Views Scheduler
Link to code
Student name
Student's member profile on PlanetSoC
Mentor's name
Mentor's member profile on PlanetSoC
Description
Views Scheduler project aims to provide the users of drupal with the ability to automatically manipulate content on a regular basis.
While the main objective is to be able to automatically publish
(schedule publishing) content on a regular basis, once the system is completed it should also be able to set up different views containing different contents. The project will also allow the administrator to create nodes in which work ready for publication can be queued up in and published when the time arrives.
Nevertheless it is also important that the 'system can be utilised by
users who have no prior knowledge of drupal site administration (i.e. writers and editors) so that they may concentrate on their main objective which is to produce content rather than worry about administrating. Many people are good content makers but someone needs to make the computer world a little easier for them.
In order to put together a flexible framework the scheduler project
will make use of pre-existing API of views, Actions and
Scheduler.
*Once Members log in they should be able to have their content page customised so that it only shows categories which they have selected.
They should also have access to different views that they can customise themselves, i.e. a view for all new content or a view for all bookmarked items etc
*Members will, furthermore, be kept updated on all new content in certain categories (taxonomy tags) which they can simply choose email updates. They then tick the categories he/she would like from a list of checkbox's with the existing categories. Once new contents are added, under thetaxonomy tags the user has chosen, user is emailed with Title and link to content.
*For an admin it should be easy to create nodes which will list
contents that have been chosen
*For editors it should be relatively easy for them to see all work that needs to edited or approved for publishing then decide on whenitems should be scheduled for release. The scheduler should then be able to publish items on at the chosen time.
Proposal
The project will most likely take me the whole allotted time,
therefore, to minimise errors and make the best of the given time, I
will attempt to make use of the rapid development methodology which
works by verifying/building on each stage against the previous ones.
I will, therefore, split the project:
A) [May 23-june7]
Becoming familiar with drupal core and the following API’s Views,
Actions and Scheduler.
B) [June 7-June 14]
Writing up the requirements / specification, complete with screenshots(This could latter on be used as docs) and this stage will also include the design phase too; how the system will interact with other modules, DB design, UIs design.
C) [June 15-August 10]
Developing code from the design that was produced in the previous stage.
'Making the code available is the first step, as soon as you have it share ASAP'(chx).
This will involve lot of iterative works as I get feedback/reviews from mentors and the community to ensure that the project is meeting its expectation.
D) [August 11-August 21]
Since drupal implements its testing as soon as a code is released, by
this stage most of the test will have been done therefore this time will be for final bug fixes and wrapping up the project and its documents. This time will also act as a buffer, in case previous stages were not finished on time.
= BIO =
======
I am 20 year old student studying computer science at Brunel
University in the UK and have been programming for the past 6 years,
using PHP and MySQL for the past 3 years. In that time, I have come to
develop a few content management systems of my own. Whilst
developing/coding scripts I have become more proficient in coding in
PHP as well as understanding many issues involved with designing
sites' UIs and how this relates to HCI (human computer interaction,
not to be confused with human computer interface), Functionality vs.
Usability.
Over the past few years, I have come to be a developer of www.bleach7.com, which has its own CMS system, which was built up from
scratch to meet the needs and requirement of our user base.
I am currently in the process of creating an editorial section for bleach7 where users are given permission to create editorials (a blog
by any other name is still a blog) and once they post something it is published in the editorial section under their rank.
For a while now I have wanted to get involved in open source
development but never really found a way I could participate since
most organisations that I have gone to seem to be full of those who
know too much about the product, creating an atmosphere unconducive to
my integration due to elitism within their team.
I personally believe the SoC allows students like me who would like to
get involved in great projects such as drupal, Apache and PHP. To
participate to their heart's content whilst having someone to show
them the ropes to begin with so that we feel like we are at home and
from there onwards imagination and coding skills are the limit.