If you have not come to this page from the sequence starting at Starting a New Cave" then go and read that first.
This page and those following describe the process for creating new caves and entrances, and especially how to add images/surveys so that they appear correctly online.
For experienced people creating a batch of small caves the file upload & import process is quicker. Most people won't use this method for their first cave so it is documented separately in new cave file method.
In other words you can either add caves (or entrances) using the web-interface or you can check out the 'expoweb' repository using the version control system and just edit the files.
Nevertheless you will find it useful when filling out the form for the first time to have some idea what is going on behind the scenes. So you are recommended to have a quick look at the new cave file method even if you have no intention of using it.
For a simple cave all the description will go into the "New Cave" form as described here. A more complex cave will have separate HTML files for the different sections and subdirectories to put them all in. Here we only describe the process for a simple cave.
Complementing the passage description in vertical bits is a Rigging Guide. Keep notes on this as it is the next step after drawing up the survey. The rigging guide sections will have been written into the logbook, and the passage descriptions will have been written into the survex files, with more lyrical descriptions written into the logbook for each trip.
Write a passage descriptions by copying and extending the descriptions given in all the component .svx files. You will have seen how these were created in the Cave Description" handbook page.
This should be detailed enough to be followed by someone in the cave who hasn't been there before, and should include all passage names, lengths of pitches and climbs, compass directions when this makes left/right/ahead clearer. If your passage is a connection it is worth while writing descriptions from both directions. You will copy the collected descriptions into the online system using the "New Cave" form but for now just ensure that you have it all collected together.
In written descriptions, underline passage names the first time they are mentioned, or when they are "defined".
If it is a complex cave, you will type this description, and pass it on to someone more nerdy who will file it in the right place. For a simple cave you can do it all yourself with the the New Cave form - but not yet.
You are typing an HTML fragment which will be assembled into a complete page. So follow our usual rules about putting images in Handbook pages and writing HTML in logbooks
You will find the process a lot easier to follow if you Edit an existing cave first, because then you can see all the necesary fields filled in. You can then fill out the form for your new cave using that as an example to follow. But of course be very careful not to actually chenge anything on the form you have open for editing.
For a totally new cave you will be using a temporary number such as 2017-CUCC-24 or 2018-dm-07, not an Austrian official-issued Kataster number. But you may have been surveying a new passage in an established cave in which case you will need to find out if it has recently been issued with a Kataster number.
The list in the "Caves" page (the menu item "Caves" in the vertical menu in the top-left of the page you are reading now) shows all the caves which have been already "created" within the online system. You can see a slightly-more updated list in the Cave Number Index which includes caves which are in the process of being registered but may not have been "created" using either of the two methods described here.
The links to follow to open up the "New Cave" form or the "Edit Cave" forms are
somewhat obscure.
Go to the main cave index page which lists all the caves: Cave Index
and on the right of the page, between the 1626 caves and the 1623 caves, it says
New Cave
just above where it also says "Cave Number Index - kept updated".
But don't click on it yet, first we will edit an old cave.
First make sure that you are logged-in to the troggle website. You almost certainly are already, but if you are trying this on a new machine this can catch you out. Go to /accounts/login/. The username is "expo" and the password is the usual "{cavey}:{beery}" one.
Now let's look at another cave:
Behind the scenes, you are editing different .xml files for the cave and for each entrance. Troggle collects these together to make an XML page for the cave (or entrance). So each field you fill in on the form may contain arbitrary HTML. Be careful!
The full list of fields is documented: the full list of data-entry fields when creating a cave.
Back to the previous page in this sequence New rigging guide.
A side trip to see an explantion of all the fields on the form
A side trip to see how to do this as a file upload process using git, the cave description data file
Now go the the next page in this sequence Create a new Entrance record.