Allowing multiple files to be added to Sermon

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22 Nov 2012 21:41 #2752 by RSolo
Hi,

At the moment, beside 1 audio and 1 Video file, system allows for 1 additional
file to be attached.

Any plans to include functionality such as allowing multiple "additional" files to be added/attached to Sermon.

Thanks

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22 Nov 2012 23:28 #2753 by Thomas Hunziker
So far I don't have plans to add this. But then you're not the first who asks for this feature.
I would like to ask you some questions so I get a better picture of your needs.

Why would you need this?
Where should those files show? Only on detailpage or also in listings?
Could you also simply put links to these files into the sermon notes field?

As a background information: Currently the three filepaths are stored in the database in the sermon entry. This works well and fast if you have a fixed amount of possible files. If you have a variable amount of files, the database needs to be set up differently using a special table for the files with connections back to the sermon. However this results in a more complex (and thus slower) database query. Or it needs an additional query which is of course also slower than only one query.
If it's a need many user have, then this is a no brainer. But if it's only situational and could also be done using different solutions, then there is no reason to add it and make SermonSpeaker bigger and slower (only a little bit, but every feature does that) for all users.

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29 Nov 2012 22:08 #2770 by RSolo
Hi, sorry for very late reply.

The reason for multiple attachments (besides Audio/Video) would be that
various documents types could be attached.
Examples, are PowerPoint presentation, PDFs, Word Documents, etc.

The church Site I'm working on, the church uses multiple languages.
The Sermon might be in one Language but the Audience Read/Write in different languages.
So there is a need to be able to distribute Sermon notes, etc in 3 languages.

So as it stands I could not use the SermonSpeaker component, as much as i would like to, if I can not attach more than 1 file (not including Audio and Video).
Current option would be just use regular Joomla Articles and just attach these files.

The attachments would be seen in the detail page for sure.
For the listing, I would say, just a icon indicating that it includes attachment would be sufficient.

Yes, for proper handling of various number of attachments separate table is needed.
However I doubt that would have any performance impact. Query into 1 or 2 tables would not noticeable in my opinion.
Also,the query would retrieve the links and not the actual files. Files are only loaded when selected for viewing/download by users.

Another suggestion is that in the config file, administrator could set the max attachments allowed per Sermon.
On the upload side well, just "+" or add attachment button could show File name and file location.

Just my 2 cents. Hope it makes since.

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29 Nov 2012 23:55 #2771 by Thomas Hunziker
I see the need for multiple files.
But allow one more question: If the alternative to SermonSpeaker would be to use regular Joomla articles, why not just use the sermon notes field? To my knowledge an article doesn't allow more than what you could include into the sermon notes. If you can put the files into an article, you could as well include it into the sermon notes field.

Personally I think using the editor field combined with a file management Joomla extension is superiour and more flexible anyway. Or is there something I'm missing?

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17 Feb 2013 14:32 #3088 by Martini
Hi,
I've written a new topic and realized, that there already exists one.

sometimes we have more than one additional file that belongs to a sermon, too.
It would be nice, if there would be the possibility to add 2 or more files to a sermon.
Having 2 additional files, we have to add one into the additional-link field and the 2nd file has to be linked in the notes-field. Thats not very homogeneous and comfortable - and there is a extra component neccessay for the few cases, if there are more than 1 additional file.

Because there is only one field in the db for the path and description, I thought about saving multiple strings by grouping ("","") with a keyword like joomla-metadata (author="",Keyword="") or to seperate by a special string/char(link||link2). By using this pattern, there would be the possibility to add unlimited additional files (theoretical). In backend a 'add'-icon could open a new fieldset for a additional second or third file.

I know saving multiple strings in one db-field is not the best way, but i think its the best way to implement this festure without changing the db structure and to gain backward-compatibility for custom layouts.
For example: single link representation without changes: [link][description]
multiple link representation with seperator: [link1||link2||link3][desc1||desc2||desc3]

Greetings

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18 Feb 2013 00:42 #3089 by Thomas Hunziker
Hi Martini

As said earlier in this thread, I have currently no plans to support this beyond what's already possible. I think the need is quite situational and can be solved using the notes field.

However you brought up an interesting solution. The thing is, you could already do this yourself using layout overrides/custom layouts. There is nothing that stops you from filling multiple strings into the addfile field and the addfile description field. SermonSpeaker just stores what is entered into the field and will read it and output again when it's requested to show.
So all you had to do is create a custom layout override for the edit forms and a custom layout (or also override) for the displaying layout.

But just to say, it would not be compatible with existing layouts as they don't explode the saved strings before displaying. B)

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