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Rob Poretti
Junior Member
Canada
435 Posts |
 Posted - 20 August 2001 : 15:34:36
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quote:
I changed <% ' ID: 3 Name: tesst -- Description: test %>
to <!--#include file ="content.asp"--> and it works fine.
Simunduz,
I'm a little confused by this...
<% ' ID: 3 Name: tesst -- Description: test %> is simply a comment to identify the template that you are using on a page. It will not have any bearing on any error message so you should not remove it -- escpecially if you want to properly document your web pages...
The fact that it's working now, because you added the include file, probably means that the include file wasn't properly included in the first place -- and of course it needs to be. At the top of any page where you intend to use the Content Display Mod, you NEED to have a reference to the content.asp include file...
So... usually at the top of your page (even before the html tag), you should have this:
<!--#include file ="content.asp"-->
And then, wherever you have content, you'll have something like this...
<% ' ID: 3 Name: tesst -- Description: test %>
<% DisplayContent 1, 1, 2, 8, 0, 9, 360, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0 %>
I hope I'm not being simplistic, but I just wanted to be clear about it...
Cheers,
Rob Poretti 
Sascom Marketing Group ~ Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.825.5960 |
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simonduz
Junior Member
161 Posts |
Posted - 20 August 2001 : 23:05:25
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GauravBhabu,
Thank you for the files. I will take a look at them in the morn.
I have already spent some time testing some new display modes yours and Robs examples make for
great tutorials.
Rob,
Thank you for the clarification. Simplistic is sometimes what we need to remind us of the logic
behind the way it is supposed to work.
When you 2 have this fine tuned to your liking I would like to take this a step further.
Using Huwr's portal I have been learning the DB structure. I really like the idea of templates.
This alone takes it steps further that the slash mod. This bring me to my point.
With Huwr's help I created an a mod that allows the admin to turn on/off a left column display
in the forum views making the addition of includes, ads, etc. to be easily added and removed.
All of the includes are in a function in the inc_top.asp and called as needed on the pages.
I went ahead and coded the content_display templates for individual categories to show in that
column, then added the content.asp include on those pages.
What I would like to do is add, in addition to the admin ability to turn on and off the
left column, the ability to choose which templates from the DB and have them show in
that column on demand leaving only the choice to create and choose new templates as needed.
This could then be carried to other page views as needed.
You can see the hard coded version at http://www.mygahanna.com/forum/default.asp?sectionid=0
Have a good evening, and again thank you for a great MOD.
Simonduz
http://easyromantic.webbhost.net -[test site]-
http://www.mygahanna.com -[new project]-
yada, yada. |
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Rob Poretti
Junior Member
Canada
435 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 12:29:57
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Hi simonduz,
Well... you've hit upon the whole point of storing templates in a database...
Rather then hard coding the parameters of the template into a page, you read the template's parameters directly from the database through a recordset, and dynamically create the parameters that are passed to the content.asp include.
The approach on how which template to load from the DB can be set by any number of approaches:
- The name of the calling asp page...
- The name of the actual template...
- The name of the member that is logged in...
- The days of the week...
There are a number of ways to implement this and this will be an important consideration. However, here is what I'm feeling about this right now...
The Display Content Mode is one of about a half dozen content/portal type mods currently available. A lot of energy has gone into all of them, and my hat is tipped to everyone developing these tools. I just wish that Snitz Forums had more "directed" development in a specific area. There should be a content mod that is released as part of the Snitz general release, that is easy to use and flexible and "spec'd" by comittee. It may take a little longer to get it done, but at the end you have a larger group of people working to the same goal and lots of good ideas implemented.
Any code developed for Snitz is part of the GNU and so anyone can use or modify anyone's mod's without permission or compensation. This is a double edge sword -- but it certainly shouldn't mean that everyone should work in their own "bubble" as is currently the case. Even within this topic we have this going on. I was in the middle of a new editor that uses a new database that has some new fields, (storing "admin mode" and "column width" and including Working changed to integer.) GauravBhabu new editor has complicated this for me. Don't get me wrong there are some very good approaches to what he has done. (Obviously, creating components is a good thing -- and I liked the openschema method as an approach for testing the table creation. Excellent work!) GauravBhabu, please do not feel slighted by my comments -- I am not critcizing what you have done -- I am praising it!
My criticism is the process of development for Snitz forums in general, and this mod suffers from this particular problem. In the furture, I guess we should communicate more so that we are not duplicating our efforts. So... my main comment here is that this MOD has a just a "little" problem in this regard -- Snitz Forums has a HUGE problem with this issue.
Anyway... back to your mod... we should start a topic concerning this, come up with some ideas and I'm sure someone will write it.
Cheers to all!
Rob Poretti
Sascom Marketing Group ~ Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.825.5960
Edited by - Rob Poretti on 21 August 2001 12:32:20 |
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Rob Poretti
Junior Member
Canada
435 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 12:34:30
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BTW Simonduz,
I really like your Gahanna website... looks great!!
Cheers!
Rob Poretti
Sascom Marketing Group ~ Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.825.5960
Edited by - Rob Poretti on 21 August 2001 12:42:29 |
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GauravBhabu
Advanced Member
4288 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 12:58:33
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quote:
... It may take a little longer to get it done, but at the end you have a larger group of people working to the same goal and lots of good ideas implemented.
Any code developed for Snitz is part of the GNU and so anyone can use or modify anyone's mod's without permission or compensation. ... Even within this topic we have this going on. I was in the middle of a new editor that uses a new database that has some new fields, (storing "admin mode" and "column width" and including Working changed to integer.) GauravBhabu new editor has complicated this for me. Don't get me wrong there are some very good approaches to what he has done. (Obviously, creating components is a good thing -- and I liked the openschema method as an approach for testing the table creation. Excellent work!) GauravBhabu, please do not feel slighted by my comments -- I am not critcizing what you have done -- I am praising it!
My criticism is the process of development for Snitz forums in general, and this mod suffers from this particular problem. In the furture, I guess we should communicate more so that we are not duplicating our efforts. So... my main comment here is that this MOD has a just a "little" problem in this regard -- Snitz Forums has a HUGE problem with this issue.
Anyway... back to your mod... we should start a topic concerning this, come up with some ideas and I'm sure someone will write it.
Cheers to all!
Rob Poretti
Sascom Marketing Group ~ Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.825.5960
Edited by - Rob Poretti on 21 August 2001 12:32:20
Rob,
As you can see through out the topic, I have tried to fix the errors. But I have not moved away from the basic Objective of the MOD. The modifications which I have made are only for easy maintainance and for expanding the scope without much difficlty. I donot know about others but All modifications by me have been shared and posted without keeping anything just for me.
Any modification in the database can be easily integrated.
I personally feel that amongst all the portal Mods for content display yours is better placed. Like you said, I also look at this MOD to be used for displaying more info by using templates. And I have few Ideas. BUT I have no idea but direction you are thinking.
You can call or send me message anytime, if you wish to share what you are thinking and we can work together in one direction...
Share A Square at forumSquare
GauravBhabu
There is only one miracle...That is LIFE! |
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simonduz
Junior Member
161 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 13:59:11
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Rob,
I agree. A MOD approaching this scale with so many possibilities needs to be approached cautiously and most of the key features affecting the DB, and the display must be discussed and agreed upon by the users or else you might as well open a seperate forum just for this code.
Maybe a seperate post in the MOD wo/code forum is needed to get some input. I really don't think many people understand just how powerful this can be on a content driven web site.
Just one more question. In your examples does this include being able to select multiple templates for 1 page view?
Simonduz
http://easyromantic.webbhost.net -[test site]-
http://www.mygahanna.com -[new project]-
yada, yada. |
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Rob Poretti
Junior Member
Canada
435 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 15:37:55
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GauravBhabu,
I was worried you would take some offence --  I'm sorry...
I agree with everything that you say...
Nonetheless, my point was, that along with resolving some problems of the original editor, I was making some base-line changes to it. I had to stop and consider what you have done - eventhough I liked what you had done. Had I known you were undertaking it, I would have focused on some other issues -- database, interface, new display modes that are coming -- and let you deal with what you were doing.
As I said my, point was one of duplicating resources which is a big problem with Snitz in general. I think we can work together to further enhance and improve things -- but lets not duplicate our efforts....
So... lets just move forward and along those lines and let me tell you what I've been working on...
1) Javascript based pop-up dialogs for each parameter's values, right next to each parameter field in the editor form. No more searching below for what each parameter does... This is nearly finished.
2) Store the Admin Mode in the Special parameter (using a bit mask) to let users decide if they want it on or off on an on-line page. The editor will still allow one to turn it on or off.
3) Store the Column (TD) width & height properties in the Database, so when a template is recalled, this is also recalled -- correctly displaying the template as it was meant. So far, I thought I would leave this for the editor use only -- not for "on-line" use. I'm interested in other points of view though....
4) An EDIT mode for the editor that will let a user change the name or description of the template.
5) Three new display modes. One is working on my test forum now. The second, I'm nearly finsihed, the third I haven't started yet.
6) Re-organizing the display modes. More on this later...
I've also started thinking about CSS, and the best (most flexible) approach to implementing them. I think I would like to have an on-line discussion with all of the Display Content users concerning this...
Cheers!
Rob Poretti
Sascom Marketing Group ~ Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.825.5960
Edited by - Rob Poretti on 21 August 2001 15:46:00 |
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Rob Poretti
Junior Member
Canada
435 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 16:08:13
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quote:
Just one more question. In your examples does this include being able to select multiple templates for 1 page view?
Simonduz
A one page view within an "editor"? No... it doesn't. This would require a tool that sets up the underlining table/cell structure -- how many columns, how many rows, what king of spanning, etc...
A friend of mine created a MOD to do this for his Snitz forum so I know it is possible -- just a lot of work...
Rob Poretti
Sascom Marketing Group ~ Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.825.5960 |
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GauravBhabu
Advanced Member
4288 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 16:08:33
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quote:
GauravBhabu,
I was worried you would take some offence -- I'm sorry...
...
I've also started thinking about CSS, and the best (most flexible) approach to implementing them. I think I would like to have an on-line discussion with all of the Display Content users concerning this...
Cheers!
...Rob Poretti on 21 August 2001 15:46:00
Sorry! No. you don't have to feel that way. I did not take any offence to whatever you said. We are all adults and understand what programming is? Duplicating efforts is waste of time. Apart from what you have in mind and what ever you are working on, I have some more in my mind. And I will share it with you. There is LOT More what can be acomplished with this MOD. The best way is to keep each other or anyone else, who might be willing to join, updated about the changes.
Again Don't be sorry! and like you always say... CHEERS!
Share A Square at forumSquare
GauravBhabu
There is only one miracle...That is LIFE! |
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Rob Poretti
Junior Member
Canada
435 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 19:54:16
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GauravBhabu,
Ok...onwards and forwards...
Give me a day or two to get my changes merged with your last editor and then I'll send you what I have...
Start thinking about CSS and anything else that you want to bring to the table...
I'll be posting something about "re-organizing" the DisplayModes, so we can start discussing this as well... I'm wondering if there is a better way to deal with the "balooning" number of Display Modes that occurs when I start getting into web-site development. Anyone else have this problem?
Cheers!
Rob Poretti
Sascom Marketing Group ~ Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.825.5960 |
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michaeltran
Starting Member
13 Posts |
Posted - 21 August 2001 : 21:17:40
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Me, personally and I think other people are also watching on this implementation process. I hope both of you the best of everything and get this mod done well.
Once again, thanks so much for your effort. Looking forward for the finished mod.
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simonduz
Junior Member
161 Posts |
Posted - 22 August 2001 : 10:39:40
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quote:
Anyone else have this problem?
It was anticipated.
If it can be done I would suggest that example templates are stored as default and the admin then just has to select from a displayed list of CAT, Forum, or Topic ID's from drop down menus.
Any custom templates that are created and saved are stored and sorted by CAT, Forum, or Topic ID.
Simonduz
http://easyromantic.webbhost.net -[test site]-
http://www.mygahanna.com -[new project]-
yada, yada. |
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Morpheus73
Average Member
Denmark
597 Posts |
Posted - 22 August 2001 : 11:27:47
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Are you guys talking about a CMS system or a portalsystem? - whatever you guys do, I think you´ve both done superb jobs so far, so I have great faith in what you are discussing here.
A portal/communitysystem would require a whole lot more than "just" a CMS system, first thing is that the displaycontent MOD should be able to haul content from the linkmanagersystem too, this is essential for a portalressource-like site. The linkmanager could be able to contain both articles and ordinary links in different subcategories, and the article.asp and the link.asp should haul their content from these subcategories and display them in their own special way. You mention HuwR´s portalcode, but this is actually an older version of Tschive´s portalmod, which you guys find here www.heilpaedagogik.121host.net - take a look at it, it has a lot of cool features e.g. posting of ressources from the addnews.asp, where images can be uploaded and inserted instantly. A lot of new pages should be written (unless you decide to build on Tschive´s existing mod), but they will mainly be new versions of post, topic a.s.o.
basically I think combining this mod into a CMS/portal system is the best idea in a long time.
just my 0.02$ + god´s speed, you guys...
Morpheus73 - morpheus73@hotmail.com |
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Morpheus73
Average Member
Denmark
597 Posts |
Posted - 22 August 2001 : 11:31:41
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one small comment more...
I totally agree with you guys; the organization of Snitz is horrible...too much uncoordinated stuff going on, making development of and compability between the different mods unfortunate. For inspiration on how to organize a project like this, let me direct you to www.phpgroupware.org - these guys have it under control real bad!
Morpheus73 - morpheus73@hotmail.com |
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GauravBhabu
Advanced Member
4288 Posts |
Posted - 22 August 2001 : 14:55:53
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Rob,
I am working on CSS, You may skip that part, if you have not begun on that. My idea is to develop a css for the whole forum and with standard names for classes which can be easily recognized and uses the variables which are defined in the snitz.
Just an Idea here. I will explain more later
.Head { background-color: <% = strHeadCellColor %>;
Font-Family:<%=strDefaultFontFace%>;
Color:<%=strHeadFontColor%>;
Font-Size:x-small
}
.Cat { background-color: <% = strCategoryCellColor %>;
Font-Family:<%=strDefaultFontFace%>;
Color:<%=strCategoryFontColor%>;
Font-Size:x-small
}
.Forum { background-color: <% = strForumCellColor %>;
Font-Family:<%=strDefaultFontFace%>;
Color:<%=strForumFontColor%>;
Font-Size:x-small
}
And then use as below
<td Class=Head valign=""top"">
<td Class=Cat valign=""top"">
<td Class=Forum valign=""top"">
There are variations for bold text, bigger font etc
HeadBold, HeadFooter, HeadLinkBold ...so on
Share A Square at forumSquare
GauravBhabu
There is only one miracle...That is LIFE!
Edited by - GauravBhabu on 22 August 2001 14:59:29 |
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