Custom Indexes are pages that contain a list of people who meet criteria you supply. Each name that appears in the list is a link to the person page entry for the given person.
You can use a Custom Index to display a list of people
- who pass a flag filter,
- or whose records have been edited recently,
- or you can designate a person whose events are used to construct the contents of the list.
Custom Indexes are User Items and are added to the site via the User Items Section.
Edit Custom Index
The Edit Custom Index window controls the properties associated with a Custom Index.
Title
The Title property sets the title of the Custom Index. The Title will also appear in the menu or on the SubPage where the link to the Custom Page appears.
Filename
The Filename property sets the filename for the Custom Index. Enter the filename only; Second Site determines the filetype based on other program settings. Second Site proposes a filename for new pages; accept that name or provide a more descriptive one.
Menu
See Menu on the User Items page.
Button Image
See Button Image on the User Items page.
Enabled
If Enabled is checked, Second Site will build the Custom Index the next time you make the site. If Enabled is unchecked, the index will not be created. For more information, see Enabled on the User Items page.
Description
See Description on the User Items page.
Index Type
The Index Type determines the general contents of the index. You can choose "Index based on flag value(s)", "Index based on Last Edited date", or "Index based on person's events". Some properties vary based on which Index Type you choose. Those properties are described in the sections below.
Index on Flag Values
For indexes based on flag values, you choose a flag field from the Flag pull-down menu. You can include or exclude people with multiple flag values. Choose either Include or Exclude, and then key the values to include or exclude in the Values textbox. Second Site will build a list of people who are members of the site and pass the flag filter.
Indexes based on flag values are sorted by name.
Indexes on Last Edited Date
For indexes based on the Last Edited date, you choose a starting date using the Since pull-down menu. Set the maximum number of entries using the Max Entries textbox. Second Site will build a list of people whose TMG records have been edited on or after the starting date.
Indexes based on the Last Edited date are sorted in reverse order by Last Edited date, and within that, by the name.
Indexes on a Person's Events
For indexes based on a person's events, you supply the TMG ID of a person whose events will be used to construct the index. The person is typically not an actual person, but rather, a non-person who shares events with real people in your dataset. Every real person that you want in the index should share an event with the non-person, AKA the "index person".
Custom indexes based on a person's events provide the most control over the content and formatting of the custom index, but they require more effort to construct than the other methods.
Second Site ignores the exclusion status of the non-person when it builds the custom index. The non-person should be excluded from the site to avoid having the same events in both the custom index and in a person page entry.
I recommend using a custom tag as the basis for a custom index. Here's one suggestion for how to define the tag. This approach uses roles in such a way that you make both the non-person and the person principals in the event. You can choose whether or not the event is rendered in the narrative of the real person based on which role you choose.
- Add a new tag named "IndexEntry". Put it in the "Other" group.
- Add a role "NonPerson" with the sentence:
<[R:PersonShow]><[R:PersonHide]> <[M]>[:CR:][:CR:] - Add a role "PersonShow" with the sentence:
[P] <[M]> - Add a role "PersonHide" with the sentence:
--
When you add IndexEntry events, make the non-person one of the principals and assign the non-person the role "NonPerson". Make the actual person a principal and assign either the role "PersonShow" (if you want the event to appear in the actual person's narrative) or "PersonHide" (if you don't want the event to appear in the actual person's narrative).
This is only one example; there are may other ways to define the IndexEntry events, and other ways to use the "Index based on person's events" feature.
