Let authors edit their own unpublished articles on front end
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:44 pm
PROBLEM: An author who creates an article on the front end is not able to edit the article after they press the save button. There are several reasons that this is a significant problem:
1. It is currently impossible for an author to fix a mistake or improve their article on the front end before it is approved for publication (once it has been saved the first time).
2. The front end article editor only has a 'Save' button. Since the author cannot edit the file after pressing the save button, that means that the author can never edit the article after it has been saved. Therefore the author can never edit an article when it has a valid ArticleID.
This is a significant limitation for article editor extensions (such as editor-xtd plugins) that need access to the article IDs. The implication here is that editor-xtd plugins can only insert into the content directly (eg for Readme markers), and cannot do anything with an article that needs an article ID. For instance, extensions that deal with items related to articles such as attachments, links, contacts, etc, are not currently supported (for front end authors) since they need to link back to the article using the article ID.
POSSIBLE FIXES:
A. Add an "Apply" button in the front end article editor that saves the article but leaves the author editing the article (which would then be saved and have an article ID). This fix requires updating the front-end editing form and providing suitable mechanisms to go back to editing the article.
B. Show unpublished articles for their authors in the front-end with appropriate colorizing. This capability already exists for administrators. It would only need to be extended to authors for their own articles. Note that this has the added advantage that the author can edit the article as many times as needed. This addresses both problems above. Fix A would still prevent the author from editing their own article after it has been saved once and the author leaves the article editor. This fix should be simple and only require a few lines of code. The ability to edit articles from the front end already exists since admin/editors can currently do that.
NOTE: Having both solutions A and B together would be best and provide the most flexibility to front-end authors.
IMPACT ON ADMIN:
* None of the items directly affect the back end
IMPACT ON USERS:
* Normal (non-author) users will see no changes.
* For front-end authors, the main impact will be that the front-end article editor will show an extra [Apply] button and their unpublished articles will be shown (with special highlighting). There would be no significant operational changes.
ISSUES:
* An issue that should be considered is whether users should be allowed to edit their own articles after they have been published. This is primarily a policy question and may be different from site to site so it might be worth considering some mechanism to enable enforcing the policy.
-Jonathan
1. It is currently impossible for an author to fix a mistake or improve their article on the front end before it is approved for publication (once it has been saved the first time).
2. The front end article editor only has a 'Save' button. Since the author cannot edit the file after pressing the save button, that means that the author can never edit the article after it has been saved. Therefore the author can never edit an article when it has a valid ArticleID.
This is a significant limitation for article editor extensions (such as editor-xtd plugins) that need access to the article IDs. The implication here is that editor-xtd plugins can only insert into the content directly (eg for Readme markers), and cannot do anything with an article that needs an article ID. For instance, extensions that deal with items related to articles such as attachments, links, contacts, etc, are not currently supported (for front end authors) since they need to link back to the article using the article ID.
POSSIBLE FIXES:
A. Add an "Apply" button in the front end article editor that saves the article but leaves the author editing the article (which would then be saved and have an article ID). This fix requires updating the front-end editing form and providing suitable mechanisms to go back to editing the article.
B. Show unpublished articles for their authors in the front-end with appropriate colorizing. This capability already exists for administrators. It would only need to be extended to authors for their own articles. Note that this has the added advantage that the author can edit the article as many times as needed. This addresses both problems above. Fix A would still prevent the author from editing their own article after it has been saved once and the author leaves the article editor. This fix should be simple and only require a few lines of code. The ability to edit articles from the front end already exists since admin/editors can currently do that.
NOTE: Having both solutions A and B together would be best and provide the most flexibility to front-end authors.
IMPACT ON ADMIN:
* None of the items directly affect the back end
IMPACT ON USERS:
* Normal (non-author) users will see no changes.
* For front-end authors, the main impact will be that the front-end article editor will show an extra [Apply] button and their unpublished articles will be shown (with special highlighting). There would be no significant operational changes.
ISSUES:
* An issue that should be considered is whether users should be allowed to edit their own articles after they have been published. This is primarily a policy question and may be different from site to site so it might be worth considering some mechanism to enable enforcing the policy.
-Jonathan