Installation of New Introductory Video Complete

The technical integration of Grammar Captive’s new introductory video has been realized and work on the automated generation of Grammar Captive’s RSS feed has begun.

In order to see the new video simply click on the “captive” on Grammar Captive’s landing page at www.grammarcaptive.com.  Many thanks to Richard Wu at Precarious Heights for his superb cinematic creation and promotional effort on behalf of Grammar Captive.

Roddy

Podcast Tables Are Readied

Once the structure of a table is created the code necessary to fill the table with the form data must be written and tested. This task has now been completed. With one click the data from three distinct form fieldsets is loaded into three separate MySQL tables.

Next up is the creation of a corresponding automated podcast feed. Before the code for this task is initiated, however, Grammar Captive (GC)’s new introductory video will be integrated into the GC landing page. The code to achieve this integration is already underway!

Roddy

Podcast Feed Data Entry Form

In order for Grammar Captive to succeed it must be easily accessible no matter one’s geographical location, technical preference, and interests. As RSS feeds are cross-platform XML data files that can satisfy many different hosts simultaneously, it is important that the data contained in each be accurate and consistent across episodes or editions.

As there are many popular sites, each with its own set of specifications, it is also important that each host receive data that is both accurate and timely. To these ends I have created an offline form that insures that the data received by Grammar Captive’s online database is both accurate and up-to-date. This form automatically tracks each episode by number, creates a security code (guid) for each podcast transmission, calculates the length of each podcast in milliseconds, and sets the date of each publication in the format required for an RSS feed. In addition, the form automatically captures the link of each newly created podcast and transforms it from a relative localized link to a public absolute link appropriate for RSS feed distribution. Further, data that does not change from podcast to podcast is automatically entered.  Also, empty boxes for special feed instructions are left open and easily filled. Finally, there is a built-in mechanism that prevents any data from being sent to the data base until all required data has been entered, and that informs the data entry person about what data is missing.

This was a major task including 45 separate XML data entries that should yield many future benefits.

Roddy