[FX.php List] (slightly off-topic) advice needed for intuitiveway to sort categories and items within categories

[Alex Gates]

Hi Dale,

Thanks for the reply...
I've spent some time with Scriptaculous - and this is what the example
in my first email uses...
I suppose what is most confusing is how to take that serialized data and
put it to use in FileMaker - 

>From the example page:
Scriptaculous has a built-in function to 'serialize'
(Sortable.serialize('elementid')) the items in a list. This returns a
string that looks like the arguments for a GET request. It shows
listname[]=1&listname[]=2&listname[]=3 where listname is the name of the
list requested, and the numbers (1,2,3) are the items in the list, in
order. This would mean that the order is item 1, item 2, item 3. If the
result were listname[]=2&listname[]=3&listname[]=1, the final order
would be item 2, item 3, item 1.
# Scriptaculous also has a built-in function to get an array of the
sequence of an item (Sortable.sequence('elementid'))


It shouldn't be that difficult to take that string
listname[]=1&listname[]=2&listname[]=3 (etc.) and put it in a hidden
field and pass it to FileMaker via POST, but the only way that seems
logical to me to "translate" that back to something useful (make it
functional) would possibly be using a script in FileMaker.

On an earlier version, the same individual wrote something that will
take the data and write it to a mysql database- but I don't have any
experience with mysql and would probably fail miserably trying to use
that code as an example to build something that will work similarly with
fx.php and FileMaker.

The drag and drop could always be for "version 2" - but I'm still
lacking a reasonable and intuitive "plan b"


Alex  
 

-----Original Message-----
From: fx.php_list-bounces at mail.iviking.org
[mailto:fx.php_list-bounces at mail.iviking.org] On Behalf Of Dale Bengston
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 10:43 AM
To: FX.php Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FX.php List] (slightly off-topic) advice needed for
intuitiveway to sort categories and items within categories

Hi Alex,

You might want to take a look at Scriptaculous.

http://script.aculo.us/

I have used their drag-and-drop before with FMP, but not to establish  
sort order.

Dale

On Jan 4, 2007, at 10:08 AM, Alex Gates wrote:

> Hi everyone-
>
> I'm creating a system that will allow users to build a cookbook  
> online.
> One of the issues I am struggling with is an intuitive way for the  
> user
> to create the sort order for the recipe categories and the recipes in
> each category.
>
> For example:
>
> Appetizers (category name)
> ----------
> Onion Rings (recipe title)
> BBQ chicken (recipe title)
> Spinach Dip (recipe title)
> Etc.
>
> Main Dishes (category name)
> -----------
> Chicken Pizza (recipe title)
> Spaghetti and Meatballs (recipe title)
> Chicken Marsala (recipe title)
> Etc.
>
>
> I'm assuming an average of 8 categories and somewhere around 40  
> recipes
> per category.
>
> I'd like it to be very easy for the user to create categories, sort  
> the
> order that the categories will be listed in the book, and sort the  
> order
> that the recipes will be listed in each category.
> These "sort numbers" will need to end up in FileMaker -
> So on my categories layout, I will have one record for each category -
> and a "sort order in book" field for the category.
> On the recipes layout, I will have one record for each recipe and a
> "sort order in category" field for the recipe.
>
> The most "user friendly" way would probably be to allow the user to  
> drag
> and drop.
> This page: http://www.gregphoto.net/sortable/advanced/ shows something
> that would be incredibly nice - but I'm not sure how much time it  
> would
> (should) take to become functional with fx.php - (have a peek at the
> source).
>
> I wouldn't have any problem getting the data to display, but nothing
> comes to mind right off the top of my head on how to do a "submit" and
> loop through all these records and change the "sort number."
>
> So - I'd welcome any suggestions from anyone here as to how you'd go
> about accomplishing something like this.  I suppose I could always  
> have
> another form field on the page called "sort order" and have a dropdown
> choice or something, but that doesn't seem nearly as intuitive as  
> simply
> dragging and dropping.
>
> Any ideas/comments/criticism would be greatly appreciated.  In the  
> mean
> time, I will mess around with this drag and drop a little more...
>
> Thanks!
>
> Alex
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fx.php_list-bounces at mail.iviking.org
> [mailto:fx.php_list-bounces at mail.iviking.org] On Behalf Of Gjermund
> Gusland Thorsen
> Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 4:38 AM
> To: adenman at tmea.org; FX.php Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [FX.php List] CSS WYSIWYG Editors
>
> Did anyone here try CSS Edit( http://macrabbit.com/ )??? I think it's
> the best CSS design tool yet.
>
> I also tried Xyle Scope( http://www.culturedcode.com/ ) but I find
> Xyle Scope to be an analyzis tool and not a design tool.
> There is also a pretty nice analyzis addon for FireFox called web
> developer.
>
> ggt667
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>
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