Hi Marios In the project I was referring to we created custom paragraphs containing the forms and used "render models" to handle the data. However there is also the magnolia form module which lets you setup forms "on the fly" by adding arbitrary form fields. You can then write custom from processors to handle the data (the default processors which come with the form module simply mail the data to some mail address).
The form module gives you more flexibility when creating the module. But IMO it is more complicated to adapt to your needs (processors, pre-filled forms...) Check out http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/reference/diagrams/rendering-and-templating.html ("Rendering engine" and "Template map") for an overview of the regular templating mechanism. -will On 23.01.2012, at 09:31, Marios Skounakis wrote: > Hi Will, > > Thanks for your answers. > > If I understand correctly you are saying that it is possible to use Magnolia > almost as-is to implement the various forms? How would I do that? Should I > model each form as a Type and then create a Dialog to edit it? > > If yes, in my scenario I need to create the form instances and have the users > fill them in. How would one go about creating one object of a given type for > each object of a different type (e.g. create one object of type "Professor > Info Sheet" for each object of type "Professor")? > > Thanks in advance > Marios > > On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 22:14, Will Scheidegger <[email protected]> > wrote: > Hi Marios > > I would say Magnolia is very suitable for the task at hand... but then again: > If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail! > > Amongst many other client projects we implemented a "hobby" project [1] which > covers many of the requirements you have described. This web application > manages sailing regattas (a couple of thousand), registrations, members > (roughly 20k) and so on and so on. As with your application different users > need to work with different forms: > - clubs, boat classes or regions can manage regattas > - members can register to participate in regattas > - the association can update member data and accounts > - and shortly there will be a public user registration for additional > functionality > > Some more answers to your questions: > - If you have to work with lots of legacy data and cannot move the data to > Magnolia, have a look at modeShape [2] > - Magnolia authentication and authorization is done via a standard JAAS > module so yes, it's quite a bit of work but you could do the LDAP integration > yourself. However you might consider getting an Enterprise Edition license > and > - save yourself the time to re-invent the wheel > - get supported software > - and it would still be open source! > > > -will > > [1] http://sailing.fastforward.ch/web/sailCal/en/regattas.html > [2] http://www.jboss.org/modeshape > On 22.01.2012, at 20:57, Marios Skounakis wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> I have not had any experience with Magnolia but I have been looking at it >> for a couple of days as a candidate for basing a new system that I have to >> develop. >> >> The system's requirements are as follows: >> >> - The application must model a university at a basic level - schools, >> departments, courses, programmes, teaching staff, students. >> - The goal of the application is that the content managers must be able to >> create forms for gathering data about courses, professors, departments, etc. >> They need to be able to change these forms by adding or removing fields. >> Examples of forms >> - a professor information sheet that contains info such as publications, >> research, other activities, etc) (one such form to be completed per >> professor) >> - a course evaluation form to be filled in by students (one such for per >> course and student) >> - a programme statistics form with statistics such as the number of >> graduates, average tuition duration, etc (one such per programme). >> - Users must be able to log on to the system and fill in the forms for which >> they are responsible (e.g. a professor to fill in his information sheet, a >> student to fill in evaluations for his courses, a secretary to fill in the >> programme statistics sheet). >> >> I was originally planning to implement this application with the Spring >> Framework and a MySQL database. The data would be stored in a typical >> relational model, except for the form data which would follow a variation of >> the Entity-Attribute-Value model. >> >> Then we decided that it would be useful to have some simple CMS >> functionality such as the ability to create pages with static html content, >> manage news, have a simple FAQ section, maybe a feedback form, maybe forums. >> >> So we started wondering whether it may be better to use a CMS as the basis >> of the application and extend it with the university data modeling and our >> forms functionality. >> >> It seems to me that Magnolia is suitable for this system. I am thinking that >> I can get the basic CMS and user functionality from Magnolia and then find a >> way to integrate into Magnolia the part that handles the forms (perhaps by >> implementing a module or by using Blossom or some other way). >> >> So I would like to ask the list if Magnolia can be easily used for this kind >> of task, or if, for someone not familiar with Magnolia, will it be very hard >> to master it and integrate it with a custom application? >> >> I also have some more questions: >> - Would it be possible to use the JCR to store the university data? Normally >> I'd use a standard relational model for these. Are there efficient >> mechanisms for updating and querying the JCR? A lot of the university data >> will be migrated from other systems - is this easy to do with the JCR? Is it >> possible to use Magnolia to provide a basic interface for managing this data >> using the dialog functionality? >> - If not, is it possible to use MySQL for Magnolia's data and add some SQL >> tables to the same database to handle the university data? >> - For storing the form data I was originally planning to use a variation of >> the Entity-Attribute-Value model. Can this be handled by the JCR or is it >> better to use a SQL table? >> - There is a requirement that all components used must be GPLv3. This >> excludes the LDAP module which is proprietary. Will it be very hard to >> implement LDAP integration from scratch? >> >> Assuming that the part of the system where users fill in the forms can be a >> separate page and not part of a page, what would be the easiest/most clean >> way to implement it? >> >> Thank you very much in advance. >> Marios Skounakis >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------- >> For list details, see >> http://www.magnolia-cms.com/community/mailing-lists.html >> Alternatively, use our forums: http://forum.magnolia-cms.com/ >> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[email protected]> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > For list details, see http://www.magnolia-cms.com/community/mailing-lists.html > Alternatively, use our forums: http://forum.magnolia-cms.com/ > To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[email protected]> > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > For list details, see http://www.magnolia-cms.com/community/mailing-lists.html > Alternatively, use our forums: http://forum.magnolia-cms.com/ > To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[email protected]> > ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- For list details, see http://www.magnolia-cms.com/community/mailing-lists.html Alternatively, use our forums: http://forum.magnolia-cms.com/ To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[email protected]> ----------------------------------------------------------------
