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Installing COD experience and current wish-list

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group: Conference Organizing Distribution
jaaronfarr - Fri, 2007-10-12 03:05

First off, I want to thank zacker and the other Chapter Three guys for the work they've done on this.

I wanted to first share how I've gotten the site up and running so far, the list some issues I've had, followed by a wish-list of features I'm looking for.

Installation Steps

I'm running drupal 5.2 and I just upgraded my php install to 5.2.4. I followed the install instructions with the following exceptions:

  • Version 5.x-4.0-RCx of OG was giving me a problem. I had to use release og-5.x-3.1.tar. The error message was something about the _rehash_block() function.
  • I had to install the token-5.x-1.8 module under the root modules. Otherwise pathauto kept reporting an error.
  • I had to reconfigure and reinstall php with the --enable-bcmath flag set.
  • I didn't have Apache setup for pretty urls at first, but the COD profile defaults to pretty urls. This lead to broken links after installation until I configured Apache.
  • I am using the CVS version of the COD module, theme and profile.

Bugs

Once i got the site installed, everything has worked except for the conference schedule as was reported earlier.

Wish List

Some features I would need to be able to put this site into production:

  • Sponsors. I'd need a menu item for each conference for sponsors as well as a block that would list current sponsors. This is the most important feature missing.
  • Speakers. Currently a session presenter is just an arbitrary string. I'd need sessions to be linked to actual users and bios. I'd also need the option of more than one speaker per session.
  • Registration Process. The registration process needs to be more flexible. For example, some of the conference we run, we use an external third party to process all registration and handle credit cards. I was thinking I could adjust the web form to include a link and a field for the third party confirmation number. In any case, I can imagine this will be the area of the distribution that will regularly need to be modified by installers.
  • Localization. In a perfect world, I could have the same conference presented in more than one language.
  • Per-Conference Blog. I'd be nice to have a per-conference blog and a site-wide aggregate.

I'm new to drupal (this is my first time evaluating it), so I'm sure that some of these things are not too difficult. I imagine we could use the CCK and Views modules to do the Sponsors (just as we have the sessions set up). I've already looked into modifying the session definition to include speakers as users, so this looks possible too. In fact, I'm sure it's all possible. I just need to read up on the documentation for how.

My Situation

I'm the current victim developing and maintaining the ApacheCon websites. Right now we're using a Rails based site, but it needs a lot of work. I'd like to have a new website up and running for our 2008 conferences. At this point, I'm either going to recommend adopting COD or recommend putting the effort into the Rails code to finish it. I'm new to Drupal but I'm willing to help out if I can. I'd appreciate any thoughts Zacker or one of the other developers could share about the feasibility of my wish-list and a roadmap (with dates) of the current project. I know dates are difficult. If we choose to adopt COD, then I'll be helping out as much as I can. The biggest obstacle I have at the moment is the schedule bug. If that can be fixed, then I can finish my evaluation and show it off to the conference team.

Thanks!

J Aaron Farr
farra [at] apache [dot] org

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Greetings!

zacker's picture
zacker - Mon, 2007-10-15 07:42

J Aaron, thanks for this detailed post. It's exciting to hear Apache is considering adopting Drupal + COD.

Bug Reports

Version 5.x-4.0-RCx of OG was giving me a problem. I had to use release og-5.x-3.1.tar. The error message was something about the _rehash_block() function.

Yeah. In generally we highly recommend using the stable released version of modules. We will put a note in our README to this effect.

http://drupal.org/node/182226

I had to install the token-5.x-1.8 module under the root modules. Otherwise pathauto kept reporting an error.

The new version of path auto requires token module. We will update the install profile to handle this dependency.

http://drupal.org/node/183528

I had to reconfigure and reinstall php with the --enable-bcmath flag set.

Hmm... You don't happened to remember which module was requiring this?

I didn't have Apache setup for pretty urls at first, but the COD profile defaults to pretty urls. This lead to broken links after installation until I configured Apache.

Ack. Yes, we will remove this as a default setting.

http://drupal.org/node/183527

I am using the CVS version of the COD module, theme and profile.

Yeah, we will be committing to the dev / released branch in the next few weeks.

Feature Requests

Sponsors. I'd need a menu item for each conference for sponsors as well as a block that would list current sponsors. This is the most important feature missing.

This should be pretty straightforward to add. Ideally this would be something configured in the conference setting page, which would mean:

  • making a field in the webform node for the sponsor page content
  • making a field in the webform node for sponsor block content
  • putting the settings for these pages in a new tab under the 'conference settings'
  • adding a menu link to the sponsors section in the conference menu
  • adding a block to to display on conferences pages for sponsor info

This is something we talked about doing ourselves, but was not a hard requirement for NASA Colab so it didn't make it into the final spec. Chapter Three probably will not have time to work on this in the near future but we'd be happy to support you if you want to make these changes.

Speakers. Currently a session presenter is just an arbitrary string. I'd need sessions to be linked to actual users and bios. I'd also need the option of more than one speaker per session.

This would be a really easy change -- just switch the presenter field to be a CCK user reference field from a plain text field.

Registration Process. The registration process needs to be more flexible. For example, some of the conference we run, we use an external third party to process all registration and handle credit cards. I was thinking I could adjust the web form to include a link and a field for the third party confirmation number. In any case, I can imagine this will be the area of the distribution that will regularly need to be modified by installers.

The registration process will be a bit tricky to change as is. I agree with you that this is something that a lot of organizations will want to change. Honestly it needs some serious re-working to support this.

But If you want to just add a key kod to the site registration that would be pretty straight forward...

Localization. In a perfect world, I could have the same conference presented in more than one language.

Drupal has very good support for internationalization and I think we've done a good job supporting string transltions w/ the cod module so this should be possible.

Per-Conference Blog. I'd be nice to have a per-conference blog and a site-wide aggregate.

This would also be pretty easy to do.

  • Set up blog content types and add them to Conference groups
  • Set up a configuration option on conference settings for 'Conference Blogs'
  • Create a view lisitng for conference blogs
  • Add link to top conference menu to the conference blog
  • Add a link to the right side conference meny to 'post conference blog entry'

Hope this was helpful!


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Call-time pass-by-reference

xguy2k - Tue, 2007-10-23 17:46

I m getting this error!! could get thru.. very sorry..

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of runtime function name. If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 182

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of runtime function name. If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 226

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of runtime function name. If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 587

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of runtime function name. If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 796

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of runtime function name. If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 1911

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of runtime function name. If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 2004

Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated; If you would like to pass it by reference, modify the declaration of views_build_view(). If you would like to enable call-time pass-by-reference, you can set allow_call_time_pass_reference to true in your INI file. in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/themes/cod_organizing/template.php on line 308

Fatal error: Call to undefined function nasa_custom_toggle() in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 1711

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got another error! Fatal

xguy2k - Tue, 2007-10-23 18:30

got another error!

Fatal error: Call to undefined function nasa_custom_toggle() in /home/.hellweasel/actioni/pwdva.actionindiaworld.org/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 1711

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Shoot me now.

drupalsnake - Wed, 2007-11-21 20:09

@jaaronfarr :

Hey, first of course, thanks for the info!

I have a question about your workaround:

I had to install the token-5.x-1.8 module under the root modules. Otherwise pathauto kept reporting an error.

(FYI, I'm on a shared host with not command line so there's no short way to try this install over and over again).

I have tried the following path variations as per my perception of what worked for you! Any ideas?

public_html/modules/pathauto/
public_html/profiles/cod/modules/token/

Yields:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: token_get_values() in /home/jimmy/public_html/modules/pathauto/pathauto.inc on line 354

#############

public_html/profiles/cod/modules/pathauto/
public_html/profiles/cod/modules/token/

Yields:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: token_get_values() in

/home/jimmy/public_html/profiles/cod/modules/pathauto/pathauto.inc on line 354

##############

public_html/profiles/cod/modules/pathauto/
public_html/modules/token/

Yields:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: token_get_values() in

/home/jimmy/public_html/profiles/cod/modules/pathauto/pathauto.inc on line 354

##############

public_html/modules/pathauto/
public_html/modules/token/

Yields:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: token_get_values() in /home/jimmy/public_html/modules/pathauto/pathauto.inc on line 354

around the line 354 area, pathauto.inc contains:

353  function pathauto_get_placeholders($type, $object) {
354    $full = token_get_values($type, $object, TRUE);
355    $tokens = token_prepare_tokens($full->tokens);
356    $values = pathauto_clean_token_values($full);
 
357    return array('tokens' => $tokens, 'values' => $values);
358  }

Drupal 5.3, token-5.x-1.8.tar, pathauto-5.x-2.0, conference_organizing-5.x-1.x-dev, PHP4.4.4, MySQL 4.1.22, empty db before each install.

What am I missing folks? Thanks.

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after install, 500 error

bwv's picture
bwv - Thu, 2007-12-06 18:21

Final follow up (at least for now):

I commented out line 1711, and now the conference displays correctly.

============================================================
Follow up redux:

Apologies for all these notes, but I appear to have made progress. The site now works, I am getting no error messages except when trying to create a conference.

Fatal error: Call to undefined function nasa_custom_toggle() in /xxx/xx/xxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxx/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 1711

Also, why is it that when I go to site building/modules, I only see the drupal core modules listed, and not those that I put into the profiles/cod/modules directory? Thanks again, david

==================================================
Follow up to note below:

I edited the .htaccess file from this:

# Modify the RewriteBase if you are using Drupal in a subdirectory and
  # the rewrite rules are not working properly.
# RewriteBase /drupal 

to this:

# Modify the RewriteBase if you are using Drupal in a subdirectory and
  # the rewrite rules are not working properly.
  RewriteBase / 

I am still defaulted to node/add/webform, and am presented with a form to fill out to submit a conference. When I do so, I get the following error message:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function nasa_custom_toggle() in /homepages/xx/xxxxxxxx/xxxxx/xxxxx/profiles/cod/modules/conference_organizing/conference_organizing.module on line 1711

Thanks.

============================
Hi, thanks for developing this incredible script. I installed the package, using all the correct modules and advice apropos of the first post above, but activating drupal 5.4, vice 5.3.

Conference profile selected, installation messages were perfect, all db tables set up ok. When I click to go to my new site, I am directed here:

http://www.mysite.com/node/add/webform

The screen displays a 500 error.

When I type into the URL address bar http://www.mysite.com and press enter, the screen returns me right back to http://www.mysite.com/node/add/webform, with another 500 error.

I am on a shared webhost, using php5 and mysql5.

Any clues to or insights about this problem would be greatly appreciated. regards, david

PS: I tried a clean installation in a subdirectory of an existing site, and was again defaulted to node/add/webform, i.e., http://www.mysite.com/subdirectory/node/add/webform

PPS: Here is the pre-login screen:

Conference Organizing installation complete

    * Installing location
    * Location module installed tables successfully. If you would also like a database of zip codes, please manually import the appropriate zipcode.XX.YYYY file(s) in the profiles/cod/modules/location/database directory.
    * Organic groups module enabled. Please see the included readme.txt file for further installation instructions.
    * Chat Room is ready to go.
    * Installing webform
    * Webform module installed module tables successfully.
    * Installing views
    * Views module installed tables successfully.
    * All necessary changes to ./sites/default/settings.php have been made. It has been set to read-only for security.
    * The content fields table content_type_bio has been created.
    * The content fields table content_type_chatroom has been created.
    * The content fields table content_type_webform has been created.
    * The content fields table content_type_discussion has been created.
    * The content fields table content_type_link has been created.
    * The content fields table content_type_notes has been created.
    * The content fields table content_type_page has been created.
    * The content fields table content_type_session has been created.
    * Created field Accommodations.
    * Saved field Accommodations.
    * Created field Allow session proposals.
    * Saved field Allow session proposals.
    * Created field Allow session signups.
    * Saved field Allow session signups.
    * Created field Allow users to chat.
    * Saved field Allow users to chat.
    * Created field Logo.
    * Saved field Logo.
    * Created field Start.
    * Saved field Start.
    * Created field End.
    * Saved field End.
    * Created field First Name.
    * Saved field First Name.
    * Created field Last Name.
    * Saved field Last Name.
    * Created field Title.
    * Saved field Title.
    * Created field Organization.
    * Saved field Organization.
    * Created field Related Session.
    * Saved field Related Session.
    * Created field Link.
    * Saved field Link.
    * Added field Related Session.
    * Saved field Related Session.
    * Created field Track.
    * Saved field Track.
    * Created field Location.
    * Saved field Location.
    * Created field Presenter.
    * Saved field Presenter.
    * Created field Scheduled.
    * Saved field Scheduled.
    * Created field Attending.
    * Saved field Attending.
    * Created field Session start time.
    * Saved field Session start time.
    * Created field Session end time.
    * Saved field Session end time.
    * Created field Front Page.
    * Saved field Front Page.
    * Created field Weight.
    * Saved field Weight.
    * Created field Notes Node.
    * Saved field Notes Node.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * View successfully added.
    * The directory /tmp/drupal.chatroom.SESS5aec053457b7df3459be0b6377dfd9cd has been created.

Congratulations, Conference Organizing has been successfully installed.

Please review the messages above before continuing on to your new site.


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Installing COD experience

producerman1 - Sun, 2008-01-20 11:00

Hey jaaronfarr,

Could you elaborate on what you did a bit more in depth? I am trying to run the DRUPAL 5.6 version COD install on a Mac MD Dual 1.25 machine with absolutely no results except WSOD. Immediately after MySql database selection WSOD, then refresh "already installed, access denied, reset update blablabla, over and over and over again. Standard installs work great.

Installation Steps

I'm running drupal 5.2 and I just upgraded my php install to 5.2.4. I followed the install instructions with the following exceptions:

* Version 5.x-4.0-RCx of OG was giving me a problem. I had to use release og-5.x-3.1.tar. The error message was something about the _rehash_block() function.
* I had to install the token-5.x-1.8 module under the root modules. Otherwise pathauto kept reporting an error.

ESPECIALLY THE FOLLOWING. WHICH PHP file and where is this setting located?????
* I had to reconfigure and reinstall php with the --enable-bcmath flag set.

AND THIS ONE WOULD BE NICE IF EXPLAINED.
* I didn't have Apache setup for pretty urls at first, but the COD profile defaults to pretty urls. This lead to broken links after installation until I configured Apache.
* I am using the CVS version of the COD module, theme and profile.

I am having a NIGHTMARE OF A TIME trying to get this thing to work.

PLEASE HELP!!!!

Thanks,

PM1

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Solution to blank page | file does not exist | ... after install

dirk - Thu, 2008-05-01 06:09

For all those people who have trouble after their intial setup of this package: YOU NEED TO HAVE CLEAN-URLS WORKING.

E.g., on Mac OS X this is not working by default.

How do you know this is your problem? If after installation you enter the URL of your site {url} and you get redirected to {url/node/add/webform} and then nothing happens. However if you would enter {url?q=node/add/webform} then you are presented with the setup page for a conference.

A quick solution is to turn off clean urls. You can do that by navigating by hand to the configuration settings of your drupal which is {url?q=admin/settings/clean-urls}. It might be that you first have to login, you can do that by hand as {url?q=user/login}.

Hope this helps.

(It seems to me that this package is a bit immature to be used in the real world currently. I also replaced line 1711 of profiles/cod/conference_organizing to $mission = /* $show_mission ? nasa_custom_toggle(check_markup($group->og_description), check_markup($group->body)) :  */ '';, i.e., setting $mission to the empty string always because nasa_custom_toggle is nowhere to be found. I also got some incorrect SQL showing up...)

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