Database Record Browser (DRB) is a BEE application that "hooks" a database to the website.

For example, if the DRB application maps to the /drb/ path, the URL http://www.mysite.com/drb/toy/car001.htm will be handled by DRB, which will extract the /toy/car001.htm from the URL as a handle to look up the record from the database table and display it.  This handle is called the Record Path.

The Record Path may be a leading "subpath", e.g. "/toy/", in which case, all records with the Record Path field starting with "/toy/" will be retrieved.  The display will show multiple records.

If no record can be found, DRB will display a not-found page.  That means there are three formats for DRB to show records: One record, Many records, and None.

The Editor (logged in with Editor privilege) can search or browse into the record in the same way as a non-privileged public visitors do, but instead of viewing the records, the Editor can edit them.  That means there are two different modes for DRB depending on the user privilege: View mode and Edit mode.

Together with the three different formats, there are all together six combinations:

• View One: Display the record detail
• View Many: Display a list of records (If the list is longer than the page size, BEE will show the page navigation bar with page number links.)
• View None: Display the "not-found" message
• Edit One: Display the record detail update form
• Edit Many: Display a spreadsheet like form with each row representing a record.  The Editor can update multiple records in one go.  (If the list is longer than the page size, BEE will show the navigation bar.)  At the bottom of the form, there is a special row for the Editor to add a new record.
• Edit None: Display the "new record" form.  It is usually the same as the View One form, but with the "Add" button.

There are some useful hints for editing these layouts.  Please read on.