Can anyone recommend a module that provides the capability of "easily" creating blocks that combine different sources of content?

For example, creating a block that has two sections to it. One section would contain the latest blog posts and the other section would contain the latest news article postings.

I've tried a few different modules that I thought may give me that capability, but they either are very limited, don't work, or have no documentation regarding how to operate it.

I realize that there are methods for manually creating or hacking a block to produce this kind of functionality, but I'm looking for something without too much complexity, and that doesn't require too much PHP knowledge.

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What about creating one core module for each functional area, but with the flexibility to add additional functionality through module plugins/addons? For example, instead of having 5 or 6 different article management systems, there could be one core article management module, which could be expanded through third party plugin development.

My biggest struggle with XOOPS modules is trying to find the modules that accomplish what I need. Recently, I've been debating whether to use News, SmartSection, or AMS for the article management system of my site. The problem is that each module has specific features that I need, but there isn't one module that includes all those features. So, my choices are limited to either forgoing some features or spending weeks trying to make modifications with my very limited PHP knowledge.

I believe that XOOPS modules would become much more functional and advanced if the focus was on adding features or plugins to core module frameworks, instead of having several different modules for each category of module, each with varying features. Also, the support would improve too, since everyone would be focusing on a set of core modules. There is also less risk of development and support of a specific module stopping, since there is only one version of the module. The worst case scenario would be that the development or support of a particular plugin would stop. However, that isn't as bad as development/support of an entire module stopping, especially if your site has been depending on it.

Anyway, I hope that I'm making some sense here. I'm not a CMS developer and I don't know the complexities involved with what I'm suggesting. Thus, it may or may not be feasible. It is just an idea though.

Dave

I resolved the poster name and date issue, by adding the following code:



I copied the above code from the smartsection_singleitem_block.html file, and pasted it into the smartsections_item_spot.html file. The code also provides a display of the article read count. I need to format it a little differently, but at least it is capturing some of the information that I need.

However, I still cannot figure out any way of simultaneously displaying the parent category name and subcategory name of an article in the spotlight block of that article. I tried to use some of the breadcrumb code from the header template, since the breadcrumb displays the categories path to the article being displayed (including any subcategories on the path). The breadcrumb feature is capturing and displaying both the category and subcategory names. However, it doesn't work in the spotlight block

This is the format I seek for each article displayed in the spotlight block:

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Article Title:
Parent Category Name:
Subcategory Name (first level only):
Poster/Date:

Article Summary:

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Again, I have all of the above working, except for the Parent category Name (all my articles will be located within subcategories of Parent Categories).

I really don't know if it is possible for the spotlight block to display the parent category name of an article, if the article is located in a subcategory of that parent category. It may be outside the scope of how smartsection is designed. However, I really don't know the answer to this, since I'm not too familiar with PHP design.

The ability to display both the category and subcategory of an article in the spotlight block would be very useful too. I wish I had the PHP knowledge to be able to do this.

I'm trying to modify the spotlight block for smartsection, so that I can display the poster of the article, the date of the article, and the category of the article. I'm using the bullet format of the spotlight block, which only displays the title of the article.

I successfully added the category, but for some reason the poster name and date will not show up.

For example, I added the following code to the smartsections_item_spot.html file:



The above does not generate the poster name. The poster variable I used above is used in other blocks for smartsection, and it works fine. However, it doesn't work when I add it to the spotlight block. The same thing happens with the date. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

Also, ideally, I would like the spotlight to display the poster's real name (rather than their ID).

Dave

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Thanks Alex! I turned off notifications (which I wasn't planning on using anyway), and now the colon is showing up. I never considered that it might be clashing with another constant somewhere else. Anyway, it is fixed! Thanks again!

Dave

Well, this is a very strange bug. I've been able to successfully modify all of the names/labels from the following lines of code, except for "Category". When I modify "Category", the change does not show up (even though the changes show up for anything else I modify below).

define("_MD_DESCRIPTIONC","Description: ");
define("_MD_EMAILC","Email: ");
define("_MD_CATEGORYC","Category: ");
define("_MD_LASTUPDATEC","Last Update: ");
define("_MD_HITSC","Hits: ");
define("_MD_RATINGC","Rating: ");
define("_MD_ONEVOTE","1 vote");
define("_MD_NUMVOTES","%s votes");
define("_MD_RATETHISSITE","Rate this Site");
define("_MD_MODIFY","Modify");
define("_MD_REPORTBROKEN","Report Broken Link");
define("_MD_TELLAFRIEND","Tell a Friend");

Any changes I make to the word/label Category:, in define("_MD_CATEGORYC","Category: "), has no effect. Obviously, the main links index page (what the users see) is pulling the word "Category" from somewhere else, and there is no colon in it. Unfortunately, I can't add the colon, because I have no idea where it is pulling the name/label "Category" from.

I've also tried adding a colon to "Category" in the following block of code, but it has no effect either.

define("_MD_RANK","Rank");
define("_MD_CATEGORY","Category");
define("_MD_HITS","Hits");
define("_MD_RATING","Rating");
define("_MD_VOTE","Vote");
define("_MD_TOP10","%s Top 10"); // %s is a link category title

* All of this code originates in the main.php file located in the language/english directory.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on with this?

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I tried adding a colon to that line, but it has no effect.

I'm using mylink for my link directory. There is a colon missing after "Category" in the title bar for each entry in the main index page.

For example, instead of correctly showing as "Category: Europe" it will show as "Category Europe". The colon is missing after the word Category.

I've looked in the language files, but cannot locate where the word "Category" is set for the entry displays, so that I can add the colon.