garethEds Posted September 15, 2014 Posted September 15, 2014 DOes anyone know of a php/mysql or similar script that will let staff post daily announcements (maybe keep an archive)? Ideally web based? Then I can set the intranet homepage to display them? I'm tempted to learn how to do it - but have no idea where to start in php/sql. Anyone have a system that does this and willing to share? Cheers Gareth
mrdolan Posted September 15, 2014 Posted September 15, 2014 I am in the middle of writing a system that does something similar. It started as a way for staff to be able to post notices to our Digital signage, using rss feeds in Xibo to pull in the notices. It is now growing to also be a system for staff to post messages that are then displayed on individual pages for each year group (showing messages relevant to that Year and the whole school). The messages are stored in a database and are given an expiry date and can be selected to only appear on certain days of the week (for weekly clubs etc). It's not done yet, but I will share when it is in a usable state, which should be fairly soon. 2
garethEds Posted September 15, 2014 Author Posted September 15, 2014 @mrdolan - Hi there. How are you doing it (as in what tech)? Is there anything I can contribute? Gareth
mrdolan Posted September 15, 2014 Posted September 15, 2014 It's in PHP with mysql database. I'll let you see what I have got on a day or two and you can input ideas if you like and see what you think. I'm not really a coder, just dabble, so my code is a little bit of a mess at the moment.
SteveBentley Posted September 17, 2014 Posted September 17, 2014 DOes anyone know of a php/mysql or similar script that will let staff post daily announcements (maybe keep an archive)? Ideally web based? Then I can set the intranet homepage to display them? I'm tempted to learn how to do it - but have no idea where to start in php/sql. Anyone have a system that does this and willing to share? Cheers Gareth Not sure it's a wheel that's worth reinventing - I think the first line of your post is a pretty succinct description of a blog! Use Wordpress - I think there are extensions to do LDAP authentication - and then display its RSS feed on your intranet, a fairly trivial thing to do and there are plenty of pre-written widgets.
mrdolan Posted September 17, 2014 Posted September 17, 2014 I have previously tried setting something up with WordPress (which I have used for other projects), but I found it wasn't that easy to get it to do what I wanted, but then I am quite fussy.
Popular Post mrdolan Posted September 20, 2014 Popular Post Posted September 20, 2014 (edited) If anyone is interested I have a demo up of my messages system. You can see it at mrdolan.org/messages-demo. It should be fairly self explanatory. The admin section (where you can view all messages in the database and change the colours of the year groups) is password protected. Please PM me if you would like the demo password to have a look. There won't be any messages showing in the bulletins if you look on Saturday or Sunday as it only displays messages on days that are selected when messages are added and weekends aren't an option. There should be some messages on weekdays. I am just a novice coder and have developed this for use in my school. I would welcome any feedback. Edited September 20, 2014 by mrdolan Added note about messages at weekends. 5
Sylv3r Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 @mrdolan I like what you've done. We've setup something similar a while ago but it wasn't as good as yours. If you ever release it, we would love a copy.
Edu-IT Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 I wonder whether you could add 'password protected' bulletins? For example, clicking 7 would prompt for a password.
mrdolan Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 At my school we are running it all password protected. The staff are given a password that allows access to the whole system as well as adding messages. The password is stored for an hour and direct access to any page prompts for the password. Would that cover what you would want?
Edu-IT Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 I'd say so, yes. What does it use to store data, MySQL?
mrdolan Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Yes it's in Mysql. It uses two tables, one for the messages and one for the colours of the Year groups, which can be changed in the admin area.
fiza Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 @mrdolan I like what you have done. if you feel like releasing to your fellow Edugeekers I would be very interested in using it.
fiza Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 @mrdolan - I take it that your demo system is set up so that we can add messages? What does it look like for the students? Can they get to it from their computers or does it only appear on your screens in reception, maths & canteen?
mrdolan Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Yes you can add messages on the demo as well as edit them via the recent messages page. The way we run it is that the students are shown the bulletin by their tutor each morning. There are rss feeds for each year group and each of our display screens (which we will show using xibo when we have it set up shortly) It could be set so that a password is required only for adding and editing messages, then the students could be given access to the home page and the year group bulletins. Depending on the content of the messages that might work best if it was hosted internally rather than available openly online. 1
mrdolan Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 If people are interested I can put together a download and some instructions for setting it up (which is quite easy) 3
fiza Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Would love a copy if you want it testing in another school
mrdolan Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Ok, I'll see what I can do, although it will be a few days until I have time. 2
fiza Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Ok, I'll see what I can do, although it will be a few days until I have time. Thanks. Would really appreciate it and Im sure others would be interested too.
garethEds Posted September 24, 2014 Author Posted September 24, 2014 If people are interested I can put together a download and some instructions for setting it up (which is quite easy) Oh yes please- that would be amazing. I've just got the php/mysql books out of the school library to start looking into writing my own. It would take a while but your system looked really nice. I wouldn't mind a peek at the admin system. It would be hosted locally in my school. GJE
mrdolan Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 garethedmondson I have Pm'd you the admin login details. There is not much in admin at the moment. You can see all the messages in the database, change the colours of the Year groups and change the staff password (but that is disabled in the demo)
fiza Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 I've just got the php/mysql books out of the school library to start looking into writing my own. http://codeacademy.com is worth a look. Just started on it myself.
fiza Posted October 3, 2014 Posted October 3, 2014 Ok, I'll see what I can do, although it will be a few days until I have time. @mrdolan - Any closer to publishing a copy for us to try?
mrdolan Posted October 3, 2014 Posted October 3, 2014 I have been busy this week, I will try to make it available this weekend.
zag Posted October 3, 2014 Posted October 3, 2014 (edited) From one PHP dev to another, nice system Get the source up on github so everyone can benefit (or send it to me and I can host the source for you). Edited October 3, 2014 by zag
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