[TYPO3-hci] files_with_pages backend extension

[Mark Stephenson]

To help make a good idea a reality, here is an idea for an extension that 
will address #2:

"2) Web List could show page related folders and file or new module for 
this purpose For every page own folder like in Plone - only need to create 
those folders on-demand (when a file actually exists)."

I agree that, in our experience, having two trees (page and file) is 
confusing to users and allowing files to be placed inside pages would 
simplify things and ease maintenance. One of my frustrations is when we 
move pages to different sections. The pages move beautifully but the 
associated files in fileadmin do not move. Here is the proposed extension:

files_with_pages backend extension

The extension configuration will include specifying a directory in 
fileadmin where the page-based directories are stored. So a user could 
specify fileadmin/pagefiles. Within the pagefiles directory, the extension 
will automatically create directories that are named by each unique page ID 
in the page tree. I really like this because the ID is unique already and 
now pages can be moved around but the files can remain where they are 
because they are tied to the ID. If a user needs to, they can look at files 
and manager files in Fileadmin normally. The only catch is that they will 
see a ton of directories that correspond to the page IDs.

Within the Page view, the extension adds an icon that switches to the new 
file view for that page. All the page file view can do is upload files to 
that single directory, rename files, and delete files. It could also 
support a copy or a move operation. Note: We could go with another view on 
the left like a File view below the Page view, but it seems like we want 
the files to feel more connected with the page. However, you interface 
designers may have a better ideas. In any case, files would feel like they 
are connected to pages and we would preserve the current way TYPO3 handles 
files. Can someone prototype how this should look? Here are some other 
technical details:

- Just to avoid creating a bunch of empty directories, it seems like the 
extension could only create a directory if a user wants to upload or to 
copy a file there.

- When pages are copied, it might be best not to copy the files because it 
could create a lot of extra files and most people want just one copy of a 
file unless they are explicitly copying a file.

- For deleting pages, I am unsure how best to handle it. Perhaps we leave 
the files as well, but they may seem orphaned.

- Linking to the files may require some more work because creating a file 
link automatically browses the fileadmin directory. For an initial version 
of the extension, the user may just need to look in the fileadmin/pagefiles 
directory for the page ID. But it would be great for the files that are 
local to the page to be available under one tab or a special node in the 
fileadmin tree.

Those are my initial thoughts. Please reply to say how we can make this 
lots better. I believe this approach preserves the current design of TYPO3 
and does not force people to use pages with files. However, if we create 
this extension, I expect that it will be popular. I believe we would add it 
to our Web-Empowered Church Starter Package 
(http://webempoweredchurch.com/gettingstarted/installing/).

Mark Stephenson
Web-Empowered Church












At 09:13 AM 8/10/2006, Tapio Markula wrote:
>Hi
>
>Here summary of improvement proposals on the base of the discussion
>
>1) New way to use nested content elements. They could be put in one
>WYSIWYG area using icons, which would be links to configuration
>2) Web List could show page related folders and file or new module for
>this purpose For every page own folder like in Plone - only need to
>create those folders on-demand (when a file actually exists).
>3) Better new page creation ­ options ‘Page inside’, ‘Page after’
>wizard. SELECT-menu or inlinepopup. Maybe also in context menu a
>submenu. Only if wizard needed a new view for this task. Default
>db_new.php could be better showing all options together.
>4) Create new record also into the top of the page. Can be implemented
>easiest adding new icon after ‘View page’ on top-left corner. see
>http://t3test.xetpoint.com/media/development/inproved_create_new_page.png
>5) Better default news/blog module (listed as "special element" or
>separate "plugin"?).
>6) Automatically display quick-add feature for items belonging to some
>plugin (e.g.: news items). This should also work when the given plugin
>retrieves its items from some other page (e.g.: news listing on front
>page and archive page, but quick-add will always add to archive).
>7) Create two different view modes: "simple" and "advanced" which are
>available by default. The current default install (which I'm working
>with ATM) doesn't have anything in that direction.
>8) Center interface around the page tree, by default. For example, I
>really like the generic idea behind this screenshot (posted by Andreas
>Balzar):
>http://lists.netfielders.de/pipermail/typo3-team-hci/attachments/20060521/d7f6f06b/attachment-0001.png
>9) Instead of showing the different page view modes on the left we
>should use tabs in the page section on the right, so the connection
>between the page and its view modes becomes more apparent. I haven't
>read the whole list archive, so I don't know which of my suggestions is
>a duplicate...
>10) When I click on "Filelist", by default, no folder is selected, so I
>get an empty view. That's a little bit confusing. Could the filelist
>please always open the root folder, by default (and not allow for having
>no folder selected)?
>11)  Maybe in "Filelist" thumbnails should be displayed, by default?
>12) Combining FE and BE users (left open)
>_______________________________________________
>TYPO3-team-hci mailing list
>TYPO3-team-hci at lists.netfielders.de
>http://lists.netfielders.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/typo3-team-hci


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark Stephenson                                               |
Ginghamsburg Church                             _    /||    --+--
Director of Cyber Ministry and Technology      ( }   \||      |
                                              | /\__,=[_]      |
Director of the Web-Empowered Church         |_\_  |---|
  a ministry of the                           |  |/ |   | Technology
Foundation for Evangelism                    |  /_ |   | for the Kingdom
http://WebEmpoweredChurch.com & org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~