FAQ/Q&A Module

[calguy1000]

I downloaded and installed pirato's pifaq module (I heard that somebody may be looking for this, I have it if anybody wants it).  and it works relatively well for me.

What I could use is a Q/A addon to this.... to allow people to ask questions, for authorized people to answer.    I would like the ability for these answers to be sent via email if possible, as well as saved on the page.  Also, it would be great if we could automatically mark one of these questions as a FAQ and have it show up in the FAQ area.

I'm so busy writing about 3 other modules, that I don't have time to look at this myself right now (it would be number 5 on my list).  Any help would be appreciated.

What do you guys think.

[mbvdk]

I'm working on a rewrite of pifaq + faqx, using various ideas from the news module. The result will be more or less what you suggest. I originally tried modifying pifaq, but my German is not as good as it ought to be, so I gave up and started from the sceleton module in stead, importing heavily from both pifaq, faqX and News. As I need it for one of my costumeres, I'll be devoting quite a lot of time to it.

There will be tree (maybe four) text fields for each FAQ/Q&A entry, a heading (the short question), a detailed question (this is the part I'm still debating), a short answer, and a detailed answer. Users of the site will be able to fill out a form on a page, with a heading, and a question, and select a category. This will then be sent via e-mail and saved in the database, as a nonpublished entry. When the question is answered on the site, the person who answers the question will be able to publish the entry under the apropriate category. And yes this will be a multi-editor system. I'm considering making an option that makes the ask-question-pages available to registered users only, but that is last on my to-do list, and might be dropped altogether, as this will have to tie into some sort of general user acess/restriction module.

Right now I am close to having the admin-interface working, but I have not started on the user-interface yet. The first version will most likely be without the question-submit-part. As soon as I have a working beta I'll post it on the forum, both for beta-testing and feature sugestions.

[calguy1000]

two questions:

1.  Why send the question via email.... I would simply put it into the database as "unanswered" and send a notification mail to the person responsible (or am I misreading you).

2.  I wouldn't worry about allowing only registered users to see the answers, etc.  we can take care of that with the protected pages module..... or it can be done later easily enough with a tie in to the userid module.

[mbvdk]

1.  Why send the question via email.... I would simply put it into the database as "unanswered" and send a notification mail to the person responsible (or am I misreading you).

To be honest I have not put a great deal of thought into what to send in the e-mail, but it seemed most logical to include the whole question in the e-mail, but you do have a point there. In the first release including that part, I'll just include whatever is the easiest to code, but prepare for both options. (I suspect my current costumer would want the whole question included in the e-mail, personally I would be just as happy with a simple notification.)

2.  I wouldn't worry about allowing only registered users to see the answers, etc.  we can take care of that with the protected pages module..... or it can be done later easily enough with a tie in to the userid module.

Ok, this is only possible future feature, so I'll not waste much time on it, other than iuncluding a CheckPermission($uid) function, as I'll need that for the admin part anyway.

[ZYV]

Any news? Please check out http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.ph ... 315.0.html .