1 Information Management Content Management Systems CMS: Joomla & Drupal (with flashbacks to Wordpress) J. Michael Moshell University of Central Florida

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Information Management

Content Management Systems

CMS: Joomla & Drupal(with flashbacks to Wordpress)

J. Michael Moshell

University of Central Florida

Original image* by Moshell et al .

Imagery is fromWikimedia except where marked with *.

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Objectives of this course

concerning CMS:

• Be familiar with what CMS are good for• Have brief experience with three CMS

- Wordpress

- Joomla

- Drupal

• Have extensive experience using ONE CMS to build an information management system/website

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Some unfinished business

from Wordpress:

• I was installing a Support Ticket plugin• Needed to have it appear on a Page• Didn't know how to make it happen.

WHAT TO DO?

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from Wordpress:


WHAT TO DO? R T F M

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from Wordpress:


WHAT TO DO? R T F M

Read the Flippin' Manual

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What manual?

http://wpstorecart.com/wpsc-support-tickets/#Dashboard_Widget

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What manual?

http://wpstorecart.com/wpsc-support-tickets/#Dashboard_Widget

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What wpsc Support Tickets Page?

I go back to last week's notes; discover it in main

admin menu

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admin menu

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admin menu

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Page now appears with new tab

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So we try it --

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So we try it --

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So we try it --

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So we try it --

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The ticket turns up in the Admin's

Support Ticket mgt. screen

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The other problem we had ...

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What to do?

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What to do? R T F M!

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What to do? R T F M!

In this case, it means

READ THE FLIPPIN' MESSAGE!

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The message says output was

started by fragrance/functions.php

What to do? Go look at that code.

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Here's the code.

See any potential problems?

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An old PHP hand would instantly

see ... a BLANK LINE outside TAGS

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So, I fixed that little problem...

and the theme works fine now.

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How do you get experience?

- Put in the time

- Blunder in the dark until you

KNOW what you DON'T KNOW

- Go ASK someone who's been there

before

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How do you get experience?

- Put in the time

- Blunder in the dark until you

KNOW what you DON'T KNOW

- Go ASK someone who's been there

before

... e. g. me. (That's what you are

paying me for)

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Joomla:

• Advantages:

- Designed as a CMS from the get-go

- Relatively easy to use

- Lots of plug-in modules (9969 in 2012)

Disadvantages: No built-in tag system;

Diminishing popularity

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Joomla: Control Panel

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• User classification:

called User Groups

Joomla:Features

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Joomla:Features

• User classification:

• User Groups

•+ You can add a new Group

•(E. g. Pastafarians, subgroup of Customer)

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• Fundamental content types:

• Article

• Others added by Extensions

• Instead of “published” or not,

•Access Levels: Public, Registered, Special, and:

•You can add custom Access Levels

•You can assign each document an Access Level

Joomla:Features

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• Visual design: Templates

• Easy to install

• Build your own

•Template Manager:

• control over dynamic

elements of template

Joomla:Features

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• Menu design: Menus (links to Extensions, articles)

Joomla:Features

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Joomla: Extensions

• Come in three flavors:- Components (large)- Modules (smaller)- Plugins (small, usually built-in)

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Joomla: Content classification

Categories:

+ Hierarchical (sub-categories)-An article is in just one Category

Tags: Not native to Joomla

(What’s a ‘tag’? A search term that’s not in the

article itself, but which you may need to find

the article.)

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An example of ‘tagging’

A ROGUE’S REVENGE

The pachyderms had a field day last week at

the Oviedo Circus. Feeling mistreated, Jumbo, the

largest of the huge grey animals, deposited 800 pounds of (shall we say) “used hay” on the mayor’s doorstep.

TAGS:

elephant, Joan Horton, manure

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Joomla: Setting up

• Creating a database. If you haven’t figured it out

by now:

MAMP or WAMP -> phpMyAdmin

(1)DB User:

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Joomla: Creating DB User

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Joomla: Creating New DB

Just name your database,

then hit ‘Create’.

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As you walk through the procedure, you will

be asked for your database name, userID

and login.

You just created these information items.

Setting up Joomla: Special notes

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IF you are setting up on Sulley, then you have only one DB for your use. Its name is your nid.

In this case open “Advanced Settings”. Provide your initials as a table prefix, like

jmm_

o Backup old tables (you don’t have any)

Setting up Joomla: Special notes

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Here’s a typical problem. You may have others.

So I googled “Joomla error loading feed data”.

This brought me to a forum post.

Setting up Joomla: Problems

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• BUT .. No such module is in my default setup.• Also, that URL is NOT broken now.• However, it gives me the idea: some module is broken.

Forum Post:

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• I disable lots of modules at once, to find the problem.• Didn’t help. Logged out and in again. No message.• Now I re-enable HALF the modules to seek the problem.• Re-enabling all of them; still no message. BUT• On front page, “Alert: The URL is not valid..”• SO, disable modules again. Click ‘Home’ to test.• I narrow the problem down to the ‘wrapper’ module.

Debugging:

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• I narrow the problem down to the ‘wrapper’ module.

Understanding:

I google “Joomla Wrapper”

Explanation:

The Wrapper Menu Item creates a shortcut to a display page that

wraps an external web page. The new display page appears as a

'page within a page'. If this is an external web site, all of that site's

functions, menus for example, will be operable from within

the Wrapper.

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• I narrow the problem down to the ‘wrapper’ module.

Understanding:

I google “Joomla Wrapper”

Explanation:

The Wrapper Menu Item creates a shortcut to a display page that

wraps an external web page. The new display page appears as a

'page within a page'. If this is an external web site, all of that site's

functions, menus for example, will be operable from within

the Wrapper.

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• So … ‘wrapper’ needs some data. Maybe a URL?

Exploring a Module’s Settings:

I open the module by clicking on its blue name in the

Module Manager:

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• And … there’s an empty URL box!


I put in a URL that I know is valid.

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Back to main page: NO PROBLEM!

Lower left corner now contains:

And, by using the control panel

Of the module again,

I can change the header:

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Back to main page: NO PROBLEM!

Lower left corner now contains:

And, by using the control panel

Of the module again,

I can change the header:

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Strategy for Debugging:

1. Understand the problem

- seek help from the Web

- try to generalize on the advice, if it doesn’t work

2. Change things, one at a time, note results

3. Persist, but don’t get frustrated!

- take a walk, do something else

4. Go get help if needed

- team mate

- post to the forums yourself

- come see professor in office hours

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Another bug, another search

INVALID TOKEN (when logging into Administrator.)

Forum search … empty history, close & reopen browser

That worked. Onward we go with debugging ... which

never ends.

You may grow to love debugging – it's your main job skill.

You may grow to hate debugging – move into Marketing Dept!

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Drupal: The Dutch Option

Let’s focus on the salient differences between

Drupal, Wordpress and Joomla.

Content classification: WP, J: Categories, Tags

Joomla: Taxonomy + Vocabulary

You can define a controlled vocabulary for any term in the

taxonomy. This can serve to generate pulldown lists, radio option

buttons, checkbox lists, etc.

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Drupal: Special Features

Modules: 17,200 of them (2012). Technically sophisticated

e. g. RDF (Resource Description Framework)

A useful resource for Artificial Intelligence connections

Theming: Prior to Version 7, Admin showed current theme

(Joomla & Wordpress have a static Admin theme)

In Version 7, you select Admin theme from active list

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Search: Site is pre-indexed and re-indexed by a cron task.

What’s cron?

It’s a unix process that can be scheduled to run at regular

intervals, even if no user is generating events on

the website.

So you would set up a cron task to re-index, e. g. every 10 mins.

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Search: Site is pre-indexed and re-indexed by a cron task.

What’s "Pre-indexed"?

Well, I lectured last week on indexes.

You should be able to deduce that searching a complex

CMS-based website can be slow. A built-in index

whould be a major help. BUT re-indexing after a changbe

(by a user) to the site can be slow too.

Best if you can do it when the user is not "in the loop".

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Drupal: An Example

The Field module: Add data fields to existing sites.

Example: Take a tour of RSL’s moma “Moshell Manager”

built with Drupal

incorporates a Job Ticket module

used the Field module to extend

includes two custom modules

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Drupal: Distributions

In Drupal-world, The usual approach is to build your system

by selecting Modules and Themes from online libraries

Drupal Modules ‘out in the world’

Themes ‘out in the world’

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In Drupal-world, a distribution is a complete package

including a Drupal core (e. g. 6), associated

modules, themes, special libraries and example data.

COD EXAMPLE: Conference

Organizing

Distribution (COD)

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How to analyze a Module or a Distribution

1)Make sure you know what you need.

Example: In Conference Registration, there are “3 dimensions”

SALE ITEM: What the registrant wants

(Main Conference, Tutorial, Spouse Program)

ATTENDEE TYPE: What price level they’re at

(Student, member, nonmember, retiree)

PAYWHEN: Early rate, late rate, onsite rate

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How to analyze a Module or a Distribution

2) Experiment with the system to see how it meets your needs

SALE ITEM: What the registrant wants

(Main Conference, Tutorial, Spouse Program)

No problem; it’s built on a Shopping Cart



Problems – several!

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Problems – several!

Problem 1: Shopping cart metaphor:

“Select first, register yourself later during checkout.”

BUT the shopping cart has ONE price per sale item.

Problem 2: Shopping cart system had no capability for automatic

date-sensitive pricing (Early vs. Late rate.)

A site built with this system would need manual

maintenance. Miss cutoff lose money mad client!

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Drupal: Conclusions

It’s a spiffy framework for custom-writing your own code.

>Many resources, foreign language support, etc.

It’s got thousands of modules that should be checked out

It’s got a steeper learning curve than the other CMS

BOTTOM LINE: Find the MODULE(s)* you need, and THEN

CHOOSE YOUR CMS!

* (or distributions)

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Note- I’ve linked a spreadsheet

Summarizing the key differences

that I’ve found in these 3 CMS

You should report other differences

to me as you find them... help

future students ...

See course website for the link.

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And now we tour your Modules

How did you seek?

What did you find?

How will you seek tomorrow?

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THURSDAY: Your Requirements

Presentations

Mail them to me ON THURSDAY

with this Precise Subject:

DIG3563 – Requirements – Pachyderms

(if your team’s name is ‘Pachyderms’)

NOTE: No space between DIG and 3563

Documents

1 Information Management Content Management Systems CMS: Joomla & Drupal (with flashbacks to Wordpress) J. Michael Moshell University of Central Florida