Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

[Cheegum]

Does anyone know what web based tool I can use to achieve the following. I would highly prefer using WordPress so know of any WP plugins?

User browses to an XYZ.com website. Two types of users, Readers and Contributors.

Reader:
Get’s a list of items already generated by contributors. Example:

• Apple
• Tomato
• Coke
• Honda

When reader clicks on any one of those, another section appears on the right half of the page with a URL pointing to an external page. Reader clicks on URL and gets transported to the external page.

Contributor:
Submits another item for the list above. Provides basic info (140 characters) and a URL to an external page about that item eg:

• Auto Rickshaw - URL: Auto rickshaw - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New item submissions are moderated and the site administrator gets emailed about approving or rejecting new entry.

[Niksik]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

WordPress › Page Links To « WordPress Plugins

The ‘Page Links To’ Plugin.
Something like this Cheegs?

[us1415]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

Sorry man. Dont know anything about WP. If you have any experience developing web sites I would recommend using Django web framework.

[Cheegum]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

Nikki apa thanks for the suggestion, i tried it out and looks like it's not what I need :/

JoelKhan thanks, i'm currently too invested in WP to go out learning a new CMS from scratch :)

[us1415]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

No problem. Sorry couldn't help you much there. Please let us know if you find what you are looking for at WP.

[Lucid_Chaotic]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

Couple of questions:

1. What is the scale of the solution? how much traffic is expected / how big will the back-end database need to be?

2. Do you really need to display the content and the links in separate sub-panels?

If these are not important considerations, a "minimal" solution in my mind would be to have a Google Docs based Form as a font-end... this can be embedded within WP I suppose, and the backend will be the default spreadsheet.

For retrieving content, you can use the Google visualization API to formulate a URL that queries the spreadsheet and retrieves the data you're interested in.

For a very minimal implementation, the above will probably take 15 - 20 minutes to put together.
You can of course enhance this by writing a plug-in for WP to integrate google spreadsheet with WP (I think I've seen some examples online in the past).

[Cheegum]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

Thanks LC, I don't see the list of items going that large, not over 400-500. Using a Spreadsheet on google docs is a good idea. I was able to successfully embed a google docs spreadsheet in HTML. That does however sort of leave the Contributor role in the dark. But this will have to do for now.

[Lucid_Chaotic]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

@Cheegum

Thanks LC, I don’t see the list of items going that large, not over 400-500. Using a Spreadsheet on google docs is a good idea. I was able to successfully embed a google docs spreadsheet in HTML. That does however sort of leave the Contributor role in the dark. But this will have to do for now.

Can you elaborate what you mean by “leave the Contributor role in the dark” ? I thought you simply wanted them to submit entries? this can be done through a Google docs based form linked to the spreadsheet that you’re retrieving from.

Also rather than embedding the spreadsheet itself, I’d suggest using google visualization API… something like demonstrated here: » Query a Google Spreadsheet like a Database with Google Visualization API Query Language ACRL TechConnect Blog](http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=4001)

[us1415]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

LC,

That looks cool. I will have to try this on a Django site myself for some reporting that I needed to do but wanted to run queries against the database.

[Lucid_Chaotic]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

^ Joel, the Google Visualization API is really cool. The article I posted is just the surface of what you can do with it.
The integration with Google Charts is very useful as well.

[NaMaan]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

WordPress is pathetic when its comes to customized solutions. Been there , done that .

Anyways, here is the architecture of your solution

Server End:-

Data store: NoSql based databases are best i.e. MongoDB. I won't mind using a JSON file either (not secure though)
Server side technology: Can be any PHP, NodeJS, ASP.NET etc.
Data feed: REST Api or may be direct link to JSON
Email: All server end languages come with email libraries. Use them.

Client End:-

Data: Make REST calls to pull JSON data objects. Something like {id: 1000, word: 'google', url: 'www.google.com', description: 'blah blah', approved: true}, ......]
Framework: Use AngularJS
UI design: Use bootstrap. It will give you all the basic functionality of showing pop ups etc.

Control:-

You will make REST calls to get list of words for the user and contributor. Contributor will be able to CRUD ops. On create you'll make an API call to server to send email for you.

I hope you already know some of these technologies. If you don't then learn. Its gonna help you in long run.

Good luck

[Lucid_Chaotic]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

^ dude... keyword: "minimal" ;)

But you provide a very elegant solution. I'm a big fan of everything RESTful.

[NaMaan]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

@Lucid_Chaotic

^ dude... keyword: "minimal" ;)

But you provide a very elegant solution. I'm a big fan of everything RESTful.

haha Agree . But if you are talking about clean code that one can understand and customize, then it should be done this way. I learn it hard way. I use to think that everything is possible via plugins :D

btw I named too many technologies. But this whole project is not more than 12-16 hours.

[us1415]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

dang....that is a lot to work with there. That's why I was pointing towards Django since there is no front-end/back-end. :D

[Cheegum]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

@Lucid_Chaotic

Can you elaborate what you mean by “leave the Contributor role in the dark” ? I thought you simply wanted them to submit entries? this can be done through a Google docs based form linked to the spreadsheet that you’re retrieving from.

Also rather than embedding the spreadsheet itself, I’d suggest using google visualization API… something like demonstrated here: » Query a Google Spreadsheet like a Database with Google Visualization API Query Language ACRL TechConnect Blog](http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=4001)

Okay then i’m off learning Google API :bummer:

NaMaan that is quite a handful lol… thanks. How much would you charge to implement that solution?

[NaMaan]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

haha ... I only work on non-profit projects other than my work projects . Its not worth doing it for people you know :D

But good luck. Let me know if you need any help.

[Gizzy]

Re: Have a requirement, need a minimal solution

Hmm looks like a 'Directory' structure of a website?

lots of WP plugins for that purpose. You should see which one fits your requirements best.