PostNuke

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Footnote: 1

This simple hack to the news stories module will allow stories to be posted as text or HTML. It effectively lets you disable the
tags that add-story adds to news stories.

The zip file can be downloaded from here.

Instructions
Unzip the archive file, replacing the following files in your PN.72 installation:

- modules/ns-addstory/admin.php
- modules/ns-addstory/addstory_functions.php
- modules/ns-addstory/lang/eng/global.php

With this hack in place you will get extra options in the add/modify-story screens.

Note: this only works with the PN.72 pre-beta release. I hope to have it committed to CVS at some point. If you encounter any problems with this hack, let me know at jason.judge@academe.co.uk.

I'm looking for feedback on this change and am hoping it can be included in PN.72 series.

Footnote: 1

Instructions
Unzip the archive file, replacing the following files in your PN.72 installation:

- modules/ns-addstory/admin.php
- modules/ns-addstory/addstory_functions.php
- modules/ns-addstory/lang/eng/global.php

Note: this only works with the PN.72 pre-beta release. I hope to have it committed to CVS at some point. If you encounter any problems with this hack, let me know at jason.judge@academe.co.uk.

Footnote: 1

1. there are (at least) 2 distinct parts to templating :

a. producing the individual block or module function output ("block" template)
b. fitting the pieces together into a page layout ("page" template)

2. with block layout and smarty (used by Encompass) and many other templating systems out there, a template is "filled in" simply by passing variables to the template engine. The engine will do the actual work of producing the output for that template (and how it does that is its business).

3. the template engine will generally start with the "page" template to figure out which pieces it needs, then call some function to fill in each individual "block" template, and then put it all together.

4. many template engines for PHP (including block layout and smarty) "compile" their templates (both "block" and "page") into PHP code

5. there is no (technical) reason why you couldn't have different template engines for "pages" and "blocks". In fact, a 'switch function' at the right place could even decide to let one particular "block" be processed by block layout, the other by Encompass, the third by ModeliXe etc. - remember, processing in this case is generally nothing else than executing some plain PHP code (or compiling the template into PHP first).

6. Block layout has been chosen as the default template engine+language for "block" templates in PostNuke. Good - that means that I, as a module developer, know that if I write my code & templates for that, at least I know my module/block will show some output on all PostNuke installations by default.

The block layout tags aren't much different (conceptually) from other template engines, and for "block" templates, I know I'll only need a small subset of all available tags most of the time anyway, so it's not a big problem.
[perhaps we could even imagine having some automatic translator from Encompass/ModeliXe/... to block layout syntax for simple "block" templates at some point in the future, so that people can develop in one, and release it in the default BL format + their own format (see below)]

7. Block layout has also been chosen for "page" templates in PostNuke. It's basically invoked by calling a single function in index.php to process the "page" template, which then calls other functions to fill in the different "block" templates.

And here is where things get "interesting" :-)

Suppose I have a standard site, with "pages" defined with block layout, and I want to switch to -say- Encompass as "page" template engine, e.g. because I'm using it now and I'm happy with it, or because it offers better/easier control of what goes where on different pages, or whatever.

So here's the situation so far :

a. I don't want to translate all individual "block" templates (from all modules & blocks) into Encompass syntax, but I may want to re-create *some* of them with Encompass anyway (perhaps because I'll be able to make use of feature XYZ better then)
b. I want to be able to define my "page" templates with Encompass

With all the observations above, and with the right 'switch functions' in place, do you see any *major* obstacles in using Encompass as "page" template engine, and a mix of standard block layout + a few customized Encompass templates for "block" templates ?
I don't... Of course, there's the fact that you're "running" 2 template engines now (although most of the processing is done only once, when the templates are "compiled" into PHP code), and there are some issue with how variables from blocks/modules should be passed to the different template engines, etc., but this certainly classifies as "feasible".

How would this compare with the current situation ?

1. blocks and modules are templated in a standard (default) way with block layout - no more digging into code to change "block" output
2. you can override the 'default' templates for each "block" with your own (for different themes), not only in block layout format but also in other template engine languages
3. you can use the template engine of your choice for defining different "page" templates (which is where the major pain of customisation is)

How's that for choice ? I'll leave the detailed analysis & implementation as an exercise for the reader :-)

Mike.

There is now a countdown timer until the time/date the party gets underway at 5 January/20:00 on <a href="http://www.geekstreet.us"target=new>GeekStreet USA . If you want to get an idea for what life in this community is like, visit the general Livermore site, <a href="http://www.livermore.bz"target=new>The Livermore Buzz.

Stop by <a href="http://www.geekstreet.us"target=new>GeekStreet USA and express your interest in seeing this 1st Annual PostNuke Party happen. What a great opportunity to meet and hang-out with your PostNuke brothers and sisters. Ironically, the world may be a safer place with us away from our keyboards for a few days, even if it is in "Nukeville, USA". If interest is high, I will hit up the local merchants to cut us some deals on accommodations. My hope is to get so many people here that it turns into Livermore’s version of the New Orleans Mardi Gras with beads being thrown and the "whole nine yards"!

Livermore CA, USA is a small town of 60,000 people on the edge of Silicon Valley and about 45 miles (~65 km) to San Francisco. Livermore's other big industries are wineries and cows and it boasts the World’s Fastest Rodeo--and the proof is in the online photo album on <a href="http://www.livermore.bz"target=new>The Livermore Buzz

From here you are in driving distance, and in many cases able to make use of public transportation, to see Muir Woods (world’s oldest and tallest Redwood trees), Santa Cruz, Berkeley (University Town), Stanford University, San Jose, Silicon Valley, Monterey whale watching, the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz Island, Pier 39/Fishermen's Wharf and so much more. In other words, make a holiday of it!

For your geographic reference, Click --> <a href="http://www.calif.com/ca/bay-area-map.html"target=new>Here