Patrick and Ryan's Log
Week 11
Apr 23-27
Changelog
- BUG: group directory (/og) doesn't display groups
- Checked TM group; according to config, it should be listed in groups directory
- Added "Test group 1" and set it to be visible in directory; still not showing up
- Nothing in settings (admim/og/og/) that's pertinent to groups directory
- Checked in views, looks like the groups directory is a pre-installed view. The url for that view is og/all. That URL displays the group directory, up and running. Question is: why and how did that URL get changed?
- Created URL alias: og/ --> og/all
- Now og/all is not working
- Deleted URL alias: og/ --> og/all
- Submitted bug report to OG homepage on Drupal
- Uploaded Town Meeting Constitution and Bylaws as a book, will place under Town Meeting Group page.
- Removed and Re-created the Town Meeting Group
- ISSUE: Patrick, how do I reinstate your custom view for Town Meeting?
- ISSUE: The Groups directory page has been broken.
- Changed content types for groups in OG configuration
- Only allow forum topic content
- Since we've decided that each user should be able to submit meeting content, it's unnecessary to have that type of content show up under the group's page too
- Disabled OG Content Type Admin and Organic roles because we won't be needing them
- Created some test group forum topics in Town Meeting group
- Deleted "minutes" node
- view: og_ghp_tm
- Template for groups homepage
- List view for recently posted content
- BUG: The meeting content type has been deleted. The last content type I deleted were minutes. I can't find any other connection.
-
BUG: Template changes in admin-side stuff
- CLOSED: Admin theme was set to a different theme. Changed it to 'default'. Everything looks good now.
- Recreated meeting content type
- TASK: File system isn't writable. Maybe Elliot changed this?
- Disabled "groups" in navigation menu
- Changed "Town Meeting" to "Groups" in Primary links and changed URL to /og
- Changed "group manager" role to "group moderator"
- BUG: authenicated users can create groups
- Only group moderator and admin should have that permission
- Checked permissions, only group moderator technically has that permission
We talked to Ian Kozak and we cannot users outside the LDAP, at least it wouldn't be the preferred option. So we decided to just use a Group Manager role that can be given to users by the Nook admin, and this person will be able to create and edit groups, committees, and meetings.
Today I (Ryan) created a taxonomy for meeting types which will allow us to organize schedules for different types of meetings, a committee content type, and enabled books as a content type. Tomorrow I'll be filling out our system with content as a way of testing and debugging and also because I want to see it in action. I'll also work with Patrick in creating views of schedules and changing the look of the group home pages. Cheers!
Also! Debugging: 1. I think Group Content Types has overridden the content creation permissions Elliot had set for different users. Group Content Types set a site-wide permission which I think broke Elliot's system. 2. We need to play with defining sub-groups.
To-Do
-
Figure out solution to roles problems
- Style, debug, and test
Week 10
Apr 16-20
This week I talked to Elliot and he managed to give me a sandbox copy of Nook on his
deluge server. We talked for a while about the possibilites of using roles and permissions, but we decided that groups would be a far more long-term solution and might also help them with other Nook admin problems, such as having to create roles for each entering class to assign privileges.
I also worked with Elliot and got ftp write access so I could install modules, but sadly after several attempts I was unable to install any, but after working with Patrick we were able to install the organic groups module and work with it.
Before I was able to work with groups on Nook, I had to go back and play with them on my
cs:8080 site and start anew with a Town Meeting group. I've also decided more on the layout of the site, with Town Meeting being the main group under which all the committees would sub-groups. Also, I created a new content type called Town Meeting Date, which would be used to post each date for Town Meeting field and each would have an agenda field and a minutes field, and could be commented on by all members of the Town Meeting group, aka all community members. This will be central content in the Town Meeting group, and soon I'll work on committees as sub-groups of Town Meeting.
Further to do
Our goals for this week are listed under the
timeline page.
Roles problems
As it stands, OG is setup so only one group can have a group manager. Since OGs work essentially as nodes, whatever user creates the group (eg the node author) is the automatically manager. Admins who can change authoring settings can, in a sense, change group managers by changing whomever authored the OG.
We see this as a good and bad thing. The good thing is that it would be easy to defer the group manager role to users. All the admin would have to do is edit the authoring settings.
The bad thing is that this process is by no means automated or even that user friendly. Doing this would require admin(s) go through find the group, click edit, alter the username (and get it correct), and then submit--each time.
Also, only having one group manager is troublesome because only a group manager can add subscribers. This could be a burden on larger groups with many requests for members.
Potential Solution for Roles
Create a Group Manager role which could create and edit group content. This person could change the authorship of all groups, in doing so changing the group manager.
This Group Manager role could be assigned to whoever was appointed to administer groups on Nook by the administrator, aka Elliot could do this each year and would be a hassle. Or, a Town Meeting Manager user account could be created that would be assigned this role permanently, and this account could be passed from person-to-person as the role shifts to someone else each year.
Modules and other additions
21 April
Views UI
- Enabled it to create Views
og_content_type_admin 5.x-1.0
- restricts content by groups and sets default content restrictions
og_forum 5.x-1.3
- Adds forums to groups
- Inserts these forums into the /forum page
view: my groups
og/my
- Prefab view that displays user's subscribed groups
view: past meetings
meeting/past
- Displays list of meetings that have occurred before the present in Drupal-time
23 April
og_roles 5.x-1.x-dev
- Creates "manager" and "user"
- Manager permissions:
- Create/edit meeting content
- Add new subscribers
- Manage group content (?)
