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#1 2006-08-27 22:55:09
- palmer
- Member
- Registered: 2006-04-13
- Posts: 11
[request] Contact Directory
It seems like it would be a helpful plug in if there was a script that would administrate a list of contacts. Basically store basic contact information for a number of people in the database and have it be searchable or display names that begin with a specified letter, etc. It’s something that I run into quite a bit when setting up websites for orgs that have member lists they would like to provide to their other members.
Any ideas?
E
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Re: [request] Contact Directory
Yes. That’d be very nice indeed. I’d like to double this request.
“Take a point, stretch it into a line, curl it into a circle, twist it into a sphere, and punch through the sphere.”
— Albert Einstein
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#3 2006-08-28 04:05:00
- Mary
- Sock Enthusiast
- Registered: 2004-06-27
- Posts: 6,236
Re: [request] Contact Directory
What kind of info?
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#4 2006-08-28 12:22:56
- palmer
- Member
- Registered: 2006-04-13
- Posts: 11
Re: [request] Contact Directory
Simple contact information:
(1) Name,
(2) Address
(3) City, (4) State (5) Zip
(6) Phone
(7) Fax
(8) Email
(9) Website
(10-15) Maybe a few misc. fields for flexibility.
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Re: [request] Contact Directory
Forgive me if I repeat myself, but I think you are basically asking for a mini-app within txp, when you could be using txp itself for it. If the data is going to be stored in a database you’re creating all those fields anew parallel to all the fields per article already in txp, then generating a function to list out the results that is essentially what txp:article and txp:article_custom do including the different sort criteria, then a custom search function that essentially does what the txp function also does but restricted to the member list only.
I don’t really see the advantage of farming that out to a rewritten function. Possibly the article list may get rather full, but you can sort that list by section. Alternatively, you can set up a txp-install just for the members and one for the rest of the site and keep them entirely separate from one another.
If you’re concerned about the number of fields exceeding txp’s title + article + excerpt + keyword field + 10 custom_fields, you might want to consider if some of the fields you mention always occur together and can be gathered in one field. I cannot, for example, imagine wanting to sort via fax-nr so it could conceivably be bundled with telephone. You can use html classes to separate individual items if they are to appear differently in your layout or should be hidden.
In this make-up, where a txp plug-in could perhaps make sense is on the admin-side to make handling of long article lists easier, e.g. something like a custom selective article listing. Maybe one could have a button/select menu with your favourite article list (in your case, all articles from section=“members” and all articles except section=“members”).
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#6 2006-08-29 00:05:28
- palmer
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- Registered: 2006-04-13
- Posts: 11
Re: [request] Contact Directory
I agree that this is similar to the article function, but something like this would give the admin more flexibility in displaying the directory. Generally, when I’m making a website that integrates a CMS, the purpose is to get me out of the picture after the initial development. The user doesn’t want to and shouldn’t have to, trudge through HTML code to update articles that have multiple columns in it and whatnot. Simple table structures to us, but major headaches for someone that just wants to add a simple listing.
Also, from a data entry perspective (beyond the initial entries that would be done with mySQL commands), I can image a page that would have the different types of information in separate form inputs. It’s all about making the data entry easy and understandable for the eventual admin, whether it be a developer or someone at an organization that gets “stuck” with updating the website content.
Just some brain storming.
E
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Re: [request] Contact Directory
i guess this is what i am looking for as well. was a solution found for this?
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Re: [request] Contact Directory
Palmer,
I think what Jakob was saying above was that you could already do this with TXP itself …
I can image a page that would have the different types of information in separate form inputs
This would be the TXP > write tab, where the Title, Article, Excerpt and Custom Fields would be your “form inputs.”
searchable or display names that begin with a specified letter
To see the information, you’d have a TXP > articles tab that displayed only the “Contacts” section or something. Clicking on the Title [“contact name”] or any Article [“record”] would bring up the TXP > edit screen [“data entry”].
If you could ask your clients to do that in their head — “article” = “record,” “title” = “name,” you could do it right now. For what you’re asking — completely perfect UI — you’d need a plugin to rearrange, change the names and sizes of fields, etc [or a modifaction to the TXP installation itself].
Wouldn’t that work?
- Ben
Last edited by benbruce (2007-01-11 18:59:33)
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