This is the Official Thread for all discussion concerning creating and managing your own custom databases.

LAST EDITED ON May-10-04 AT 04:52 PM (PST)
 
Revised 5/10/2004

1) Create a folder somewhere or use the existing "data" folder. I stuck mine in the "data" folder and named it "databases." This is done for purely organizational purposes. If this is confusing just create it in the default/root folder of FatBomb.

2) Next create a file in that folder called whatever. I named mine "datab1.dat" It can be a .dat extension or .txt extension. If you do it in notepad simply rename "name.txt" to "name.dat" once it is on your server (if you want to). Upload in ascii. This is the file NAME and NOT the database name. The two are different.

3) Add info to that file via pipe delimiter format: URL|Title|Description

Example:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?xxxxx.02layhi|Glamour Photography Profits|Learn how to promote and make . . .
http://hop.clickbank.net/?xxxxx.040522|Voodooblackmagic|Online Psychic Readings.
http://hop.clickbank.net/?xxxxx.10kperday|Real Estate With No Credit Checks!|Invest in Real . . .

4)Add DataBase in admin area. The database name is just a NAME that you give it. Name it after your dog, cat or a the cute name you call your significant other. It is just a name that you associate with the database.

For example, if you created a db with Clickbank links it would make perfect (and common) sense to name it "cbank." Amazon db could be "zon."

When adding the path to your db file it is relation to the FatBomb.cgi. IF you put the file in the root FB folder then you will JUST PUT IN THE NAME OF THE FILE.

Chris

Hi Kurt,

I will be working on 2 installs right away.

I for example own www.shopdcmetro.com, a regional small business directory for the DC area. Currently run using the Hyperseek database. I currently have over 1,000 listings in my database.

If I understand correctly, I can add all of those to show prior to meta searches.

The reason I continue to use Hyperseek, is because of the ability to build html pages, that get spidered by other searchengines.

What bomb to you recommend that I include with Fatbomb to provide both meta searches, and static pages?
===========

I also have a topical database, i.e. http://cooking-recipes.searchking.com. I don't do much with it because of time. I am thinking i can replace hyperseek, with fatbomb here as well.

Anyway that's what I plan. any ideas?

Also, I will continually report here on my finding / status.

Kelvin

>1) Create a folder somewhere. I stuck it in the data folder
>and named it "databases."
>
>2) Next create a file in that folder called whatever. I
>named mine "datab1.dat" IT NEEDS TO BE a .dat extension. If
>you do it in notepad simply rename "name.txt" to "name.dat"
>once it is on your server. Upload in ascii.
>
>3) Add info to that file via pipe delimiter format:
>URL|Title|Description
>
>Then add DataBase in admin area.
>
>Chris

Hi Chris,
FYI: I was just working with the databases, and found that the current database uploaded as the sample, is named with a txt extension. i.e. spiderhub.txt.

Question, does it have to be a .dat extension?

When installing a database, you are asked for the path. I had to play with this a bit.

I called it from the default folder of where Fatbomb is installed, and the path at this point is just the file name.

Kelvin

For branding, I would like to make my own database results stand out, other than just assigning them more points.

Is it possible to add an images field to the database, i.e.

image file location/URL/Title/Desc.

kelvin

Kelvin and all,

Quote

---

I called it from the default folder of where Fatbomb is installed, and the path at this point is just the file name.

---

This is fine and will work. You already have an updated version of FatBomb!

Chris

The spiderhub.txt file is an example "database". I used spiderbomb to crawl John Calder's www.spiderhub.com domain.

The tough part of adding a database for most will be inserting the file path.

If you just upload your databases (text files) to the same "place" as fatbomb.cgi (or whatever you renamed it), you will just need to enter the file name, and not the path.

Of course, if you are familiar with server paths, you can create a folder anywhere, or for that matter, enter a server path to any existing file on your server, assuming it is in the proper format.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-19-04 AT 00:37 AM (PST)
 
>For branding, I would like to make my own database results
>stand out, other than just assigning them more points.
>
>Is it possible to add an images field to the database, i.e.
>
>image file location/URL/Title/Desc.
>
>

Kelvin,

Yes.

1 Open your kelvin.txt database in Notetab, free at www.notetab.com .

2. Create/copy the HTML for your graphic.

3. Do a search/replace in NoteTab:

Find: ^p
Replace: <your html here>^p

NOTE: The blank space before the html tag(s) and the ^p and the end of the "replace with". You will need to include it in the "replace", as well as the "find".

This will add the html to your images, etc to the end of the description in your database and the images will be "viewable" in the SERP's...

If you want to sell banner advertising as an "upgrade", for example, you can locate the URL in your database/text file and add custom html for any link.

Hi Kurt,

Thanks to your feedback, I was able to add the images and a fake upgrade link.

My database is not aligned properly, so the images are a little out of place, but they are there.

http://www.shopdcmetro.com/cgi/metro/metro.cgi/?skin=washingtondc&length=20&keywords=Washington%20DC

Kelvin

After reading the above posts re: spiderhub.txt-->.dat, I made the same change. It only needs file name for path. I turned the other "engines" off, expecting Phatty to look in the spiderhub file. Nothing came up.

Is there something I forgot to do?

John

John,

URL|Title|Description

Save file as whatever.txt or whatever.dat (either will work).

Call 'whatever.txt or whatever.dat' from admin page as a path (i.e. data/db/db1.dat) in relation to the FatBomb.cgi NOT a URL. If you call the spiders.txt as a path it will just be 'spiders.txt'

The above path (data/db/db1.dat) shows that my database is in the 'Data' folder, sub-folder 'db', file 'db1.dat' in relation to my FB.cgi

Any help?

Chris

Because the databases are text files and located on the same server, would there be a speed problem having more than 20 databases.

For example people that have already paid for advertising should come up first. I have people that have paid for different levels of ads.

So I know I need at least 3 custom databases of my existing directory. The smaller databases may have only 10 to 30 entries.
Where the larger one will have about 1,900.

Kelvin

Kelvin,

That doesn't sound bad at all. I'm not sure if anyone knows the outer limits of Fatbomb right now, but I wouldn't think 2000 records would be a problem at all.

Jeff

Kelvin,

I agree with Jeff that it 'shouldn't' be a problem.

Best way to check is just to make copies of the largets database and upload a few of them, then add them to the Custom Databases.

Run some tests and see how your server handles it...

I've got a .gov spiderbomb database around here somewhere that's fairly large...I'll try to post it later, if I can find it.

Hi Jeff,

I am not so much concerned about the one larger database, as I am about using several smaller ones.

Kelvin

Hi Kelvin,

You are really making a tradeoff of network resources/time (to request and receive engines' data), and shifting it more to your server. Even with several database files, I bet it will run faster than an off-server query as long as you have no more than a few thousand records in each file. As Kurt said, you'll just have to copy it several times to see. I'd be interested in your results.

There's far less data to parse from a database file, as the program doesn't have to parse through an entire web page to get what it wants, and the database files are in a "fixed" format. Also, you're not writing the files, which generally takes longer than just a read.

Jeff

Kelvin

This may be the database Kurt is speaking of...not sure

http://www.dombom.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=141&forum=DCForumID9

Post 6

Rick

LinkBomb Demo - Fully Functional Demo
LinkBomb.com - MadBombers Special Page and Price

LAST EDITED ON Apr-23-04 AT 10:36 AM (PST)
 
Thanks Rick...

Since not every FatBomber can access that thread...Here's the SpiderBomb ".gov" database you can use in FatBomb:

http://dombom.com/gov.txt

It has over 8100 records. Try 3-4 copies of this file, starting with one, then a test, then add another, then test, etc.

Directions:

Go to: http://dombom.com/gov.txt

Select all the text and paste into a text document (or use "Save As") and name it gov.txt

Upload to the same directory that you see fatbomb.cgi (or whatever you renamed it).

Go to your FatBomb Admin "Custom Databases" and enter for the file path: gov.txt

Run some test searches and see how responsive FatBomb is. If everythign is OK, repeat, "saving as" gov2.txt, gov3.txt, etc.

Everyone's hosting is different. So it is probably wise to do a little testing...

My FB bomb is working.

however, I am confused about the results I get back.

http://www.africanamericanbusinessdirectory.com

Using custom database what is:
All
exact
any

example if I search for "printers" I get 12 results between my database and the selected search engines.

However, if I search for " african american printers", I get 95 results.

I have the admin area set to show 100 results.

kelvin

Kelvin,

All - Only returns results containing ALL words listed. Not in any exact order.

exact - Returns only results that contain the EXACT phrase.

any - will return results than contain any SINGLE word of the search results. For the phrase "african american printers" in "any" mode will return links that contain only "african", for examplle.

Any - Returns the most results, but less relevance.

Exact - Returns the least results, but most relevance.

All - A compromise of the two above.

Which you chose is up to you...Having multiple databases also allows that some can be used in "any" mode, while others are used in "exact" to fit your individual needs.

What do I put in as ID when adding a database?

I keep getting "inadmissible id"

My path is data/database and the file is db1.dat

I thought db1.dat was the ID!!!

Help

>I thought db1.dat was the ID!!!
>

Graeme,

That's the file name.

The ID is what you want to call it and what you want the database to been "named" when displayed in the SERPs. Certain characters, such as periods are not allowed.

PS. Why are you so excited over this!!!?!?!?

Thanks Kurt.

I've been excited since Oct 12 03 when I got my first bomb and the excitement grows everyday:-)))))

I want to add an addition management link to each listing, that says " report bad link". Making it easy for people to report it, so I can keep it clean.

Is there a script or program that will allow it to pre populate a form with the link title and or database name, that will email the form to me so I can make the proper updated?

I know how to add a link. But again, I want to make it as easy as possible for the end user to help me, by reporting it.

Kelvin

Kelvin,

For that you will probably need to hire Jeff or Chris to write something specific for your needs.

They're pretty cheap...

copernic.com is one program that will help you search for and build your own links to add to fatbomb custom directory.

The free version works for this or u can upgrade.

if you own zeus or a similiar program they will help also. Using a combination of these you can build your links database, and at the same time setup program to request recipical links.

kelvin

This is probably a dumb question, but I want my database links to be listed first in the results.
I have given the search engines a weight of 90 and my database a weight of 100 assuming this would do it, but my database links are nowhere to be seen and I have the correct path and suitable description

What am I doing wrong?

Graeme,

Just for the heck of it try turning off all your se's or setting them to 0. This way you are forcing you db to only come up. If it doesn't come up there maybe a problem.

Chris

I did that thanks Chris and the database info was all that came up, so I decided to look a little further and found my links on page 3 of my own search engine when I have control of manipulating the results, so it doesn't look very good for my future in search engine optimization.

Now that I know it's working - how to I get onto page 1:-)

Does the weight matter, or are there some other settings that I need to adjust?

Thanks

Graeme,

Set weight of all engines to 1

Set occurance weight to 1

Set custom database weight to 1000

PS. Graeme...If you can't get number one in your own engine...

I can now join the elite few who can honestly say they are search engine experts.

I have just got to number one on my own search engine after weeks of optimization.

If you need any advice Kurt, don't hesitate to ask me.

ps: Thanks for putting me out of my misery:-)

I have set up Fatbomb and am totally lost.
Have tried to get searches to come up and
have added a database. Do I need to purchase
spiderbomb to get information for all of the
searches for Fatbomb.

This is really confusing.

Nathan

>Set weight of all engines to 1
>
>Set occurance weight to 1
>
>Set custom database weight to 1000
>

Hi All!

Would someone please explain weights and how to best decide how to weight different databases? Is it just higher numbers mean higher rank in the SE?

What is the difference between weight of engines and "occurance weight"?

Thanks!

Rick Wilson aka CorpRebel

>I have set up Fatbomb and am totally lost.
>Have tried to get searches to come up and
>have added a database. Do I need to purchase
>spiderbomb to get information for all of the
>searches for Fatbomb.
>
>This is really confusing.
>
>Nathan

Nathan,

The license says you have to register for the forum. With this said...You need to be more specific.

If you are a newbie, I suggest you Jeff or Chris to install it and get it working for you.

Rick,

I suggest you mess with the weights and see what happens.

"Occurance" weight are "bonus points" given for each time a URL is found is a search engine's results.

If a URL is listed in 3 engines AND the weight is set to 100, then an "occurance weight" of 300 is factored into FatBomb's ranking equation.

Occurance Weight is based on the theory that a page that is in a number of engines should get some extra points, regradless of rank.

Thanks Kurt!

Have been playing around with it but wanted to make sure I was looking at it the right way. I would never have figured out the "occurance weight" till you explained it. Makes sense now.

Thanks Again!

Rick Wilson

Okay, I have set up fatbomb and I hard link
a search for atv....

http://www.1penplace.com/cgi-bin/fb/seek.cgi?skin=default&length=20&keywords=atv

The resulting page comes up blank except for
the search box and the fatbomb link.
What am I doing wrong?

Do I need to manually add databases? This is
why I asked if I need to purchase spiderbomb.

Nathan

Nathan,

From what I can tell, you have no search engines "activated" and you are only using a Clickbank database which is configured wrong.

If this is so then turn off you db and turn on an se or two and see if it works.

Chris

Hello Chris,

I disabled the database and then I enabled two search
engines. Still getting the same result.

Nathan

>Hello Chris,
>
>I disabled the database and then I enabled two search
>engines. Still getting the same result.
>
>Nathan

Hi Nathan,

Check and see if you have the data/cache folders in your fb directory:

/cgi-bin/fb/data/cache

I had that problem too. It was the fact that when using something like winzip to unzip the FB files, winzip doesn't extract any "empty" folders. You just have to "select all" when you extract.

So just add a data folder (under you FB directory) with a cache folder in the "data" folder. Then try adding the databases again. Worked for me.

Hope you understood my explanation okay! heh heh

Rick Wilson aka CorpRebel

Nathan,

Now it looks to me as though you are missing a folder or have a bad path.

Try what Rick has said. Create a folder in the data folder named db (easy name) in that folder place your data file.

In admin area call the file like so: data/db/yourdbfile.txt

Chris

I am having the same problem as Nathan..
I have a cache directory in the data directory..I even have google and yahoo within it.. with files that have the keyword I tried.. what's next to try ?

Tasari
Internet Marketing Warrior
http://www.bestsecrets.com

T-

Use "Spiderhub" as a working example, it resides in the default default directory. Simply just call it by name. See if that works. Then do a progressive path to the "data" folder (if that is where you are storing you db files).

Remember these are paths AND NOT urls.

chris

Will the amazon scripts work with fatbomb?

If so which is the recommended script?

Or would it be better to just wait and gets Bo's bid script?

I think my comedy site, would be a good place to add vidoes, joke books, etc. to the site.

kelvin

>Will the amazon scripts work with fatbomb?
>
>If so which is the recommended script?
>
>
>Or would it be better to just wait and gets Bo's bid script?

Do you mean BIB? I have setup BuyItBomb to work seamlessly with Fatbomb. All it takes is a custom BIB template and Fatbomb engine file. I haven't put together one for BuyItBomb_zon but it certainly can be done. I'll put it on my to-do list.

Bo

I finally had the time to try and install Fatbomb. I thought it would be a nightmare but actually it was very easy, took only five or ten minutes, no problems whatsoever.

However, when I try to install the sample spiderhub database I get this error:
FatBomb
Software Error
Cannot open file 'data/config.lck': No such file or directory at lib/Gamma/Storage.pm line 53.

I also get the same error when I try to change the password.

Have I done something wrong? Should I do a reinstall? I followed the discussion up to this point and it seemed to make sense: spiderhub.dat is in the same place as fatbomb. My path is thus spiderhub.dat But I can't get it to work.

Any help will be appreciated.

Castle

>>Have I done something wrong? Should I do a reinstall? I
>followed the discussion up to this point and it seemed to
>make sense: spiderhub.dat is in the same place as fatbomb.
>My path is thus spiderhub.dat But I can't get it to work.
>
>Any help will be appreciated.
>
>Castle

Hi Castle,

I believe you need to change spiderhub.dat to spiderhub.txt . See if that does the trick.

Rick Wilson aka CorpRebel

This is a permissions error, try changing it to 777.

Kelvin

>However, when I try to install the sample spiderhub database
>I get this error:
>FatBomb
>Software Error
>Cannot open file 'data/config.lck': No such file or
>directory at lib/Gamma/Storage.pm line 53.
>
>I also get the same error when I try to change the password.
>

Hi everybody, I want to introduce myself, my name is George, I'm new to bombs and I'm trying to get my Fat Bomb/URL Bomb combo up and running.

I'm trying to follow the samples in this thread for testing out how to create a custom database, but I need some help figuring out what I may be doing wrong.

My cgi url path to the database is: http://www.createandsellproducts.com/cgi-bin/trenchcoatgoat/dig.cgi/admin/add_database

I've uploaded the gov.txt database mentioned in the above posts into the same directory as my fatbomb cgi.(dig.cgi) I go to may fat bomb admin panel and click on the databases link at the top of the admin panel. In the id field I entered gov.txt, but all I get is an inadmissible id error.

Is there a certain path I need to use, even though gov.txt is in the same directory as my dig.cgi?

Also if you could give me clarification on when/how to use the enabled yes/no radio buttons, and the search mode all/any/exact buttons. I'm not sure what these need to be set at.

I also tried other ways mentioned in the above posts such as creating a database folder, and changing a text file to a dat file, but ran into the same type of problem. I also tried changing the permissions on the gov.txt file a few different ways including 777, but that didn't make any difference either.

Hope these aren't too many questions for my first post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
George

Hi George,

In the ID field, just enter a name that you will use for the database - like gov . I think it doesn't want the "." in that field, just letters and numbers.

Then enter gov.txt in the path field (assuming it's in the same directory as dig.cgi).

Enabled-Yes needs to be checked if you want to include that database in your search results, Enabled-No if you don't want to include it.

See post 19 on this thread for explanation of any/all/exact.

You can set the weight of results from that database just as you can with all the engines.

Jeff

Hyperseek is great, But switching from hyperseek to Fatbomb is now worth over $500 a month to me.

There is another thread where you can see the steps taken over about a 3 month period.

kelvin

Thanks Jeff, your tip immeditately solved the problem. All I had to do was add the name.

Another question I have is how are databases like gov.txt created. Was this done using SpiderBomb, and if so does it automatically output in the pipe delimited format so it can be used as a Fat bomb db?

Also are there any other programs/bombs/tools available to create the Fat Bomb data bases? I've never used pipe delimited before, so I not sure the best means to create this format.

George

George,

I'm not positive, but I think the gov.txt file was created with Spiderbomb. I know that Spiderbomb creates its files in the exact format needed.

Other bombs that create or can create this format:

Tasari's AddURLBomb and Tazbomb
Bo's BuyitBomb (with conversion)
Gil's CBBomb (with conversion)
My own Atlasbomb (for your site map)

(I may have missed some)

You can create Fatbomb database files yourself too, for example, using Excel or Access. As long as you keep the right format it will work fine.

Jeff

George, Jeff and All...

Yes, the .gov data file was created using SpiderBomb.

Also, any Bomb that has a "format" uses the FatBomb file format, meaning each can be used with FatBomb.

Actually, F A T means:
For
All
The

And F A T Bomb is intended to be used either as a stand-alone Bomb, or with as many other Bombs as possible.

Hello All,

In an earlier post on this thread it says we can change our
"source" readout by editing the "^p" and adding our source
name (in the above post it is an image rather than a name).

I have created a few databases now using spiderbomb, but
I do not see the ^p referred to in this other post.

Can someone help me out here?

Here's the original post on this:
---------------------------------

>For branding, I would like to make my own database results
>stand out, other than just assigning them more points.
>
>Is it possible to add an images field to the database, i.e.
>
>image file location/URL/Title/Desc.
>
>
Kelvin,

Yes.

1 Open your kelvin.txt database in Notetab, free at www.notetab.com .

2. Create/copy the HTML for your graphic.

3. Do a search/replace in NoteTab:

Find: ^p
Replace: <your html here>^p

NOTE: The blank space before the html tag(s) and the ^p and the end of the "replace with". You will need to include it in the "replace", as well as the "find".

This will add the html to your images, etc to the end of the description in your database and the images will be "viewable" in the SERP's...

If you want to sell banner advertising as an "upgrade", for example, you can locate the URL in your database/text file and add custom html for any link.

--------------------------------------------

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what's being said here.

Thanks,
Patrick

All,
>
>In an earlier post on this thread it says we can change our
>"source" readout by editing the "^p" and adding our source
>name (in the above post it is an image rather than a name).

Patrick...

^p represents the start of a paragraph in Notetab but is "invisible". Type is just like you did here and follow the directions just as I described.

Hey Kurt,

The strangest thing. While everything seems to be working with my fatbomb, the main link is broken. This is what I get

http://www.pinupcollection.info/http://www.shareasale.com/m-pr.cfm?merchantID=9183&userID=01198900&productID=123456789

The db seems to be right so I dont know why my url is added in front of the merchants.

Gil

Sports moderators wanted. Join the sports-blog and share in the revenue generated.
http://sports-blog.com/community/

>The strangest thing. While everything seems to be working
>with my fatbomb, the main link is broken. This is what I get
>
>http://www.pinupcollection.info/http://www.shareasale.com/m-pr.cfm?merchantID=9183&userID=01198900&productID=123456789
>
>The db seems to be right so I dont know why my url is added
>in front of the merchants.

Gil,

I'm not sure what you mean. Is it happening with every link in that database? Just the one link? All links in all databases?

Kurt it is happening with all links in all
databases. The searchfeed link are ok. It's happening with the links from the engines and the database. I am now going to check my skins again to see if I accidentaly added my url. I will post again in a few minutes.

>
>>The strangest thing. While everything seems to be working
>>with my fatbomb, the main link is broken. This is what I get
>>
>>http://www.pinupcollection.info/http://www.shareasale.com/m-pr.cfm?merchantID=9183&userID=01198900&productID=123456789
>>
>>The db seems to be right so I dont know why my url is added
>>in front of the merchants.
>
>Gil,
>
>I'm not sure what you mean. Is it happening with every link
>in that database? Just the one link? All links in all
>databases?

Sports moderators wanted. Join the sports-blog and share in the revenue generated.
http://sports-blog.com/community/

Kurt,

I figured it out. Sorry to bother you Sometimes Dreamweaver adds ../../ to links if a page is moved from one folder to another.

Sports moderators wanted. Join the sports-blog and share in the revenue generated.
http://sports-blog.com/community/