The “Simple” Table Output

Why Is This Page So Slow?

This is because it contains five separate calls to the root server. Even though the data is small, each call has overhead. For this reason, it’s a good idea to limit the number of inline lists per page.

Live Examples

Since Version 1.5 of the BMLT, we have the ability to generate very simple tables of meetings from the BMLT root server. The idea is to create very simple, easily-styled displays of meetings without all the bells and whistles that the BMLT displays for its main, interactive searches. These four examples are all live queries to the root server (which is why this page took so long to load).

The Basics

Here is a very simple example:

These are the meetings that occur weekly in the town of Ronkonkoma, New York. This shows how this capability can be used to create extremely simple, narrowly-scoped lists that are a lot less intimidating to site visitors than the classic BMLT search. Clicking on the meeting name takes you to that meeting’s individual listing on the BMLT root server, and clicking on the address takes you to the Google Maps location of that meeting, allowing the visitor access to things like Street View and directions.

It can also be styled to better “mesh” with your site, using nothing but CSS. For example, let’s remove the nation, and display the table rows in alternating backgrounds:

Working With Block Elements

The two examples above are demonstrations of the basic <table> element-based response. You can also get the response delivered in <div> element-based format, which can give you a lot more flexibility. On the right, is the block element-based response. We have removed the town completely, floated to the right, joined the time and weekday together, and have made the alternations more extreme:

Here is another example, with a “lighter” tone:

As you can see, you can have multiple instances of these searches, with different parameters, on a single page (or even a post, in WordPress).

In the same manner as above, you can get the format code descriptions returned:

In the next couple of pages, we’ll discuss how to work with the results of a search, and how to generate the search.