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| Project: | Rotor Banner |
| Version: | 6.x-2.7 |
| Component: | Miscellaneous |
| Category: | support request |
| Priority: | normal |
| Assigned: | Unassigned |
| Status: | active |
Issue Summary
This is a great modules. Thanks for creating it. Installed easy and works fine on my server in all browsers.
I must be missing something fundamental as I can not figure out how to create a second block/view . I want to put 5 Ad blocks on a site with each rotating a different set of images. I see how to clone the view...no problem. I see that I can make my new cloned view point to a different Content Type..... What I understand is how I clone the content type that came with Rotor so that I can create content that has a different set of images in it. In other words how do I get a new content type that has the path for the hyperlink and the image update fields on it so that I can point my cloned view to the new one so that it will display a different set of images.
Thanks for the help.
Comments
#1
Sorry it should have said
What I don't understand is how I clone the content type
instead of
"What I understand is how I clone the content type"
What I am trying to understand is how I get a second Content type that has the same fields as the one that come with Rotor.
#2
I am very confused about how the Content Type Roto_Item gets its fields. When I edit the Content_Type Roto_Item it does not have a path of image upload field.
I cloned the view that come with Roto and created a new Content type (call it Roto2) and pointed the new view (call it Roto2View) to the Content Type Roto2 but when I create new content that is of type Roto2 it does not ask me for the upload image or for the URL Path.
Again I am obviously missing something very fundamental.
#3
As I study how this module works I realize that it must be using the upload_element to create the path and image upload so it seems to me at this point that the only way to make it easy for the person that will manage the image files (Ads) for the different blocks would be to simply clone the module and give it different names each time like:
AdLeft1, Adleft2 Adleft3 etc......
That way the content manager could just pick which position to load content (pics) into.
The other thing I discovered is I could add a field via CCK to the rotor Item content type and that way I can control which pic is displayed via separate (cloned) views of the view that came with Roto... The bad part of doing this is that when you look at content and display all the Roto Items you can not tell easily which position (my new CCK field) a pic is stored in....so if you .
These are the only two ways so far that I see creating easily managed blocks so that each block displays its own pics (ads in my use case) and can easily be managed by a users that will use the Admin and has not computer skills.
If someone has an easier way to do this please let me know. I need to have 20 Ad blocks and each has a different set of Ads (pics) in them.
Is it possible to create my own Content Type using CCK and imagecache (for the uploaded pic) to display the pics using the various jquery methods to rotate the pics ? ......or is there a way to use this module to rotate the Ads that are loaded using the "Advertisement" module....that would really be great as that module is good but has now transition effects and can not rotate Ads based on time which really makes that module and non-stater for my use case.
Thanks
#4
The rotor module provides the Rotor Item content type for convenience, for users with a simple requirement. There is no need to duplicate the module. Did you read the documentation?
The simplist way to get multiple rotor blocks each rotating through different content would be to add an additional cck field to the Rotor item content type, or use taxonomy to group your rotor items. Then, edit the view that came with the module, and add another display to it, and add a filter to this display that limits the nodes returned by the View to a specific taxonomy term or cck field value.
Rotor is a Views Style plugin, so you have all the power of Views at your disposal for creating new rotor blocks and editing the existing one. The Rotor Views Style Plugin is not limited to rotating through content of the Rotor Item type only - it can rotate through any content type you like, or any set of fields.
Whatever you do, don't duplicate the module!!
And, yes, in answer to your last question - you can create a view that selects any nodes or fields that you like, and set the display style of that view to Rotor.
#5
Create a new view for your need..
#6
Thank mrfelton .... for sure I read all the documention (actaully about 5 time thinking I missed something...lol)... I am a newbie to Drupal but trying to ramp up fast.
I do see how to do what you are talking and have created a new CCK field called Ad Location. The issue is maintanability. I am creating the site but someone else will maintain the site. I have added the new field that lets me essentially pick which "view" (Ad space.... Ad Location) I want the ad to show in but this will not be easy to maintain becuase when you list the content the new field (Ad Location) does not show up in the list. So how does the maintainer find the Ad Location they need to work with? That is the issue for me. I am just now looking to see if I can help this along with naming convention.
In the end I agree it is not practicle/desirable to clone the module. I think if I just create each Ad Location (content) and put a blank pic in each of the locations as a placeholder and name each based on location then someone else can maintain them by filtering the content down to just the Rotor items, picking the position (Ad Location)(based on the name I give them). They can then add the pics (Ads) that they want with the URL jumps that they want.
Thanks again for the responce I think this will work once I get all the Ad Locations (40 of them) set up as place holders.
I had not thought of doing this with Taxonomy but did a little test and now better understand how that could work...thanks for that tip.
This is a great module in that it has all the feature my use case needed but was reasonable easy to implement. The other modules that are out there are a little complicated for my current ability. This was the fly swatter and the others seem to be sledge hammers.... I prefer to kill flys with fly swatters rather than hammers...lol
#7
Thanks thelionkingraja
In the end as I said I figured that out.......but my issue was/is maintanabilty by a third party who will load the pics in the various ad positions. I need to make this as easy as possible for that person. Right now I am thinking that I can do that by creating content for each position and naming it based on where the pic (Ad) will show up. I will then load each of these with 1 pic that matches the background of the theme as a place holder. The only issue with this approach is that I am not sure then how I can support multiple themes which I hope to do at some point.
I am in the process of seeing if I have to load a dummy pic or if each instance of the content will "reserver" the space by size.
#8
thelionkingraja I do now see that Taxonomy is a better way to go in that when you filter content is shows up as a category so if I pre-create each Ad Location content and filter it to the correct taxonomy then the maintainer can go straight to the Ad Location and put in the pics and hyperlinks.
In addition I tested putting multiple location in (they are vertical down the page) and if you dont yet have a pic in one of the views (blocks) then it still preservers the space so I dont even have to put in a dummy pic and my multiple theme issue is not and issue.
Thanks for pointing me to taxonomy that will work much better. I think using Taxonomy is more maintainable by the third party that will only see an abreviated version of the Admin menu (I still have to understand how to implement this but it seems the roles ability is there).
Thanks again for the quick responce.
#9
The Taxonomy works great since it even lets me create a hierarchy. Forgive me if I keep posting over my own posts but figure perhaps someone else struggling like I was might benefit.
I don’t even have to use naming and create placeholders like I thought. What I did was to create a view for each location the Ad will be displayed in. Then I created a Taxonomy that was named the same as each view.
Ad Left Position 1
Ad Left Position 2
Ad Left Position 3
and so on.
Now the maintainer just has to create a new Ad and pick the position it will appear in. I set up all the views/blocks and so when a person puts an Ad in a given position (Taxonomy) it will appear in that position. I will just have to figure out how to create roles for the maintainer so they can create content but not change the Taxonomy.