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Ratings / Review
It's taken a bit longer, since a lot has been going on, but finally settling down here for me. This is a project that starts simple, but can get complicated very, very quickly!

I should have a working skelleton of a ratings/review system, with the "hooks" (meaning unfinished routines) for adding in more features, very soon. It will be based on a mix of the modules/code I was sent, and which was posted here.

It will be basic. It will need a lot of user contributions :) Right now, feel free to post your wish lists, and suggestions (see the other threads) but none of them are going to be included in this first release (pretty much guaranteed!). This is just a "let's get started" release.

Hopefully, it will be compatible with next announced release of Links SQL, and at that time, Alex will open up a forum for us to discuss this project.

Hopefully, I'll have taken into consideration most of the major design needs for making this as flexible as possible. The caveat is the more it does, the bigger, slower and more complex it gets. My design idea is to allow customization during set up to tailor the database to the needs of the site. With care, it would be possible to switch between layouts after setting up. Part of the set up would be to allow a variety of ratings systems, customization of the reviews database (what information is stored and collected) and a bunch of global configuration options. The rest of the "design" should be able to be done in the templates!! At least that's the goal.

Some of this can be done by providing pre-configured layouts during set up, which set up the database or templates based on what was picked. Of course, all this could be changed at any time by anyone who knows SQL (the database layouts are simple) -- but the goal is to make it EASY to install, and to update if needed!!

Right now, I think all that has to be added to the Link record is whether attachments exist or not for that record. The biggest performance hit would be made there. If Links knows attachments do or do not exist, a lot of code can be skipped, or a simple "Display reviews" link could be triggered.

All the other data needs to reside in the review record -- consider each review a "transaction". The transaction contains all the data necessary to identify it, but doesn't include any of the "stats" information -- that's calculated from the aggregate of the transactions.

"Stats" need to be calculated and reside in separate tables -- Username keyed, and LinkID keyed. One table keeps track of the user stats for quick profiling, the other keeps track of individual Link stats for quick profiling. Using this format, it would be fairly easy for a site that needed to make other data available, to create a new "stats" table with the information necessary.

The information could be generated purely dynamically (Select from Table [LinkID or Username]), or on schedule via the stats tables (less processing, a single "get" record = [LinkID or Username].

Anyway........ That's where it's at.

The license is open, but it REQUIRES you to post any changes to the code you make. If you modify the code to run on your site, you must provide a link to allow download of the code, or submit it to us here to make available. Using modify code without making it available, is a violation of the right-to-use license!! This is a group project.

By providing the basic shell, and coordinating the development and integration of new features into the basic shell, the "Fee" to use it is to contribute any changes you make. Failure to do so, would be a violation of the right-to-use license, and would be the same as software piracy. I just need to make this really, really clear, since there is an overwhelming "taker" group of people who use things without contributing back for them. This license REQUIRES you to contribute back any changes you make to the code or templates. (Your artwork/graphics do not fall under this requirement). If you don't, then you are violating the license, copyrights, and the law. Ok?? Clear?





PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ:http://LinkSQL.com/FAQ
Forum:http://LinkSQL.com/forum
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Re: Ratings / Review In reply to
Pugdog:

Sounds very good! As always, happy to help out... if you want to throw something to me to work on, feel free!

dave

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Re: Ratings / Review In reply to
Hi,

Thanks. Once this shell is done, people will be able to comment on it, and then there will be things to go on, and figure out. Should be able to modularize it, so that people can work on areas that they feel most competent in.



PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ:http://LinkSQL.com/FAQ
Forum:http://LinkSQL.com/forum