Trade list idea...

It occurs to me that it would be truly splendiferous if items in the trade lists were tied to their entry in the PDB. This could cut down on record size, as well, because the plant ID number would replace the Name/Genus/Species/cultivar info.

This would also allow searching of tradable seeds easier...
(Could have a 'search for seeds' button on a PDB record page...?)

Obviously it would be up to us to make the link at the time of entry...

Not sure how tricky it might be...

Dave?

I've always wanted a button in the PDB that is..... "Add to My Trade List" so I can put things on my wanted list. Seeing all the PDB photos makes me add things to my wanted items list and it's been so tedious trying to add field by field in the Trade List that I just started a new Bookmarks folder for Spring and Fall planting and then bookmark the webpage and put it in the appropriate Bookmark folder.

I thought it would be neat if the "add to Trade List" button would only appear if you are a Subscriber and logged in while in the PDB. Then it would add it to your personal Trade List and prompt you to select the category info that you want to file it under. I figured that would be asking for a heroic feat of huge proportions so never posed it.

Huge proportions is exactly what my wanted list would look llike if that were possible!

LOL, Terre!! I always see people posting plants or seeds for trade and then head over to PDB to see what they are if I don't know them. Or I'll see a pic in the newsletter and say, "Oh I gotta have that!".

Just for the record, I second Mike's request for a link from the Trade List to the PDB entries.

I do see a 'small' structural problem, as it might require plants to be in the PDB before they are put on the trade list... But I am sure there is some work-round on that.

Anyway subscribers should want to maintain the PDB to the highest level, and that means putting their plants on it... No?

Mike ... yes they should want to maintain the PDB ;o)

My hunch is that with the PDB having 66,000+ entries, *most* of the items that might appear on someone's tradelist are already in there. If not, adding a new plant is not too difficult to do.

The bigger difficulty probably lies in us typing the names correctly. Perhaps it would be a good motivator for us to spell the names of our trade items properly (and to be sure to include the botanical name...)

Understood Terry, but surely the best way to do it would be through the adding items to the trade list screen which could simply refer the input to the PDB. Then, if the item wasn't there, the user would be asked to provide details...

From a technical standpoint, we've always refrained from using the journals and tradelists as a "chute" for information into the PDB. Rather, we've maintained the PDB as the gauge against which journal items are compared and matched.

I would see this working similarly,although there are some bugaboos with the multi-cultivar plants such as hostas and hems that would need to be worked out.

If Dave wants to pursue this, I would recommend that an entry that didn't match would get some feedback (prompt the user to check their spelling, for starters) and then if they can't find the plant AND they're sure it is valid, they could be transferred to the "add a new entry" page. But even still, there are some potential pitfalls with doing that.

Earlier this week I had to scrub a half-dozen or so entries created by a well-meaning soul who thought the PDB was the place to put her tradelist items and she unwittingly created several new/duplicate entries for the items she will have to trade. I can see where that scenario would become a more frequent threat if we start prompting people to add new entries when there isn't an exact match found.

It is an idea worth pursuing...we just need to fine-tune it a bit ;o)