Quote from: sirvanderwaal at Mar 14, 2006, 10:41 AM
ModX seems to lack a good workflow system (or "GateKeeper" technology as it’s been called). I know that it’s definitely on the radar (http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,2048.0.html), but was wondering if anyone has done any work in this area yet, and if so, how they are going about doing it. I’ve considered several ideas, including making the "Edit" pages similar to the "Email" pages in ModX, then creating a special "Gatekeeper" "email inbox" that when they click on the submissions, review the edits, and then instead of deleting the "email" they merely "publish it". So this page will have the same options as the old "Edit" pages. If I were more familiar with the ModX framework I would have already had this "hack" into the system comlete. Instead, I’m only getting started. Any ideas?
The above suggestion would only take about 15 minutes to do (with familiarity of the ModX framework), an additional db table created, and a few alterations to the ModX manager template. It can’t be that hard to do the hack.
While I agree this approach might work, and that it isn’t that hard to accomplish in the framework, my vision of workflow is tied into several other important concepts that are being design and/or implemented at this time for MODx:
[*] content revisioning (probably the most important portion IMO; without it, a workflow solution is really incomplete)
[*] multi-cultural content facilities tied into the revisioning, this will also enable the easy implementation of translation workflow tools
[*] more robust identity, authentication, and permissioning facilities, including user groups with subgroups and permission inheritence, as well as custom permission definitions
[*] custom metadata facilities that could be used to hold important attributes (e.g. statuses, notifications, responsibilities) of the workflow processes
I think workflow itself would be best implemented as a module that can also interact with the QuickEdit facilities, so that workflow could be managed from the front-end and/or back-end as appropriate for the situation. This will allow it to stay loosely coupled to the core, so those who don’t need workflow, aren’t burdened with unnecessary complexity or extra overhead.
That said, I certainly don’t discourage any solutions from being developed and contributed here in the meantime, as this is certainly not as quick and easy a solution as you are describing.
Quote from: sirvanderwaal at Mar 14, 2006, 10:41 AM
Finally, I was thinking that making ModX Beta versions available would be good. As the developers make addendums to the original program, would it be possible for them to make the edited ModX program available as a Beta version? Not all advancments for the program can be accomplished via Plugins etc.
Understood and agreed! A plan to make either periodic unstable pre-release packages available from SVN, and/or making anonymous SVN access available, is already in progress. We’re trying to catch up with the explosive growth we’ve been experiencing the last couple of months, and the bottleneck in release frequency should be resolved very soon.
I am really keeping my eye on this. I made a bad assumption when I was starting with MODX in assuming doc groups handled this. I managed to roll out a website before the terrible truth struck home. I know that the core requirments for workflow managment are prodigious but if any cms out there has a chance of doing it MODX does. MODX does things most things so well that this single organizational item will surely be addressed soon. As to it appearing on the roadmap, I would be curious as to what direction the workflow thought process has gone. 
MODX Staff
MODX Staff
