[drupal-devel] [feature] Allow different content marker types

[Goba]

 Project:      Drupal
 Version:      cvs
 Component:    base system
 Category:     feature requests
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  Goba
 Reported by:  Goba
 Updated by:   Goba
 Status:       patch

Markers are only important for logged in users, yes. We need to somehow
omit the markers. We can check for the user in theme_mark(), but we
need to check for the user in node_marker() anyway, since otherwise we
would do an unnecessery database lookup for each marker. So we can
return MARKER_READ in node_marker() and omit the marker regardless of
the $marker if the $type is 'new' and the user is not logged in. So we
need to check for the user in the theme function too...

BTW the terminology I introduced seems to be inconsitent: node_marker()
vs. theme_mark(). It might be desireable to rename the theme function,
or use MARK_ constants and node_mark(). Pick the way.

Goba



Previous comments:
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January 26, 2005 - 22:47 : Goba

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/Drupal-allow-different-markers.patch (4.21 KB)

This simple and straightforward patch adds the ability to define
different types of markers (while retaining the old default behaviour
of the new and required markers to look the same). Someone with enough
time on his hands might be able to partition the new marker to a real
new marker and a changed marker (since node_is_new() returns TRUE even
if nodes changed, and not only when they are new). This is the base on
which the new patch can be worked though.

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January 27, 2005 - 07:19 : Dries

Being able to differentiate between 'updated' and 'new' would be a plus.
 (Basecamp does it for example, and it has been suggested repeatedly by
Kika/Kristjan.)

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January 27, 2005 - 08:45 : stefan nagtegaal

First of all, i like the patch..
Another usability improvement wou be to have a little helptext at the
bottom of the form which tell you something like:


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January 27, 2005 - 12:41 : Goba

Stefan, markers are not necesserily inline. At one of my sites, we use a
right floated block element to indicate that something is new. So this
kind of help text will not work... The marker however can contain some
help in itself in a title="" attribute, so that those hovering over it
with their mouse can get an idea on what it is.

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January 27, 2005 - 13:57 : Dries

Committed to HEAD.

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January 27, 2005 - 18:40 : Goba

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/Drupal-differentiate-content-markers.patch (6.48 KB)

Suprise :) In real incremental patching sense, here is a patch to
introduce the different new and updated makers. It operates with
passing on the info to theme('mark'), and then letting it decide on
what to do with it. This also enables people to do 'read' markers, if
so desired (displaying different icons for read, uread and updated
content).

Renamed the 'new' marker to 'content', so that it is not misleading,
and introduced some constants, to help along the way. 'node' might be a
better name instead of 'content', but it is just a search and replace in
the patch, so Dries can fix it up, if needed. Also introduced the unkown
maker for anonymous users. The practice before was that by setting the
last view time to time(), markers are always displayed as 'read' for
anonymous users. But with the different icons possibility in mind, it
is important to distinguish the case when we cannot decide on whether a
content is new/updated or not, because we have no data. This is why the
unkown marker is introduced.

I admit I have not tested the patch, but it should work well,
theoretically. Kept the original interface behaviour, which does not
expose much from the power of the markers, but preserves the currently
expected output.

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January 27, 2005 - 18:52 : Goba

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/Drupal-differentiate-content-markers2.patch (7.29 KB)

Wups, forgot to adjust one usage of node_is_new(). Plus renamed it to
node_marker(), since it is not anymore only about checking on whether
it is new or not...

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January 27, 2005 - 19:57 : Anonymous

Shouldn't 'MARKER_UNKOWN' be 'MARKER_UNKNOWN'?  Why do we need an
"unknown" possibility anyway?  Wouldn't we just omit markers for
anonymous users?

-- 
View: http://drupal.org/node/16253
Edit: http://drupal.org/project/comments/add/16253