Many more questions ... (grin) - In-Portal Web 2.0 Content Management System (CMS)

fmckinnon
Member

Joined: 25-Oct-2005
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 10/13/2005 12:59:39 PM

Hey Ya'll -
I'm in "demo" mode now, installed at:
http://demos.in-commerce.net/christian-podcasts ... soon to be christian-podcasts.com.

Several questions:
Modify Link Page:
1) One of my custom fields, "RSS URL" displays "Array" in the value box, instead of the RSS Feed URL that was entered on the signup box. (this RSS URL field displays properly in the "details page)
2) One of my custom fields, "Podcast Host" does not show existing data in the modify box ... unlike Name, URL, and Description
3) I've uploaded "Thumbnail" and "Full-Size" images multiple times, clicked the "Modify Link" button ... it says the link has been modified, but I never see the image - only the "Camera-Sample Image" shows up on my details page. Is this because of being in "demo" server?

General Display of Custom Fields:
I've gotten many custom fields to display on the pages - however, how do I make certain fields display as text, but also be a hyperlink of their value
(ie. Podcast Feed URL: http:// ..... [url] ... it is properly displaying as the text I entered, but how can I also make that be a hyperlink as well (doing to the url that is described, etc)

On Link Details for "Highest Praise Worship Podcast" ...
Podcast Web Site URL:
does not parse ... my code on the detail/link.tpl file is:
<td colspan="3">Podcast Web Site URL: <inp:link _field="url" /></td>

Also -
I know I must be staring straight at it - but I've got all 3 themes enabled in Configuration > Themes, w/ "Default" being primary - but where can the user change this on the front end?

FINALLY:
How can I make folks who submit links choose one of the categories in Directory. By Default, the links go into "directory" (thus filling up the Diretory Homepage as individual links) instead of one of the two "Categories" I created in the Directory. I'm not sure I understand why links would go into the top level of the "Directory" at all, unless you never intended on creating categories ... as it stands, it goes into "Directory" by default, and then they have to manually add one of the other categories. (unless they navigate to the category and choose "suggest a link".).

I guess on DMOZ for example, you have to drill all the way down into the link categories before you can suggest a link ... that's what I'd like.

These are just a few to get me started!

Thanks,
FRED

[Edited By fmckinnon on 10/13/05 2:08:56 PM]

Dmitry
Member

Joined: 29-Jan-2002
Location: United States
Posts: 1675

Posted: 10/13/2005 4:01:21 PM

Reply Quoted

fmckinnon wrote:

10/13/2005 12:59:39 PM

Hey Ya'll -
I'm in "demo" mode now, installed at:
http://demos.in-commerce.net/christian-podcasts ... soon to be christian-podcasts.com.

Several questions:
Modify Link Page:
1) One of my custom fields, "RSS URL" displays "Array" in the value box, instead of the RSS Feed URL that was entered on the signup box. (this RSS URL field displays properly in the "details page)
2) One of my custom fields, "Podcast Host" does not show existing data in the modify box ... unlike Name, URL, and Description
3) I've uploaded "Thumbnail" and "Full-Size" images multiple times, clicked the "Modify Link" button ... it says the link has been modified, but I never see the image - only the "Camera-Sample Image" shows up on my details page. Is this because of being in "demo" server?

General Display of Custom Fields:
I've gotten many custom fields to display on the pages - however, how do I make certain fields display as text, but also be a hyperlink of their value
(ie. Podcast Feed URL: http:// ..... [url] ... it is properly displaying as the text I entered, but how can I also make that be a hyperlink as well (doing to the url that is described, etc)

On Link Details for "Highest Praise Worship Podcast" ...
Podcast Web Site URL:
does not parse ... my code on the detail/link.tpl file is:
<td colspan="3">Podcast Web Site URL: <inp:link _field="url" /></td>

Also -
I know I must be staring straight at it - but I've got all 3 themes enabled in Configuration > Themes, w/ "Default" being primary - but where can the user change this on the front end?

FINALLY:
How can I make folks who submit links choose one of the categories in Directory. By Default, the links go into "directory" (thus filling up the Diretory Homepage as individual links) instead of one of the two "Categories" I created in the Directory. I'm not sure I understand why links would go into the top level of the "Directory" at all, unless you never intended on creating categories ... as it stands, it goes into "Directory" by default, and then they have to manually add one of the other categories. (unless they navigate to the category and choose "suggest a link".).

I guess on DMOZ for example, you have to drill all the way down into the link categories before you can suggest a link ... that's what I'd like.

These are just a few to get me started!

Thanks,
FRED

[Edited By fmckinnon on 10/13/05 2:08:56 PM]

Hello Fred,

Thanks for taking time on customizing your Demo. As I can see you've got pretty far by now. I'll address your questions below one-by-one:

1 & 2 issue were minor bug and had to be resolved in PHP code. Those were small leftovers from the previous major Platform upgrade. Both bugs were fixed in your copy and will be included in the upcoming release.

3. I think the reason for that is "no permissions" on the Demo server. I already contacted one of our server admins asking to enable this feature. It shouldn't be a problem.

4. I changed that for you. Please open your link details template to see how it's implemented.

5. Each of current three themes has a different purpose. The default theme is the one which contains the design for all In-portal modules - In-commerce, In-link3, In-newz and In-bulletin. Inlink2 theme is an old design of In-link2 templates (previous generation) build specifically for In-portal with In-link3 module only. "Onlinestore" is for a single In-commerce module and doesn't have In-link3, In-newz or In-bulletin templates in it.

There is a special tag available which would list all enabled themes in your In-portal. To see how it works you can set Inlink2 to be the primary theme (through the Admin). There will be a drop-down with themes displayed on the top portion of the page.

6. In-portal with In-link module (Directory) was designed to be Yahoo/DMOZ style directory and has very similar features. Basically, it's all depends on permissions setup. In your case, all users are allowed to "suggest a link" to Directory category. That's how initial permissions were setup during the installation. In-portal Admins can change these permissions anyway they want. Note that In-portal has Windows style cattery permissions when you can set specific permissions to any category or inherit from it's parent. As one of quick solutions we can hide "suggest a link" link from the users whenever they don't have permission to take that action. Please let us know if you'd like to try that and we'll be glad to set this up for you. More information on Permissions topic can be found in the product manual.

Thank you.

fmckinnon
Member

Joined: 25-Oct-2005
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 10/13/2005 9:31:01 PM

Reply Quoted

Hey
Thanks for the quick replies ... my questions continue ...

1) if I want to link directly to the "forums" or to the "directory" from a static page - what URL should I use? Surely not that long one ... something needs to be simple (ie. /inlink/index .. instead of /inlink/index.m230493049209209451-9-19234-8315 (made that up).

2) With this site, in addition to being a community for "directory" and "forums", I plan on offering some great services, including podcast hosting, and podcast production. I don't need InCommerce, as I have a robust billing/order system for our existing hosting company ... but would want to dedicate a section on the homepage (and other static pages) about the podcast hosting plans, production services, etc.

In terms of included navigation (meaning these links are with Home | Forums | Podcast Hosting | Production, etc .... how is the best way to do that? I am sure I could figure out how to include those nav links in the top include ... but what about unique pages.

Finally - on the homepage, I'll modify the welcome box to have a glimpse of everything - welcome message, brief description of services (podcast hosting, production, etc) etc ... is that the best place for this "static" content?
To be more clear - especially for the "podcast hosting" ... I'd like to have a brief overview of the service, but then have multiple pages describing it (ie. what is podcasting ... next page ... what the podcasting plan includes ... next page ... what the features mean .... next page ... click here to order (which would take them into my hosting company's order entry system).

So, I realize I'm probably wanting to turn In-Portal into something more like a "website" at this point, but wonder: how is this best done? Should I try and utilize the news and/or forums for this, or create new "pages", and if new "pages" - how are they best navigated?

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT:
SEO - search engines have to like these URLS ... what the ETA on getting these long, encrypted URL's into something that search engines will actually index?

thanks,
FRED

fmckinnon
Member

Joined: 25-Oct-2005
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 10/17/2005 2:27:25 PM

Reply Quoted

hey - anyone there still? waiting on reply before making purchase -
Fred

Dmitry
Member

Joined: 29-Jan-2002
Location: United States
Posts: 1675

Posted: 10/17/2005 6:26:00 PM

Reply Quoted

fmckinnon wrote:

10/13/2005 9:31:01 PM

Hey
Thanks for the quick replies ... my questions continue ...

1) if I want to link directly to the "forums" or to the "directory" from a static page - what URL should I use? Surely not that long one ... something needs to be simple (ie. /inlink/index .. instead of /inlink/index.m230493049209209451-9-19234-8315 (made that up).

2) With this site, in addition to being a community for "directory" and "forums", I plan on offering some great services, including podcast hosting, and podcast production. I don't need InCommerce, as I have a robust billing/order system for our existing hosting company ... but would want to dedicate a section on the homepage (and other static pages) about the podcast hosting plans, production services, etc.

In terms of included navigation (meaning these links are with Home | Forums | Podcast Hosting | Production, etc .... how is the best way to do that? I am sure I could figure out how to include those nav links in the top include ... but what about unique pages.

Finally - on the homepage, I'll modify the welcome box to have a glimpse of everything - welcome message, brief description of services (podcast hosting, production, etc) etc ... is that the best place for this "static" content?
To be more clear - especially for the "podcast hosting" ... I'd like to have a brief overview of the service, but then have multiple pages describing it (ie. what is podcasting ... next page ... what the podcasting plan includes ... next page ... what the features mean .... next page ... click here to order (which would take them into my hosting company's order entry system).

So, I realize I'm probably wanting to turn In-Portal into something more like a "website" at this point, but wonder: how is this best done? Should I try and utilize the news and/or forums for this, or create new "pages", and if new "pages" - how are they best navigated?

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT:
SEO - search engines have to like these URLS ... what the ETA on getting these long, encrypted URL's into something that search engines will actually index?

thanks,
FRED

Hello Fred,

Sorry about a little delay!

First of all, I wanted to let you know that we already fixed your Demo, so you should be able to upload the images through Suggest Link form. I uncommented all necessary HTML in that template so it's good to go now!

In regards to your new questions, you'll find my answers below:

1. I see a few ways to implement what you are talking about:
a. you can use shorter version of link/URL - http://demos.in-commerce.net/christian-podcasts/index.php?env=-inbulletin/index:m3-
b. create sub-domain and create .htaccess redirect to any In-portal URL.
c. create any static HTML or PHP page and redirect to any In-portal URL.

Please note that we planing to introduce a new mod_rewrite feature in one after shortly coming release. The main goal of this feature is to make all In-portal URLs more friendly by converting them to HTML format on the fly. With that feature your URLs would look something like this - www.domain.com/category/index/products/camera_and_photo/digital/canon350d.html, but still will be dynamic.

2. In regards to adding new pages please refer to the following topic -
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/index.php?env=-inbulletin/post_list:m38-1-1-1:bb3599-0-1-1-1-0-0. The actual "Home|Directory|News|Forums" navigation is dynamic, since all the modules are optional as you know. You just need to add links to your new pages in default/common/pagetop.tpl right after or before:



&lt;inp:mod_include _Template=&quot;menubar_element&quot; /&gt;

tag (which lists links to other Modules)

The home page welcome box located in default/index/webcomebox.tpl template then you can link to a new pages you've created by adding the following tag in a welcomebox.tpl:



&lt;a href=&quot;&lt;inp:m_template_link _Template=&quot;newpage&quot; /&gt;&quot;&gt;New Page&lt;/a&gt;

and then just link to your shopping cart page.

3. About SE URL indexing, we did a lot of test on this end and didn't have any issues with that, but once again we are coming out with new mod_rewrite feature in In-portal v1.1.3 which would make this even easier for all SEs.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Thanks again!

fmckinnon
Member

Joined: 25-Oct-2005
Location: United States
Posts: 6

Posted: 10/18/2005 4:43:39 PM

Reply Quoted

Dmitry -
Thanks for your great support ....
One thing I've noticed - although I've checked "notify me" in this forum, I've never gotten an email when you reply to my message ... I have to keep coming back here and "reloading" to see if you've posted a reply.

Now, on my demo account (I think my 10 days are almost up - please keep me live a few more days!) ... I created a post in the forum "test" ... and made sure I checked the box to receive email updates when responses were posted ... I then posted a reply from admin, and never received an email reply.

Is this another bug? I already mentioned the need for "Preview Post" in the other thread, but email notification is a MUST-HAVE for a good forum ... please advise on this.

Finally - what is the realistic time table for the mod_rewrite update? This would be very powerful. I realize you probably can't give me a specific date ... but can you nail it down to a guesstimate (ie. before the end of this year, next Spring, etc).

Also - what is the upgrade path in terms of pricing, etc?

Thanks,
Fred

Dmitry
Member

Joined: 29-Jan-2002
Location: United States
Posts: 1675

Posted: 10/19/2005 11:45:08 AM

Reply Quoted

fmckinnon wrote:

10/18/2005 4:43:39 PM

Dmitry -
Thanks for your great support ....
One thing I've noticed - although I've checked "notify me" in this forum, I've never gotten an email when you reply to my message ... I have to keep coming back here and "reloading" to see if you've posted a reply.

Now, on my demo account (I think my 10 days are almost up - please keep me live a few more days!) ... I created a post in the forum "test" ... and made sure I checked the box to receive email updates when responses were posted ... I then posted a reply from admin, and never received an email reply.

Is this another bug? I already mentioned the need for "Preview Post" in the other thread, but email notification is a MUST-HAVE for a good forum ... please advise on this.

Finally - what is the realistic time table for the mod_rewrite update? This would be very powerful. I realize you probably can't give me a specific date ... but can you nail it down to a guesstimate (ie. before the end of this year, next Spring, etc).

Also - what is the upgrade path in terms of pricing, etc?

Thanks,
Fred

Hello Fred,

I already contacted us Demo personnel and requested to extend your trial period, so no worries on this.

I'll report this as a possible bug and our development team will look into this shortly. I'll keep you posted on this.

In regards to release date of In-portal v1.1.3. It will be certainly in 2005 and most likely closer to December, since new features would require a lot of testing for sure.

You'll get one year of free upgrades and support from the date of your last purchase with the option to extend it later on annual basis. This mean that if you purchase a new module for any of your existing In-portal sites you automatically extend your support and upgrades for another year.

Please don't hisitate to send more questions.

Thank you.

In-Portal Forum

Many more questions ... (grin) (7)