I've kinda got a mix of you guy's suggestions. This is totally a test script here. I'll be using HTML::Template for all the html and will be cleaning up a few things, but to give you a general idea, here's what I made. It seems to work perfectly for my purposes. I tested it with as many as 3000 entries, even though it isn't likely that it will EVER have more than 500 (300 is what we expect). Comments are welcome!

#!c:/perl/bin/perl.exe -w
use strict;
use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);

#####################################################################
# CONFIGURATION
#####################################################################

my %OPTIONS = (
    databaseDir    =>    "c:/",
);

my %makes = (
    1    =>    'all',
    2    =>    'Chevrolet',
    3    =>    'Ford',
    4    =>    'Pontiac',
    5    =>    'Honda',
);
my %models = (
    1    =>    'all',
    2    =>    'Car',
    3    =>    'Truck',
    4    =>    'Van',
    5    =>    'Mini Van',
);

my %years = (
    1    => 'all',
    2    => '1980-1985',
    3    => '1986-1990',
    4    => '1991-1995',
    5    => '1996-2000',
    6    => '2000-Present',
);

my %sortBy = (
# The numbers here correspond to the place in the output hash string.
    Make    =>    '0',
    Model    =>    '1',
    Price    =>    '2',
    Year    =>    '3',
);

#####################################################################
# END OF CONFIGURATION
#####################################################################

use DB_File;
use CGI;
my $query = new CGI;
my $action        =    $query->param('action');
my $id            =    $query->param('id');
my $sortBy    =    $query->param('sortBy');
my $make        =    $query->param('make');
my $model    =    $query->param('model');
my $year        =    $query->param('year');
my $price        =    $query->param('price');
my %OUTPUT;
print $query->header;

my %ACTIONS = (
    search        =>    \&search,
    display    =>    \&display,
);


if ($action) {
    # If an action is given, active the appropriate subroutine
    $ACTIONS{$action}->();
}

else {
    # If no action is given, display the update page
    $ACTIONS{'search'}->();
}



#####################################################################
# SUBROUTINES
#####################################################################

sub check {
    if($_[0] == 1) {
        return(1);
    }
    elsif($_[0] == $_[1]) {
        return(1);
    }
    else {
        return(0);
    }
}

sub checkPrice {
    if($_[0] <= $price) {
        return(1);
    }
    else {
        return(0);
    }
}

sub search {
    print "<html><head><title>Output Page</title><style type=\"text/cs
+s\"><!-- .header { font: bold 10pt verdana; color: white; background:
+ orange; } .caption { font: 8pt verdana; color:black; } --></style></
+head><body><TABLE width=600 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>";
    my %OUTPUT=();
    my $counter = 0;
    tie (my %INDEX, "DB_File", "$OPTIONS{databaseDir}/index.db", O_RDW
+R|O_CREAT, 0755, $DB_HASH) || die "Cannot open database: $!\n";
    tie (my %DATABASE, "DB_File", "$OPTIONS{databaseDir}/database.db",
+ O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0755, $DB_HASH) || die "Cannot open database: $!\n";
    foreach my $key (keys %INDEX) {
        my @key = split(/\|/, $INDEX{$key});
        if(&check("$make","$key[0]")) {
            if(&check("$model","$key[1]")) {
                if(&check("$year","$key[2]")) {
                    if(&checkPrice("$key[3]")) {
                        # Form of output string: Make | Model | Price 
+| Details (from database.  in this case, year|description)
                        $OUTPUT{$key} = "$makes{$key[0]}|$models{$key[
+1]}|$key[3]|$DATABASE{$key}";
                        $counter++;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    if($counter == 0) {
        print "<td>No cars matched your search.  Please try again.</td
+>";
    }
    else {
        print "<tr><td colspan=4 align=right class=caption>Click on th
+e header to sort by that category</td></tr>";
        print "<tr>
            <td class=\"header\"><a href=\"carsearch.cgi?sortBy=Make\&
+make=$make\&model=$model\&price=$price\&year=$year\">Make</a></td>
            <td class=\"header\"><a href=\"carsearch.cgi?sortBy=Model\
+&make=$make\&model=$model\&price=$price\&year=$year\">Model</a></td>
            <td class=\"header\"><a href=\"carsearch.cgi?sortBy=Year\&
+make=$make\&model=$model\&price=$price\&year=$year\">Year</a></td>
            <td class=\"header\"><a href=\"carsearch.cgi?sortBy=Price\
+&make=$make\&model=$model\&price=$price\&year=$year\">Price</a></td>
            </tr>";
        foreach my $key (sort { my @a = split(/\|/, $OUTPUT{$a}); my @
+b = split(/\|/, $OUTPUT{$b}); $a[$sortBy{$sortBy}] cmp $b[$sortBy{$so
+rtBy}]; } (keys %OUTPUT)) {
            my @details = split(/\|/, $OUTPUT{$key});
            print "<tr><td><a href=\"carsearch.cgi?action=display\&id=
+$key\">$details[0]</a></td>";
            print "<td>$details[1]</td>";
            print "<td>$details[3]";
            print " <td>\$$details[2]</td></tr>\n ";
        }
    }
    
    print "</TABLE></body></html>";
    untie (%DATABASE);
    untie (%INDEX);
}

sub display {
    tie (my %INDEX, "DB_File", "$OPTIONS{databaseDir}/index.db", O_RDW
+R|O_CREAT, 0755, $DB_HASH) || die "Cannot open database: $!\n";
    tie (my %DATABASE, "DB_File", "$OPTIONS{databaseDir}/database.db",
+ O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0755, $DB_HASH) || die "Cannot open database: $!\n";
    my @key = split(/\|/, $INDEX{$id});
    my @details = split(/\|/, $DATABASE{$id});
    print "Make: $makes{$key[0]}<br>";
    print "Model: $models{$key[1]}<br>";
    print "Year: $details[0]<br>";
    print "Price: \$$key[3]<p>";
    print "Description: $details[1]";
    untie (%DATABASE);
    untie (%INDEX);
}

[download]

In reply to Re: Question about properly laying out a database by Stamp_Guy
in thread Question about properly laying out a database by Stamp_Guy

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