[wp-forums] Getting closer

Sat May 20 02:52:00 GMT 2006

Hm. I've been fooling around on a test site (resiny.org/wp if you're really
curious)

If you're not logged in currently you see the title (purposely not
clickable) to each post, and and in the sidebar you see links to the home
page and to the page that doesn't yet exist, but that would theoretically
house the the finished installs.

Once you log in you see the full body of the post with a permalink and all
that, and in the sidebar you see a link to the committed/being worked on
install jobs. My thinking being that someone logs in at the site, and goes
to the front page. From there they choose an install project, and switch the
category from "queue" to "committed"...possibly with a subcat of to who
(podz, TG, whatever). Ideally we'll have a modified loop running on the
front page showing just one category in reverse chronological order (so that
the people who apply first get served first). On seperate password protected
pages you have a loop running the committed installs. Once they are done the
installer changes the category to "completed" where they then are displayed
on a third page running a loop showing only that category. There people can
once again see them and know which ones have been done.

What would still need to be done with this for it to even sort of work:

   - All posts password protected by default...?
   - front page single category reverse chronological loop
   - two page templates each with a different single category loop that
   can be used for committed page and for done page.
   - cron job to do the PBM
   - a way to set it to that the website in the email form is made into
   the post title, otherwise people won't be able to know which post in the
   queue represents their site.

I realize what I have now is an incredibly flimsy base that may or may not
be worthy of building off of...thoughts?

If anyone wants to build off of this or log in to see more or anything let
me know.

Just trying to keep this ball rolling

On 5/19/06, TechGnome <tg at tannagh.com> wrote:
>
> Once again... thinking out loud.....
> Ok, so basicaly, we need a system that we can get up and running fast....
> That means a home-grown system is out. So... building on Jesse's
> idea.... let's use WP as a base.
> The only concern I have with PBM is that the username and the password
> have to be sent in the email. But... what if we use a Contact Me plugin
> to send a mail to a special mail box... but before it sends it, it
> prepends the login info. Then when the PBM fires off on WP, the login
> info is there and the post is posted.
> When the post is created, some info (the public type info - that can be
> figured out later) goes into the excerpt. This is going to be the public
> side of the ticket and will be viewable by the user so  they can see
> what's going on. Stuff we can keep in here: who it's assigned to, it's
> open state, what ever. All of the private info (password, the contact
> info, etc) goes in the content. This part will never get seen except by
> the installer, when they "edit" the post.
> All installers get a login to the WP site.  If we want, each user gets a
> category, and assignments are based on if the ticket is in the Open,
> Closed or {username} category.
>
> What we would need:
> 1) a WP installation
> 2) Someone who knows how to set up the PBM & a cron job properly (I've
> not had any success in this - ever, but it's been a while since I've
> even tried it.)
> 3) A template to properly display the info (replace all the_content with
> the_excerpt).
> ??
> What else? Oh, a modified "Contact Me" plugin - shouldn't be too hard to
> do this.
>
> It's crazy enough it just might work, and uses off the shelf items
> readily available.
>
> -tg
>
>
> Petit wrote:
> > TechGnome wrote:
> >> WARNING: lengthy posting. My mind tends to wander sometimes.... I
> >> really need to get a leash for it.
> >>
> >> Not too shabby.... a couple of comments.
> >> 1) Who will this go to? Is there going to be a wp-install mailing
> >> group that this gets sent to? Or will the data go into a database? Or
> >> has that part even been thought out? Or am I ahead of things?
> >> 2) I'd change the "CC myself" to something along the lines of "Send
> >> myself a copy" It's clearer about what that option does.
> >>
> >> It looks like I might have some free time this weekend, since no one
> >> else has volunteered to set up the registration/contact/help me
> >> page(s).... I'd like to take a stab at this. My PHP skills aren't
> >> anything to write home about, but I have done some and think I can
> >> hack something together. I'm thinking we need the following kinds of
> >> pages (as far as user input goes):
> >> 1) a registration page where the user can enter their info and get
> >> into the queue.
> >> 2) a contact page where questions can be submitted - an FAQ could be
> >> built off of this at a later time
> >> 3) a status page where the user can login and see where they are at
> >> in the queue, and possibly answer questions from the installer.
> >> 4) an admin page where the installers and other admins can monitor
> >> the site - confirm requests, deny requests, update status, assign
> >> requests, view the queue, etc.
> >>
> >> A thought just occurred to me. what does everyone think about using
> >> the site as the communication tool, rather than direct emails? Emails
> >> would still be generated, but instead of the installer sending email
> >> directly to the user, the site would do it instead. And vice-versa
> >> too. Then once a request has been closed, the site would not allow
> >> emails to be sent through. This would prevent the user from coming
> >> back to the installer in six weeks going, hey could also do this...
> >> and that, and this other thing too? - just a thought-
> >>
> >> -tg
> > Looks usable to me.
> > On the installer to requester question, I think email communication on
> > a one to one basis would make the latter a nice and cozy feeling of of
> > security.
> > I'ts faster and allows for sloppy back and forth chat during the
> > install process, which I'm sure will take place in some cases.
> >
> > /Petit
> >>
> >> Podz wrote:
> >>> There seems to be a collective deafness elsewhere....
> >>>
> >>> How about this ?
> >>> http://www.tamba2.org.uk/install/?page_id=6
> >>>
> >>> We mail them back with what they have asked. It's as good as
> >>> anything else isn't it? They know what they have typed and we know
> >>> too...
> >>>
> >>> We need the 'agreed to..' bit doing and if someone could kindly
> >>> advise how to make the plugin auto-cc (do that invisibly?)
> >>> (http://www.phrixus.co.uk/pxsmail/) then that would be cool.
> >>>
> >>> So ...... if that page - and the one that follows - feel free to
> >>> send me info which I shall bounce back to you - looks okay - be
> >>> critical (nicely) - is it good to go with? If not, why and what
> >>> should we add?
> >>>
> >>> P.
> >> On the form I think the Subject field should be non editable. That
> >> way it's not open for jokes or extraneous info and easily filtered
> >> into the correct box.
> > /Petit
> >
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