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'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
I’m stumped and in need of a fresh perspective in a project I’m busy with:
Context: a ‘Get Stuff Done’ request form on an intranet whereby company employees can request building-repairs/restroom-maintenance/travel-requirements/etc to relevant management for action.
My first TXP prototype worked a treat, but relied on a limited number of users to use the interface (all controlled via std TXP user permissions, and with extensive TXP-source-file-hacks and complete re-workings of the visual interface (via jquery – love it!)).
Now we want any intranet user to be able to access the interface (in content:write tab), and we have literally hundreds of users – they need free unimpeded access.
All I can think of are kludges-at best (I’m still a baby in php and so steer towards other solutions ;)- set up an ‘anonymous user’ and bling-up some auto-log-in javascript so users automagically appear at the request form (dunno if this will even work, and then how do I prevent Safari et al coming up with their ‘you wanna save this password?’ dialogue box?
- configure some ‘edit-in-place’ AJAX functionality so users effectively post directly to the database, side-stepping the admin interface – sounds tricky (if not impossible), and I still have the problem listed above
- simply use the comments system – good idea until I remember that my requests use up about 20 custom fields and a fair number of standard txp fields. Sounds difficult / a complete re-write.
- hack Textpattern somehow somewhere. This sounds like the best option, but my searches have yielded no leads…
Any ideas?
I thank you!
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#2 2007-02-20 21:44:15
- zem
- Developer Emeritus
- From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 2004-04-08
- Posts: 2,579
Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
simply use the comments system – good idea until I remember that my requests use up about 20 custom fields and a fair number of standard txp fields. Sounds difficult / a complete re-write.
Have you considered building something based on the zem_contact plugin?
Alex
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Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
zem wrote:
Have you considered building something based on the zem_contact plugin?
Thanks, Alex. I did consider zem_contact, but another requirement is general reporting of the requests to top-level management, and so it makes sense to leverage all the standard functionality built in to TXP admin interface. To my knowledge, zem_contact does not have the ability to write directly to the database – say to update a custom field…? As soon as you try to do that, you run into my first listed ‘kludge-solution’ – write access from an ‘anonymous’ user.
Or am I totally missing something here?
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Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
Hi.
Look for the mem_moderation plug-in in Manfre.net
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Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
maniqui wrote:
Look for the mem_moderation plug-in in Manfre.net
Thanks, Julián – mem_moderation looks to be very handy for this project – I wish I’d known about it sooner.
‘Anonymous’ access remains a problem – users would still have to register themselves, something we’d rather not impose…
Last edited by giz (2007-02-21 01:38:51)
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#6 2007-02-21 02:01:36
- zem
- Developer Emeritus
- From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 2004-04-08
- Posts: 2,579
Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
To my knowledge, zem_contact does not have the ability to write directly to the database – say to update a custom field…? As soon as you try to do that, you run into my first listed ‘kludge-solution’ – write access from an ‘anonymous’ user.
That’s pretty much what I meant: modify it to write to the database somewhere instead of (or as well as) sending an email. Maybe the articles table, maybe comments, or maybe an entirely new one.
Sounds to me like any solution that doesn’t require registering users must involve an ‘anonymous’ user concept.
Alex
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Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
zem wrote:
That’s pretty much what I meant: modify it to write to the database somewhere instead of (or as well as) sending an email. Maybe the articles table, maybe comments, or maybe an entirely new one.
Sounds good – I’ll look into it. I’m not too sure how I’ll be able to write to (say) custom_field_1, but I’ll look for examples of how to do it.
Sounds to me like any solution that doesn’t require registering users must involve an ‘anonymous’ user concept.
You’ve hit the crux of my problem – I have not been able to dig up anything on ‘anonymous’ users being able to write to the database (I suspect cos of implicit security problems…). Any ideas?
Thanks!
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#8 2007-02-21 21:09:46
- zem
- Developer Emeritus
- From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 2004-04-08
- Posts: 2,579
Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
I have not been able to dig up anything on ‘anonymous’ users being able to write to the database (I suspect cos of implicit security problems…). Any ideas?
It sounds like you might be confusing the concept of Textpattern users (i.e. authors) with MySQL users.
If you’re familiar with PHP/MySQL development techniques, you should find what you need to know in txplib_db.php. You’ll find examples all through the Textpattern source.
If you’re not and you need help developing code, this is exactly the kind of thing Team Textpattern does.
Alex
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Re: 'Free' access to the admin interface - content:write
zem wrote:
It sounds like you might be confusing the concept of Textpattern users (i.e. authors) with MySQL users.
If you’re familiar with PHP/MySQL development techniques, you should find what you need to know in txplib_db.php. You’ll find examples all through the Textpattern source.
Thank-you – exactly the push I needed. I’ll be in contact via Team Textpattern if I hit goo!
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