Group Page Layout

[Jeffrey Rhodes]

Is it possible to modify the layout of groups without access to the source code? If I had a little more flexibility (like with the main page), I'd be able to do so much more that would meet my needs. Is there a tutorial somewhere that I just can't seem to find?

[RemoD]

Yes you can do it without any programming, just changing some XML through the administrtion tool: http://YOURNETWORK.ning.com/admin/index/manage?type=Group

You can modify the XML layout changing the my.xg_groups_layout property. You can include any number of boxes (RSS, HTML, ...) and decide your own layout.

The only drawback is that if something goes wrong you may have to delete the group and start it over.

If you use an external XML editor (I use the free version of LiquidXML) ensure you remove spaces and newlines.

Hope it helps.

[Mike Nicholson]

Hello!

Thanks for the tip RemoD!

Please keep in mind that this is not a tested feature. When editing objects with it please proceed with great caution. Mistakes in the Content Manager may result in your social network breaking in a way support will not be able to fix!

Cheers!
Mike

[Jeffrey Rhodes]

Understood... Any future plans to make those pages more editable without going through content manager? If nobody has asked, let me be the first! If it was as plug and play as the main page, I could remain blissfully ignorant of XML-kinda-stuff

[RemoD]

Absolutely! I've already destroyed a couple of test networks this way :)

An alternative would be to modify the my.xg_groups_layout property through a php script but I feel this to be even more risky, that's why I hope the content manager does not go away!

[Jeffrey Rhodes]

Thanks... I've worked with it a little and have had some success. Yikes! It gets a little touchy working in the content manager.

I may have to bring in a more experienced developer to help with this formatting. Thanks for the tip...

[Alexis Urusoff]

WAYS to minimize the RISK

- If you change a XML layout for one group, you can destroy all network or just the group?

- Is it possible to see this as an expample of this changes in any community?

- There is a precedural that you can test in a "test" community, and then apply to another one?

[Jeffrey Rhodes]

From what I could tell (not sure this is definitive), but when I messed something up, it only affected that one group.

This is what I did to minimize risk: I cut a pasted the original xg_groups_layout code into a text box and kept it to the side. If I messed up (and I messed up a couple of times), I cut and pasted the original code back into the slot and it restored the page to its original state.

The only hang-up with this is that when I messed up, the system deleted all of the code and left the xg_groups_layout box empty. I had to copy and paste the code into the slot and save it. For whatever reason, the first time you copy code into the box, not all of the code copies (only part of it). However, you go back in a second time, copy and paste and the entire code goes back in and it is restored.

I apologize for the non-developer language, I'm new at this...