Classcaster

Fixed It! Re: Help with submissionForm plugin (was Re: Adding a submission form to your blog)

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 09:21:38 -0500

by Paul Ohm

It's probably bad form to post three times in one morning, but I'm hoping others can learn from my problems.

I fixed the overlapping submission fields problem at my classcaster blog by playing around with the template files. It seems (and I may have some of these details wrong) that the submissionForm php function pulls in the header.template and footer.template files from the template, but it neglects the main.template. This is probably so the two sidebars don't show during submission.

Well, my particular template needed a "<div id='content'>" at the start of the main body content to make all the CSS goodness render properly. Without that, it shoved everything to the top of the page.

My solution? I moved the offending <div> tag from main.template to header.template. It seems to have worked.

Never Mind! (Was Re: Help with submissionForm plugin (was Re: Adding a submission form to your blog)

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 07:49:48 -0500

by Paul Ohm

I should've read your original reply more carefully. The problem was the omitted "/" at the start of the submission link. Fixing that cured what ailed me.

Of course, it's slightly strange that Safari _would_ show the form occasionally.

Thanks again for your help, Elmer. Now, it's off to mess with the templates to see if I can use this look-and-feel with the forms.

Re: Help with submissionForm plugin (was Re: Adding a submission form to your blog)

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 07:39:17 -0500

by Paul Ohm

Elmer,

Thanks for the quick response! It took me two weeks to think to check back in the forum.

I'm still having problems with the second problem I listed in my original question:

"Second, for whatever reason, sometimes I can't get the submissionForm to load. This seems to occur whenever I switch to the form and then use the "back" button to go back to my blog without submitting something. The next time I click the "Submit" link, it just reloads the main blog. It may also be a OS or browser-specific incompatibility (I'm using Mac OS X with Firefox and Safari)."

It still seems to be the case that sometimes I get in a state where I just can't get the form to reload. Clicking "Submit an Article" just returns me to my main classcaster blog, even the URL correctly reflects the /index.php?op=submissionForm subpath. Not only does this occur when I hit the "back" button, it also seems to happen when I surf away from the form to another site. It's as if some state condition is getting flagged and then never reset.

Any ideas?

Classcaster Gets a New Server

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:54:42 -0500

by Elmer Masters

Classcaster is getting a new server. The new server will give Classcaster a more responsive website and a lot more storage space. I will be bringing the new server online Saturday, August 26, 2006. To accomplish this the Classcaster service will be unavailable from 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM on Saturday August 26, 2006 while the hardware switch is made. The switch to the new server will not have any effect on how you or your readers access Classcaster.

Re: Some Question Re: Getting Started for the New Semester

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:20:53 -0500

by Elmer Masters

I removed you from the CALICOn06 blog.

Details on removing categories are here. You will need to reassign all of the deleted articles to a different category. I'd recommend that you create a deleted category and then clear the 'Show in Front Page' check box so the category is not listed on the blog.

Re: Some Question Re: Getting Started for the New Semester

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:21:05 -0500

by Debra Cohen

Thanks,

With respect to CALIConf06 - I would prefer NOT to have to ignore it -- it takes up half the screen and is distracting. If I can't remove it, can I at least hide it?

I managed to delete some folders. I had to delete the contents before it would allow me to delete the folders. I still don't seem to be able to delete categories, but am still trying.

Re: Help with submissionForm plugin (was Re: Adding a submission form to your blog)

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 08:43:40 -0500

by Elmer Masters

Paul, what a neat bug The form fields are there, but hidden behind the banner. It is a bug in the template set. The quickest resolution is to change templates to one that works. For example the 'Standard' templates work fine. You may need to do a bit of trial and error to find one you like that works.
Longer term, I'll try to hunt down the bug in the template, but that will take some time.
Also, I found an error in the FAQ that breaks the link you created for the form. The correct format for the URL to enter on the links page is '/index.php?op=submissionForm' (ignore the quotes). The initial '/' was missing and that caused the URL that was created to be broken. Adding the '/' to the link will open the form. I've corrected the FAQ.

Elmer

Some Question Re: Getting Started for the New Semester

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 08:22:35 -0500

by Elmer Masters

CALICon06 is the 2006 Conference blog. All speakers are authors on the blog. You can just ignore it.

One of the things about Classcaster is that post are never really deleted, just hidden. When you mark posts as deleted, they are held in the database but not displayed publicly. If you delete media files, including MP3 podcasts, they are removed from the system. I'm not sure where your error is cropping up at. Are you deleting posts, files, categories, or folders? (or all 4?)

You can find details on subscribing and downloading podcasts in the FAQs. Here is info on subscribing to a Classcaster blog in iTunes and downloading podcasts and other media files. You can also add your Clascaster blog to the iTunes Music Store.

Re: Help! How do I...

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 07:24:55 -0500

by Debra Cohen

Please help --

A few things --

How do I remove CALIConf06 from my dashboard?

How do I delete files from last semester that I'm no longer using (when I try to delete it tells me it is being used by articles but I don't know how or where it is being used)

How do students subscribe to the blog so that it automatically downloads. This semester i want to include the instructions in my course memo (which I left until the last minute and have to put out today...)

Many thanks.

Help with submissionForm plugin (was Re: Adding a submission form to your blog)

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:53:22 -0500

by Paul Ohm

Elmer and everyone else,

I tried setting up the submissionForm plugin using the instructions here but I'm having some problems:

First, my submission form only displays three fields: one for the title of the post, one for the body, and one for the category. Here is my form. I think this is an incompatibility with the template I am using (dots) because when I "view source" I see the other two fields (name and e-mail address) but they're not rendering on my screen. Do I need to switch templates?

Second, for whatever reason, sometimes I can't get the submissionForm to load. This seems to occur whenever I switch to the form and then use the "back" button to go back to my blog without submitting something. The next time I click the "Submit" link, it just reloads the main blog. It may also be a OS or browser-specific incompatibility (I'm using Mac OS X with Firefox and Safari).

Thanks for any help. I'm very impressed with classcaster.

Paul Ohm
Associate Prof.
University of Colorado School of Law