CardFile Server

Path: accessible via /cards/index.html

SSI: <CARDS>

Sample Output: CardServ Default Page | CardServ Search Result

CardServ allows users to search the Names (Cardfile) database, receive a ranked list of entries matching your search terms, then view any of those entries in one of two ways:

• As a formatted HTML Page
• As a Versit vCard for import into a vCard-capable Address Book such as that which ships with Netscape Communicator 3.x and higher.

You can access CardServ via the inserting the URL path /cards/index.html or by embedding its SSI, or you can have the actual search form embedded in a note by using the SSI tag <NAME_SEARCH>.

Configuring CardServ

Show Notes: Since many of us store provate information in the Notes of our Name cards, un-check the "Show Notes" box to keep this information hidden. It is set to TRUE by default until you change it the first time.

Active: NPDS Plugins are dynamically loadable/unloadable. If you wish to turn on or off service of Names data, open CardServ and de-check this box. To turn Names back on, re-check it. You no longer need to freeze most NPDS plugins to de-activate them.

FAQ for CardServ

Q: I don't use Netscape Communicator. How can I utilize the wonderful vCard standard?

A: Well, some programs support importing of vCard data from a text file. You may choose to download a person's vCard to disk then import it manually. Other than that, I don't know. I wrote CardServ for my own use.

Q: Can I use CardServ as a sync tool with a Pilot or my desktop computer?

A: In its current state, no. Future development may head that way here in Lightyear Land or someone may decide to implement it on their own. One-way transmission of massive amounts Cards data is more likely to come soon than two-way syncing. For example, early experiemental builds of CardServ had an LDAP server built in as the query system for the Card file which supported transfer of the whole Cardfile as an LDAP database.

Q: How can I prevent access to my Names data from outside my intranet, LAN, etc?

A: At present you cannot. However, though NPDS 2.0 has barely shipped, the next version of NPDS will support basic password protection and IP range restriction for enhanced security of you sensitive data.

Q: Can I post to the Cardfile from the Web?

A: Not yet. I decided to wait for better security before implementing this feature in a publicly available package. MY Newton allows posting via the web ;-) so it's on it's way.