SC4Me and ContentBuilder

Supplychain4me.com is a website that connects those who are interested in supply chain careers with insightful educational programs. It also informs visitors about the different types of careers that make up supply chain professionals.

This was a fun project to work on, not only because it brought work with a great client, but it presented an opportunity to expand the extensions used to create websites for self-maintainers. 

What's a self-maintainer? 

A self-maintainer is a client that performs content updates and basic website upkeep. When building websites for this type of client, the website is structured to enable quick content changes. We leverage extensions to enable functionality and ease of use.

What was the goal? 

The goal was to provide a mechanism by which SupplyChain4Me could gather profile information from supply chain professionals about their educational background, career path, and advice for those who are just beginning. Once the information is received, the client should then have the ability to review and publish that profile information on their own discretion in the fewest steps possible.

How was this approached? 

Firstly, a review of a list of extensions typically used in self-maintainer sites was needed. This provided a list of extensions that could meet the goal listed above, but required coding experience out of the box. After a (sorta) quick search in the Joomla! Extensions Directory (JED), many options were presented that needed to be reviewed. During a conversation about the subject in a meeting of Joomla! User Group Chicago North (JUGCN), ContentBuilder from crosstec.org was suggested.

What is the solution? 

After testing the demo and reviewing the documentation, it was decided upon that ContentBuilder from Crosstec Solutions was a worthy candidate. A form had to be created in BreezingForms, and from there, things became quite sophisticated due to the integration with ContentBuilder. Setting up the fields in ContentBuilder, which would become the content in an article for a designated category within Joomla!, was a breeze. An entry point was then created that sent a personalized email to a website administrator, where the content awaited approval.

One of the reasons for the move to BreezingForms was the desire to automatically swap out a submitter's first name for 'A Supply Chain Professional'. This was done by adding code directly into the form that changed the value of a hidden field to said name based upon a checkbox that allows the submitter to display their name at their own discretion. When the form is submitted, the value of the hidden field, which is either the first name of the submitter or 'A Supply Chain Professional', is then used to generate the URL to the submission, either hiding or displaying the name in the URL based upon the submitter's choice.

Summary 

We are excited about working with SupplyChain4Me.com and watching them grow. We know have a new tools, Crosstec Solutions' ContentBuilder and BreezingForms, for our toolbox. 

Have you used ContentBuilder or BreezingForms? Tell us your story.