[development] Views and Rules

[Steven Jones]

Hi,

Most of us know that the project_issue module automatically closes
fixed issues after two weeks of inactivity, this is done with a fairly
simple SQL query run on cron.

The casetracker modules that are bundled with open atrium lack such a
feature, and I'm trying to add one. Now I know that I could add a
simple SQL query on cron, and add the feature, but I think closing
fixed cases after two weeks is a specific example of a more general
feature. That is: doing some actions to a bunch of stuff.

I think the 'some actions' can be provided by actions, or even rule
sets from the rules module, but it seems that the only way to invoke
actions at the moment is from an event driven perspective, and
although there is a 'cron' event in rules, it seems you can't then
iterate over nodes matching certain conditions. So I'd still need to
code a way to build the 'bunch of stuff'.

One of my first thoughts was: 'can I use views for this?' My idea is
to add a display plugin that 'renders' a view 'into actions', the
providing module can execute the view on cron.

Is there something similar out there that already does this? Does it
sound like even a vaguely sensible idea?

Regards
Steven Jones
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