XenZine Articles [Deleted]

[tenants]

@tenants or anyone?
2 questions please - and Ive gone back and pruned some of my recent posts on this thread so as not to be a clutterbug

1. I can't see how to link an article to an existing thread.
There is an admin setting to dump all discussions in one selected place - I thought that was covered a long time ago and we can now link to an existing thread?
This is important to a) bring in existing articles and their discussions,
and b) to feed discussions that already exist instead of splitting into lots of new ones - which can too easily be duplicates.

2. My Category List page has a display problem.
http://www.housemorgain.co.uk/circle/xz-articles/category-list

Number 1:
It is possible to associate an existing article to an existing thread, this was meant to be fairly straight forward (so my apologies if it isn't).

There are really 3 pre-requisites for this
1) You must have the permission to associate articles to threads
2) You must make sure the category that you have added the article to has an associated forum (or you use a default article forum)
3) (you will find this out when you try to add the thread) You must make sure the thread has been moved into that associated forum

Simply put: If your article has been added to a category the does not allow threads, you cant associate it to an existing / new thread







Number 2:
Tut Tut Morgain, I'm looking at more of your custom edits <waves finger>
Look at the .sectionMain CSS (possibly something you have added to your Extra.css).

You have a float: left;

This is a change of the core class .sectionMain. Floating things can have a strange affect when positioning (relative / absolute) without clearing... so I would customise styles using floats cautiously (making sure the css is not used everywhere)

If you do need to change .sectionMain using Extra.css, then try to target the individual page, for instance:

Extra.css

.myContainerForThisPage .sectionMain
{
float: left;
}

That way, you don't have to test the effect on every page (unless you really want to float sectionMain on every page)

 

[Morgain]

@tenants thank you so much for your careful help and yes I will be cleaning up my template edits - they were done years ago when I first used XF. There was no TMS system and I didn't learn EXTRA.css till later on.

2 problems with transferring existing article

Associated thread:
The category is associated with the correct forum
I have associated the article to the correct thread but nothing is showing up on the article display page.
Article http://housemorgain.co.uk/circle/xz-articles/i-went-to-the-dinner-party-by-judy-chicago.3/
Thread http://www.housemorgain.co.uk/circle/threads/the-dinner-party-by-judy-chicago.637
(I would find it quicker and easier to paste in the thread URL, rather than pick out thew thread number)

[EDIT] Also have tried creating new associated thread in that forum on another article in same category: nothing appears in forum, and no tab or link on article page.
Tried changing admincp/Option to a default forum association in case that helped. It then hid the tools re threads on the article page. Changed option back so no default forum selected.

Changing the date:
This shows up fine on the article page, but on search list results it shows today's date.

 

[DJ XtAzY]

So tempted to get this, but 40GBP is pretty steep without knowing if this addon is what I really need ($61-ish). Decisions decisions.

 

[Morgain]

So tempted to get this, but 40GBP is pretty steep without knowing if this addon is what I really need ($61-ish). Decisions decisions.

Agreed it's not small change. The developer does give links to a demo on an active site though.
You could also make a list of what you think you'd like it to do and post it. Then the dev or more experienced users could tell you if it does those things or not.

 

[0ptima]

So tempted to get this, but 40GBP is pretty steep without knowing if this addon is what I really need ($61-ish). Decisions decisions.

What I love about this addon is the ability to convert threads into articles. A big chunk of my articles started off as threads that were later cleaned up.

 

[Morgain]

I love the beautiful way it presents a picture to represent an article, and categories ditto have a pic, choice of default pic or author chosen pic. So much more colourful and interesting.
The article page itself is very elegant, and having a discussion thread linked to it is so logical and convenient. Aeons better than stupid blogs.
Possible to use it as a portal or cms - homepage settings. Newest stuff, and editor picks are great. Ratings, Reviews. Brilliant for help and support articles, news items, users gallery work for their photos or writings, sales items.
The SEO is amazing - my little www.firstcollege.co.uk now shows up with google listing sections (article categories) on google searches, with a link to open more which gives a whole google page!
It's easy and quick to use too and no problems with install plus EXCELLENT support by the developer, and lots of new features constantly added.

This is a very high quality and powerful addon. So it costs.

 

[SignTorch]

after all day and a fresh XF install to be sure, I'm having some disappointments to clear up (one at a time)

conditions: admin has edit thread and convert thread to article permission, some thread creator has neither permission and no create article permission

if admin converts some user's thread to an article, no one can edit the new article, not even admin

if thread creator has create article permission, thread creator can edit new article, admin cannot

admin can only revoke thread creator's edit article permission by revoking create article permission, then no one can edit the new article

admin can edit the thread first post, thread creator still cannot, as expected, but the new article is the other way around

Shouldn't admin be able to convert any threads to articles and edit them without permitting thread creators to create articles or edit threads or edit articles.

 

[0ptima]

after all day and a fresh XF install to be sure, I'm having some disappointments to clear up (one at a time)

conditions: admin has edit thread and convert thread to article permission, some thread creator has neither permission and no create article permission

if admin converts some user's thread to an article, no one can edit the new article, not even admin

if thread creator has create article permission, thread creator can edit new article, admin cannot

admin can only revoke thread creator's edit article permission by revoking create article permission, then no one can edit the new article

admin can edit the thread first post, thread creator still cannot, as expected, but the new article is the other way around

Shouldn't admin be able to convert any threads to articles and edit them without permitting thread creators to create articles or edit threads or edit articles.

The ability for admins to edit articles is on the TODO list

34) Admin update articles

 

[DJ XtAzY]

What I love about this addon is the ability to convert threads into articles. A big chunk of my articles started off as threads that were later cleaned up.

I agree. Coming from vBulletin, I used to use an addon called Geeks and Article System and I loved how it turned a section of the forum into an article like layout.

What I want to know is this:

1. If I'm going to use this addon, I'm planning to replace XenPorta and have XenZine as my landing page (index). I remembered I read a few posts back weeks ago and said it's possible, is it?
2. If it is, is XenZine fully template? For example, if my landing homepage is like http://www.surreyforum.co.uk/xz-articles/, I planning to re-theme the entire thing to make it not look XenForo like, and more like those fancy Joomla skins out there.
3. At the same time, I will miss out in XenPortal's different available blocks. For example, in http://www.surreyforum.co.uk/xz-articles/category-list, is it possible to have 2 different kinds of Recent Articles? One mode would be the way it is shown now (the image with title), and the other mode will be the header image including the Article summary already displayed (like how XenPorta's Recent News block with the avatar and snippet of the thread's texts). I guess you can say that I want to setup my landing page to have a Recent Articles mode that behaves like you see in Category List and shows articles from some category; and another mode that behaves like Article List (and show Summary by default without clicking the link) and show articles form another category, all in one page.

Yea I know it's confusing.

 

[0ptima]

I agree. Coming from vBulletin, I used to use an addon called Geeks and Article System and I loved how it turned a section of the forum into an article like layout.

Same here. Im converting GARS into this addon using the threads to article option.

 

[SignTorch]

The ability for admins to edit articles is on the TODO list

34) Admin update articles

ok, I hope that includes editing articles and permissions, (the description does say it has fully integrated acp permissions)

 

[tenants]

@tenants thank you so much for your careful help and yes I will be cleaning up my template edits - they were done years ago when I first used XF. There was no TMS system and I didn't learn EXTRA.css till later on.

2 problems with transferring existing article

Associated thread:
The category is associated with the correct forum
I have associated the article to the correct thread but nothing is showing up on the article display page.
Article http://housemorgain.co.uk/circle/xz-articles/i-went-to-the-dinner-party-by-judy-chicago.3/
Thread http://www.housemorgain.co.uk/circle/threads/the-dinner-party-by-judy-chicago.637
(I would find it quicker and easier to paste in the thread URL, rather than pick out thew thread number)

I think ticking the ACP option "Create Thread" resolved this. However, there might be situations that you do not want to automatically create threads with articles and only have some articles associated to threads (If that's the case, I'll allow this next build)

Changing the date: This shows up fine on the article page, but on search list results it shows today's date.

The time displayed in the search resutls is the point it is added to the search index, and it is correct. There is not much I can or should do about the XenForo search index

 

[Morgain]

Mike you are a golden shining angel developer for sorting out my problem. I was very sad when it didn't seem to work as had been looking forward to this second install a lot. Sending a package of hugs, kisses, pizza and coffee!

I think ticking the ACP option "Create Thread" resolved this. However, there might be situations that you do not want to automatically create threads with articles and only have some articles associated to threads (If that's the case, I'll allow this next build)

That would be good yes. A thread is not always necessary which is why I did not tick it.

The time displayed in the search results is the point it is added to the search index, and it is correct. There is not much I can or should do about the XenForo search index

Respectfully disagree. I am going to have a bunch of around 100 articles which will show up on searches as created now when in fact they go back over 2 years. Their threads will also show up separately at the correct date 2012, 2011.

SUGGESTION ON INFO DISPLAY Now I'm using the associated threads functions which was not needed on my first install, I think it would be helpful to have a link to the thread on the article box display. Also to have both Summary and Full Article links. This gives the 3 options to the reader all together. People (including me) still hesitate on what to click to open and it seems odd to have a text link to the summary and not the others.
I also enlarged the title text under the pic which I found worked well.
But my priority suggestion here is to link in the discussion thread. Mockup below.

 

[tenants]

Ah, someone else has suggested linking the discussion from Article List. I might do this, I still have higher priority things to get finished

 

[Scharesoft]

It seems that XenZine Atricles doesn't work together with Widget Framework. If I have the Framework togehter with Xenzine enabled, the following error message appears on the article area (XXX/portal/xz-articles/):

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'extends' (T_EXTENDS), expecting identifier (T_STRING) in C:\xampp\htdocs\portal\library\XenForo\Application.php(456) : eval()'d code on line 1

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '{', expecting identifier (T_STRING) or namespace (T_NAMESPACE) or \\ (T_NS_SEPARATOR) in C:\xampp\htdocs\portal\library\XenForo\Application.php(482) : eval()'d code on line 1
An exception occurred: Cannot load class using XFCP. Load the class using the correct loader first. in C:\xampp\htdocs\portal\library\XenForo\Autoloader.php on line 108

1. XenForo_Autoloader->autoload()
2. spl_autoload_call() in WidgetFramework/XenForo/View1.php at line 4
3. include() in XenForo/Autoloader.php at line 119
4. XenForo_Autoloader->autoload() in XenForo/Application.php at line 959
5. XenForo_Application::autoload() in XenForo/Application.php at line 483
6. XenForo_Application::resolveDynamicClass() in XenForo/ViewRenderer/Abstract.php at line 209
7. XenForo_ViewRenderer_Abstract->renderViewObject() in XenForo/ViewRenderer/HtmlPublic.php at line 67
8. XenForo_ViewRenderer_HtmlPublic->renderView() in XenForo/FrontController.php at line 572
9. XenForo_FrontController->renderView() in XenForo/FrontController.php at line 158
10. XenForo_FrontController->run() in C:/xampp/htdocs/portal/index.php at line 13

 

[tenants]

@Scharesoft

That framework seems still not handle the case when views are empty:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/bd-widget-framework.28014/page-80#post-607960

I did a quick test, and populated the views in XenZine and they then work together. I'm currently working on something, but if you send me your email address via PM I can send you a build that should work with the Widget Framework

 

[Scharesoft]

Thanks! I will start a private Conversation with you

 

[Scharesoft]

Great, now it works

Some suggestions:

• Possibility to publish articles in more than one category
• Possibility to disable reviews (disussion is enough for me)
  
• Possibility to create subcategory of a subcategory
• Possibility to create sub nodes of the article. I want to use the article page as the homepage and would like to create additional pages for it.
  
• Possibility to set the maximum number of visible articles on the article list (with pagination)
• Possibility that editor pick entrys look like an article
  
  
• set size of the elements in the Categories, Editor Picks and other places
• List views of articles with a part of the summary (this would be good for news on the homepage)
• Widgets for Widget Framework (e.g. recent articles, top articles)
• Responsive when the size of the browser is changed (without refreshing)
  
• A count how many characters are left for the body, summary and title when creating an article
• Resource box like this:
  

 

[tenants]

I've made the carousel responsive (next version), the rest is already responsive

some of the other ideas are already on the to-do list. The others you've mentioned are good ideas, so I've added them too:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenzine-articles-paid.52769/

 

[Scharesoft]

Great I'm very excited.