Re: How do I create a custom article type?

Mike,

Many thanks.  This is almost a complete tutorial itself!

Doug

"mikespub" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:b9im68$sqr$1-FogMEOs31dotat4ziPANHlKoq+OfwspIVIuBW6zZ0iQ@public.gmane.org
> In article <b9hgmj$eur$1-FogMEOs31dotat4ziPANHlKoq+OfwspIAL8bYrjMMd8@public.gmane.org>, "Doug Daulton"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> >any takers
> >
> I'm not on IRC often, but here's a little run-down to get you started :)
>
> 1) think about what kind of fields you'll be needing for your new article
type
>
> 2) go to Articles -> Publication Types and see how the different
publication
> types make use of the available article fields.
>
> Some highlights :
> - news : "standard" set of fields and formats
> - docs : use file upload to fill in the body, don't use author, date or
status
> - reviews : use URL and Image formats
> - faqs : allow submitter to fill in notes (input is checked)
> - pictures : several fields with the same format
> - weblinks : notes are formatted as static text to show some imported data
>   as read-only. New items won't be able to use this field.
>
> Some potential traps in the field selection :
> - title is mandatory (whatever its meaning is)
> - bodyfile can only be used for file upload to the database
> - authorid, pubdate and status fields cannot be used for other purposes
>
> So basically, you have 4 fields you can give a particular meaning to,
> plus an optional author, date and status. If you need anything more,
> you'll have to use DD for those.
>
> Of course, you'll also have hooks like hitcount, ratings, comments etc.
> available, and if you want to add some functionality that might be of
> use to other modules, you might e.g. make that available via a new
> hook module rather than as a simple extra DD field.
>
> 3) once you know what fields you want to use and how, create the new
>    publication type, give it a short lower-case "Type" (used in short
URLs)
>   and a "Description" (shown in the user interface), and adapt the
different
>   field definitions like you decided before.
>
> --> the publication type is defined (at least as far as articles is
>     concerned), so now we'll go to the next step : configuring it :-)
>
> 4) think about how you want to show your articles to your users, and what
>    kind of navigation you'll want to give them
>
> 5) go to Articles -> Modify Config and see how the different publication
>    types are configured in terms of overview and display. Create some
>    dummy entries if necessary, and compare the settings with the
>    results you see when viewing articles or displaying one.
>    And remember that future admins will be able to change those
>    according to their wishes...
>
> 6) in Articles -> Modify Config -> your new publication type, assign one
or
>    more base categories, and change the default start view to one of those
>    categories if that's what you want
>
> 7) still in the same place, click on Dynamic Data Fields "modify" to add
>    any DD fields you might want to use. You'll be taken to a new window
>    where you can specify a label and property type for your new field.
>
> Tip : to start with, choose some short descriptive label - because its
> lower-case equivalent will become the property name you'll be using
> in your templates. Afterwards, you can change the label to something
> more "user-friendly" if you want.
>
> Experiment with the property types by changing them in that window
> and seeing how the Add Article screen changes in the original window,
> but leave the other options (Default, Data Source, Validation, Status)
> as is for now.
>
> --> the publication type is configured, so now it's time to create
>     templates for it
>
> 8) when you add a new article and try a preview (or display it as a
>    user), you'll see a warning message telling that you don't have a
>    template for this publication type yet.
>    Basically, you need to create a user-display-<pubtype>.xd and
>    a user-summary-<pubtype>.xd template for your new <pubtype>.
>
>    The easiest way is probably to copy those of another pubtype
>    that is close to what you want to do. You'll find a variable for
>    each of the articles fields, plus some special ones like $redirect
>    when you have an URL field, or $profile when you have an author.
>
>    Also, you'll find the variables mentioned in Articles -> Modify Config,
>    like $counter, $categories, $comments etc. for the user-summary-*
>    template, and some of those for the user-display-* template as well.
>
>    Make sure to include them in the templates even if you don't intend
>    to use them today - otherwise the settings in Articles -> Modify Config
>    won't do you much good :-)
>
>    You'll also have variables corresponding to the DD fields you added,
>    so if you created a DD property called "Hello" (= with property name
>    "hello"), you can use $hello in your template.
>    For the user-summary-* template, you won't get variables for the DD
>    fields that you gave the status "Display Only" instead of "Active".
>
> --> you're ready to start using all this
>
> 9) if you want, you can define special privileges concerning this new
>    publication type. For that, go to Privileges -> Add Privilege -> give
>    some descriptive name like "SubmitMyNewPubType", choose module
>    "articles" and component "Article", and click on the link "specify
>    instances". You'll be taken to another screen where you can select
>    the publication type (and possibly a particular category or author),
>    and give it some relevant access level.
>    Once the privilege is created, assign it to the role(s) you want, via
>    Roles -> View Groups -> etc.
>
> TODO: DD privileges
>
> If you want to use dropdown lists for your DD properties, see
>
http://www.xaraya.com/newsgroups/article.php?id=68&group=xaraya.knowledge-base
>
> Have fun,
>
>
> Mike.
> P.S.: read the admin overview of articles too