using Modx rather than Silverstripe

Hi guys,
my objective is to build a professional website for a client, who is a transport authority. There are a couple of requirements that such website needs to fullfil and I would appreciate if you could suggest if modx is a good solution for my client and myself.
Before i noticed modx, I used silverstripe framework, which i found quite interesting, unfortunately, due to my limited knowledge on php (i can edit, but i cant write from scratch) and not enough modules, I decided to look for alternatives.

I decided to divide the requirement between clients’ and mine:
Client requirements:
- different user accounts with access to different content - i.e. secretary account with access to blog/news items only, admin - with full rights and ability to change everything etc. - from what is see, this is possible.
- ability to display external web applications (one written in jsp, one in php, both using mysql database), which will display in the main content (leaving header with menu and footer the same as for other parts of website).
- backup possibility of data and easy management if they need to move to another server

my requirements:
- ability to add small panels to some pages with forms - for example: I need to add a form to main page which will allow end-user to type in departure and destination into 2 boxes (best if they could use modified jquery script for autosuggest, taking the info from external mysql database, provide a date and time of departure - all those provided variables should be passed in form of a URL, i.e. http://3rdserver.com/trip.jsp&departure=variable1&destination=variable2&date=23/03/2009&time10:10
- no need to frequently dive into the php code
- no need to display modx link in the footer - license?
- display external webapplication (written in jsp or php) on the modx-powered website in the main content section on some pages - i.e. header+menu and footer stay and main content is used to display external URL. Is this only possible through iframe with fixed height/width ?

I would be very greatful if you could assist me in those issues. In the meantime, I shall be testing out the 0.9.6.3 version. with version 1 coming, does it mean, things will change dramatically ?

Regards,
Qlex

Hi Qlex,

Welcome to modx! Let me attempt to answer some of your queries. Am sure someone else will come along to answer the rest.

Client requirements:
- different user accounts with access to different content - Yes, this is possible using modx document permissions

heres’ a tutorial: http://bobsguides.com/permissions.html

more:
http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/MODx096/Manager+Users

- backup possibility of data and easy management if they need to move to another server - Yes

Your requirements:

- ability to add small panels to some pages with forms - Yes, possible with modx chunks or template variables (TVs)

chunks:
http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/MODx096/Chunks
http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/MODx096/Adding+Chunks

TVs:
http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/MODx096/Template+Variables

- no need to frequently dive into the php code - Yes, yes, yes!

- no need to display modx link in the footer - you don’t have to display it and it is not displayed there automatically. What you saw is probably the sample content you chose to install with modx. You design your template the way you want. In the modx source code though you have to leave the licenses intact, of course.

cheers/k

Hello qlex,

There are a few fixes in the coming Evolution 1.0 release that would help with your installation. If you’d like to get an early start with it, I’d personally not hesitate to use the Subversion version. Good luck and welcome to MODx!