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Frequently Asked Questions v2 |
| FAQ Main / Browse by Category |
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There are two general kinds of benefits:
Why are slice IDs and item IDs so long?
Would it be possible to make them shorter?
The 32-digits hexadecimal IDs are quite standard in MySQL/PHP - see uniqid() and md5() functions. These identifiers are intended to be unique worldwide so that each item has an unique ID regardless of where it is stored, such as on Econnect's server or on Colnodo's. This feature helps us in cross-server feeding.
Internally (within the database) the IDs are stored as 16-character strings (for disk-space savings and a little better performance of the database), but this is only important for developers.
Because of long URLs, I made short_id in v1.8 - so that the auto-incremented short IDs are used by default. The URL for an item is now, for example:
http://kalendar.ecn.cz/index.shtml?AA_SL_Session=44ca275c691 842965745f90ab9aee24e&x=27968
or, even better:
http://kalendar.ecn.cz/index.shtml?x=27968
Next suggested steps for the upgrading the FAQ:
Also need to get other language views and content going (e.g. Spanish).
I also plan to create a Requested Feautre slice in the near future that will use the same alert login.
Some help with updating FAQ content would be most appreciated. :^)
- JD- - - --
Reader Management is a special kind of slice that is designed to contain data about subscribed "readers" (aka public web site users). A Reader Management slice can be used to send automated email alerts of new AA items, personalize page views, send bulk target emails, and generally act as a contact database. Anonymous forms can be set-up to allow users to change their subscriptions and contact data in the Reader slice.
1) Go to /apc-aa/misc/forgotten_pwd.php3 (may vary
depending
where AA is installed)
2) Enter either the username or email address
3) Check the email you will receive in case the user has been found and it's you
4) Visit the url in the email - in fact it's the same but with the temporary key that will let you change the password
5) Change your password
Note: The key expires after 90 minutes
Create a Full-Text view by going to Admin->Views and selecting "Full Text" and clicking "New". Then you can specify cmd[5]=i-5-1a2b3c4d in the URL or include statement. You can also use cmd[5]=x-5-934 where 934 is short _id
Content Pooling lets you exchange articles with any number of partner sites. You can create a pool with any number of partners. With Pooling, you always retain complete control: you can withold any item from your pool; and you can reject any item made available to you.If you have one slice item with many discussion items, it may be used as a message board.
You can make AA send all new discussion items posted to this particular item to an email address. If the address is a mailinglist, you can use the discussion as a message board.
You need to:To do so, you have to
The DiscussionMailList field value is a parameter list in the usual format, separated by ":" and using "#:" instead of verbatim ":". The parameters are:
The program is implemented in discussion.php3, function send2mailList. It is called from filldisc.php3. ActionApps empower anyone to publish online, saving you the money you'd normally spend on web specialists (or training). ActionApps also make your team more efficient—since the people who create your group's information can publish it online themselves. Finally, ActionApps' Content Pooling technology, by letting you trade articles with partner sites, helps you access new content (theirs) and new audiences (for yours). About ActionApps presents more about benefits, while Strategic Uses offers tips on adapting ActionApps to your own needs.
When we setting up aliases for database field on se_fields.php3 page, we sometimes need to change the behavior of alias in som way or we need to pass some parameter for alias handling function such as f_f. The Parameters field is the right place, how to do it. The list of parameters for each alias function follows.
In some cases we need to pass more than one parameter to alias function. In such case the aliases are separated by colon character. If we need to use colon inside parameter, we just use #: string instead of : character.
| Function | Parameter | Description |
| f_x | transformation | |
| content value (pairs) pairs | the content of the field and the value to return, the content can be a regular expression as in http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.regex.php | |
| default | value returned if no match | |
| f_0 | null function (nothing shown) | |
| none | ||
| f_h | print field content due to html flag set (escape html special characters or just print) | |
| delimeter | if delimeter parameter is specified, the field with multiple values are displayed as list, delited by delimeter | |
| f_d | prints date in user defined format | |
| format | format string just like in PHP (like "m-d-Y") - see PHP manual | |
| f_i | prints image scr (<img src=...) - NO_PICTURE for none (the functionality of this alias function can be created as conditional f_c function as well) | |
| none | ||
| f_n | unpacked id | |
| none | ||
| f_g | prints image height atribut (img height=...) or clears it (the functionality of this alias function can be created as conditional f_c function as well) | |
| none | ||
| f_w | prints image width atribut (<img width=...) or clears it | |
| none | ||
| f_a | prints abstract or grabed fulltext text field | |
| length | length - number of characters taken from field_id (like "80:full_text.......") | |
| field_id | id of fulltex field | |
| f_f | prints link to fulltext (hedline url) | |
| link_only | field id (like "link_only.......") where switch between external and internal item is stored | |
| redirect | url of another page which shows the content of item (like "link_only.......:http#://www.ecn.cz/articles/solar.shtml") (note the #: in previous example!) this page should contain SSI include ../slice.php3 of course | |
| f_b | prints text with link to fulltext - more general version of f_f function param: link_only:url_field:redirect:txt:condition_fld (hedline url) | |
| link_only | field id (like "link_only.......") where switch between external and internal item is stored | |
| url_field | field id of external url for link_only (like hl_href.........) | |
| redirect | url of another page which shows the content of item (like "link_only.......:http#://www.ecn.cz/articles/solar.shtml") (note the #: in previous example!) this page should contain SSI include ../slice.php3 of course | |
| txt | if txt is field_id content is shown as link, else txt | |
| condition_fld | field id - if no content of this field, no link | |
| addition | additional parameter to <a tag (like "target=_blank") | |
| f_t | converts text to html or escape html (due to html flag) | |
| none | ||
| f_s | print database field or default value if empty (the functionality of this alias function can be created as conditional f_c function as well) | |
| default | default value (like "javascript: window.alert('No source url specified')") | |
| f_l | prints field as link, if field_id in $param is defined, else prints just field | |
| field_id | field_id of possible link (like "source_href.....") | |
| f_e | http://actionapps.org/aa/admin/itemedit.php3?AA_CP_Session=f48237b26098d261a71de80ded1c49c4&edit=1&encap=false&id=6525acb6a0ceb34e3db375618efe19f0 used on admin page index.php3 for itemedit url | |
| none | ||
| f_c | prints "begin".field."end" if field="condition", else prints "none" if no cond_col specified - this $col is used condition can be reversed (negated) by "!" character at the begin of condition param: condition:begin:end:none:cond_col | |
| condition | ||
| begin | ||
| end | ||
| none | ||
| cond_col | ||
| Example: 1:Yes<!--:-->:No This example is usable for example for Highlight field - it shows Yes or No depending on highlight field | ||
| Example: !:Email#::: If e-mail field is filled, it shows "Email: email@apc.org" (for example), but if it is not filled, it shows nothing | ||
| f_u | calls user defined function (see How to create new aliases) | |
| function | name of called function in include/usr_aliasfnc.php3 file | |
| parameter | parameters passed to function | |
| f_m | mailto link - prints: "begin<a href="(mailto:)$col">field/text</a>" if no $col is filled, prints "else_field/text" | |
| begin | text before link (for example "e-mail") | |
| field/text | if field id specified, the field is used as link text else the text is used insteed. | |
| else_field/text | if no e-mail addres specified in $col, the field content (or text) is displayed | |
| linktype | mailto / href (default is mailto) - it is possible to use this function for links, too - just type "href" as last parameter | |
| i_s | image size and other properties - as default prints: 'height="xxx" width="yyy"', where xxx and yyy are the height and width of the image in pixels. Other properties can be printed as well.
Returns empty string if it cannot determine the width or height. |
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| information |
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| f_y | Expanded string: expands the string in the parameter.
If you need use aliases in a database field. It can be used e.g. for including photographs from the slice "Photogallery" to the field "full_text......." in the slice "Articles". See an Example. |
|
| string to expand | If specified then this string is expanded, if not specified then expands the contents of the field. | |
For most feeds you won't need to map them, unless you want the feed to go to Active rather than Hold bin.
To set the mapping, first create the feed in AA->RSS Feeds, then click on the feed and click Map. (or go to it directly from the AA->Mapping page.
If all you want to do is send it to the Active bin, then go to the bottom and change "Status" to "Value" and "1" (hold is "Value" and "2")
You can set quite complex feeding behavior by setting any field to "RSS field or expression" and then entering an RSS field name, or more complex expression.
Fields have a prefix and a value e.g. DC:TITLE, the allowed fields are:
| Prefix | Allowed Values | Where found in RSS |
| CHANNEL/ | title, description, language, timestamp (AA only), link | From the corresponding CHANNEL elements at the top of the feed except slice_id is from dc/identifier |
| ITEM/ | title,description,link,id, guid, pubdate | From the corresponding ITEM elements except id is from dc/identitifier) |
| DC/ | title,creator,subject,description,date,source,language,relation,coverage | From the corresponding DC elements within the ITEM |
In addition, the following syntax is supported:
| ITEM/DESCRIPTION|ITEM/TITLE | Will look for the Description, and if that is not present use the title |
| DATE(ITEM/pubdate) | Converts the specified field to a unix date |
| NOW | Uses the current date and time |
| CONTENT | Hard coded to find the content and determine if its HTML, given that the RSS standard makers keep moving things! Currently it looks in Item/encoded and and Item/items/bag/li/item/value |
| headline........ | Will look for an APC-AA field, this only works if the sending RSS feed is from APC site, in which case Inter-node feeding would be better anyway. |
This FAQ interface was developed by Jason at Commons.ca
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APC
ActionApps is a free software content management system initiated by
the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) APC - Internet and ICTs for social justice and development |