Forum (or Content Management) Entities

[Adrian Crum]

I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component so that I can use it as a
component in our back-office collaboration suite. Everything is moving along well so far.

I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema for content management is a bit
overwhelming. I tried getting more information through Google search, but with no success.

Does anyone know where the content management entities are described and how they are used? If such
a resource isn't available, could someone give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.

Thanks in advance!

-Adrian

[byersa]

Adrian,

Building the forum/blog functionality out would be a great thing for OFBiz.
Up until now, I think it was lacking someone who had a definite need.

I am really busy, but I have a strong desire to see this move forward, so I
will do what I can when I can.

Andrew Zeneski has done a bunch with the blog that is probably the best
place to start. You may be looking at it.

I will see what I can do about refreshing my memory and getting my thoughts
together.

-Al

On 8/7/07, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component so
> that I can use it as a
> component in our back-office collaboration suite. Everything is moving
> along well so far.
>
> I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema for
> content management is a bit
> overwhelming. I tried getting more information through Google search, but
> with no success.
>
> Does anyone know where the content management entities are described and
> how they are used? If such
> a resource isn't available, could someone give me some tidbits of insight?
> Anything would help.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> -Adrian
>
>

[David E Jones]

The best and most brief source of information on this is probably the Content demo data, most of which is in the applications/ecommerce/data directory.

You can also review key services you see used in different places and see which entities they use and how.

-David


Adrian Crum wrote:

> I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component so
> that I can use it as a component in our back-office collaboration suite.
> Everything is moving along well so far.
>
> I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema for
> content management is a bit overwhelming. I tried getting more
> information through Google search, but with no success.
>
> Does anyone know where the content management entities are described and
> how they are used? If such a resource isn't available, could someone
> give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> -Adrian
>

[Adrian Crum]

Al,

That would be great! I just need a few hints as to how the entities are laid out and how they relate
to each other. I know I can find some of that in the xml files, but those don't tell me the intended
use. In other words, I want to be sure I'm using things the right way.

-Adrian

Al Byers wrote:

> Adrian,
>
> Building the forum/blog functionality out would be a great thing for OFBiz.
> Up until now, I think it was lacking someone who had a definite need.
>
> I am really busy, but I have a strong desire to see this move forward, so I
> will do what I can when I can.
>
> Andrew Zeneski has done a bunch with the blog that is probably the best
> place to start. You may be looking at it.
>
> I will see what I can do about refreshing my memory and getting my thoughts
> together.
>
> -Al
>
> On 8/7/07, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>>I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component so
>>that I can use it as a
>>component in our back-office collaboration suite. Everything is moving
>>along well so far.
>>
>>I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema for
>>content management is a bit
>>overwhelming. I tried getting more information through Google search, but
>>with no success.
>>
>>Does anyone know where the content management entities are described and
>>how they are used? If such
>>a resource isn't available, could someone give me some tidbits of insight?
>>Anything would help.
>>
>>Thanks in advance!
>>
>>-Adrian
>>
>>
>
>

[Adrian Crum]

David,

Thank you for the info! I've been looking at the services, entities, demo data and such, but much of
it is intermingled with other content management features - forums being one of many. That's why I
feel overwhelmed.

I guess I'll keep reverse engineering the forum stuff and try to pick it out of all the rest.

-Adrian

David E Jones wrote:

>
> The best and most brief source of information on this is probably the
> Content demo data, most of which is in the applications/ecommerce/data
> directory.
>
> You can also review key services you see used in different places and
> see which entities they use and how.
>
> -David
>
>
> Adrian Crum wrote:
>
>> I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component
>> so that I can use it as a component in our back-office collaboration
>> suite. Everything is moving along well so far.
>>
>> I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema
>> for content management is a bit overwhelming. I tried getting more
>> information through Google search, but with no success.
>>
>> Does anyone know where the content management entities are described
>> and how they are used? If such a resource isn't available, could
>> someone give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.
>>
>> Thanks in advance!
>>
>> -Adrian
>>
>

[Adrian Crum]

Hey David - if the forum feature was extracted in the project, where would it go?

-Adrian

David E Jones wrote:

>
> The best and most brief source of information on this is probably the
> Content demo data, most of which is in the applications/ecommerce/data
> directory.
>
> You can also review key services you see used in different places and
> see which entities they use and how.
>
> -David
>
>
> Adrian Crum wrote:
>
>> I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component
>> so that I can use it as a component in our back-office collaboration
>> suite. Everything is moving along well so far.
>>
>> I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema
>> for content management is a bit overwhelming. I tried getting more
>> information through Google search, but with no success.
>>
>> Does anyone know where the content management entities are described
>> and how they are used? If such a resource isn't available, could
>> someone give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.
>>
>> Thanks in advance!
>>
>> -Adrian
>>
>

[Adrian Crum]

Okay, now I see there are two copies of Forums - one in the content component and one in the
eCommerce component. Does anyone know why there are two copies and which one is the most current?

-Adrian

Adrian Crum wrote:

> Hey David - if the forum feature was extracted in the project, where
> would it go?
>
> -Adrian
>
> David E Jones wrote:
>
>>
>> The best and most brief source of information on this is probably the
>> Content demo data, most of which is in the applications/ecommerce/data
>> directory.
>>
>> You can also review key services you see used in different places and
>> see which entities they use and how.
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>> Adrian Crum wrote:
>>
>>> I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component
>>> so that I can use it as a component in our back-office collaboration
>>> suite. Everything is moving along well so far.
>>>
>>> I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema
>>> for content management is a bit overwhelming. I tried getting more
>>> information through Google search, but with no success.
>>>
>>> Does anyone know where the content management entities are described
>>> and how they are used? If such a resource isn't available, could
>>> someone give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance!
>>>
>>> -Adrian
>>>
>>
>

[G.Venkata Phanindra]

Hi,
Of my knowledge the first one in the ecommerce component was an old one and
there are quite a few issues to be fixed in it .
The component in the content part is the most latest one and it will work
fine.
As far as the list of entities i remember are .

Content,ContentAssoc,Party,ElectronicText.

I worked on it and i was also able to give a component for one of our
ecommerce website

Regards
Phani


On 8/8/07, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Okay, now I see there are two copies of Forums - one in the content
> component and one in the
> eCommerce component. Does anyone know why there are two copies and which
> one is the most current?
>
> -Adrian
>
> Adrian Crum wrote:
>
> > Hey David - if the forum feature was extracted in the project, where
> > would it go?
> >
> > -Adrian
> >
> > David E Jones wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> The best and most brief source of information on this is probably the
> >> Content demo data, most of which is in the applications/ecommerce/data
> >> directory.
> >>
> >> You can also review key services you see used in different places and
> >> see which entities they use and how.
> >>
> >> -David
> >>
> >>
> >> Adrian Crum wrote:
> >>
> >>> I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component
> >>> so that I can use it as a component in our back-office collaboration
> >>> suite. Everything is moving along well so far.
> >>>
> >>> I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema
> >>> for content management is a bit overwhelming. I tried getting more
> >>> information through Google search, but with no success.
> >>>
> >>> Does anyone know where the content management entities are described
> >>> and how they are used? If such a resource isn't available, could
> >>> someone give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks in advance!
> >>>
> >>> -Adrian
> >>>
> >>
> >
>

--
G.Venkata Phanindra
Mob:: [phone]

[Adrian Crum]

Phani,

Thank you very much for the info! I'll work from the Content component version then.

I finally figured out how the entities are used too. I hope to have an improved forum feature
submitted to Jira soon.

-Adrian

G.Venkata Phanindra wrote:

> Hi,
> Of my knowledge the first one in the ecommerce component was an old one and
> there are quite a few issues to be fixed in it .
> The component in the content part is the most latest one and it will work
> fine.
> As far as the list of entities i remember are .
>
> Content,ContentAssoc,Party,ElectronicText.
>
> I worked on it and i was also able to give a component for one of our
> ecommerce website
>
> Regards
> Phani
>
>
> On 8/8/07, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>>Okay, now I see there are two copies of Forums - one in the content
>>component and one in the
>>eCommerce component. Does anyone know why there are two copies and which
>>one is the most current?
>>
>>-Adrian
>>
>>Adrian Crum wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hey David - if the forum feature was extracted in the project, where
>>>would it go?
>>>
>>>-Adrian
>>>
>>>David E Jones wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>The best and most brief source of information on this is probably the
>>>>Content demo data, most of which is in the applications/ecommerce/data
>>>>directory.
>>>>
>>>>You can also review key services you see used in different places and
>>>>see which entities they use and how.
>>>>
>>>>-David
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Adrian Crum wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component
>>>>>so that I can use it as a component in our back-office collaboration
>>>>>suite. Everything is moving along well so far.
>>>>>
>>>>>I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema
>>>>>for content management is a bit overwhelming. I tried getting more
>>>>>information through Google search, but with no success.
>>>>>
>>>>>Does anyone know where the content management entities are described
>>>>>and how they are used? If such a resource isn't available, could
>>>>>someone give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks in advance!
>>>>>
>>>>>-Adrian
>>>>>
>>>>
>
>
>

[byersa]

Adrian,

It is all starting to come back to me now. After all, it was two months ago
that I was working on the forum stuff :0)

I upgraded the forum example, so I would not ignore it. And I would not
ignore the blog stuff as there is very little difference.

That is one of the things to be done is define what a forum does and how it
is different from a blog.

Of course the one big difference is that in a blog only one or a few people
have permission to add "articles" while any logged in user can usually start
a thread in a forum.

The biggest question is whether or not the comments are ordered in date
order or by thread. Blogs tend to allow only date ordering, but Slashdot
orders responses by thread. A general forum mini app would probably allow
the user to choose which ordering.

One thing that I did a fair amount of work on was allowing the posting of
mixed content (ie. images and text). That is not something you may want to
have in a forum, but if it is used for a non-standard purpose, you might.

I will start to diverge now, as I see forums as possible collaboration tools
- in which case do you let users make personal notes to themselves about
certain entries?

You may want to think about allow categorization of an entry or response
(eg. asking for help, lodging a complaint, etc.)

One area in which I would like to help is to add Lucene text search to the
blog.

-Al

On 8/8/07, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Phani,
>
> Thank you very much for the info! I'll work from the Content component
> version then.
>
> I finally figured out how the entities are used too. I hope to have an
> improved forum feature
> submitted to Jira soon.
>
> -Adrian
>
> G.Venkata Phanindra wrote:
> > Hi,
> > Of my knowledge the first one in the ecommerce component was an old one
> and
> > there are quite a few issues to be fixed in it .
> > The component in the content part is the most latest one and it will
> work
> > fine.
> > As far as the list of entities i remember are .
> >
> > Content,ContentAssoc,Party,ElectronicText.
> >
> > I worked on it and i was also able to give a component for one of our
> > ecommerce website
> >
> > Regards
> > Phani
> >
> >
> > On 8/8/07, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> >>Okay, now I see there are two copies of Forums - one in the content
> >>component and one in the
> >>eCommerce component. Does anyone know why there are two copies and which
> >>one is the most current?
> >>
> >>-Adrian
> >>
> >>Adrian Crum wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Hey David - if the forum feature was extracted in the project, where
> >>>would it go?
> >>>
> >>>-Adrian
> >>>
> >>>David E Jones wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>The best and most brief source of information on this is probably the
> >>>>Content demo data, most of which is in the applications/ecommerce/data
> >>>>directory.
> >>>>
> >>>>You can also review key services you see used in different places and
> >>>>see which entities they use and how.
> >>>>
> >>>>-David
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>Adrian Crum wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>I'm trying to extract the forum feature from the eCommerce component
> >>>>>so that I can use it as a component in our back-office collaboration
> >>>>>suite. Everything is moving along well so far.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>I would like to make some enhancements to it, but the entity schema
> >>>>>for content management is a bit overwhelming. I tried getting more
> >>>>>information through Google search, but with no success.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Does anyone know where the content management entities are described
> >>>>>and how they are used? If such a resource isn't available, could
> >>>>>someone give me some tidbits of insight? Anything would help.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Thanks in advance!
> >>>>>
> >>>>>-Adrian
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >
> >
> >
>

[Adrian Crum]

Al,

I'm moving this over to the dev list - since the thread seems to be going in that direction.

Thank you very much for the notes! My comments are inline...

Al Byers wrote:
> That is one of the things to be done is define what a forum does and how it
> is different from a blog.
>
> Of course the one big difference is that in a blog only one or a few people
> have permission to add "articles" while any logged in user can usually start
> a thread in a forum.

I agree. So, the basic underlying code would be shared, but the UI would be different.

I have already created forum-specific permissions - so that they can be handled separately from blog
(or content manager) permissions.

> The biggest question is whether or not the comments are ordered in date
> order or by thread. Blogs tend to allow only date ordering, but Slashdot
> orders responses by thread. A general forum mini app would probably allow
> the user to choose which ordering.

I had already thought of that! I have the main forum message list in descending date order right
now, and later I'll add an option to order it by thread.

> One thing that I did a fair amount of work on was allowing the posting of
> mixed content (ie. images and text). That is not something you may want to
> have in a forum, but if it is used for a non-standard purpose, you might.

Maybe that could be configurable.

> I will start to diverge now, as I see forums as possible collaboration tools
> - in which case do you let users make personal notes to themselves about
> certain entries?
>
> You may want to think about allow categorization of an entry or response
> (eg. asking for help, lodging a complaint, etc.)

In our case, the forums will be used as a type of online meeting. Instead of trying to get everyone
to meet in the same place at the same time, a forum topic can be started and the meeting "attendees"
can post messages as they find the time.

So, mixed content would be appropriate in our case - so that files, images, video, etc can be
included in the discussion. As time goes by, searches can be conducted on the forums for research
purposes.

Extracting the forum feature into its own component was easy, and I've made a lot of improvements in
only a little over a day. That ease demonstrates all of the hard work that was done previously.
You've done a great job Al!

-Adrian