Thread

So this has bugged me for a while, but why are the forum, gallery and wiki seperate content types not using the core channel module?

A usable forum can be created by making a channel called “forum topic” with a simple title and body field, then a category group called “forums”. Comments are the replies and the whole thing can be made to look like a regular forum. It’s pretty effective although a little simple.

A forum module could still be used but it would benefit the whole system to take advantage of the core channel feature. The other modules mentioned above could be done in the same way too, especially the wiki.

Again, all we need is a channel called “wiki page”, revisions enabled, a title and body field, and a custom wiki text filter. A wiki module would probably still be needed to tie all of these features together.

The Gallery will go away in 2.0, so users will be doing just that, ie use the Channel module. Both the forums and the wiki are a different animal, though; they have different needs and functions and a different data structure. Sure, you could probably press them into the Channel module (pMachine Pro contained a “forum” that was basically a clever use of weblogs), but why would you want to?

Put differently, what beef do you have with the current approach?

I had a need for this when I was working with EE over a year ago. Basically I needed to be able to associate multiple content types with a category. So a blog post, image, forum topic, wiki and review should all be able to be associated with the same category (e.g. “Music” or “The Prodigy”).

Currently in EE I have to duplicate all of those categories as normal categories, forums, and wiki categories (and used to be gallery categories too).

Take a look at these pages Music and The Prodigy. I’m not using EE on this site but it was originally developed in EE. It shows all of the content associated with that one category.

I’ve been working a lot with Drupal recently and their solution of all content types being a “node” makes perfect sense. All nodes have common fields but they can then be extended with additional fields. EE excels in the custom field area but Drupal is right behind it.

I guess some benefits of doing it my are less database tables, forums will use regular templates and there will be less tags to remember (share with the existing channel tags).

I’m glad you’ve seen the light with the photo gallery module but that should have been the last to go. There is so much duplicate functionality in those modules it makes so much sense.

To be honest, the only reason I think the forum module is like that is so EllisLab can continue to charge for it and they haven’t thought about the wiki module in a while. I guess you should be telling me why they are separate modules. That sounds a little rude but I assure you I don’t mean to be.

Currently in EE I have to duplicate all of those categories as normal categories, forums, and wiki categories (and used to be gallery categories too).

Well, yes. I’d consider those rather special needs, though, and they consequently require a custom approach. Also, you have always been able to run the forum module through a regular template and access all of EE’s power that way.

forums will use regular templates

Have you seen the changelog? “Member Profile, Wiki, and Forum themes are easier to edit, using .html files instead of complex PHP theme files.”

I’m glad you’ve seen the light ...

I’m not sure I would have put it exatly that way, but I am glad you like it.

To be honest, the only reason I think the forum module is like that is so EllisLab can continue to charge for it ...

With all due respect, that allegation is just a little ridiculous. If you don’t need a forum, don’t use it. If a different forum suits your needs better, by all means use that. If you can concoct a way to get the same functionality using nothing but the Channel module, more power to you; even writing your own lightweight module in CI could be considered an option.

In short: whatever gets the job done. For many users, that’s the EE Forum module, and we will continue to offer it to them. Others don’t need a forum at all, so bundling it with the core download wouldn’t make sense.

I think my last comment about EE charging for the forum was a little harsh so I apologise for that.

I do stick with what I’m saying though, that EE should be using channels for forums e.t.c.

Once I’m finished my current site in Drupal I will start work on a forum system using my ideas, and hopefully I’ll get a wiki done too. I can’t put a time on these but I will release them for free.

You might like this thread as well.
Personally I hate the word “node” and the fact is in URLs everywhere…as a storage concept is great idea but often fails short when you do need to differentiate forum entries and ‘content’ entries…this is when it starts to get sticky and you need some other plugins or “node” would need to have million options during the entry. Just my pref.

Oh I can’t believe I missed that thread. I notice they went with the EE forums in the end though.

Yeah it is just way too many features that are forum centric vs. entry.
But I hear your desire to have them uniform…it makes sense in certain setups or user groups; especially if you want to keep it simple on user entry side of things.