Is Collections the new Articles?

708 Posts

Eko Reply #11, 9 years, 10 months ago

Quote from: frischnetz at Jul 07, 2014, 04:35 PM

Blogging is such a unique (somewhat complex) and important feature that there should be a working and supported one-click-solution just like Articles.

Exactly. A blog is an almost ubiquitous client-requested feature and certainly one that most clients and designers/devs have come to expect as a "given" from a CMS/CMF, especially one as robust as MODX. Which is why, to my thinking at least, it should be developed by the MODX team to help ensure its ongoing support. The other 3rd Party add-ons are absolutely crucial for building a more bespoke solution but we need a good, solid, entry-level (default) blog package.

Todd

MODX Staff
2,502 Posts

Jay Gilmore Reply #12, 9 years, 10 months ago

There are only two missing pieces and just one that requires programming. Bundling, which can actually be done using ThemePackagerComponent to do an all-in-one blog bundle with collections, tagger, quip and the theme. The missing piece requiring programming would be to build a resource importer or refactor the Articles WP importer pieces without it's poor/hacky handling of a custom resource class.

We absolutely understand the value of a basic Blog tool. Articles is not abandoned, by the way. JP has decided he doesn't want to be the one to manage it as it's not a tool he'd use. There are other folks who may wish to do so. We've asked for community members to adopt those Extras that were once created and managed by the core team (on their own time).

I seriously think we need to rename the ThemePackagerComponent and make it known how easy it is for people to have reusable installable custom addons made up of a set of elements and resources. Again, I fully acknowledge the missing importer. Though, even with my meagre php skills, think that given enough time I could build a standalone WP importer since it's formatting is standardized.

Author of zero books. Formerly of many strange things. Pairs well with meats. Conversations are magical experiences. He's dangerous around code but a markup magician. Blog ✦ Twitter ✦ LinkedIn ✦ GitHub

36 Posts

frischnetz Reply #13, 9 years, 9 months ago

Quote from: smashingred at Jul 07, 2014, 05:23 PM

I seriously think we need to rename the ThemePackagerComponent and make it known how easy it is for people to have reusable installable custom addons made up of a set of elements and resources.

Thanks for pointing to ThemePackagerComponent. This looks like an awfully helpful tool for recycling work!

(There's the next problem with MODX. There's a lot of really great stuff out there but often you don't know about it.

708 Posts

Eko Reply #14, 9 years, 9 months ago

Quote from: smashingred at Jul 07, 2014, 05:23 PM

Articles is not abandoned, by the way.

That's good to know. But it would sure be nice if someone would ensure that Articles is compatible with v2.3 before it officially launches, because as I and others have posted on GitHub, it's not. Quite frankly, if Articles doesn't play well with 2.3 in its current state (and Collections hasn't been fully tested on 2.3) that means I won't (can't) update all my client sites to 2.3 which seems silly, having to hold back on updating an entire site for one add-on. And I really want to use 2.3.

Todd

833 Posts

treigh Reply #15, 9 years, 9 months ago

For what it's worth, I've been using GridClassKey 1.0.1-beta-1 since July 3 and it works really well with MODX 2.3. I was able to migrate my Articles to it without a glitch. It's very similar to Collections and it's got great features.

I had to make the following changes before I could use GridClassKey. Without those changes, I was getting a white screen in the manager.

Using phpMyAdmin, I updated the following columns with find and replace:

1). For the container resource

class_key: 'Article' => 'GridContainer'

UPDATE `modx_site_content` SET `class_key` = replace(class_key, 'Article', 'GridContainer') WHERE id=<my_container_id>;

properties: Although it doesn't seem to get in the way of anything, I still updated the property column with the following:

{"gridclasskey":{"grid-default_per_page":"","fields":[{"name":"id","type":"main","lexicon":"id","width":50,"fixed":true,"sortable":true,"hidden":false,"editor_type":"","output_filter":""},{"name":"pagetitle","type":"main","lexicon":"pagetitle","width":200,"fixed":true,"sortable":true,"hidden":false,"editor_type":"textfield","output_filter":""},{"name":"longtitle","type":"main","lexicon":"gridclasskey.longtitle","width":200,"fixed":false,"sortable":true,"hidden":false,"editor_type":"textfield","output_filter":""},{"name":"description","type":"main","lexicon":"description","width":200,"fixed":false,"sortable":false,"hidden":false,"editor_type":"textarea","output_filter":""}],"grid-sortby":"","grid-sortdir":"","grid-css":"","grid-top-js":"","grid-bottom-js":"","grid-childrentab-text":"","grid-addnewdocbtn-text":"","child-backbutton-text":"","child-template":"","child-class_key":"modDocument","child-content_type":"1","child-properties":""}}

2). For child resources (I made sure to restrict my query to the container resource with WHERE=<my_container_id>)

class_key: 'Article' => 'modDocument'

UPDATE `modx_site_content` SET `class_key` = replace(class_key, 'Article', 'modDocument') WHERE parent=<my_container_id>;

And that's all!

I used a combination of getPage/getResources to get my blog up and running and I must say that I don't even miss Articles anymore. [ed. note: treigh last edited this post 9 years, 9 months ago.]

A MODx Fanatic

708 Posts

Eko Reply #16, 9 years, 9 months ago

@treigh
Thanks. Any chance you could post a basic working code example of how you used getPage/getResources?

Todd

833 Posts

treigh Reply #17, 9 years, 9 months ago

Sure,

The call (on the container)

[[!getPage@Pagination? &elementClass=`modSnippet` &element=`getResources` &parents=`[[*id]]` &depth=`0` &limit=`9` &tpl=`myTpl` &includeTVs=`1` &includeTVList=`TV1,TV2`  &showHidden=`1`]]

My pagination links:

<ol class="pagination">
  [[!+page.nav]]
</ol>

I'm using a propertyset @Pagination for a more custom output, but that's optional.

Hope it helps! [ed. note: treigh last edited this post 9 years, 9 months ago.]

A MODx Fanatic

165 Posts

pdincubus Reply #18, 9 years, 9 months ago

Quote from: treigh at Jul 07, 2014, 09:43 PM

Sure,

<ol class="pagination">
  [[!+page.nav]]
</ol>

To keep this even cleaner (and in case there's no pagination at any given point, I usually do a check to see if page.nav is empty or not:

[[!+page.nav:notempty=`
<ol class="pagination">
  [[!+page.nav]]
</ol>
`]]

833 Posts

treigh Reply #19, 9 years, 9 months ago

@pdincubus good call!

A MODx Fanatic

708 Posts

Eko Reply #20, 9 years, 9 months ago

@treigh and @pdincubus Thanks. I'll see if I can get this working.

Todd