http://www.markroper.co.uk/ cmsdreams.co.uk en-us Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:59:27 GMT 1440 Dragonfly CMS cmsdreams.co.uk Content http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.markroper.co.uk/images/logo.gif http://www.markroper.co.uk/ http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=748 The Common module has been updated to v1.2.5, with the following changes :- Paths to files have changed so as to put everything in a single folder for easy identification (and deletion if so desired). - Class files are now in CORE_PATH.'cmsdreams/classes' - Javascript files are now in CORE_PATH.'cmsdreams/javascript' You will need to edit all lines that include files from the Common module to reflect the new paths. Started adding abstraction layer functions to support possible future porting of modules to other CMS's, i.e instead of using DF's getlink() function Common uses it's own cms_link() function, which is currently just a wrapper for getlink(). I don't know of anyone besides myself who has used Common to build a module, but if YOU are one please note the point about file locations changing and the need to edit any references in your module to the old file locations. This has been done in part to tidy things up (puts all my code in a single folder) but also because it may well help with future plans (if they ever come to fruition) to port my modules to other CMS's. Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:59:27 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=747 The Common module has been updated to support / require the latest version of DragonFly, v9.3. Because of the way the Common module hooks into DragonFly (replacing core files) it's completely dependent on the version of DragonFly it's being used with. This version will only work with DragonFly v9.3. Earlier versions of the Common module will not work with DragonFly v9.3. Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:46:23 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=746 I've upgraded the website to the latest version of DragonFly, v9.3. Apparently this is the last version in the v9.x series before v10 appears (though when that may be no-one knows). As this site uses my own common module / content system, and a custom theme, and as such is quite far removed from anything resembling a "default" DragonFly installation I was a bit nervous doing the update, however it was surprisingly painless and apart from a minor tweak to the common module it appears to have worked perfectly. In the next few days I'll be updating my downloads and commercial modules to use DragonFly v9.3 as there is a rather fundamental, if simple, modification to the common module required for the new version. Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:50:03 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=745 "Types" are the heart of the Content module. A typical DragonFly module works with a predetermined type of content, "News" handles text based content, "Coppermine" handles photos, etc. The Content module however allows you to define an unlimited number of different types of content. Several types are already defined when the module is installed, and indeed these may be all you ever need, but if you want to add more, or change the existing types, select the "Types" option from the Admin -> Content menu. Name Give this type a name. Type Each specific content type is based on one of 5 "base" content types. Choose the most appropriate option from the drop-down list. Embedded - YouTube for example Video - locally hosted video, like mp4 files Audio - locally hosted audio, like mp3 files Image - images Text - text based articles (news / blogs etc.) Image When displaying items, specifically when displaying a category in a grid view, a thumbnail can be used to represent the item. There is a hierachy, items will be displayed using a thumbnail uploaded for that item, if one exists, or a thumbnail to represent the type of item. That's what you enter / upload here. Content can be uploaded If this is a type of content that can be uploaded, set this to Yes, or No otherwise. Typically things like images are uploaded, but things like text based articles are not. File Types that can be uploaded If this type of item can be uploaded, provide a comma separated list of allowed file extensions. For example the "Image" type uses "gif,jpg,png". Content can be downloaded Can this type be downloaded. This feature does not work yet as it was intended to integrate with the Downloads Pro module. Content can be submitted Typically types that are uploadable are not submittable, and vice versa, but not necessarily. Set this to Yes if items of this type can be submitted. Get Link/ID For some types, like YouTube, you can refer to the YouTube video via it's ID number. The same applies to quite a lot of content hosted elsewhere that you would embed in your website. Set this to No if this doesn't apply. Label for Link/ID If the previous option was "Yes" you can give the Link/ID field a more meaningful name in data entry forms. Get Image from Link/ID Using For some types, like YouTube again, you can get a thumbnail from the ID number as well. This option defines the string that is used to format the URL to the image. For YouTube it's :- http://img.youtube.com/vi/{link}/default.jpg The placeholder {link} gets replaced by the ID number to produce the actual URL to the image. Submission Processor YouTube and Metacafe (and maybe others) provide an API whereby you can provide the ID number (or some other identifier) and get back information about the item. This option exists so you can write your own processors, but it's not documented. Contact me if you want to know more. Get Thumbnail For some types of content you might want to provide a thumbnail to be displayed in category listings etc. For some, like images, you wouldn't because the image itself could be used. This option has 3 possible values :- Yes - get a URL for a thumbnail image No - don't use thumbnails at all Upload - upload a thumbnail Thumbnail Name(s) If you elect to upload thumbnails you can give them a prefix. So if the uploaded image was called "myimage.jpg" and this field contained the value "thumb_" the uploaded image would be renamed "thumb_myimage.jpg". You can also create several different sized thumbnails if required, in which case this field should contain a comma separated list of names. The image type for example creates 3 thumbnails, called "normal_,thumb_,icon_". Thumbnail Width(s) If you're uploading an image provide the width it's to be resized to. Again if you're creating several thumbnails provide a comma separated list of values. Thumbnail Height(s) If you're uploading an image provide the height it's to be resized to. If you're creating several thumbnails provide a comma separated list of values. To expand on the above ... Suppose the above 3 options contained these values :- Names : "normal_,thumb_,icon_" Widths: 640,128,96 Heights: 480,96,72 The uploaded image would be copied 3 times, and the 3 copies, and their sizes, would be :- normal_imagename = 640 x 480 thumb_imagename = 128 x 96 icon_imagename = 96 x 72 Get Keywords Each item record contains a keyword field were you can provide "tags" or key words / phrases that will be included in searches. If you don't want to record this type of information for this type set this optoion to No. Get Extended Text Each item can have a text description. However there are 2 text boxes, "short text" and "extended text". News articles for example would most likely have a short text field used on listing page and the extended text added to it when displaying the full article. Set this to No if you don't want to use the extended text field. Template Every type of content can have it's own templates, so they can be displayed however you want. These templates are stored in folders, the existing folder names are listed in the drop down. Select the most appropriate. Default allow comments against Content Allow users to comment on items of this type. Yes - always allow users to comment No - never allow users to comment Ask User - set the yes or no option when submitting / uploading the item Default provide share option for Content Yes - always add the share option No - never add the share option Ask User - decide whether to add the share option when submitting / uploading the item Item Page - Show Details block On the item detail page a box can be added providing some detailed information about the item. This option decides whether that box is displayed or not. Item Page - Show Same Category block On the item detail page a box can be added displaying other items from the same category. This option decides whether that box is displayed or not, and if so how many items across / down get displayed. Item Page - Show Related Content block On the item detail page a box can be added displaying other items related to the current item (using the keywords / tags field). This option decides whether that box is displayed or not, and if so how many items across / down get displayed. Item Page - Show Content from Same User block On the item detail page a box can be added displaying other items submitted by the same user. This option decides whether that box is displayed or not, and if so how many items across / down get displayed. HTML for embedded content If this type is embedded, provide the HTML used to embed it. This HTML can contain 2 placeholders :- {path} - this is a path or URL to a file, usually for locally hosted items {link} - this is replaced by the Link/ID field Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:04:44 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=744 Before you use the Content module you'll probably want to amend some configuration options. Go to Admin -> Content and you'll see a menu of options arranged across the page, the first of which is config from where you can set a few global options. Get Home Page content from By default the module assumes the default page to be loaded will be a Category, but if you intend to use the Channel feature you can change this to Channel. However you'll need to create a Channel first as the next field will want to know which Channel. Channel for Home Page If you've chosen Channel above choose a Channel from the drop-down list (assuming you've created one or more already). Category for Home Page If you've chosen Category as the default page, chose a specific Category from this drop-down list. Youtube type for Playlists You can create playlists of YouTube videos, but the module needs to know what content type is used to display the individual playlist entries. This will hopefully be correct already but choose an option from the drop-down list if not. Display Item Blocks If using the Channel feature you may have decided not to use DragonFly's side block feature, in which case set this to "In Page". If you are using DragonFly blocks, specifically right side blocks, set this to "Right Blocks". Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:30:00 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=743 I'm pleased to announce that a content module I've been developing and using myself for some time is now available. This module is designed to handle all sorts of content, from text based articles such as News, FAQs, Blogs etc. to media based content such as Movies and Image galleries. When I first started using DragonFly CMS I was struck by the fact that although it was described as a CMS (Content Management System) it didn't actually provide many tools for managing content. Instead it came with a set of disparate modules such as News (still to this day pretty much unchanged since the PHP-Nuke version that it started life as) and Coppermine (still to this day not properly integrated as a true DragonFly module). Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:00:00 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=742 The Common module has been updated to v1.2.3. Properly fixed the AJAX pagination function because it still didn't work as intended after the changes in v1.2.2. Added option to jupld() to NOT display uploaded image after upload. Added option to jupld() to add an [img] tag to an element after upload. Changed jupld() so that the input field doesn't get replaced by an error message if an error occurs, and if an error does occur the message is displayed in an alert box instead. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=741 The Common module has been updated to v1.2.2. To view the changelog click "Read more". Note: If you use mComp (or anything else I've made that uses the common module) you'll need to update to the latest versions of those as well as this version of Common may contain some incompatibilities. Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:10:54 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=740 Music video by Evanescence performing Good Enough. (c) 2006 Wind-up Records, LLC Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:03:02 GMT http://www.markroper.co.uk/index.php?name=Content&mid=739 It's that time of year again, out comes the sun cream and sandals and it's off to sunny Spain this time. I won't be visiting the site between, well now, and Wednesday 3rd August. Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:15:00 GMT