[Plugin: Connections] Feature Suggestions

ptarver
(@ptarver)

14 years, 12 months ago

I’d first like to thank you for producing a plugin that does a great job and one that I have already used multiple times in multiple ways. I’d like to offer a couple of feature suggestions that you might consider.

1) First, an administrative option to export the stored names and addresses to a comma-delimited file would be nice. I tried to export the connections table from the mysql database but the output file had lots of additional system information that was unnecessary for the purpose I had in mind.

2) Second, I was able to modify the existing code in the connections.php file (function _connections_list($atts, $content=null) to be specific) to allow me to publish a heading for each alphabetical letter group as well as to replicate the alphaindex at the top of each letter group to aid in navigating what could be a fairly long membership list. I really like the way it turned out and you can see the results at http://www.tipmasters.biz/index.php/directory/ if you’d like to see how this looks. I think this would be a nice option to have as it doesn’t require the user to go back to the top of the page in order to jump to another alpha letter group.

So far I’ve been very pleased with the results I’ve been getting with the plugin and it is very easy to read your code and figure out what is going on. As time permits and needs change I’ll probably dig even deeper into the code, but for now these are the two suggestions I’ve been able to come up with.

I just did the latest update and it was very easy for me to migrate the changes I had made previously to the new version. Thanks for creating such a useful tool!

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

Steven
(@shazahm1hotmailcom)

14 years, 12 months ago

Yep this plug-in screams for the need of an import/export function. But there is still work to be done before I get to those. I do like your second suggestion. I’ll include that in the next version. Do you have any suggestions on what the short code attribute names should be?

kkroc
(@kkroc)

14 years, 12 months ago

Great plug-in. Are you planning on adding in Gravatar support?

Thanks

Thread Starter ptarver
(@ptarver)

14 years, 11 months ago

Thanks for considering my suggestion!

I’m thinking that there would be two shortcodes one to add the Alphabetical section header and the second to add the Alphaindex to each section. Currently, you already have a short code named “show_alphaindex” so perhaps the repeat could be “repeat_alphaindex”.

You don’t have anything for the section header so to follow your existing naming convention perhaps it could be “show_alphaheader”.

Thanks for letting me be a part of the process! 🙂

Steven
(@shazahm1hotmailcom)

14 years, 11 months ago

@kkroc
Sure, I’ll add Gravatar support. But first how do you envision it functioning?

@ptarver
Ok the has been added to the dev version if you want to download it and play with it awhile. The best way to style the alpha head is to add the style for h4.cn-alphahead in your theme’s CSS.

I used your suggestion for the attribute names except for “show_alphaheader”. I choose to use show_alphahead. Also repeating the alpha index will only happen if show_alphaindex is also set to true.

Something else you just might find useful. I added additional filters for addresses.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Thread Starter ptarver
(@ptarver)

14 years, 11 months ago

That sounds great! I’m looking forward to trying it out. I have a site that is in development right now that will be perfect to test the dev version on. Your solution for repeating the index only if show_alphahead is true is a good idea as well. I guess I was thinking of it as a either/or proposition, but it makes more sense to do it your way.

Thanks again for being receptive to ideas. I really think you have a great plugin and so far I’ve used it on three sites I’ve built and will probably use it again. A donation is on the way.

Thread Starter ptarver
(@ptarver)

14 years, 11 months ago

Just thought I’d let you know:

Installed It, Tested It, Loved It!

Thanks so much!

Steven
(@shazahm1hotmailcom)

14 years, 11 months ago

@ptarver

Glad to hear it works for you. Also, a big thanks for the tip you send my way! It’s very much appreciated!

buffalo2wheeler
(@buffalo2wheeler)

14 years, 10 months ago

Do you plan to add an import/export feature?

Steven
(@shazahm1hotmailcom)

14 years, 10 months ago

I do plan on it once I’m closer to the 1.0 release; maybe in 6 months.

nelloxa
(@nelloxa)

14 years, 2 months ago

Hello and thaks for the plugin
I’d love to use it, but as per today it seems to miss the import / export feature. Any plan to have it (at least the import) ? Or can I force my data into DB tables manually ?