NetForms User's Guide: Recent Articles List

Allowing users to retrieve a list of articles that have been recently added to the server is a key feature of NetForms. It is also one of the easier functions to implement for the server administrator.

First, use the RecentList FDML directive to add articles to the internal database of recently added articles. See the "NetForms Directives" section for details. To access this database, you use the "RECENT" command in the URL of a hypertext link. "RECENT" links can be used on any page on your server. There are two forms of the command:

"/NetForms.acgi$RECENT" - Specifying this URL will display for the user a list of the documents since the last time that user accessed the list. What really happens is this: when the user clicks on the link to "/NetForms.acgi$RECENT", NetForms will look in an internal database for the user's machine address. Once this is found, the time and date of their last access is retrieved and compared with the "Recent Articles List". Those documents that have a later time stamp than the user's last access will be displayed in the list. Finally, the user's last access time is updated with the current time.

"/NetForms.acgi$RECENT_MIN" - This version of the Replace command allows you to specify a time frame for what is considered a recent article. Replace "MIN" with a number of minutes. For example, "/NetForms.acgi$RECENT_60" would show the user articles added in the past hour. "/NetForms.acgi$RECENT_1440" would show the user articles that are less than a day (1440 minutes) old. You might need to do some multiplication to get the time frame you want (perhaps a week, or 10080 minutes) but specifying the time in minutes allows a great deal of control on your part.
Here is an example that should make use of the "RECENT" command clear. A section like this might be found on your server's Home Page:
  Click on one of these link to view articles entered...
  <UL>
  <LI><A HREF="/NetForms.acgi$RECENT">since I last checked</A>
  <LI><A HREF="/NetForms.acgi$RECENT_60">in the Last Hour</A>
  <LI><A HREF="/NetForms.acgi$RECENT_480">in the Last 8 Hours</A>
  <LI><A HREF="/NetForms.acgi$RECENT_1440">in the Last Day</A>
  <LI><A HREF="/NetForms.acgi$RECENT_4320">in the Last 3 Days</A>
  </UL>

Please note that the "RECENT" command is case sensitive. (This makes it less likely to be confused with the name of a document.)


NetForms (C) 1994 by Maxum Development Corp.

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