count to 10 and say yes
DESCRIPTION
Originally presented at Engine Summit - The online ExpressionEngine Summit June, 7thth 2011TRANSCRIPT
Count to 10 and Say Yes
JOHN HENRY DONOVANEngine Summit 7th June 2011
IntroductionWe have all been there. A client emails and makes an unreasonable
feature request. Our first response after the explosion of expletives
would be to say no. But let's count to 10 and rescue the situation.
Lateral thinking• For me personally, lateral thinking plays a big part when designing architecture for a clients web application/site
• It's problem solving at it's lowest common denominator
• In ExpressionEngine these problems present themselves all the time. I call it problem solving but it is really solution finding
• Lateral thinking comes into play the more you become aware of the flexibility that EE has to offer. Your solution depends on the tools and knowledge you have at hand. It's about taking something you know and applying or seeing it in a different way.
• Lets examine one of the most common over thought items in EE
{if news_image == "black"}
<img src="/images/black-image.jpg" />
{if:elseif news_image == "red"}
<img src="/images/red-image.jpg" />
{if:elseif news_image == "yellow"}
<img src="/images/yellow-image.jpg" />
{if:elseif news_image == "green"}
<img src="/images/green-image.jpg" />
{if:elseif news_image == "blue"}
<img src="/images/blue-image.jpg" />
{if:else}
<img src="/images/pink-image.jpg" />
{/if}
<img src="/images/{news_image}-image.jpg" />
The Member Export Tool"We want to be able to export our members into Excel. Looking at
them in EE is all well and good but I want the data available to our
non-webeditors also. We have an a piece of software here in the
office that we want to import our members into"
The Member Export ToolIMMEDIATE THOUGHTS
• I just built you a whole website in ExpressionEngine, why do you
need to do this??
• There must be an add-on that does what they want
• Punt the cat down the stairs
The Member Export ToolLETS THINK ABOUT THIS
• What are the exact reasons behind the client wanting this
• There must be a gap in the workflow I created for them
• It is something out of scope so lets do our best to make his flawless
• Lets cover all angles
• Lets turn this into a project that we can charge a client for and be
happy with the outcome
The Member Export ToolSPEC
• Export as a downloadable CSV file
• Choose today's date
• Choose a specific date
• Choose a date range
• Make it all template based
• Protect it from the public
http://www.mydomain.com/member-export/index
<!DOCTYPE HTML><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Member Data Custom Export Tool</title> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.13/jquery-ui.min.js"></script> <script src="/global/js/daterangepicker.jQuery.js"></script> <link href="/global/css/ui.daterangepicker.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /> <link href="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.13/themes/redmond/jquery-ui.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /> <!-- demo-related styles --> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="{stylesheet=_includes/style}" /> <script type="text/javascript"> $(function(){ $('input#range').daterangepicker( { text: 'My Range', dateStart: '2010-01-01', dateEnd: 'Today', dateFormat:'yy-mm-dd', rangeSplitter:'/', onClose: function(){ var actionDate="/member-export/exporter/"+$("input#range").val(); $("#export-tool").attr("action",actionDate); } } ); }); </script> </head>
/member-export/index
<body> {if logged_out} <h1>Bugger off!</h1> <p>You must be a site administrator to view this page.</p> {if:else} <h1>Member Data Custom Export Tool</h1> <form action="" id="export-tool"> <input type="text" value="Choose dates" id="range" /> <input class="submit" type="submit" value="Download"/> </form> {/if} </body></html>
/member-export/index (continued)
The Member Export Tool
member-export
exporter
today specific date date range
member-export.csv
{if segment_3 == "" AND segment_4 == ""} <h1>Bugger off!</h1> <p>You must be a site administrator to view this page.</p> {/if} <!-- Check for todays date and show correct embed --> {if segment_3 == "{current_time format='%Y-%m-%d'}" AND segment_4 == ""} {embed="member-export/today" date1="{current_time format='Y-%m-%d'}"} {/if} <!-- Check for a specific date and show correct embed --> {if segment_3 != "{current_time format='Y-%m-%d'}" AND segment_4 == "" AND segment_3 != ""} {embed="member-export/specific-date" date1="{segment_3}"} {/if} <!-- Check for a date range and show correct embed --> {if segment_3 != "" && segment_4 != ""} {embed="member-export/date-range" date1="{segment_3}" date2="{segment_4}"} {/if}
/member-export/exporter
The Member Export Tool
member-export
exporter
today specific date date range
member-export.csv
{exp:ajw_exportsql="SELECT m.member_idAS'WebsiteMemberId', date_format(from_unixtime(join_date),'%d/%m/%Y')AS'JoinDate', m.usernameAS'Username', m.emailAS'Email', m.urlAS'URL', m_field_id_1AS'SubscribedtoNewsletter' FROMexp_membersASmLEFTJOINexp_member_dataASdONd.member_id=m.member_id WHEREdate_format(from_unixtime(join_date),'%d-%m-%Y')='{embed:date1}' ORDERBYm.member_idDESC" format="csv"filename="member-export.csv" }
/member-export/today
{exp:ajw_exportsql="SELECT m.member_idAS'WebsiteMemberId', date_format(from_unixtime(join_date),'%d/%m/%Y')AS'JoinDate', m.usernameAS'Username', m.emailAS'Email', m.urlAS'URL', m_field_id_1AS'SubscribedtoNewsletter' FROMexp_membersASmLEFTJOINexp_member_dataASdONd.member_id=m.member_id WHEREdate_format(from_unixtime(join_date),'%d-%m-%Y')='{embed:date1}' ORDERBYm.member_idDESC" format="csv"filename="member-export.csv" }
/member-export/specific-date
/member-export/date-range
{exp:ajw_exportsql="SELECT m.member_idAS'WebsiteMemberId', date_format(from_unixtime(join_date),'%d/%m/%Y')AS'JoinDate', m.usernameAS'Username', m.emailAS'Email', m.urlAS'URL', m_field_id_1AS'SubscribedtoNewsletter' FROMexp_membersASmLEFTJOINexp_member_dataASdONd.member_id=m.member_id WHEREdate_format(from_unixtime(join_date),'%Y-%m-%d')BETWEEN'{embed:date1}'AND'{embed:date2}' ORDERBYm.member_idDESC" format="csv"filename="member-export.csv" }
http://www.mydomain.com/member-export/index
Screenshare time!
Thanks
JOHN HENRY DONOVANhttp://johnhenry.ie
@johnhenry_ie