[webdev] ACSNotes

[Tom Hull <thull@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a file of notes that I've been accumulating on openacs modules.
It's pretty incomplete -- much more to learn. Check the doc for further
information.

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Notes on OpenACS modules (use for aclug.org):

Modules:

 -- Notes are organized by directory under web root: /home/aclug/openacs/www

acs-examples/

address-book/

admin/

ads/

adserver/

bannerideas/

bboard (Bulletin Board):

 -- Discussion groups, with several styles of interaction.
 -- User-posted discussion forums
 -- User interface: threads, Q&A, editorial
 -- Moderation type: featured, moderated, unmoderated, private
 -- Some forums:
      Beginners
      User Groups

bookmarks:

 -- Per-user service, keeps a list of URL bookmarks for each user.
 -- Allows bulk import of bookmarks from Netscape or IE bookmark files.
 -- Each bookmark has title and URL.
 -- Tools exist for checking that URLs are valid.
 -- Interest: some (set a couple and they're nice).
 NB Fatal bug in /admin/bookmarks/one-user.tcl

calendar/

 -- Define calendar event categories:
      ACLUG Events
      Other Events
 -- Events have a one-line title which is listed on /calendar/index.tcl,
    and used as a link for a per-event page. The per-event page has a
    long description, plus provides date(s), web/email contacts, and
    contributor. Input form also provides location (country, state, zip).
    Users can add comments to event pages.
 -- Not yet investigated: a calendar widget.
 -- Wish list:
      * Special case "Dates: April 8, 2002 through April 8, 2002" to
        "Date: April 8, 2002"
      * Track time from database (optional)
      * Delete comments

chat/

comments/

contest/

curriculum/

custom-sections/

directory/

display/

doc/

 -- Looks like relatively unedited documentation from original ACS; e.g.,
      makes much reference to Oracle.

download/

dw/

ecommerce/

education/

events:

 -- This looks like it provides a more detailed description of an event
    than is provided by the calendar module.
 -- Access controlled by Events Admininistration user group.
 -- Interest: maybe (kind of complicated; meanwhile use calendar).

faq:

 -- FAQs are collections of Q&A.
 -- System can manage multiple FAQs. FAQs may be public or private, limited
    to 

file-storage/

gallery/

gc/

general-comments/

general-links/

glassroom/

global/

glossary:

 -- Manages a dictionary of specialized terminology.
 -- Config: ns_param ApprovalPolicy: set to { open, wait, closed }. Default
    is closed.

gp/

graphics/

groups/

help/

 -- Cf. /doc/help.html; help system does not exist.

homepage/

install/

intranet/

links/

mailing-list/

neighbor/

new-file-storage/

news/

news-templated/

new-ticket/

notifications/

photodb/

poll/

portals/

press/

proposals/

pull-down-menus/

pvt/

register/

registry/

sdm/

search/

shared/

survsimp/

SYSTEM/

team/

ticket/

todo/

tools/

users/

webmail/

wp/

Miscellaneous Files:

cookie-chain-1.tcl
cookie-chain-2.tcl
cookie-chain.tcl
index.tcl
monitor.tcl
register.tcl
robots.txt
user-please-login.tcl
user-search.tcl
user-user-bozo-filter.tcl

Admin Sections:

/admin/address-book:

 -- Allows users to manage some form of address book in their pvt space.
    Includes support for birthday reminders.
 -- Interest: no (not really a site for user services).

/admin/adserver:

 -- Manages rotation of banner advertisements.
 -- Interest: no.

/admin/bannerideas:

 -- Similar to advertisements, but intended to go at bottom of page and to
    make a suggestion to check out something, such as another feature spot
    in the website. I reckon this might also be used to suggest links to
    some other semirandom website.
 -- NB: Example link to photo.net looks obsolete (link OK, no example).
 -- Interest: some

/admin/categories:

 -- Used for user profiling (tracking user interests).
 -- Interest: no (hard to get a handle on).

/admin/crm (customer relationship management):

 -- Defines a state machine for modeling a set of user relationships
      (e.g., raw user, good prospect, customer, dead user), assigning
      users a state, and tracking transitions from one state to another.
 -- Interest: no.

/admin/ug (User Groups):

 -- Hierarchy: user group types, user groups, members, subgroups.
 -- Predefined group types: Administration, Event, Intranet, Team,
    WimpyPoint presentation; we can define new user group types
 -- Predefined user groups in Administration: Activities Administration,
    BITS Administration, Events Administration, Intranet Administration,
    Photo Database Staff, Simple Survey System Staff, Site-Wide
    Administration; each bboard gets an administration group

/admin/users:

  -- Count of users; some other query options
  -- Registration history: presents a histogram by year/month
  -- Concept: user class


-- 
/*
 *  Tom Hull * thull at kscable.com * http://www.tomhull.com/
 */