Personalised content

Sunday 13 March 2011 9:21:55 am

I would like to enable users who have logged into our web site the facility to select (from a form) which things interest them, ie. sport, music, dancing, drama etc.
I would then like to able to add event info to the site that can be categorised using the above topics ie. sport, music etc.

When the users log in they will be shown the events that match their interests.

Is there an extension that does this or can you tell me of a way that this can be done?

Thanks,

Andy

Thursday 17 March 2011 7:19:48 am

Another way to do it would be like this:

• create the event categories as Benjamin described
• modify the "User" class and add an "Object relations" attribute (note the plural of the attribnute type), let's call it "Subscribed categories"
• allow users to modify their user object and create a template fo editing it where you create an interface for adding objects to "Subscribed categories" attribute
• disable view caching for your frontpage (which is a common case anyway) and create cache blocks in the frontpage template for the parts where you present the events to the user. Use the categories node ids from the "Subscribed categories" attribute as keys for the cache block. Also set an expiration time for the cache block.

Both this and Benjamin's idea are valid solutions, which one suits you best depends on your specific case.

--
Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it!

Hubert Farnsworth

Monday 21 March 2011 2:52:04 am

What we have suggested is to form the structure of your site like this:

- Events
  - Sport
  - Dance
  - Music

and then put the events in the appropriate category. But wether you should use this implementation depends on your specific needs...

Did you add this three checkboxes as 3 new attributes of did you use a Selection attribute?

Could you paste the code of your fetch?

--
Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it!

Hubert Farnsworth

Monday 21 March 2011 5:29:43 am

That's not the right way to do it, for example if you want to add more categories you'll have to add more attributes, and adding attributes that are not really needed is bad practice.

You should use instead the "Selection" attribute where you can define as many values as you want all in one attribute.

There are several errors:

- you have put the array() declartion in quotes, so it will not be evaluated as an array buth as a sting containing the word "array" and the parenthesis etc.

- also you cannot put single quotes inside single quotes

- when filtering on checkbox attribute you have to compare it with true() of false()

So the right way to do it would be like this:

{def $attribute_filter=array(
  'or',
  array( 'event/sport', '=', true() ),
  array( 'event/music', '=', true() )
 )
}

{def $nodes=fetch( 'content', 'list',
 hash( 'parent_node_id', 111,
 'sort_by', array( 'attribute', true(), 'event/from_time'),
 'attribute_filter', $attribute_filter
))
}

So building the attribute filter out of the values in the user attribute can be done, but it has to be done right. When coding this part I suggest that you try {$attribute_filter|attribute(show)} to make sure that you got it right.

P.S. Note that attribute filtering can sometimes be really slow and have an impact on your site performance. So I suggest you to consider also the ideas that Benjamin and I gave...

--
Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it!

Hubert Farnsworth

Tuesday 22 March 2011 2:47:37 am

Andy, if you're going to use the suggested method of storing events in different folders, tha I suggest that you use an "Object relations" attribute in the User class. So the User class will be connected via that attribute to the categories the user is following.

Also, using this approach, you won't be needing the attribute filter, you'll just have to fetch the events from the folder user is "subscribed" to (related to via the object relations attribute).

The fetch would go something like this:

{* get the nodes ids of the folders to which user object is related to. Let's say we store it in array variable $related_nodes_ids *}
 
{def $nodes=fetch( 'content', 'list',
 hash( 'parent_node_id', $related_nodes_ids,
 'sort_by', array( 'attribute', true(), 'event/from_time')
))
}

You get the picture?

--
Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it!

Hubert Farnsworth

Tuesday 22 March 2011 5:48:49 am

It's really not that hard to create an "Object relations" attribute, here's the docs:

• http://doc.ez.no/eZ-Publish/Technical-manual/4.x/Reference/Datatypes/Object-relations

As for how to use it in templates, here's an example:

{def $current_user=fetch(user, current_user}
{def $user_object=$current_user.contentobject}

{def $related_nodes_ids=array()}

{foreach $user_object.data_map.subscribed_categories.content.relation_list as $relation_item}
 {set $related_nodes_ids=$related_nodes_ids|append($relation_item.node_id)}
{/foreach} 

{def $nodes=fetch( 'content', 'list',
 hash( 'parent_node_id', $related_nodes_ids,
 'sort_by', array( 'attribute', true(), 'event/from_time')
))
}

This is based on my proposed idea and the assumption that you have added to the User class the "Object relations" attribute with an identifier "subscribed_categories".

--
Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it!

Hubert Farnsworth

Monday 04 April 2011 3:20:41 am

Hi Marko & Benjamin,

I've finally got round to looking at this again (now that I've finished my other project).

I've created the following structure:

/event calendar/
/sport
/event item
/music
/dance
/event item

where 'sport', 'music' and 'dance' are folders underneath the default 'event calendar' item.

I'd like to be able to display all the events in the event calendar but it only shows the events that are located directly within the 'event calendar' section.

Can you tell me how I can modify the fetch command to select events that are located in folders beneath 'event calendar' please?

I assume I need to modify the following:

$events=fetch( 'content', 'list', hash(
'parent_node_id', $event_node_id,
'sort_by', array( 'attribute', true(), 'event/from_time'),
'class_filter_type', 'include',
'class_filter_array', array( 'event' ),
'main_node_only', true(),
'attribute_filter',
array( 'or',
array( 'event/from_time', 'between', array( sum($first_ts,1), sub($last_ts,1) )),
array( 'event/to_time', 'between', array( sum($first_ts,1), sub($last_ts,1) )) )
))

Thanks,

Andy

Monday 04 April 2011 6:09:51 am

You need to use content,tree fetch function instead of content,list if you want to fetch nodes from all levels. Here's the doc about both fetch functions:

• http://doc.ez.no/eZ-Publish/Technical-manual/4.x/Reference/Modules/content/Fetch-functions/tree
• http://doc.ez.no/eZ-Publish/Technical-manual/4.x/Reference/Modules/content/Fetch-functions/list

--
Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it!

Hubert Farnsworth

Monday 18 April 2011 11:36:47 am

Hi Marko,

My users are currently able to delect and de-select their "subscribed_categories" when they edit their Profile.

As you know from this page they're able to edit their various profile details such as First Name, Last Name, Password etc

I'd like to display a page that only displays their "subscribed_categories" with the facility to change them.

Can you tell me how I can do this please?

Thanks,

Andy