Catalog Implementation

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 20:54:00 +0000

Hi,

I'm doing some exploratory work on an application of Hubzilla for K-12 education. One thing I would like to implement is a reference directory of products and services that would be helpful in certain categories like school safety, standards compliance, class room management, STEM, art, history, etc. Has somebody already solved the catalog/directory problem in a clever way for Hubzilla. I imagine it's a bit like an e-commerce problem without the commerce.

Thank you!

Larry

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Haakon Meland Eriksen (Parlementum)

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 08:15:22 +0000

Hi Larry!

I am not sure about this, since I am not entirely sure which permissions allow this, if at all. If it is not possible now, then perhaps it can be.

I think another option could be to create a new channel, e.g. "Larry's K-12 education channel", and then use the new channel's ability to have personal apps; just let these simply be a link with an icon and a description to the resources you mentioned.

I think it will look rather nice, but you will have to try it yourself and see.

You can use your menu, or follow the links below. I have used the observer.baseurl feature, so you should get your hub's links when you are logged in.

Step 1 - Add apps
Go to /apps - this is the page where you can add apps to your channel.

Step 2 - Manage apps
Go to Manage apps - /apps/edit - this changes the mode and adds a blue button on the page from Step 1. Notice you will get a pencil icon on the apps, which allows you to view and edit the settings of each app. Click the pencil icon on one app to see how the form is filled out, but do not change anything, it is just for reference.

Step 3 - Create custom app
Go to Create custom app - /appman - this is a green button available in Manage apps mode on the page from Step 2. This opens a new form ala the one you saw when you clicked the pencil icon on an app in Step 2. Fill out the form with one of your K-12 links. In the Categories field, add "K-12 education" as new category. Save the form. Repeat for all your links.

You can then set the channel to open on the personal app page in the "K-12 education" category, and you can even share each app in a post with people you interact with.

The one thing I am not sure about is if we can make that personal app category public? @Mario Vavti , @M. Dent or @Mike Macgirvin may be able to answer that.

My channel's content is mostly set to allow people who are logged in, so a quick test would be to see if you see https://elsmussols.net/apps&cat=K-12%20education . That would indicate at least logged in people can see my personal apps in the category "K-12 education".

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:25:15 +0000

This is a super idea. I'll poke around this area to see what I can discover. It certainly is a great model either straight "out of the box" or as a variant to what is already there if we need to do a little work to help it to happen.

Thank you for the help!

Larry

Haakon Meland Eriksen (Parlementum)

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:28:28 +0000

You are most welcome.