RPS Logo

Customizing the RPS/WWW Software

Specifying the location of RPS/WWW files.

All directory names for the consituent RPS/WWW files have been assigned to program variables and can be found in 'RPS.config.pl'.

Altering the Display of the Proposal Forms

You may edit the MISSION.form.pl file to alter the display of the form to suit your particular needs, but if you choose to do so, you must ensure that you make equivalent changes in the mission_*.pdf and mission.pcf files in order for the entire RPS system to interface properly.

For instance:

You wish to make the default country - Japan.

Edit mission_cover.pdf so that

|0|0|COI.COUNTRY(1)|Co-Investigator Country(1)|1|10|1| |A10|USA|

becomes

|0|0|COI.COUNTRY(1)|Co-Investigator Country(1)|1|10|1| |A10|Japan|

And edit the HTML section of MISSION.form.pl to make Japan appear as the first country in the SELECT widget to reflect the change.
```
$country_options = <<"Country Options"; <option>USA<option>Arg
entina . . .
```
becomes
```
$country_options = <<"Country Options"; <option>Japan<option>A
rgentina . . .
```
and place USA in alphabetical order.

You want to change 'State' to 'Prefecture'
1. In the mission.pdf file change
```
|0|0|POSTAL.STATE|State|1|32|1| |A32| |
```
  to
```
|0|0|PREFECTURE|Prefecture|1|32|1| |A32| |
```
2. Edit MISSION.form.html so that it has identical names as in the miss ion_*.pdf files. (The HTML FORM passes this information to the server along the query string.)
```
<a href="$mission_helpfile#State">State/County</a>  <input Size=3
2 maxlength=32 Name="State" Value="">
```
  becomes
```
<a href="$mission_helpfile#Prefecture">Prefecture</a>  <input Siz
e=32 maxlength=32 Name="Prefecture" Value="">
```
3. The mission.phf file must correspond to the mission.pdf
```
** State
The name of the state or province of the institute.  Up to 32 characters.
```
  becomes
```
** Prefecture
The name of the Prefecture of the institute.  Up to 32 characters.
```
4. Run make.help.html.pl to ensure currency of the MISSION.help.html fi le, otherwise hyperlinks from the proposal form cannot access the online help.(i e MISSION.help.html)

Changing the size of input widgets

In the mission.pdf file edit the field assigning the size of the parameter. For example change
```
|0|1|TARGET.NUMBER|Target Number|3|3|1| |I3| |
```
to
```
|0|1|TARGET.NUMBER|Target Number|3|4|1| |I4| |
```

In MISSION.form.html change:

<a href="$mission_helpfile#Target Number">Target Number</a> <inpu
t Size=3 maxlength=3 Name="Target Number" Value=">

<a href="$mission_helpfile#Target Number">Target Number</a> <inpu
t Size=4 maxlength=4 Name="Target Number" Value=">

RPS Development Team: RPSHelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov

Last modified: Thursday, 14-Apr-2005 16:08:13 EDT