Jon Hartmann

New Blog System

• April 27, 2007 8:52 PM
• Experiments
• Comments (0)

Given my frustrations with the BlogCFC setup, I'm endeavoring to create a system that will be a little easier to use to maintain multiple blogs. I'm building this system inside Mach II and will use Reactor for database interactions so I can get a handle on these systems. I've outlined some constraints and put together a kind of time-line.

Constraints

• New blog system must use the blog database structure from BlogCFC as much as possible. Although I hate it, its a practical decision; I can maintain my blogs with BlogCFC while getting a test database and its easier for others to migrate later.
• The new blog system must be able to more flexibly support multiple blogs, keeping file duplication between blogs to an absolute minimum.
• Blogs must be "skinnable", having each blog page pass through a single display page which can be selected dynamically. This allows end users to better control the appearance of their blog from a single page.
• Blogs should be Object-Orient as much as possible (make use of beans, etc).
• The new system must have better integration of a WYSIWYG editor for ease of use.

Benchmarks

1. Create a blog object that can be loaded with data and create a "skinning" process for that object.
2. Create the process to load the blog object from the database.
3. Build a new admin interface for the blog.
   • WYSIWYG
   • "Static" page creation
4. Setup caching of blog builds to increase performance.
5. Optimize the blog for integration with Mach-II (automatic bean creation and such).
6. Implementation of Ajax and Javascript elements.
   • "In-line" comment and post edits
   • "Real-time Previews" - Use of Javascript and Ajax to display post previews as you create the post.
7. Widgets - The ability to place small interfaces where you choose on your blog along with a system to easily plug in new widgets
   • Link Managers
   • Image galleries
   • Message Board Support
   • Multimedia Posts (video, etc.)

Technologies

• Framework: Mach-II - I've picked Mach-II as my framework because it has some very nice features that handle the automatic creation of Beans and then can pass them off to other event handlers, and I think that this is a very nice feature when looking at an OO design. In addition, I'm hoping that I can find some synergy with the Record Objects that Reactor Creates.
• Database Interactions: Reactor - Really, its the only database tool of its kind that I've come across so far. It also has several advantages over traditional DAO objects I'm used to working with: its Record Objects are very similar to Beans, and it allows the creation of new requests without affecting old queries. The first part is useful if I can connect record objects to my Mach-II framework as Beans, and the second is useful for implementing a system for Widgets that allows for plug-in-play like interfaces.
• Javascript/Ajax Framework: Prototype - I'm just in love with Prototype, and between it and the libraries based around it (such as Scriptaculous) I've got about everything I need. I might even try getting into the Spry framework from Adobe Labs, as they really seem to be getting a lot of things right in that system.

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