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Frequently Asked Questions v2

 

Topic: Editing

0. Password-protected public editing
1. How can I let users with the 'author' permission edit their own items?
2. What are the wizards for parameter generation, and how do I use them
3. How to edit items in public website?
4. How to edit items non-anonymous from a website
5. How to use Live checkbox (Auto Update Checkbox)?
6. Rich Text Editor icons

Items posted from a public website may be protected by a password. Suppose you have a field with ID "password.......x" (just like password.......1) in your slice and this field is visible on the public posting page. The user fills in the password when creating a new item. When using the script fillform to edit a public posted item on public pages, the password is not re-filled (all other fields are). But the script filler.php3 does not store the changes if the user does not refill the password correctly.

The scripts recognize the password field by ID "password.......x" - you can add such field in standard way on "Slice Admin" -> "Fields" page - derived from "Password" field template (the Reader Management slices already have such field in its default configuration). The 'posted_by......' field must be recorded for each submitted item.
So, it should be a required field in 'Admin->Fields' . It does not have to
be 'Shown', just 'Required'.

If this is done, only items that a user has permission to edit will be visible in the item manager for them.
The parameter wizard helps you to design parametres when setting input type of function aliases.

It describes the input type / function and all parametres. Under each input box is a description, left of the box is the type of the parameter value. It allows you to set each parameter individually, not concerning about the ":" syntax. You run it by clicking on a link in the admin pages. You can reread the old parametres, write the new ones or watch example parametres. Some of the input types / functions
have more examples showing different groups of parametres.

This wizards now replaces the previous 'What is the Prameters in Alias Function definition' section in the FAQ.

The script is a universal mechanism based on a help array (see constants_param_wizard.php3 and xx_param_wizard_lang.php3). It only takes a few parametres (names of the fields on the web page) and is prepared to be perhaps used for another tasks as well.

You have prepared a public anonymous posting form and want to use it to edit items as well. How to do it?

There is a script fillform.php3 with associated JavaScript utilities in include/fillformutils.php3. This script takes the long item id from var my_item_id and calls JavaScript functions to look for the fields and fills them appropriately.

You may use it this way:

file anonymous.shtml

<!--#include virtual="/anonym.html"-->
<!--#include virtual="/aaa/fillform.php3"-->
<!--#include virtual="/bottom.html"-->

Than you can call anonymous.shtml?my_item_id=... to show the edit form filled with old values.

There are two additional parameters which most users will not need: use "form = formname" when you changed the name of the form containing the fields (usually it is "f"). Use "notrun = 1" if you want to fill the controls e.g. only after clicking somewhere.

Only items posted by public website and not updated in the AA admin can be edited this way - a flag ITEM_FLAG_ANONYMOUS_EDITABLE cares about it. It is reset every time you send an item with itemedit.php3.

The same script may be used to refill conditions on a search page - see this.

If you want to be able to go into the admin interface to edit an item, you can now put the alias
_#EDITITEM, into a view, the user will be asked to login, there are other ways to edit items anonymously.

After editing the item, the user will be returned to the page they were viewing.

The user will only be prompted to login the first time they try and edit an item, after that the AA_CP_Session parameter is added to the URL. In some cases this might not get through to the _#EDITITEM, (hints on how to make this work could go here). In which case a return URL can be
specifically written into the URL using {alias:headline........:f_e:edit:full url}

If you are using highlight field for displaying items on homepage and you want to allow people to be able to switch the highlight on and of quickly, then Live checkbox is the solution for you. It allows you to display checkbox directly in Item Manager, so users just check or uncheck in there. They do not need to go in item editing page and edit each item.

How to set it up
  1. Go to 'Slice Admin' -> 'Fields' and choose 'Edit' for field you want to use live checkbox (probably highlight....... or other Boolen field)
  2. Set alias (for example _#LIVECHBX) using f_k - Auto Update Checkbox
  3. Go to 'Slice Admin' -> 'Design - Item manager'
  4. Incorporate new alias (_#LIVECHBX) into Item Manager design
  5. Done
The Rich Text Editor is a powerful editor allowing to copy content from web pages by copy-and-paste.

Most of the icons used to format your text are self-explained. On the first row in the right half there are icons for table creation and manipulation.

The rightmost icon on the first font switches between Wysiwyg and HTML view, allowing to see and modify your HTML code.

The sweep icon near the font size selectbox is a "<font> eraser". It clears all <FONT ...> and </FONT> tags in your HTML code which is useful when cleaning code copied from some web page.

 

This FAQ interface was developed by Jason at Commons.ca

APC: Internet and ICTs for social justice and development 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