We have been using a smaller version of DrupalEd for our equally small state university program, basically taking out functionality that already exited in current systems and tweaking content types specific to pre-existing portfolio outcomes.
One thing that is missing, however, is pack-and-go functionality. We have a vendor our campus is looking at for a portfolio system (boo!), and that is the only feature they have which we don't have. This would be a great boon for us!
Basically, pack-and-go would give us the option to, when a student graduates (changes role from 'student' to 'alumni') they get a ZIP file of all their uploaded files and nodes. Creating a zip would be frustrating, as this feature currently has no abstraction in Drupal, and there are some platform-dependency issues.
Before I go and re-invent the wheel, has anyone seen a module where you could do this for Drupal?
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We are working on this functionality -- there are really two big questions at this point:
Where is the export going to live? IE, will it be an html archive, an xml file, a csv file? Basically, how will the end user be able to view their content once it has been exported?
How are attached files handled? How are embedded files handled? The export needs to include some mechanism for deciding what files get included in a zip, and what files get referenced via an absolute location. These issues (to the best of my knowledge, anyways) do not currently have a clean solution. This also brings up some questions about what options get hardcoded, what options get included as choices at the admin level, and what choices get exposed to the end user. For example, we have been looking at a design that lets an admin specify filesizes by filetype -- for example, any mp3 over 4MB gets referenced via an absolute location, where any mp3 under 4MB gets included in a zip. This type of functionality would need to have a default filesize limit, and the ability to override the default filesize for specific filename extensions. Ideally, the export would also generate a log file listing out what files were not included in the zip, with a link to the url where they can be retrieved.
For a start, however, the latest release of the Views Bonus Pack Includes doc and csv export.
As an aside, for what the portfolio vendor will likely be charging, you'd probably be able to fund development of the exact featureset you want.
Cheers,
Bill
FunnyMonkey
Tools for Teachers
FunnyMonkey
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We are currently using a modified version of the Views Bonus Pack for our portfolio system to export all content posted as regular nodes (bibliographies, essays, etc.); however, students also upload word docs, mp3s, etc as file attachments. It is these files that we are having trouble with. We use the Upload Path module to give each user a unique directory to store their files in, and I built a view that lets users view all uploaded files and download them individually, but it would be much better if we could package that whole directory as a zip and let the user download it.
Our IT culture here is very much enchanted by the wizardry of ridiculous, platform-dependent, javascript monsters that cost too much and don't actually fit with our curriculum.