[SOLVED]Auto generate a summary page

[clm314159]

I have made a site using CMS for an academic department where all the facility can log in to the site and edit their own informational page. I was wanting to generate a facility overview page that would create an entry for each facility and populate it with their picture and some of the fields that they populated in their personal information page, such as contact info. Is there some way of doing this in CMS, or maybe a module, or do I have to code this myself? I have poked around the DB and it looks possible but I do not want to recreate the wheel if there is a solution already available.

Thanks in advance.

[jmcgin51]

check out the ContentDump plugin

http://dev.cmsmadesimple.org/projects/contentdump

[JeremyBASS]

I do this a lot, but I set up the facility as front end user and let them edit their infor that way (I don't trust 100's of users to get in the admin area).  Then I use the CGuserdirectory to do what you’re asking.. Just another view for the same task.. thou if your hard stuck on the route your going, like jmcgin51 posted ContentDump is the way to go... hth cheers –jeremy

[clm314159]

Hi, thanks for both of your suggestions. I have decided to go the route that JeremyBASS outlined with the Frontend Users module. This does seem cleaner than my original method.

So far I have installed CGExtensions, Frontend Users, CGDirectory, and Custom Content. Not sure if custome contnt was needed but I got it.

I have been able to get a log in and out screen to work on a page and I am able to customize them. I also have been able to create a directory and customize it with values I pull directly from the DB for each user.

What is stumping me now is how do I allow users to to change their content and how to display a personal page for each person. I see the various templates in the tabs for Frontend users and CGDirectory that look like they will do this for me but I can't figure out how to access them on a page. Are these templates what i need and how do I get them displayed on a page. I am looking at the Detail View Template in CGDirectory and the Change Settings Templates in FrotEnd Users.

Also, is there any way that I can auto generate a sub-menu that displays a list of all the facility and links to their personal page? The boss wants to use LDAP to authenticate and auto create the FE user from the university's active directory and then after the facility has entered all their info have everything updated from the directory and personal page creation to the facility sub-menu with links to the personal page without any intervention from the IT staff. I can see how to use LDAP to create the user and update the directory, and if I can create a personal page automatically the menu should be updated as well. So How do I create a page automatically?

[JeremyBASS]

I'm going to move this to the right area.. But I'll get back and try to help more later.. Cheers -Jeremy

[jmcgin51]

So far I have installed CGExtensions, Frontend Users, CGDirectory, and Custom Content. Not sure if custome contnt was needed but I got it.

(yes, you need it)

What is stumping me now is how do I allow users to to change their content and how to display a personal page for each person. I see the various templates in the tabs for Frontend users and CGDirectory that look like they will do this for me but I can't figure out how to access them on a page. Are these templates what i need and how do I get them displayed on a page. I am looking at the Detail View Template in CGDirectory and the Change Settings Templates in FrotEnd Users.

Did you read the module help files?  You'll need to specify the desired template in the module call (i.e. {cms_module module='modulename' template='desiredtemplate'}, and may also need to specify an action (i.e. {cms_module module='modulename' template='desiredtemplate' action='fe_edit'}  (I think fe_edit is the correct parameter for allowing a user to edit their information from the frontend, for CGUserDirectory, but you can check the module help to be sure)

Also, is there any way that I can auto generate a sub-menu that displays a list of all the facility and links to their personal page? The boss wants to use LDAP to authenticate and auto create the FE user from the university's active directory and then after the facility has entered all their info have everything updated from the directory and personal page creation to the facility sub-menu with links to the personal page without any intervention from the IT staff. I can see how to use LDAP to create the user and update the directory, and if I can create a personal page automatically the menu should be updated as well. So How do I create a page automatically?

You don't actually need a separate page for each user.  You can use CGUserDirectory to generate a simple list of users (automatically updated when a new user is added), and then when clicking on each user, the system always uses the same target "page" (specified either in the module call or in the module preferences), but populates it with different content.

[JeremyBASS]

Ha.. jmcgin51  bet me to it

[clm314159]

Hey thanks,
Actually I did read the help but I had a brain fart and since I was looking for the work template and the word used in the directions was form I went right over what I was looking for. I think I should take a walk around the building more often during the day to wake up or something.

Anyway, I got everything working to the boss' satisfaction. Except now he wants a WYSIWYG editor for the info update pages. I was looking at TinyMCE and was trying to find a way to integrate it into the 'Change Settings" template, so that long text blocks with HTML could be edited easily by the users. Anyone know how to do this with TinyMCE or some other WYSIWYG HTML editor?

Also, I think I saw this somewhere but now I cannot find it but is there a way to increase the text size in FrontEnd Users properties past 999 characters?