Bootleg Management with WordPress?

September 16, 2007 8:24 PM

WordPressFilter: Can I do something like this site with WordPress?

I'm the webmaster for Booji Boy's Basement, a Devo bootleg trading site. Right now, everything that is done on the site is handled through 100% static HTML pages. I tried coding a database-driven version of the site in PHP and MySQL, but my code-fu is weak. This is one reason why I no longer study Computer Science... anyway...

I realize that WordPress might be able to let me have all the functionality I need without the need for a lot of coding. I have some technical questions about how to go about it.

I know WordPress has support for custom fields, but would it be possible to have those custom fields visible at all times on the new post page? If I, or my co-conspirator Alex want to add a new disc to the collection, I would want the various fields that need to be filled in (Tracklist, Rating, Description, etc.) to be visible.

How would I sort by the disc identifier? (A001, S001, I001, etc.) Should that be a separate custom field?

Also, I have NO clue how to handle the DVD screenshots.

If you have any suggestions, or even better, an off-the-shelf thing I could use to do this, please let me know. It's already become insanely unwieldy to deal with all the HTML... I'm lost!

posted by SansPoint to computers & internet (8 answers total)

well, off hand, even though i'm more familiar with other content management systems, sure, this should be a piece of cake.

lets take custom fields. you fill these things out, and they will appear hardcoded as variables somewhere in wordpress's php/html. you can add html and css to style how this information is presented with almost no limitation.

as for images. lets say you have a blank field, lets call it image address. you want to be able to type in: "01.jpg". that information gets plugged into a variable, say $ImageAddress, somewhere in the code. you go into that code, and where it says $ImageAddress, you add text before and after, so it becomes [img src=/www/blog/images/"$ImageAddress" /]. voila, a simple text field turns into a way for you to plug in images. add [div class="imageAddress"] and [/div] around that in turn, and you can style the container that that image goes into to be a constant size, have a certain border, hide overflow, etc.

the whole point of adding custom fields is to have them visible at the same time. whether wordpress allows sorting by custom field, i'm not so sure about.
posted by phaedon at 8:44 PM on September 16, 2007

I think ExpressionEngine does this pretty well. It's a more full-featured CMS platform that allows you to design different sections with different entry forms. I used it for my company's website and we have different custom forms for the various sections: jobs, news, publications, staff, etc.
posted by junesix at 8:36 AM on September 17, 2007

I'm not aware of a hack that would show all possible custom fields on the post screen, I suspect you may be stuck with having to choose the next field from the drop down. This is because the custom field values are held in a separate table and a row's only created when a field's populated.

However, there may be a way around this. It does involve running a custom SQL script, though.

You could set up dummy entries in the wp_postmeta table. It's only got three fields (plus a key): post_id, meta_key and meta_value so all you need is a script which sets up a blank entry for each meta_key for the next 100 or so post_id values. You should then see the blank field when you create a post (possibly only after you press "Save and edit" though).

I haven't tested it but I think the logic's sound.
posted by Lionel d'Lion at 9:49 AM on September 17, 2007

Forgot about the ordering query.

There's a plugin called "Custom Query String" by Matt Read. It doesn't sort by custom fields but it may be hackable to do so.

Again, I've not tried this. It'd be easier to sort by post title (just have the code as the first "word" of the title) and CQS definitely does this.
posted by Lionel d'Lion at 9:56 AM on September 17, 2007

Now I for the URL for that plugin! Obviously having a bad day. It's here.
posted by Lionel d'Lion at 9:57 AM on September 17, 2007

Joomla or Drupal are probably closer to what you're looking for than WordPress. Both have a lot more of the inventory/sales/tracking functionality you need than WordPress does, and both allow you to do the front page weblog thing as well.

A lot of webhosts are providing "one-click installs" of one or the other of these platforms these days.
posted by gum at 10:06 AM on September 17, 2007

To display custom fields in the New Post page:

Custom Field GUI

To help display custom fields (in "the loop" or outside it):

Get Custom Field Values

If you would like to order by disc identifier, one way to do it would be to include the identifier at the head of the post title and then sort your posts (alphabetically) by title:

WordPress Sort Category Posts By Title

Personally, I would avoid Joomla - you can do everything you need to do in Wordpress. Wordpress is easier to use/customize, has better support and a wider variety of plugins.

Avoid the one-click installs (Fantastico is anything but). They always install an older version (and sometimes downright archaic). For security and functionality, you always want to use the latest version. The Wordpress "five-minute install" is just that - straightforward and fast - so there really isn't a need to use one-click installations.
posted by stringbean at 10:37 AM on September 17, 2007

The free version of Movable Type should do just fine for this (n.b. I work with the MT team), and has a built-in file manager for stuff like the DVD screenshot images. And the Custom Fields plugin for MT has all the fields visible right on your posting screen, plus you can sort by any of the built-in fields.
posted by anildash at 11:23 PM on September 17, 2007