I am a DJ with a songbook of about 50,000 titles. Each songbook item has an Artist and a Title i.e. Rush - 2112 What I am trying to do is create a songbook app that the user can search for songs by Title or Artist or browse the complete list sorted by Title or Artist. I have my list exported to excel, pdf, word, and csv. I would like the app to pull the file from the web, because I frequently update the music so they will always have the current list of songs. I checked for Database plug-ins and didn't see anything. Is there a way to get this done?

Hi @KenSanDiego. I'm thinking about this and I had a couple of questions. How do you want to present the 50,0o0 titles - do you show them in a list, or just search to find the result? Is there anything you want the user to do once they have searched? Or is it just find the song, show it, job done?

find the song, show it, job done. All text based. Nothing fancy. It is basically a songbook so I would like them to have the option of either searching for a specific song, or just scroll through the list, maybe with A-J K-Q R-Z kinda thing to break it up. Since each listing has both an artist and a title I would like to be able to sort the list so it is presented alphabetically either by artist or by title. I could have two separate files i guess, presorted, with a specific button to call either the artist file or the title file.

Android, iOS or both? > Is there a way to get this done? Yes, there is a way to get this done, but it will require custom programming. >find the song, show it, job done Would they eventually want to have their favorites remembered and sent to someone else? Or added to a calendar ("show this song at this time in the future")? >I could have two separate files i guess, presorted, with a specific button to call either the artist file or the title file. Three ways of doing this: 1) Upload such files manually to the server and have the app read from two addresses from the server. 2) Have all the data on the server and then manipulate the data directly on the server through a, say, PHP script. 3) The app can do all this on its own if programmed natively.

If I were you, I'd draw out the basic 'workflow' that you think you're going to need, and start matching up plugins… Also, with a catalog that big, you're heading in the right direction, calling on a database. You can use an internal SQLite database, or you can work with a mySql database off an internet server somewhere. Either way will be speedy; but the internet will depend on connections as well. That said, not 'everything' is built and ready to go; you may have to make some edit and cuts here and there to get things just right. I would use something like Susan or Chris' advanced menus with Image for many different things, including song 'lists'. To display it, you might think about either custom created webpages, or a custom plugin, that can handle the dynamic data on the fly. Mr. David's search plugin might come in handy… and a few others. Make a list; check it twice; ask more questions. Let us know how far you've gotten, and what it takes to get you all the way, and we're willing to help where we can. Cheers! -- Smug

Using the advanced search plugin might work, not sure though.

My thinking is this. If you have a 50,000 record dataset based in Excel and you update it every now and then, it might be easier to keep that on the web, create a web page or two to work with it and style it for your app and link to it from a custom url plugin. This would be a lightweight solution for an app; the processing is done on a server. Have a look at this article, it might get you to where you want to go? http://www.ezscripting.com/csv/search.htm

I really appreciate all the help guys. What I need is so simple (in my mind) I started on the learning path to dev it myself. I get by with html and css so the crossover to Android has come pretty naturally, but coding from scratch is still beyond my focus threshold. I'm more copy/paste/edit at this point. I have to say the buzztouch learning path was a Godsend. The basic structure was explained in a way I was able to absorb and comprehend. Anyway, thanks again. I will look at all your links and advice and get back to you with my progress, or lack of it ;-) p.s. @Dusko I am concentrating on Android until I build up my skills. I'm sure down the road I will be bothering you all with iOS questions. I'm shooting for VERY basic at this point. A searchable list and that is all. Down the road I may want to incorporate logins so previous lookups can be remembered and at some point 'requests' sent directly to the DJ through sms or passed through a server that can then forward to the right DJ (if we have several events running on the same night) But all this is miles away from what I'm trying to do right now.

I have built systems just like the one you want to build, both for iOS and Android, so don't be afraid to ask; there's plenty to share! Keep at it and all the barriers will fall in front of you!