Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

visualpeople · 2006-07-08 07:58:09

I’ve searched the forum for quite some time for an answer to this but, honestly, I’m not even sure what to search for or if there is even a real solution, so I’m hoping your collective heads will come together and come up with something great (I have complete confidence!)

We run a TXP site for a ultra-marathon bicycle race, and the event is coming up soon. We would like to have the times updated as they are called in (or shortly thereafter) by the person taking the calls. Problem is, the results come in around the clock (the race doesn’t stop for 36+ hours) and the person taking the calls is older and not technically savvy — I mean at all! For him, forwarding an e-mail takes the help of tech support.

I thought it was going to be okay, as I was just going to stay home for the race and receive his updates via e-mail and copy and paste them into the article, but now it turns out I’m going out to the race to shoot video and still photos and regular cell phone coverage is spotty at best throughout most of the route, let alone trying to get any kind of modem data speed.

So, I want to make it as easy as possible for our updater to post the results, as they come in, to the site. I was hoping for an e-mail soloution — i.e. he sends an e-mail in to a specific address and it replaces the contents of the race results article — seems a bit complicated to set up, though for such a limited use, and I couldn’t find any plugin that resembled that already.

But I’m open to some brainstorming here. It may end up that I just have to try and teach him to log in with extremely limited access and edit the article on the site (as simple as that sounds to most of us) but I just know there has to be an easier way.

jm · 2006-07-08 09:50:14

What about using XML-RPC with Ecto,MarsEdit or another client (Flock even)? I haven’t personally used one of these, but it seems similar to typing an email, from screenshots.

lee · 2006-07-08 10:54:09

Is he just updating the same article over and over?

I’ve edited the write page to just show the input box and the publish button for some of my non tech clients.

Last edited by lee (2006-07-08 10:57:07)

visualpeople · 2006-07-08 16:58:51

@jm —

I thought about XML-RPC but then we’re dealing with a whole ‘nother (client) program for him to install, no? I think that would be the answer if he wasn’t in a different state and I could just jet over and install something on his machine… so many complications!

@lee — It will be just editing the same article over and over, so that’s a pretty good idea to just dumb down the write page a bit… Maybe I could just give him the full url to edit that specific article and cross my fingers.

hcgtv · 2006-07-08 17:03:35

Check this handy script out, it’s called Newsmail

lee · 2006-07-08 19:15:11

You’re welcome to my txp_article.php flie, let me know. v4.03

Last edited by lee (2006-07-08 19:15:59)

Elenita · 2006-07-08 20:21:45

Maybe use the <a href=“http://textpattern.org/plugins/111/rsxfrontend”>rsx_frontend</a> plugin?

<blockquote>This plugin will add a link to your posts that will take you directly the edit screen in your textpattern install. The link is hidden by a cookie that you can turn on or off. You will need to be logged in to textpattern to be able to actually edit the post, this plugin provides a shortcut from a post directly to the edit screen.</blockquote>

That way, the client can keep the appropriate page open in his browser and click the “edit” link when updated results come in. No need for him to remember the URL of the Textpattern backend, locate the article that needs editing, etc.

visualpeople · 2006-07-18 01:20:52

Just in case anyone is interested — here’s what I decided to do:

Because we just want race results, I created a page that just reads the times from each of the five time stations as custom fields and a total elapsed time and then sorts the results by the elapsed time (Custom Field #8) and then by the racer’s number (Custom Field #1).

Each group of racers (men’s solo, women’s solo, two-person team, four-person team, etc.) is determined by categories I set up for each.

The presentation code looks something like this:
<code>
<txp:article_custom form=“results_table” category=“solo-m” sortby=“custom_8, custom_1” sortdir=“asc” limit=“99” />
</code>

And my results table form looks like this:

I just ran through everything with the man who is going to be updating everything and he seems to think it sounds pretty easy, so my main mission is accomplished, and on top of that, the results are presented very nicely.

In addition, thanks to the recommendations from lee, I simplified my txp_article.php file just a tiny bit so that there weren’t so many ooptions and used Rob Sable’s plugin rss_admin_show_adv_opts to keep the advanced options menu open all of the time.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions. They all contributed in some way to help me make this a better solution. This is such a big part of why I love Textpattern!

- Ryan

Last edited by visualpeople (2006-07-18 01:23:42)

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#1 2006-07-08 07:58:09

Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

#2 2006-07-08 09:50:14

Re: Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

#3 2006-07-08 10:54:09

Re: Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

#4 2006-07-08 16:58:51

Re: Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

#5 2006-07-08 17:03:35

Re: Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

#6 2006-07-08 19:15:11

Re: Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

#7 2006-07-08 20:21:45

Re: Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

#8 2006-07-18 01:20:52

Re: Update an article in the absolute easiest way possible?

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