Modules: SmartBlocks - Extended blocks management

Posted by: MithrandirOn 2006/12/14 13:01:41 9273 reads
I'll let you in on a little secret: I have never been a fan of the XOOPS 2.0.x blocks system.

The blocks themselves are ok, but why do I only get one of each that can be either visible or not?

With XOOPS 2.2 I changed that, but since that branch is no longer carried on, I decided that we needed similar functionality for XOOPS 2.0.x until XOOPS 2.4 hopefully makes it obsolete to think about these workarounds.

So here it is:
SmartBlocks, developed by Cusix Software based on the Flexblocks module from Fyens Stifstidende and - as the name implies - now handed over to the SmartFactory for further development.

SmartBlocks comes with eight blocks - one for each XOOPS block position - and should be set visible to all on all pages in their corresponding position.

Adding blocks to a page is done through the SmartBlocks module, where each module can provide a customised resolver class to define which pages are available and which page, the user is viewing. Alternatively, the resolver classes can be put in the /smartblocks/class/resolvers/ folder, where there are already a few resolvers to look at.

The resolver-defined pages are set in a hierarchy, where blocks can be set to "fall down" on subpages. This makes the front page merely the top of the hierarchy, the modules are the next level and then comes the module-defined subpages.

Please note that the module requires:
*PHP 5.0+
*XOOPS 2.0.16
*SmartObject v0.9

Enjoy