ISFDB Design Documentation
Introduction
Concept of Operations
Database Schema
The ISFDB data resides in a MySQL database. The data resides in tables which are grouped into four categories: author-related, table-related, publication-related, and global data. The online bibliographic pages are constructed directly from these database tables. Modifications to the database are made by inserting XML-formatted submissions into a special submissions table; they are later integrated by a moderator while has the appropriate privileges.
Details on table structure and relationships can be found in the Database Schema article.
Data Submission XML Formats
Updates to the database are made by submitting data requests. These requests are XML-based, and follow specific Data Submission Formats. The requests can either be generated via online editing tools available at the main site, or may generated by offline tools and submitted via the Web Services API.
Web Services
Examples
Michael J. Cross (who is also a short fiction contributor to the ISFDB) has a prototype website up and running using the MySQL database. It is under development, not complete, and subject to change. Here are the links to the Project Page and the Database Page.