Modules: Introducing the Mastop Publish

In 2004 I dedicated myself to Opensource during the few free time I had. I helped at forums and created several hacks. There, I developed a module called XT-Conteúdo when I felt the need that a content manager should create menus and submenus. I made it in two nights I had free, something very quick, aiming only my personal and immediate needs. As my free time decreased more and more I saw myself forced to step back from opensource, but this doesn't mean I changed my concepts. Even if I was away I noticed that even with the limtations from XT-Conteúdo, it was useful for a great number of users. Those users contacted me about updates and improvements for the module. In mid 2006, aiming to support all the updates requests and my ow will (come back to help the community), I decided to direct my company, Mastop to opensource development. After some meetings with the developers of my company we got to the conclusion that only using XT-Conteúdo wouldn't be enough for all the resources that we would like to add. We need to start from the scratch and create a new concept in content management. In February 2007, I and my development team made Mastop Publish available and it set a start of one department of our company that will be directed exclusively to opensource development. I hope this module will be useful for everybody! Don't forget to send suggestions, requests (well-done and using good sense ) and critics. Topet05 Almost forgot!!! Here are the main resources of Mastop Publish Module

Main Resources of the Module:

- Visual Editor (TinyMCE)
Allows you to create the pages in an easy and simple way wothou having any HTML knowlege or complex coding. You can customize the editor (or even deactivate it) using the module's preferences, you can define the default language, which plugins you want to use, the buttons exhibition sequence, the date format, GZip compression (so that the editor loads faster), among many other configurations.

- Integration with Xoops Image Library
In the visual editor, the button used toinsert images is totally integrated with XOOPS image library so that you can manage categories, send an image from you computer directly to xoops library and insert it into the content.

- File Manager
Allow you to upload any type of files from you computer to Mastop Publish (the allowed extensions and the maximum limit for upload are setup via the preferences section of the module). Its integration with the visual editor is made via the "insert link", that allows you to navigate through the sent files and allows you to upload a new file when linking it to the selected text.

- Media Manager
Similar to the file editor it allows you to send files in the following formats SWF (Flash), WMV (Windows Media), MOV (QuickTime), DCR (ShockWave) and RM (Real Media). It is also integrated to the visual editor, via the "insert media" button.

- YouTube Plugin
Besides the Media manager, the editor includes a plugin to make it easier to insert YouTube videos into the create content, having only to type in the film ID (defined by YouTube) and it's dimmensions.

- ExclusivePlugin for Keywords for Dynamic Content
Through this plugin you can insert several types of "variables" that will be transformed when sending the content. With this plugin you can insert a banner automatically (integrated with the banner system from Xoops), the site's name, its slogan, user's name, login, email, site and its posting count. This plugin is very useful to create pages that will adapt themselves according to what a user is seeing (e.g.: you can create a customized contract so that users print it).

- Plugin to use the visual editor for the entire site
Inside Mastop Publish there is a folder called "extras". There you have the necessary files to change Xoops default editor by the editor used by the module. You just need to follow the guidelines from the readme.txt file (also inside the "extras" folder) so that you can use all the resources of Mastop Publish content management all over your site.

- Exclusive Administration Area
The administrationa area of Mastop Publish was created aiming a high qualit standard. You can perform group actions, define filters, order the records per column you wish and define how many record per page you want to visualize, with a paging system integrated to the filter system.

- Exclusive Menus / Submenus system
When creating a page inside Mastop Publish, you can define which menu item will hold the created page. It can be under the main menu, under a previously created page or even under an installed module. The exhibitions sequence under the menu can also be changed (the page order is integrated to xoops module weight. If you define under the module administration that a module has a weight of 1 and create a page inside Mastop Publish with "zero" weight, this page will be shown right above the module under the menu).

- Pageviews Control
Mastop Publish shows you how often each page was viewed. You can reset the counter when you wish to do so.

- Page Title and Menu Text in Separated Fields
With separated fields for the page title and menu text you don't need to worry about the character limits due to the reserved space for the menu layout at your site and so you can create a nice title and a summarized text for the menu.

- Individual Access Permissions
You define which groups can view each page you are creating. The menus and search system from the Mastop Publish module are also made considering the content that the current user is allowed to access.

- Menu Text at the URL
We know that search engines consider the url text a lot when they are going to list the pages in their systems. Thinking about it Mastop Publishcomes with the option of replacing the good, old ID used to identify the pages by the menu text (can be defined under the preferences of the module).

- Navigation Bar at the the Top of Pages
Made to make the navigation between pages easier (e.g.: Home / Fruits/ Citrics / Lemon). Mastop Publish comes with two types of navigation bars: built-in or in block layout.

- Links to Related Pages
Also available as built-in in pages (After the content) and in block layout, it shows links to other ages that are in the same level as the current page.

- Page visibilty Control
When creating a page you can choose between the following visibilities: Menu and Related Pages (the page will be shown in the menu and in the related pages list of any of the pages that are in the same level), Menu Only (the page will be shown in the menu and not in the related pages list of any of the pages that are in the same level), Only Related Pages ( the page will not be shown in the menu, but when you enter a page with the same level as the current one, the page will be shown in the related pages list) and Invisíble (the page will not be shown anywhere - no even in the search results). Besides the visibility controle you can define if the created page will open in the same window (_self) or in a new window (_blank).

- IFrames Support (Inline Frames)
With the IFrames support from the Mastop Publish module you can load any page in the internet within your site, having only to type in the URL during the creation of the new content.

- HTML Page Manager
Allows you to send a HTML page from your computer to Mastop Publish, being able to create pages based on the uploaded file.

- "Recommend to a friend" and "Print" system configurable
When creating a new page you can define if you want to show the "print" and "recommend to a friend" buttons or not. For the page recommendation system there is used an internal form (within the site) that is filled out by the visitor and the system sends the email.

- Exclusive Block Management
Mastop Publish has its own block manager that makes it easier to find the related blocks (separating them from the Xoops blocks manager), and it allows you to define where you want to show them, the position, block title, visibility and permissions all at one single place.

- 3 Types of Configurable Menus
Mastop Publish has 3 block types of menus: Tree menu, Horizontal and Vertical menus. For all block you can define background color, border types among many other features.

- Exclusive Color Selector
At the block edit screen (where you do the setup) there is a color selector similar to the one used by Photoshop, so that you can select the ideal color for your menu.

- Exclusive Security Control for Comments
We all know Xoops Comments System. Although there many systems on the internt (robots) that crawl sites after forms so that they can send adverts (SPAM). When you define that Xoops is able to accept comments from visitors you may face this situation. Therefore the comments system from Mastop Publish is integrated with Xoops comments system, but it has the CAPTCHA system, that show an image with a random code that the user has to type in, ensuring that the system isn't used by robots. This resource requires the GD libray installed at the server and can be disabled via module preferences..

- Highlight System for Researched Terms
Mastop Publish has an integrated search system with xoops that also searches in created pages based on HTML files and when accessing a page via the result system the Mastop Publish module highlights the searched terms, making it easier to locate the content part that most interests the user.

For further information, screenshots and downloads access Mastop Publish's website.