How to set up two types of groups with groups within each of them?
Groups:
I am working with two types of groups, one group <perhaps call this type of groups “companies”> that is listed for each company (will have about 500 groups within it), and the other that is for a specific subject “Politics” type of group that will have all the different subjects (groups within Politics) in politics listed with customized content and charts within each subject.
Not quite sure how to set this up, any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, how to then centralized, all the content from both types of groups into one place (ie. a ALL tab that has a block/section that lists all the discussions from both types of Groups (companies and politics)
How could I accomplish this?
Thanks,
JP
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Comments
Simplify the question
Please let me know if I should simplify the question, explain it differently or address it in another way.
Thanks,
JP
I'm not entirely sure how you
I'm not entirely sure how you would accomplish that. Subgroups is something that we're looking to achieve soon as the demand for it is quite high. It poses a number of issues related to membership, permissions, workflow, etc. I wish I could be of more help right now.
How about group types
Some groups would be companies and some groups would be political topics. So in groups, one could filter "some how" to see one or the other.
Does this make sense. Many times it is just presenting what one is trying to accomplish in a different way. Perhaps through the use of tags or views?
Any closer to being feasible?
Thanks,
JP
It really depends on what you
It really depends on what you mean by "subgroups". A real lightweight approach could be done with a simple taxonomy added to group nodes. You could tag a group as either a company or a politics group. When you say "subgroups" that implies groups that live inside other groups, then, like I said, there are issues with membership, permissions, etc.
That sounds like a viable way to go...
could you point me on how to do this? How to add taxonomy to group nodes.
A try to understand better
It is possible that we can achieve this with "space.module" and the use of the contained spage_og.module ?
I'm not sure and honestly I did not tryout in combination with simple taxonomy.
taxonomy is working for me
I am building referendum.com on Commons. I have been intending on having nodes for sections of a topic, and have been calling them subtopics.
I started before Commons using nodereference and nodereferrer and custom code to create/update/delete the subtopics along with the topic node. I think that Commons helps the project and it has been a big boost to my minimal social networking and groups knowledge. Once with Commons I installed OG subgroups and rewrote the create/update/delete of subgroup subtopics using Rules with bits of PHP.
I read somewhere that one of the more successful Drupal companies have never used subgroups, but solved their various project needs with taxonomy. I decided that I didn't like how heavy it felt with about a dozen nodes when all I really needed was text fields for each subtopic in the topic node for the subtopic related page. So, I stopped using the subgroups and have a subtopic vocabulary that added to all the content types.
Views is the essential tool to tie any of the scenarios together. The reference point changed from nodereference, to og_subgroups field, to a vocabulary. With Taxonomy I have given up a bit, but not much and I have reduced my node count by the number of subtopics I end up with (after I learn what User's want). In essence, I think using Taxonomy suits something as structures as referendum.com, or something with a chaotic structure. I am inclined to use subgroups again for a discussions on this and another site, but there are problems. I think it doesn't matter how you go about it, there is an added complexity with subgroups.
Wow - I really like this discussion
Jerry -
Very glad to hear about your experiences here. We get a LOT of requests for subgroups, and I too think they're pretty heavyweight.
I've noted that the current online site at referendum.com seems to be a work in progress. I'm anxious to watch and see how you progress. I really want to set up a pointer to a good online example of where somebody has accomplished this successfully.
Node Relationships module
I recently saw this article on Planet Drupal:
http://www.agileapproach.com/blog-entry/improve-content-creation-and-ass...
From Phase2Technology, it describes an alternative to using nodereference, and how they are using it with Open Publish. Thought you might be interested. I'm still learning about all of this, so excuse me if it's not relevant.
All good stuff guys...
@ Wolfflow: the space module sounds very nice. Have you tried it? I would probably want to wait until they come up with branch 3 as it seems to be quite different from branch two. Vey nice concept though - thanks.
@ Jerrys: Thanks for sharing your site. Very nice. I did noticed that you used the group feature to create new discussions and created a new sub-menu within the group + I really like the voting feature. Cool stuff! I am still trying to wrap my hands around how to understand the taxonomy. How do I assign that to each group.
If you guys do not mind, I will writing up a description of how I am looking to set the taxonomy on my site, some feedback would be greatly apprecieted.
taxonomy and groups
jp2020, I hope you have progressed with taxonomy. I suggest you search for a brief tutorial on the basics since it is core to Drupal, but just to explain a bit, take a peek at how Commons is using it here with "Tags":
/admin/content/taxonomy/edit/vocabulary/2
where you will see that all the existing content types are listed and where it is applicable is toggled on.
All vocabulary that are enabled for a content type are grouped together in one item on "managing fields" and you can use weight to change their order. If you want more control over their display you can use
http://drupal.org/project/content_taxonomy
which takes some testing to understand, but very useful for some projects; like a long form of fields where you want to intersperse vocabulary fields (and don't feel like theming at a low level).
I'm also interested in the
I'm also interested in the idea of subgroups, and how to accomplish them. One of my projects is a synagogue site, with geographic area Villages, Program Committees, school Committees and Teachers, and Board of Directors. Each could be a Group. Villages (there are 12) and Program Committees have natural subgroups. I've been playing with OG and subgroups on a normal Acquia Drupal installation. Since the site is for a community, Drupal Commons seems like a better fit, though. So, I'll try it too. I like the idea of working groups being able to collaborate on wikis and documents, other features of Commons.
Best, Marilyn
Marilyn -
Have you seen this discussion?
Yes, thanks, and am trying it out
What I need to do next is set up a block titled Villages for names/links to each Village which I'd put in one or the other sidebar. Same idea for Committees. Then I'd like an open group or more for special interests and discussions. I'm still not sure if taxonomy would work as well, but the subgroups module seems to be doing fine, so far.
By the way, I'm doing this in Heather's inaugural Drupal class. Stop by sometime!
.
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mstefanello, can you clarify
mstefanello, can you clarify what you mean with the approach of using taxonomy + groups when you say the following:
If I understand correctly, you can have a taxonomy of "cats" and another of "dogs". Then groups can be set as "lions, tigers, panthers". But those groups would be available to all taxonomies - and there could be a group that is "tigers" with the taxonomy of "cats", and there could be another group of "panthers" with the taxonomy of "dogs" - which would not make sense.
Just wanted to reiterate how
Just wanted to reiterate how awesome it would be to have this feature of subgroups. A project I am beginning work on would require it - and Drupal Commons fits its other needs perfectly.