XenZine Articles [Deleted]

[Code Monkey]

I mean as THE home page for the site.

Also it would be nice if a current thread could be moved to an article. Since some members write article quality threads and it would be a nice reward to be able to upgrade them.

Is there also an option to change dates and merge with existing threads? For example: I have all the articles from my old vbulletin CMS that I could add using the original date and merge with the existing thread. As of right now since the transfer I have threads with links to articles that are not there.

 

[tenants]

I mean as THE home page for the site.

That's correct, that's what those options do. The Article areas can be set to your forum home page (there are also other options to set the Article Page.. the page that loads when selecting the Article tab, but this option is septate from selecting the forum Home Page)

Also it would be nice if a current thread could be moved to an article. Since some members write article quality threads and it would be a nice reward to be able to upgrade them..

You can convert the 1 post of a thread to an article, See this:
http://xenforo.com/community/attachments/converttoarticle-png.51641/
You can also convert the Article back to a thread if you should need to

Is there also an option to change dates

You can also change the timestamp see this
http://xenforo.com/community/attachments/updatepublishtime-png.51643/
(or using the post_time time stamp when converting, see above link and look at the option post_time when converting a thread to an article)

and merge with existing threads? For example: I have all the articles from my old vbulletin CMS that I could add using the original date and merge with the existing thread. As of right now since the transfer I have threads with links to articles that are not there.

You can change the discussion association. So if you have an article, but you want to link it to a particular discussion (instead of a new discussion starting with a read-more link), you can:

• Remove Thread Association
• Create New Associated Thread
• Associate to an Existing Thread

See Article Tools : http://xenforo.com/community/attachments/updatepublishtime-png.51643/

 

[Code Monkey]

Hmmm, I am intrigued.

 

[Code Monkey]

Are there any sites that I could look at that have this as the home page? Also, any sites using a dark style?

 

[Paul]

Tenants,

Think i may have found an issue, or it's something I've missed...

Ok so I have created two articles on my site as a test, and only allowed permission to do anything to Admins at present, and these use a hidden forum called "articles". However it seems that, whilst you cant see the article itself if you are a member, it still appears in the "whats new" list of threads for all to see.... (all be it they can see the pic and the summary they cant read the article itself as they get "NoPermissionResponseException: You can not view this article" when they click on the link to view the full article...

As far as i'm aware they shouldn't be able to see this at all???

 

[tenants]

I'm not sure what the bug is

The users do not have permissions to view the Articles, but do have permissions to views threads, so when a thread is created with an article, it causes this issue (they can view the associated thread, but can't view the article)

If you are playing around with it in a hidden areas, if users can't view articles (but can view threads), it might be better to just show the normal thread view. Hmm..

I'll look into fixing this

For now, just turn thread creation off when playing around with it in the background

 

[tenants]

@Paul

I've had a think about this, and it is acting as it should.

When you create an article, if a user does not have the permission to view it, it will not be visible / searchable and will not appear in the what's new for those users.. that's correct
If your article creates a thread, then that thread could be both viewable / searchable. Threads are independent ... and are just core threads (they just look like they are associated to the article)

If you want the thread that gets created to be invisible to the your users, then you have to associate the article (or the article category) to a forum that is not visible to the users. This is a core permission. By doing this, threads that then get created with articles will no longer appear in the "what's new" area for those users

Depending how you have hidden the forums, they could still be accessible. Make sure the forums that you use do not allow any users to view them (don't just hide them from the forum nodes)

 

[Saimmi]

Is there a possibility of being able to add polls to articles (perhaps including a poll attached to an article thread just under the summary)? Not sure how possible this is but I think it'd be a great addition and another way to get users engaged with the articles.

 

[Morgain]

@tenants I am finally trying it out on one of my sites and you're a really great developer - smooth as silk install, excellent instructions (though I suggest adding that once permissions have been set, some first Categories are created, you Create Article by going to the frontend and click Articles on the navbar).

My first moan is that there is no upload button for images or files. All I can see is the tree icon on the editor toolbar to link an image.
I'd also like sometimes to attach a document - rtf doc or pdf to an article. But first how do I insert an image?

Secondly how do I disable Reviews and Ratings? This is a purely info site with articles provided by me.

Finally I am extremely happy indeed to display your credit link but not above the bottom breadcrumbs.
I would far rather display you on ALL my site pages, but at the bottom.
I'm happy to place it either
- next to the Xenforo credit at the very bottom (this is where I put all my credits usually);
- or on the footer bar after the theme selector,
- or immediately UNDER the bottom breadcrumbs.
An advert link in the content area doesn't look cool. Content zone to me should be only content not external distractions.

 

[Saimmi]

@tenants I am finally trying it out on one of my sites and you're a really great developer - smooth as silk install, excellent instructions (though I suggest adding that once permissions have been set, some first Categories are created, you Create Article by going to the frontend and click Articles on the navbar).

My first moan is that there is no upload button for images or files. All I can see is the tree icon on the editor toolbar to link an image.
I'd also like sometimes to attach a document - rtf doc or pdf to an article. But first how do I insert an image?

Secondly how do I disable Reviews and Ratings? This is a purely info site with articles provided by me.

Finally I am extremely happy indeed to display your credit link but not above the bottom breadcrumbs.
I would far rather display you on ALL my site pages, but at the bottom.
I'm happy to place it either
- next to the Xenforo credit at the very bottom (this is where I put all my credits usually);
- or on the footer bar after the theme selector,
- or immediately UNDER the bottom breadcrumbs.
An advert link in the content area doesn't look cool. Content zone to me should be only content not external distractions.

There should be a button to upload images at the bottom of the window when editing part of an article, far as I know.

 

[Morgain]

There should be a button to upload images at the bottom of the window when editing part of an article, far as I know.

Thank you but no I do not have that.

 

[Saimmi]

Thank you but no I do not have that.

Ah, sorry. I'm not sure what the issue could be.

 

[tenants]

Hmm... I quite like that as an idea, it's not impossible to do at all

@tenants
My first moan is that there is no upload button for images or files.

Can you send me a screen shot of your editor when you open it up in the submit an article area (and when you open it up on the forum), do you also see the same issue on surreyforum?:

 

[Morgain]

@tenants re upload of images I have this error when trying to upload an image
a) when editing an article
b) in admincp as a default category image

Server Error
mkdir() [function.mkdir]: Permission denied

1. XenForo_Application::handlePhpError()
2. mkdir() in XenForo/Helper/File.php at line 66
3. XenForo_Helper_File::createDirectory() in XenZine/Model/Image.php at line 349
4. XenZine_Model_Image->_writeAricleImage() in XenZine/Model/Image.php at line 224
5. XenZine_Model_Image->applyArticleImage() in XenZine/Model/Image.php at line 98
6. XenZine_Model_Image->uploadImage() in XenZine/Model/Article.php at line 747
7. XenZine_Model_Article->uploadImage() in XenZine/ControllerPublic/Article.php at line 865
8. XenZine_ControllerPublic_Article->actionImageUpload() in XenForo/FrontController.php at line 310
9. XenForo_FrontController->dispatch() in XenForo/FrontController.php at line 132
10. XenForo_FrontController->run() in /home/sianjohn/public_html/index.php at line 13

Maybe this explains why I don't see the upload file button when I am editing the article content?
I am logged in as Admin, and I set permissions to Allow all permissions on articles both on my usergroup and individual user permissions.

SCR of the edit buttons for an Article

I just tried testing the file upload on a forum post and got an error message, problem uploading file.
This was the same both using the same graphic I tried on an article, and a different graphic I have used elsewhere before installing Xenzine.

 

[tenants]

Permissions

Do you have 0777 permissions on the folder named "data"
See step 3, setting permissions: http://xenforo.com/help/installation/

The plugin writes images to the following folders:
yoursite\data\article_images
yoursite\data\article_cat_images

If those folders aren't there, can you create them (they should usually be created on the fly if the permissions to the "data" folder is 0777) and give the folders 0777 permissions
Usually you shouldn't need to do this, I think your top level data folder doesn't have 0777 permissions (so, its impossible for the application to create folders within the data folder)



The Upload Button

I don't think that does explain the missing upload button, do you have any plugins that would alter the editor (can I also see what your editor looks like on a forum page)

The upload button is a standard upload button found on all of the editors:

<input type="submit" value="{xen:phrase xz_upload_images_files}" name="more_options" class="button JsOnly" />

The only reason you will not see the upload button, is if:
1) You are not in an environment that uses JavaScript (or the systems doesn't recognise you are in an environment using JavaScript) - That doesn't look like it is the case, since you have opened the editor in an overlay (which requires JS)
or
2) Another plug-in is affecting the editor
3) That line of code is not in the template (it is in the template that this plugin is shipped with - so, somehow modified)


Since these are practically all of the possible reasones for not seeing the upload button, can you

A) Show me a screenshot of the editor (opened up in the overlay) A full image for both editors from the forum and from the edit-article page - This shows you're using JS and gives me an idea of what might be altered if you using another plugin that affects the editor

B) Let me know if you are using any plugins that affect the editor

C) Can you check the following template:
xenzine_modify_body_inline_dialogue

and confirm that the following line is present

<input type="submit" value="{xen:phrase xz_upload_images_files}" name="more_options" class="button JsOnly" />

D) Attempt to turn your other plugins off one at a time and let me know if that button comes back (you will have to do a page refresh each time you open the editor)

If you need help with any of this, let me know, I can take a look at your forum

 

[tenants]

I've sent a private message to @Morgan, the 2 issues were resolved.

1) One was a permission issue (the data folder does need 0777 permissions, this is how XenForo should be set up as mentioned in the installation instructions
2) Another was a customisation issue, by adding the following to the EXTRA.css:

input[name="more_options"] { display: none; }

You will hide the upload button (and the equivalent button in posts)

All is resolved

 

[Morgain]

I cannot believe how generously @tenants has helped me today. The problems I was having were none of them faults in Xenzine. Some were because my host transfer meant some chmod permissions weren't right, and one problem was because of a bit of design tweak on my theme.
Yet although this was none of it tenants addon he spent a lot of time investigating - and fixed everything so I can now enjoy his beautiful addon.

THREE CHEERS FOR @TENANTS!

 

[Morgain]

@tenants I would like to make two small style changes if poss by using EXTRA

1. On the display of a selected Category I would like the Article images to be about 1/3 smaller - this would leave more margin on each side so not changing the width of the container, but cut the length required by the image.
2. Make the Summary display as default. No "Less" link.

I also think the layout of the Article where the Summary header + pic joins the content needs tweaking. Currently I have a lot of unnecessary space because summaries are only about 2 - 3 lines. That leaves a huge empty area in the coloured header container.
EDIT eg http://www.firstcollege.co.uk/xz-articles/exam-programme.16/
I think Article Tools could sit beside the Edit button to remove a whole line of space that Article Tools creates.
Plus there is yet more space below. See my mockup (I commented out the tabs)
EDIT second thoughts, edit + article tools look neater on left under author name. Thats me as author so logical to look for edit button under my name. Have changed mockup.
Personally I don't like to force visitors to scroll you see. I want them to be able to get stuck in to at least the start of the content before they need to scroll.

 

[Morgain]

Well I have my first attempt with Xenzine up and running - it's a small site and a bit odd because it's not an interactive forum community. I use XF purely as an online editor because I like the interface both frontend and admin.

Xenzine is the majority of the site as there is only one forum I use to create a kind of FAQ. The forumpage is a set of Linkforums to the key areas, main articles, the FAQ forum, and contact.
I have also commented out some of Xenzines features like ratings, likes, and reviews because it's not an interactive site. Also no author on the articles as it's all me.
So not a standard Xenzine but to me immensely useful
Don't hit me about the graphics - bit rough - all thrown together over the last 24 hrs. More work required.

www.firstcollege.co.uk
IMMENSE THANKS TO @tenants - This is a truly wonderful addon. Ive redone my entire site rewriting all my articles, adding pictures, and working out the structure, in 24 hours. Very sleek.
My staff are already saying they're delighted. Let's hope a few clients think so too.

 

[tenants]

@tenants
I also think the layout of the Article where the Summary header + pic joins the content needs tweaking. Currently I have a lot of unnecessary space because summaries are only about 2 - 3 lines.

I don't think that would be the norm, summaries are fairly important for articles

To your EXTRA.css add:

.articleInfo .secondaryContent {
min-height: 130px !important;
}

1/ On the display of a selected Category I would like the Article images to be about 1/3 smaller - this would leave more margin on each side so not changing the width of the container, but cut the length required by the image.

I'm not sure what you mean, have you tried turning on the carousel for the category list (in the ACP options)

I think Article Tools could sit beside the Edit button to remove a whole line of space that Article Tools creates.

Users wont be able to see article tools, there is also pagination to think about (next version) and the possibility of pushing share options under the summary, so moving the tools isn't going to be a good idea in the long run... The way it is, is similar to threads (and pagination will sit inline with the article tools as it does with thread tools)