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IP.Content Blocks lost 95% of it's filtering options in 4.x?


Josh Bond

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I have a 3.4x site. And I wanted to see what 4.0 looks like and how it works before getting in the middle of a huge upgrade.  I got a 4.0 test site just to see what exactly 4.0 does. I made 3 uploads and a few test forum posts.  I see a lot of promising things in 4.0 and much tighter integration overall. And some pretty cool things, like with the menu.

But, is it me, or is a lot of IP.Content block functionality missing in 4.0? 

For example, in 3.x you could select:

1.  Feed Source: Downloads

2. Content Type: Files (you can also choose Comments or Categories--each content type has multiple options)

3. Filters: Many, many many options...categories, ascending, descending, featured, pinned, zillions.

34x-block-filters-downloads.thumb.jpg.33

But in 4.x, you get this?

1. You choose Downloads and you can choose Recent Files (or Download Stats, or Top Downloads, or Top Submitters).

2. And then you get to choose nothing except "Number [of files] to show"? No category options or any of the 3.x filtering options shown above?

4x-block-filter-downloads.thumb.jpg.709a

Please tell me I am missing something REALLY big? Did 95% of the block filtering and block config options just disappear in 4.x? What's the point of IP.Pages if you can't easily select specific data to show in blocks on the IP.Pages page? I thought this was the original point of IP.Content (now apparently called IP.Pages in the app but referred to as IP.Content everywhere else on the Invision site).

 

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Oh my, oh no! One person is following this post. Two others  liked it. That means, others are wondering the same thing.

So this is the way it is? I'm not overlooking something?

Making IP.Content without the ability to easily target specific data is like making a car with square wheels. Yeah, you can get there eventually but it will be a whole lot more work.

I'll go crawl back under a rock for another year until 4.0 is fully developed. Great concept, I get that you are starting over with new code. But the car needs round wheels. Was so looking forward to 4.0, but I gotta be able to pull data to the front page of a community website easier than this. :(

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I posted something similar. Like I'm hurting missing the Random feature.

I feel that the ability is there but the plugins are lacking/missing from before. I mean you can feature content everywhere but the only place you can pull a feed for it is for the topics. It seems a little overlooked.

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I'm not saying I overlooked them, I am saying they were overlooked in the creation of it. @Josh Bond

Right, I wasn't saying you overlooked it. I was saying to other people who try 4.0: these features aren't in 4.0, you [any new 4.0 user who stumbles on to this thread] aren't overlooking the features--they just aren't there. Just wanted to save someone an hour of playing with the demo server.

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We're listening guys. Can you list which filters you used heavily so we can prioritise?

I'm sure everyone has a different story on the filters used. Since I run a site with 5,000 downloads, I use most all of the Download filters. I inserted the Blocks in IP.Content as well as in the skin templates for Downloads and Forums. 

I rarely used most of the other filters (members, forums, blogs, etc), except just to show the last 5 posts (i.e. a very basic filter for those sections that already exist in 4.0)

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We're listening guys. Can you list which filters you used heavily so we can prioritise?

All of them.  Different sites have different blocks that have different filtering needs.  The fact that category is missing is mind blowing.  It is just one in the list of reasons that 4.0 remains unusable as a product for me. 

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Ditto what CheersnGears said.  Another item for the private developer to implement. We use blocks extensively.  @matt have a look at our installation,  I can pm you the name of the ip.content folder ... since it has been renamed ... but we use a ton of blocks and many of them use various filters.

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I'm sure everyone has a different story on the filters used. Since I run a site with 5,000 downloads, I use most all of the Download filters. I inserted the Blocks in IP.Content as well as in the skin templates for Downloads and Forums. 

I rarely used most of the other filters (members, forums, blogs, etc), except just to show the last 5 posts (i.e. a very basic filter for those sections that already exist in 4.0)

All of them.  Different sites have different blocks that have different filtering needs.  The fact that category is missing is mind blowing.  It is just one in the list of reasons that 4.0 remains unusable as a product for me. 

These are valid answers.... Matt, The largest selling point of content WAS the feed blocks. Even people that don't have any use for an articles system or a custom database would purchase the app for the very powerful feed blocks available at default.

From every order option to every filter, ALL of it has been used by myself, and that is a LOT of sites left without a clean upgrade path for their site. Of course, I can just wing out custom code. Not everyone has that liberty or ability.

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… and that is a LOT of sites left without a clean upgrade path for their site. 

I agree. Along with the still missing database relationship field, the block options should come back if only for the reason to recreate the current 3.4 sites. It will probably take me weeks to recreate my fully customized 15 IP.Content databases on one site in Pages, but that’s okay—as long as the system actually allows me to upgrade and recreate the functionalities that are in use on my 3.4 site. 

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I agree. Along with the still missing database relationship field, the block options should come back if only for the reason to recreate the current 3.4 sites. It will probably take me weeks to recreate my fully customized 15 IP.Content databases on one site in Pages, but that’s okay—as long as the system actually allows me to upgrade and recreate the functionalities that are in use on my 3.4 site. 

This.   I didn't mind to much that I would have to recreate my blocks and I'm willing to invest my time to do so.... but I have to actually be able to do 

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I got just one thing to ask, let us name our blocks and have it show what the blocks named wherever we put it. Needing to create a custom block template just to add a title is too much work. Everything named "Latest Topics" doesn't fit in most places I need it too especially when adding a block to a database page that has no topics but maybe news, albums, cars, sales, whatever else that's not a topic... Blocks can be used of course but I really don't have the time to put into customizing each block when I need so many. Standard in 3.4

Thanks

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I got just one thing to ask, let us name our blocks and have it show what the blocks named wherever we put it. Needing to create a custom block template just to add a title is too much work. Everything named "Latest Topics" doesn't fit in most places I need it too especially when adding a block to a database page that has no topics but maybe news, albums, cars, sales, whatever else that's not a topic... Blocks can be used of course but I really don't have the time to put into customizing each block when I need so many. Standard in 3.4

Thanks

Basically my thoughts too. I created template containers for side and header/footer blocks mainly for the title. :unsure:  A default or generic title should already be included in feed blocks that which users can edit to suit their needs. It doesn't make sense the way it is now.

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  • 3 months later...
23 hours ago, djpretzel said:

If 4.1 isn't going to restore these updates, it'd be nice to get a rough statement of intention as to when they might be restored... clearly there is demand... 

Something very similar was promised to be brought back soon, but that was in July...

https://community.invisionpower.com/4bugtrack/active-reports/rc5-customizable-topic-feed-cant-limit-topics-by-date-r4027/?do=findComment&comment=164479

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  • 1 month later...

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