Functionality of OG with Drupal 7

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nakins's picture

Hi all,

I know this is a Dev group, but I'm having a real hard time trying to learn Drupal and OG. I'm not finding a lot of documentation or tutorials on this. The vast majority of the stuff on the net is for D6. for example, I found a video from Drupal Dojo aboutOG, in which they talked about OG Panels. well, I started with D7 (which I thought would be the thing to do) and there is no OG Panels for D7.

What I'm trying to accomplish is what the Australian Greens have set up for their groups. They have events, forum, documents, and a couple of other things. I would also like to use sub-groups with sub-forums, where say like the National Hipster Spotters Club could have sub groups at a state level, and each state could have sub groups for chapters. Each chapter group would have their state forum available to them, plus the national forum. I don't know if this is possible, in either a D6 or D7 implementation.

Anyway, What I would really like to know is if OG/D7 is currently capable of doing the same things that OG/D6 is capable of? Also, can you suggest any links that might help me set all this up, either using a D6 implementation or a D7 one? I'm quite willing to put together a tutorial either in text or video format to help others once I get mine going. And, I may want to develop some mods for this as I get into it.

Thanks

Comments

Plenty of possibilities, have to build by Yourself

AndrzejG's picture

A have a lot of positive experiences using OG for D7, however, I created almost every service by myself. It is extremely easy. Following are some examples.

Documentation:

  • Documents - content type with the field for File attachments and another field for Image attachments. Make them multiple (I have set 10). Now I decided to presented ALL image fields as Galleries, using http://drupal.org/project/galleryformatter, as it is very rare that somebody would like to upload only one image. It takes some 15 minutes to build and test such Content type. Documents content type is Group content type now, however, if You would like to have much more things collected within it, consider to make it ALSO Group type.
  • Manuscript - very simple. It is a content type without Comments. The idea is that Manuscript is subject to Review. There may be unlimited INDEPENDENT Reviews of any Manuscript. Make it Group content type.
  • Review - Main function is to discuss Manuscript chosen from Reference field. Set this field to display Full content of Manuscript selected. Make it Group content type.

Events:

  • Meeting - content type Based on Date, without Celendar View (as it works insufficiently for me). Standard is to make it Group content type. But if You make it ALSO a group type, You gain a lot of other functionalities, without using standard Signup tool which still doesn't work properly in Drupal 7. For example, You can collect all documentation from particular Event in such a group, organize follow-up discussions and meetings etc. Super!
  • Conference - may be the same content type as Meeting, only the mode of usage is different. You can add also Availability Calendar Content type (http://drupal.org/project/availability_calendars) to support conference organization, for example booking rooms, and equipment like LCD projectors etc.

General:

  • Agenda - simple Content type, possibly with some attachment fields. In my site EVERY group has Agenda, exposed in full in the Group View. It is not only to describe what the group (or Meeting for example) is, but also to promote the group. Moreover, You can also describe here what materials are private, as they are not visible to general audience.
  • Discussion - It is standard content type without any additional functionality besides the category field. I decided to build it INSTEAD of Forums because I'm not sure if Forum application integrates well with Organic Groups in Drupal 7. Moreover, Advanced Forums are also immature. Having category field You can build a simple forum-like View.
  • Group Materials - it is a View collecting all materials belonging to the group, besides Agenda which is filtered out. You can present these material ordered by date (newest on top) or grouped by Content type.

As to chapters and regional subgroups - I have no experience, however, I think there are no obstacles to make such things functional as You can make Chapter content type a Group type and Group content type simultaneously. You should only consider and test carefully the matter of hierarchy.

Thanks for your reply. Sorry

nakins's picture

Thanks for your reply. Sorry I didn't respond sooner. I'm still trying to get the basics of groups to function. I seem to be hitting a few bugs before they have been completely addressed.

OG7 video

juan_g's picture

An interesting, in fact entertaining video from DrupalCon Copenhagen, about the new functionality in Organic Groups for Drupal 7:

The new Organic groups - Building social networks in Drupal 7

Organic groups

Group organizers

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