Next Meeting & A <FWD>

[Matt Heusser]

  Next meeting is Friday by my watch.  I can have
an agenda out by tomorrow - before I start, does
anyone have anything they'd like to bring up?  (Don't
forget to bring your books in & swap!)

Also -- I just got an e-mail that went out to all the 
.pm leadership folks, with an offer of employment.
Figured I'd <fwd> it over the list.  I was wondering -
Joel, do you know if we could set up two mailing
lists?

  A "Discussion"-list with all kindsa stuff, and a 
"Announce" list with minutes, meeting announcments,
and considerably less traffic?  Would this better serve
the needs of the membership? etc, etc, presidential-type
statements ...

I remain,

Matthew R. Heusser
Captain, Civil Air Patrol 
  -> http://www.cap.af.mil
President, Grand Rapids.PM
  -> http://grand-rapids.pm.org



Hello:

I'm looking for a Perl programmer to help us with automating
our url submission service. We are on a shared server running
Apache over Linux. Our clients' data will be submitted to
500 search engines, directories, free for all sites, etc. 
We would like this project to be programmed from an object
oriented approach using the LWP library and mSQL (using 
DBI/DBD). This is going to be an end-to-end online service
where the client receives an online report at completion
and is able to submit multiple times per year or month.
The online credit card transaction system is already in
place as are the necessary modules.

If you are experienced and available for this type of work,
a more detailed description is below. Please return us a 
price quote and estimated time to completion.

> features for clients using the system:

- submission to over 500 search engines, directories, free for all
pages, etc. using OOP (LWP, etc.). We would like there to be about 20
concurrent submissions to speed the process.
- while the submission process is taking place, the search engines'
confirmation/failure pages will be captured and appear/be replaced in 10
window frames in the browser. This gives the client visual proof of
submissions taking place.
- we will charge an initiation fee and then monthly recurrent billing
based on 3 submissions per mo.   
- an interface for the client to change their contact/website/billing
database info.
- precautions should be taken so that a client cannot manipulate the
system and make more submissions than allowed. 
- an automated email confirmation is sent to the client after the
submission is completed, giving them the url of the submission report
and the number of submissions they have left in the month.
- clients should have the ability to cancel their service and stop the
recurrent billing, but have the ability to reactivate their account
later without re-entering their data or paying the initiation fee.
 
> on-line credit card processing company we will be using:

- iTransact. We have already been using them and you may alter as
necessary.
 
> features do you required for the site administrator / webmaster:

- ability to modify/add/drop the search engine, directory, ffa
submission sites. for example, a search engine may add a title field, or
drop another, etc....ffa sites expire quite often and need to be
replaced with new ones. we also may want to expand to 800 or 1000 sites
at some point in
the future.
- since there will be more than one client using the system at once, use
of muliple scripts and/or file locking routines will be necessary.
- HIGHLY commented scripts describing what is happening and why with all
aspects of the program.
- ability to change the number of monthly submissions a client can make.
- some of the major search engines are checking the http header data to
  make sure the submission is made by a browser, otherwise the
submission  will be rejected. Therefore, you would have to make sure
either netscape or ie  browser header data is sent to them (e.g.,
LWP:UserAgent has useful methods for this).

 
> example of the report provided to our clients:

 http://www.gethits.com/reports/99/sept/Florio.html (no urls).


We will need a contract price for this project. 15% will be held back
until 60 days after the project goes live. We will retain all rights to
the scripts. Our lawyer will draw up an agreement. The above is a
preliminary description, but gives you a basic idea of what we are
looking for.

Thank you,
Darryl Dyck
GetHits.com
Tristar Publishers
InterSight Holdings, Inc.
ph (604) 882-1333
fax(604) 882-2966