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Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
I am working on a site which requires local businesses to be able to add their details (contact details, short blurb, photo). I’ve set up the general framework including custom fields for address, telephone etc. I’ve also set up the custom_article form to display the custom fields etc along with an associated article image.
Can anyone advise me on how to create / connect a simple one page form to allow users to add the information without using Textpatterns’ admin interface preferably with the articles section / category fixed?
My reservations about them using the admin panel are as follows;
1) They would all have to be given a username / access etc – could become a large list.
2) The admin panel is not easy to use for the non-IT literate.
3) Adding pictures is VERY difficult if you’re not IT literate (upload image, find ID, add ID to article – too complicated)
4) Even with the right priveleges assigned, if I let them access the image tab in admin, they can basically trash the site as they can access all images.
5) If they don’t insert the correct section and category options for the article, their submissions will end up in the wrong place.
6) The existing (to be replaced) site has this simple use now and they probably won’t take too well to increased complication.
This is the form page they use now on the existing site – http://www.ourwynnummanly.com.au/community/post.chtml
Any ideas? If not, can anyone recommend a plugin or another CMS with this type of functionality?
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
Hi there, I will be working in the coming weeks/months on a similar website (visitors adding content to the site but not through TXP’s interface). From what I know, this functionality would have to be written from scratch. I won’t get my teeth into it for the next 2-3 weeks. If you find out something in the meantime, please let me know. Cheers ; ), Gerhard.
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
Before starting something from scratch, look at this
Community Driven Textpattern
Moderation Queue Public Beta
Both written by Manfre
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
That looks liike it may be useful but it also looks like there’s not much doing with it – the beta has been up for a while now (since September) and the demo site has no registration form. Thanks for the heads up though – are you aware of anything else similar?
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
Attacking things from another angle, could you maybe write this form in PHP, and then embed that data in your Textpattern install via <code><txp:php></code>?
I haven’t given the idea that much thought, but I figured I’d throw it out there anyway.
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
I believe Rob Soule (CapNemo) over at couchfort has something like this set up under “become a friend of the fort”. I am sure he would share that with you.
Matthew
- I am Squared Eye and I
am launchinghave launched Pattern Tap
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
Do you know php? It would actually be very easy to create a custom page to simply insert rows into the textpattern database. The database itself is pretty simple. I’m doing that very thing in my ‘become a friend’ section of my site. I use a custom database call to display links on this page but it would be just as to you an internal textpattern form to display that information.
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
cap_nemo wrote:
It would actually be very easy to create a custom page to simply insert rows into the textpattern database. The database itself is pretty simple.
In my humble opinion, relying on TXP’s functions that insert/retrieve articles for the page through which details will be added should do the trick. Moderating these details should be pretty straightforward as well (Draft – Live). Yes cap_nemo, knowing a wee PHP is a must : ).
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
Sorry guys, I dont know any PHP at all or anything about MySql db’s for that matter. I have a couple of books on order. For now, however, the client has decided that it will be safer and more professional to let us manage the site and add the businesses etc – so, for now, a lucky reprieve – and we can continue on to develop the site with TXP (our first). We stay standards compliant, the site will stay nice – everyone’s happy, finally.
That said, I’d still like to pursue this issue myself and get started with the PHP/MySQL studies as dynamic content etc is definitely the next step for us and I prefer to know the ins and outs of whatever I do.
Thanks for the advice – the setup on couchfort certainly is a small example of what we were looking to do – that is a VERY nice site by the way Rob.
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
I do something like this to quickly post links to my site. Go to the end of this article to see the PHP I use to do it. That’s the back end script. I have a simple webpage which I fill with data, which gets posted to that PHP script. Note that the stuff I linked to is probably not the most secure thing in the world, so you would need to modify what you do with the data you pull from the forms before submitting them into the database.
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Re: Create form page to add articles without using Textpattern Admin panel
Has anyone been able to find out more about this? I wanted to use ign_password_protect to allow users to login into a page where they can add articles to the site. Since I want a consistent feel and want to restrict the interface, I don’t want them adding articles via the backend.
Thoughts?
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