Question regarding skins and languages

Tutt Alan -- on Jul. 29 2006

In looking through the code, I see some of these are hard-coded. How does this work with multi-lingual sites and new skins? Also, how does the auto-update feature work with customized sites?

Hi, I just discovered YACS yesterday and the demo has blown me away! Wizards for posting articles and creating forums - I've never seen that before in a CMS!

I'm also impressed by the apparent flexibility of where discussions can take place on a site. It seems that anywhere there is an article, there can be a snippet of a discussion forum related to that article. This is wonderful and much better than any 'blog'.

However, before I jump in and commit my site to this software, I took some time to look over the code to see how well designed it is and how easy it will be to customize.

Customization brings up one question, especially with the auto-update feature. If I customize anything, am I force to then manually update the software from that point on?

And since there are several language variables defined within the code, it seems that changing even one of them will change the MD5 hash and trigger the update process, thereby destroying the modifications.

What would be great would be if the software had many different 'hooks' where custom code files referrenced in the database could be included. This is something that is done in LDU and Seditio (http://www.neocrome.net) and seems to work great. This way, customizations could be added without changing the MD5 hash of the main files.

Also, if language variables were defined in separate files, then they could be ignored during the upgrade process and customizations maintained.

The other questions I want to know about regards the hard-coding of specific templates (layouts) in the main index file (around lines 578 to 608). How does a new skin or layout get included without modifying the code? Again, this is a concern about the auto-update feature.

Comments

Manufrom Caribbean 2970 posts	on Jul. 29 2006 Hello and welcome in the Yacs world. The multi-lingual is still hard-coded for only english and french. We a re working to make a full multi-langage system with external files. This feature should be ready for the end of this year. For the auto-upgrade, it works on all known files and directories. That's why we recommand to make derivated skins otherwise your personilized skin would be recovered. You have to take a look at the original updated skin you choose to adapt your own skin. You can extend functions that are in skins/skin_skeleton.php into skins/your_skin/skin.php to personilize functions of your skin. Thanks for your reports.
L Gregory 43 posts	on Jul. 29 2006 Hello, Alan, and welcome to YACS. You are not forced to do the updates with the automatic update, it is just easier. BTW, if I remember well, you can choose the files that have to be updated and the engine clearly show what will be changed. But someone with more experience than me about updates will surely give you more informations about that. One thing is sure, always try the updates locally before doing the updates on your website. Regards. EDIT: Gnapz was faster than me
Tutt Alan 2 posts	inspired from GnapZ on Jul. 29 2006 GnapZ: Thanks. Knowing that the languages are being pulled out is great news. I guess I may still be new to PHP coding and CMSs in general. It sounds like you're saying that the only customizations that would make any sense would be with the skins and not in the core files themselves. I thought that there might come a time where I might want something in the core files modified. About creating derivative skins - how does that work with the hard-coded layout choices in the code? GregL: If the update process shows me what is changing and gives me the option to skip a file or two, then that would solve the potential problem. After all, every other CMS I've looked at forces manual updates anyways, so nothing is really lost.
Bernard Paquesfrom nearby-an-airport Associate, 8405 posts	on Jul. 31 2006 AlanT: In addition to GnapZ and GregL contributions, you have to know that YACS already has some hooks for extension. Each hook is referenced by some id, and YACS is able to trigger related external scripts where applicable. During installation YACS looks at every PHP script to look for such hooks. Check the script control/scan.php for more information on underlying mechanisms. If you need some hook somewhere, do not hesitate to submit you request, and we will change core scripts accordingly. YACS already has the basic capability, we were just waiting for bright guys with good ideas to make it more useful... Thank you for your interest in YACS.