Add-on Looking for this

[Cambion]

Is there anything on XF that can be used as a "Book Shelf" of some sort?


While I know there are a few add-ons like Showcase, that is not quite what I am looking for. I am looking for something where a member can add a book to their "shelf" like on goodreads that has the cover of the book and they can update their progress as they complete the book.

Given I technically run a "book forum", I am looking for possible ways to make the forum more....immersive I guess? And I was just on goodreads.com updating my book shelf, and I thought...

Does XF have a Bookshelf type of add-on?

Even if it can't do exactly what I want, I'd take any suggestions.

 

[Daniel Hood]

I would normally have recommended Showcase but since you already sho that down I'm going to have to suggest you look at getting it developed custom. As far as I know, nothing like that exists and it would be a relatively niche product so I doubt anyone will make it unless it's custom. I might be wrong though.

Alternatively, this is probably the most similar thing you'll find: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/book-reviews-by-waindigo-unsupported.712/

 

[Cambion]

I would normally have recommended Showcase but since you already sho that down I'm going to have to suggest you look at getting it developed custom. As far as I know, nothing like that exists and it would be a relatively niche product so I doubt anyone will make it unless it's custom. I might be wrong though.

Alternatively, this is probably the most similar thing you'll find: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/book-reviews-by-waindigo-unsupported.712/

I didn't shoot it down. But is Showcase something that users themselves can utilize and

1. Show the Book Covers of Books they are reading

2. Update the Progress? Like Page 15 of 500

3. Add a review to it?

Thanks for Waindigo's add-on...I already use a lot of his products so I am a fan, though I am hesitant to use that since it is unsupported and hasn't been updated in over 2 and 1/2 years.

Hmm, custom may be the way. But yeah please answer my questions about Showcase

 

[Daniel Hood]

Show the Book Covers of Books they are reading

I'm pretty sure they upload an image so you'd just have to enforce it being the book cover.

Update the Progress? Like Page 15 of 500

Doubt it, like I said that's a pretty niche request. I don't know if Bob includes custom fields, if he does then you could make that one of them. This reminds me, you could possibly use the resource manager for this as well. Each resource has a logo which could be the cover and you can set custom fields for things like their current page.

Add a review to it?

They get to type a message which could be a review. I really don't use Showcase so I'm a horrible person to explain it's feature set. Lets get @Bob B in here.

 

[Cambion]

I'm pretty sure they upload an image so you'd just have to enforce it being the book cover.


Doubt it, like I said that's a pretty niche request. I don't know if Bob includes custom fields, if he does then you could make that one of them. This reminds me, you could possibly use the resource manager for this as well. Each resource has a logo which could be the cover and you can set custom fields for things like their current page.


They get to type a message which could be a review. I really don't use Showcase so I'm a horrible person to explain it's feature set. Lets get @Bob B in here.

Yeah I was thinking of resource Manager as well right before I made this thread but i dismissed it because i was like "nah, that probably can't do what i want to do."

Here is a Couple of Screenshots of something I'd like to do. It's from my goodreads bookshelf
(i read any and everything so don't judge me lol)

It has the Book Covers(And the Author) and the average rating....with the Shelves(you can create your own shelves).

 

[Bob]

I didn't shoot it down. But is Showcase something that users themselves can utilize and

1. Show the Book Covers of Books they are reading

2. Update the Progress? Like Page 15 of 500

3. Add a review to it?

1. One of the most basic features of Showcase is setting a Cover Image (which can be set by choosing any of the uploaded attachments for the item and changed at any time). The cover image is used for display through out showcase (on listings, Discussion thread, Search results etc). Lisa aka @Azhria Lilu has a really nice implementation of book reviews were you can see how book covers can look out of the box.

2. Several ways to do this, but custom fields is probably the best (showcase has its own custom fields). With some minor editing, custom fields can be located virtually anywhere you want to place them outside of the item itself, ie on Listing Pages for example).

3. Showcase currently has USER reviews (which there is a setting to allow the item author to leave a user review). Staring with SC 2.3.0, the author of the item will have their own "review" (star rating and review content) separate from "User Reviews". This would be what you want vs user reviews.

Each User has their own page that lists all their items (which would be their "book shelf" so to speak).

 

[Cambion]

1. One of the most basic features of Showcase is setting a Cover Image (which can be set by choosing any of the uploaded attachments for the item and changed at any time). The cover image is used for display through out showcase (on listings, Discussion thread, Search results etc). Lisa aka @Azhria Lilu has a really nice implementation of book reviews were you can see how book covers can look out of the box.

2. Several ways to do this, but custom fields is probably the best (showcase has its own custom fields). With some minor editing, custom fields can be located virtually anywhere you want to place them outside of the item itself, ie on Listing Pages for example).

3. Showcase currently has USER reviews (which there is a setting to allow the item author to leave a user review). Staring with SC 2.3.0, the author of the item will have their own "review" (star rating and review content) separate from "User Reviews". This would be what you want vs user reviews.

Each User has their own page that lists all their items (which would be their "book shelf" so to speak).

So would your resource or the resource manager be a better fit?

 

[Lisa]

As I told you before, Micah, Showcase is brilliant for books. Set the cover image as the book cover - tabs for almost anything you can think up - book blurb, author info, whatever... We have custom fields for the ISBN, links to buy at Amazon, Publisher information and then there's the rate and review bit which looks so much nicer than a thread full of reviews. And with the recent addition of a sidebar widget to display reviews, my love for Showcase just gets stronger

 

[Cambion]

As I told you before, Micah, Showcase is brilliant for books. Set the cover image as the book cover - tabs for almost anything you can think up - book blurb, author info, whatever... We have custom fields for the ISBN, links to buy at Amazon, Publisher information and then there's the rate and review bit which looks so much nicer than a thread full of reviews. And with the recent addition of a sidebar widget to display reviews, my love for Showcase just gets stronger

Ooh so you can actually use the ISBN and Amazon link?
Oh yes, In that case I like that.

So since we have similar sites, you'd definitely recommend Showcase over RM for this case?

Well you all know how i am a big proponent for 1st party/core products(i,e, RM) though in this case I feel a 3rd product might suit my needs better(i.e. showcase). I wish i could see the resource manager used somewhere in a custom way besides XF site

When I think of resource manager, i usually think "Downloading stuff", which makes me think showcase might be best.

 

[Lisa]

Ooh so you can actually use the ISBN and Amazon link?
Oh yes, In that case I like that.

With custom fields, yes:-



Custom fields are showing above the blurb.

And just so you can see what the reviews look like:-

So since we have similar sites, you'd definitely recommend Showcase over RM for this case?

I can't recommend it highly enough

 

[Bob]

So would your resource or the resource manager be a better fit?

That can only be answered by you through due diligence. More than happy to answer any questions you have about what can and can not be done with showcase tho

 

[Shelley]

So would your resource or the resource manager be a better fit?

As stated already, Showcase will fit your needs nicely. You'll have to do a little legwork and try out the demos, look at what others have done to customize the add-on and then decide and weigh up the options if either add-on will suffice.

 

[DRE]

Goodreads uses Amazon's api to automatically fill out info. There's another app that's integrated with Amazon's api that was created by @Waindigo called Book Reviews but it's unsupported. Book Reviews.