to 755. On some sites, you will have to chgrp them to the proper group name. 4) In your MySQL database create a table called points. Within that table create a column called location_point whose attributes are varchar and whose length is 50. Then create a column called location_distance whose attributes are decimal, 6 digits total and 1 digit to the right of the decimal. Any MySQL questions should be directed to either your database administrator, or refer to the book MySQL by Paul DuBois. This is a fantastic reference for MySQL that I highly recommend. Lastly, load the data from the points.dat file into this data base. Since it is tab delimited, it should load with no problem using the load data local statement. If the following instructions are followed, this application should work with no problems. Please do not remove the code that references the Appalachian Trail Conservancy on the html page as well as in the Perl script. This is the permission clause to use the numbers that are computed for this application. For 2008, the following changes were made to this app and should be reflected in the file dbatdist.html if you are upgrading this app: Added Wayah Shelter, NC- This is a new shelter. Added Clingmans Dome, TN- I decided that since this is the highest point on the AT, it should be listed here. Modified Hurricane Shelter Side Trail, VA to Hurricane Shelter, VA- It looks like they decided that this shelter was less than .1 mile from the AT. Deleted Lost Pond Shelter, VT- Someone burned this one down again. Camping only available at this site. Please note that the flat file based version of this app (called atdist.html and atdist.pl) is no longer being updated.