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What do you do when you need 3 or more "Categories/Tags/Attributes"...
I’ve been using rss_u_c and smd_tags in order to:
- be able to choose 3 or more categories as display criteria.
- be able to select 3 or more categories when publishing an Article under the Write tab.
Has anyone used a plugin which makes additional category columns in the textpattern table? There are category1 and category2. Has there ever been made: category3, category4 etc..? This question isn’t so important but it’s part of what I assume some have considered for a solution.
The solution to my problem doesn’t need to use categories per se. It’s more that I need to display articles by any perceivable relationship they might have to others. Most often it’s that I need to display a list of articles that share 3 or more attributes. As I’m writing this it’s dawning on me that custom fields as a complete replacement for categories all together is the direction I might need to go in. In this case the custom field name would, in a category context, be treated like a ‘parent’ to all it’s values. The limitation there would be that all ‘children’ would be unable to give birth… unless a custom field’s values could individually be ‘linked’ to another custom field. This could likely be done in the page mark-up by saying:
if custom_1 has a value of fruit then select custom_13 (otherwise known as fruit) and compare or do something. As I begin to delve into smd_query these sorts of demands now seem limitless.
I hope some of you will share what you’ve done when you needed to draw complex relationships between articles. Let me say that I almost certainly want to keep ‘categories’ in the textpattern table. It’s because of my limited knowledge of DB querying. If I only have to peruse the textpattern table and compare columns then I’m feeling safe. I don’t know if it’s true also that it’s better to limit the number of queries and that this is possible when only digging through one table. With rss_u_c and smd_tags you need to grab an ID take it over to another table to find category id(s) and then check another table to see which match up and so on…
So these are some of my thoughts and questions. I’ve been up against a wall for a few weeks trying to figure how to scale my project up and classifying articles for complex retrieval has been the main beast.
Last edited by whaleen (2009-11-13 05:23:00)
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Re: What do you do when you need 3 or more "Categories/Tags/Attributes"...
I’ve left using categories all together (in the article context). Custom fields seem to offer a lot more diversity of options. Seem.
I’ve heard mention of custom data types. This interests me but I’m still a novice when it comes to clean practical programming. Anyway, if others can comment on the constraints of the TXP category framework I’d be very interested to hear them.
Last edited by whaleen (2009-11-16 11:51:25)
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Re: What do you do when you need 3 or more "Categories/Tags/Attributes"...
Hi whaleen,
I’m using glz_custom_fields (which is well worth the donation), without which I wouldn’t be able to introduce the complexity my site requires. And, yes, this plugin does add the extra custom fields to the database (in the custom_fields table).
It’s also very easy to use, and works well with Gerhard’s revision of sed_section_fields. Be sure to get his update, and not the original.
HTH :)
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Re: What do you do when you need 3 or more "Categories/Tags/Attributes"...
I’m using glz_custom_fields (which is well worth the donation), without which I wouldn’t be able to introduce the complexity my site requires.
Indeed. I suppose that custom fields are a replacement for the traditional TXP categories. I’m wondering what will happen to categories as plugins and the core evolve.
It’s also very easy to use, and works well with Gerhard’s revision of sed_section_fields. Be sure to get his update, and not the original.
Seconded.
Both the plugins you mention are the first I go to these days. The majority of my sites require unlimited classification of articles and relationships as a result. I’ll take your response as a +1 that glz_custom_fields_ are making txp_category obsolete.. even if you still use them in some cases. I suppose those cases might be when the power of a category plugin gives otherwise unattainable results. With plugins like smd_query, however, I find that I can do anything I want now and don’t much have to rely on a plugins in-built querying strengths.
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#5 2009-11-18 00:50:58
- redbot
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- Registered: 2006-02-14
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Re: What do you do when you need 3 or more "Categories/Tags/Attributes"...
A major difference between custom fields and categories is that categories can be edited and updated directly by the client.
Custom fields require accessing the “glz” tab, adding a custom field and estabilish a correlation with other cfs. Not so intuitive for the average user.
Anyway I agree glz_custom is an essential plugin.
Last edited by redbot (2009-11-18 00:52:21)
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Re: What do you do when you need 3 or more "Categories/Tags/Attributes"...
A major difference between custom fields and categories is that categories can be edited and updated directly by the client.
Ah yes, that’s true. A case where that goes wrong: I gave access to edit glz_custom_fields to a client and when he changed Architecture to architecture all fields containing Architecture in the DB had to be changed to architecture. It is a good thing then that category has a reference ID so that it’s name can be altered without affecting calls to articles by that name. I suggested something about this to Gerhard though I don’t know how practical that would be for that plugin to do.
My hope is that glz_custom_fields will evolve to a state where it can offer itself as editable by Managing Editors… Safely.
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