'Program' section and html parsing

[m.giordano]

Hi,

we have noticed that the text input in Program page is not parsed as html, that is, if we write html code in the Plain Text Program field, the html tags are displayed as plain text.
Information about Program and Sessions are usually complex and structured, from a layout standpoint. Wouldn't it be better if that field parsed the html tags, like other similar fields in the application do?
Is there a way to accomplish this?

Thanks and regards

Marco

PS: input for future releases: what about a timetable tool which allows to manage sessions, rooms, speakers, so that Program page becomes just a layout of dynamical data?

[jmacgreg]

Hi Marco,

We're in the process of beta-testing OCS 2.1, and while your recommendations re: the Program page won't make it in to this release, I'm happy to report that 2.1 will indeed ship with a scheduler. The scheduler will allow you to create buildings/rooms, and to assign presentations and special events to each. These will then be displayed in a timetable.

If you have the time or the inclination, you can view further information on testing OCS 2.1 here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2896

We'll take your comments regarding the Program field under advisement. You may be able to recreate the functionality you described by looking at other HTML-capable forms behind the scenes, and see if you can replicate what's going on. As it is, we do include the option to upload a richer program (HTML or PDF, for example), but I can understand the desire for what you describe.

Cheers,
James

[asmecher]

Hi Marco,

Just to add to James' comments -- in fact, OCS 2.1 will ship with TinyMCE, a popular Javascript WYSIWYG editor. All HTML-capable fields in OCS will use this editor to allow word processor-style HTML editing, as well as the option to code HTML by hand, and the Program field will include this feature.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[m.gori]

Hi there,

a simple trick to avoid the "html parsed and transformed into plain text", is to eliminate the escape command inside the PHP template - that is, for instance, in program.tpl - regarding the variable displaying that text.
So basically a code line such as:
<div>{$program|escape|nl2br}</div>
would become:
<div>{$program|nl2br}</div>
and that's it, the HTML tags will finally be recognized as they are supposed to

Hope this was somewhat helpful.

Regards,
Marco