Newbie to MODx looking for practical solutions...

Hi all !

To begin with, MODx seems to be a very cool CMS environment !

But, as usual in a field that is not really mine (mine is music production), I find a lot of things very interresting but I can’t find simple answers to my questions, even if I’ve lately spent a lot of time browsing all the MODx support I found (Documentation, Wiki, Forum, Susan Ottwell marvellous site...).

I read a lot of documentations, tutorials and others that explain how to use the MODx Manager and create simple basic sites. But, I know how to do them with a simple text editor and an ftp client. It’s what is really harder to implement that we are all interresting in when using a powerful CMS like MODx ?

CMS are here to create and manage content and not programming the wheel, huh ? So where is the hidden gate to help me doing the things I need with MODx ? Anybody has a start of answer for me ? Is there a way to go further and read practical example implementation somewhere ?

How to begin something with Ditto and eForm ? Yes, I browsed their respective documentations and support site but go on finding them unnaccessible to me. I know a lot of things about these technologies but I don’t understand how to implement them, so where to start...


Here are the feature I would like to do add to my site :

1) How to implement a simple glossary (term, photograph, definition, links...) or catalog, how to sort it and display it ?

2) How to implement a auto-link feature ? For example, to link each explained word to its glossary page of the 1) ?

3) How to implement a Tutorial section with articles managed by writers, correctors and editors and enabling them to work together ?

4) How to implement a workspace to each registered user to see all his recent work in the site, built projects like books and access the files and content his permissions are allowing him to ? (I’m sure it’s possible, this forum is a living example of some of these features !)

5) How to implement file transfers for each user workspace ? MODx has a file manager, so the solution may be very simple here ?


I know how to program all that with php and a HUGE amount of time but I need a good site to help me doing what I’m good at: music. I figure that a bunch of good and passionate developpers like MODx team can help me doing this efficiently and fast thought MODx ?


Thanks for reading and your help !

The first could be done with ditto and then each item has it’s own page. It shouldn’t be too hard to create a template for that something along these lines:

<div class="term">
<img src="[+image+]" alt="[+title+]" />
<h3>[+title+]</h3>
[+content+]
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>

You would need some css to make the above work in a simple form:

.term img {float: left; padding: 5px;}
.clear {clear: both;}

If you wanted to have a short definition you could use the intro text instead of content and then link to the page in question.

2. I’m not sure I follow what you want here...

3. That’s normal MODx anyone creates a page, edits, etc. If you want you could do permission so writers pages aren’t published. Editors would need to publish them after checking. You can use ditto to make it semi blog like for easy access.

4. You would need something custom to address that.

5. You can group things with the file manager some so each user has their own folder. There is a post about it on the forums I don’t have the link handy tho.

That should get you started.

Thanks AMDbuilder for your answer !

I feel that all my problems could be really simplified by a better understanding on how Ditto works.

Thanks for the piece of code. It sure will be a start for me !

Happy new year to all !

You might find my set of Ditto examples on Pogwatch will help you get going. I created this following the same kind of experience as you describe.
KP

I agree with you. Getting started with Ditto can be a little daunting.
Hopefully these links will help too:

• http://www.gregorysmart.com/?s=ditto
• http://codingpad.maryspad.com/2009/04/25/building-a-website-with-modx-for-newbies-part-7-introducing-ditto/

Thanks Keith and Greg !

Your answers are very interresting but I’m still stuck...

Keith, I went to your site and I think it will be helpful for me in a second time, as soon as I know how to start... You aggregate standard pages but how to xreate and deal with custom content ? Are TVs done for that purpose ? Do I need to deviate the "Content" field because this sounds very experimental to me... Is there a "corporate" way to do this ?

I understand that Ditto can aggregate content after but how can I create the content of the catalog ?

For example Greg, What you did in the link below (Physician Directory) is absolutely what I would like to do for a first step !
http://www.whiteriverhealthsystem.com/physician-directory.php

I read several of your well written Ditto articles but you seem to use Jedi-ish technology to do it so... Link : http://www.gregorysmart.com/2009/12/21/using-ditto-for-tabular-output/

How to do this in a simple way ? For now, it’s science fiction for me !


Say, I want to crate a simple catalog :
Picture - Name - Date.

How can I create the database and the tables I need, how to store the picture files ?
Do I need to create a MODx Ressource (Page) for each entry
How can I access them ?
How can I enter the data in the MySQL base in a simple manner ?
How can I create a system for identified users to add content in the front end side ?

I think that Ditto is a solution to present and read the datas but how to enter them

Is there a tutorial that explains all this for Newbies like me ?

In all the solution I read, I don’t see the simplicity in the creation that I thought a CMS has been created for...

Sorry if I’m boring you all... I’m looking for a way to enter MODx’s logic here.

In advance, thanks !

I read several of your well written Ditto articles but you seem to use Jedi-ish technology to do it so...

On that site I try to break these techniques down as simply as I can. Unfortunately what I am sometimes describing can be complex.

How to do this in a simple way ? For now, it’s science fiction for me !

I frequently state that I am not a programmer, and MODx has been a life-saver because of that. For me, it bridges the gap between development and programming (but definitely not simple).

Do I need to create a MODx Ressource (Page) for each entry

That is the way I would approach it. One of the benefits of doing in such a way is that an end user can easily manage the categories/items through the document tree. The down side is that it took me quite a while to wrap my head around this approach. It did entail a pretty good working knowledge of Template Variables, Ditto, ManagerManager, PHx, and use of (at)Bindings in TVs. On my site, the description of a similar solution encompasses several posts which you can find here: http://www.gregorysmart.com/2009/09/30/new-modx-site/.

In all the solution I read, I don’t see the simplicity in the creation that I thought a CMS has been created for...

Sorry if I’m boring you all... I’m looking for a way to enter MODx’s logic here.

I personally wouldn’t characterize learning MODx as simple, it has a learning curve (especially if you are trying to piece together more complex functionality). If you are able to negotiate that curve then it tends to open up all kinds of possibilities that I have never seen with any other system(s). It’s very open ended and you will usually find there may be multiple solutions to any given problem.

I just started out with MODx a few weeks ago, and at least for me, I simplified the concept of Ditto as tool that easily makes front page summaries for my stories. Basically, you’ll need articles (remember, content is king) - or in the case of a test installation, lorem ipsum articles. You now use Ditto to "summarize" those articles for you into a neat and eye-catching format for your readers. Assuming you have a template for your "front page", you use a ditto call on that front page to generate the summary there. Take the following as an example:

[[Ditto? &parents=`1` &summarize=`10`&total=`20`]]

This will generate a summary for your stories located in the resource container id=1 (like a category).

Do you get how this works now? Think of Ditto as a function call. Where ever you use this code, this is where it’ll create your summary of stories for you.


To format each entry or "summary" that the ditto calls, Ditto can use another template chunk (think of a bare HTML code with CSS formatting for this element. And yes, it’s a chunk you create in MODx). You need to add the following to the Ditto call:

&tpl=`DittoTemplate`

example: [[Ditto? &summarize=`10`&total=`20`&tpl=`DittoTemplate`]]


This chunk now contains placeholders - [*placeholdername*] or [+placeholdername+] which can be built into the docs or that of the document’s template variables. The placeholders tell Ditto where to place each summary element in which position in that template. The chunk "DittoTemplate" - for this example needs to exist with something like the following content:


<div class="ditto_item" id="ditto_item_[+id+]">
<h3 class="ditto_pageTitle">
<a href="[~[+id+]~]">[+pagetitle+]</a>
</h3>
<div class="ditto_documentInfo">
by <strong>[+author+]</strong> on [+date+]
</div>
<div class="ditto_introText">[+introtext+]</div>
</div>

Notice the [+Blah+] portion? These are the built-in placeholders. Ditto calls can also refer to your article’s TVs which will need to use [*Blah*]. So in our previous Ditto call, this would generate 10 entries of these templates with the placeholders filled in.

Taken from http://ditto.modxcms.com/tutorials/creating-a-custom-template.html