Call for action: Drupalize Google's SoC Mentors App

(Larry, I cc'ed you because dmitri said you'd done this
before and 
thought it would be a good idea ;))

So as those who've participated in Summer of Code as a
mentor before 
know, the web app that Google provides for ranking/reviewing

applications is a little bit ... suboptimal. The view of
applications it 
provides isn't sortable, it's not possible to see when
applications are 
updated, or when new comments have been posted, or... And
unfortunately, 
the person on Google's side of things who's in charge of
making 
incremental improvements is out on medical leave, so the
tool we have is 
about all we're going to get.

This is a great opportunity for Drupal to shine, however.
With Views, 
CCK, VotingAPI, and a couple other add-on modules, it'd be
possible to 
whip up a very comparable web app, only with tons more
features such as 
  a "new" indicator, the ability to sort
applications by last updated 
time, the ability to tag applications, etc. And if we did
this with 
something like Organic Groups, we could potentially build
infrastructure 
for all 175 open source mentoring organizations to use
Drupal, plus take 
some much-needed weight off the Google admins who are busy
with other 
organizational things. Nice way to build positive
relationships in the 
open source community.

Functionality is as follows (rough outline):
- "Organization" node type (Organic group); one
for each of the orgs 
listed  http://code.google.c
om/soc/2008/
- User import of list of Organization Members 
(h
ttp://code.google.com/soc/2008/drupal/mentors.html) -- I
think only 
admins can see this screen.
- "Application" node type with fields for (starred
ones are the 
important ones):
    - Title*
    - Student*
    - Student Email*
    - Student Major
    - Student Degree
    - Student Graduation (year)
    - Student Home Page
    - Student Blog
    - Student IM
    - Assigned mentor (userreference)*
    - Abstract*
    - Description*
- Probably a "Tags" vocab on that application node
type as well, so 
people can group them.
- A View that displays a list of applications with columns
for sorting 
by things like "last updated time",
"title", "student", and "assigned 
mentor"
- The ability to vote on applications and display a score.
In the Google 
app, this will be basically a +1/-1, or a +4 ("I want
to mentor") or a 
-10 ("Ineligible"). Maybe those last two could be
flags instead and we 
could just use Vote Up/Down module?
- The web app has both private and public comments. Not sure
how we 
could do this in Drupal off-hand.
- A bunch of data import crap to synchronize stuff between
Drupal and 
Google.

This is the tricky part: sucking in (and ideally,
synchronizing) data 
between Google's app and the Drupal side. For example, when
I post a 
comment on Drupal, it ought to show up in the Google app and
vice-versa. 
  When an application is updated on Google's side, it ought
to update it 
on Drupal's side as well. But at a minimum, we basically
would need to 
"screen scrape" information off Google's end and
suck in applications as 
nodes.

I was pointed in IRC at dataminerapi, which looks awesome.
However, I 
won't have time this weekend to monkey with this at all, and
ideally we 
need a solution built by *Monday*. : Dmitri's offered to
pick up the 
ball and run with it.

a) Anyone have time to help him with that?
b) Can anyone give us some advice on how to do the 
screen-scraping/synching? Have some sample code? etc.?

-Angie

(I also cc'd you, Matt ;))

So another tricky thing - there are two types of comments -
public  
comments and private comments.

There is a distinction because public comments are
student-visible,  
and private comments, and edits may only be made after a
public  
comment is posted.

And FYI this app is only for mentors and administrators.

Dmitri

On Mar 28, 2008, at 7:08 PM, Angela Byron wrote:

> (Larry, I cc'ed you because dmitri said you'd done this
before and  
> thought it would be a good idea ;))
>
> So as those who've participated in Summer of Code as a
mentor before  
> know, the web app that Google provides for
ranking/reviewing  
> applications is a little bit ... suboptimal. The view
of  
> applications it provides isn't sortable, it's not
possible to see  
> when applications are updated, or when new comments
have been  
> posted, or... And unfortunately, the person on Google's
side of  
> things who's in charge of making incremental
improvements is out on  
> medical leave, so the tool we have is about all we're
going to get.
>
> This is a great opportunity for Drupal to shine,
however. With  
> Views, CCK, VotingAPI, and a couple other add-on
modules, it'd be  
> possible to whip up a very comparable web app, only
with tons more  
> features such as  a "new" indicator, the
ability to sort  
> applications by last updated time, the ability to tag
applications,  
> etc. And if we did this with something like Organic
Groups, we could  
> potentially build infrastructure for all 175 open
source mentoring  
> organizations to use Drupal, plus take some much-needed
weight off  
> the Google admins who are busy with other
organizational things.  
> Nice way to build positive relationships in the open
source community.
>
> Functionality is as follows (rough outline):
> - "Organization" node type (Organic group);
one for each of the orgs  
> listed  http://code.google.c
om/soc/2008/
> - User import of list of Organization Members (h
ttp://code.google.com/soc/2008/drupal/mentors.html 
> ) -- I think only admins can see this screen.
> - "Application" node type with fields for
(starred ones are the  
> important ones):
>   - Title*
>   - Student*
>   - Student Email*
>   - Student Major
>   - Student Degree
>   - Student Graduation (year)
>   - Student Home Page
>   - Student Blog
>   - Student IM
>   - Assigned mentor (userreference)*
>   - Abstract*
>   - Description*
> - Probably a "Tags" vocab on that application
node type as well, so  
> people can group them.
> - A View that displays a list of applications with
columns for  
> sorting by things like "last updated time",
"title", "student", and  
> "assigned mentor"
> - The ability to vote on applications and display a
score. In the  
> Google app, this will be basically a +1/-1, or a +4
("I want to  
> mentor") or a -10 ("Ineligible"). Maybe
those last two could be  
> flags instead and we could just use Vote Up/Down
module?
> - The web app has both private and public comments. Not
sure how we  
> could do this in Drupal off-hand.
> - A bunch of data import crap to synchronize stuff
between Drupal  
> and Google.
>
> This is the tricky part: sucking in (and ideally,
synchronizing)  
> data between Google's app and the Drupal side. For
example, when I  
> post a comment on Drupal, it ought to show up in the
Google app and  
> vice-versa.  When an application is updated on Google's
side, it  
> ought to update it on Drupal's side as well. But at a
minimum, we  
> basically would need to "screen scrape"
information off Google's end  
> and suck in applications as nodes.
>
> I was pointed in IRC at dataminerapi, which looks
awesome. However,  
> I won't have time this weekend to monkey with this at
all, and  
> ideally we need a solution built by *Monday*. :
Dmitri's offered to  
> pick up the ball and run with it.
>
> a) Anyone have time to help him with that?
> b) Can anyone give us some advice on how to do the
screen-scraping/ 
> synching? Have some sample code? etc.?
>
> -Angie

Also

If I could have 1-3 volunteers who would like to help me for
(ideally)  
4-8 hours on either (both would be even better) Saturday and
Sunday  
(my hours of operation are 7AM-10PM, and I'm UTC-0700), that
would be  
wonderful.
You will be recognized in both the Drupal and SoC
communities.

So if you are willing, please e-mail me privately -
dmitrig01gmail.com.

Thanks muchos,
Dmitri

On Mar 28, 2008, at 7:08 PM, Angela Byron wrote:

> (Larry, I cc'ed you because dmitri said you'd done this
before and  
> thought it would be a good idea ;))
>
> So as those who've participated in Summer of Code as a
mentor before  
> know, the web app that Google provides for
ranking/reviewing  
> applications is a little bit ... suboptimal. The view
of  
> applications it provides isn't sortable, it's not
possible to see  
> when applications are updated, or when new comments
have been  
> posted, or... And unfortunately, the person on Google's
side of  
> things who's in charge of making incremental
improvements is out on  
> medical leave, so the tool we have is about all we're
going to get.
>
> This is a great opportunity for Drupal to shine,
however. With  
> Views, CCK, VotingAPI, and a couple other add-on
modules, it'd be  
> possible to whip up a very comparable web app, only
with tons more  
> features such as  a "new" indicator, the
ability to sort  
> applications by last updated time, the ability to tag
applications,  
> etc. And if we did this with something like Organic
Groups, we could  
> potentially build infrastructure for all 175 open
source mentoring  
> organizations to use Drupal, plus take some much-needed
weight off  
> the Google admins who are busy with other
organizational things.  
> Nice way to build positive relationships in the open
source community.
>
> Functionality is as follows (rough outline):
> - "Organization" node type (Organic group);
one for each of the orgs  
> listed  http://code.google.c
om/soc/2008/
> - User import of list of Organization Members (h
ttp://code.google.com/soc/2008/drupal/mentors.html 
> ) -- I think only admins can see this screen.
> - "Application" node type with fields for
(starred ones are the  
> important ones):
>   - Title*
>   - Student*
>   - Student Email*
>   - Student Major
>   - Student Degree
>   - Student Graduation (year)
>   - Student Home Page
>   - Student Blog
>   - Student IM
>   - Assigned mentor (userreference)*
>   - Abstract*
>   - Description*
> - Probably a "Tags" vocab on that application
node type as well, so  
> people can group them.
> - A View that displays a list of applications with
columns for  
> sorting by things like "last updated time",
"title", "student", and  
> "assigned mentor"
> - The ability to vote on applications and display a
score. In the  
> Google app, this will be basically a +1/-1, or a +4
("I want to  
> mentor") or a -10 ("Ineligible"). Maybe
those last two could be  
> flags instead and we could just use Vote Up/Down
module?
> - The web app has both private and public comments. Not
sure how we  
> could do this in Drupal off-hand.
> - A bunch of data import crap to synchronize stuff
between Drupal  
> and Google.
>
> This is the tricky part: sucking in (and ideally,
synchronizing)  
> data between Google's app and the Drupal side. For
example, when I  
> post a comment on Drupal, it ought to show up in the
Google app and  
> vice-versa.  When an application is updated on Google's
side, it  
> ought to update it on Drupal's side as well. But at a
minimum, we  
> basically would need to "screen scrape"
information off Google's end  
> and suck in applications as nodes.
>
> I was pointed in IRC at dataminerapi, which looks
awesome. However,  
> I won't have time this weekend to monkey with this at
all, and  
> ideally we need a solution built by *Monday*. :
Dmitri's offered to  
> pick up the ball and run with it.
>
> a) Anyone have time to help him with that?
> b) Can anyone give us some advice on how to do the
screen-scraping/ 
> synching? Have some sample code? etc.?
>
> -Angie

Dmitri Gaskin wrote:
> (I also cc'd you, Matt ;))
> 
> So another tricky thing - there are two types of
comments - public 
> comments and private comments.
> 
> There is a distinction because public comments are
student-visible, and 
> private comments, and edits may only be made after a
public comment is 
> posted.
> 
> And FYI this app is only for mentors and
administrators.

Yep. Don't get too hung up on those details though; we can
always refine 
and improve this tool over time once it's written.  The main
thing is 
to make it so any mentoring organization can login to this
Drupal site, 
and access an admin panel that's a nice sortable table view
of all their 
apps, synchronized with Google. Everything else is icing on
the cake.

> On Mar 28, 2008, at 7:08 PM, Angela Byron wrote:
> 
>> (Larry, I cc'ed you because dmitri said you'd done
this before and 
>> thought it would be a good idea ;))
>>
>> So as those who've participated in Summer of Code
as a mentor before 
>> know, the web app that Google provides for
ranking/reviewing 
>> applications is a little bit ... suboptimal. The
view of applications 
>> it provides isn't sortable, it's not possible to
see when applications 
>> are updated, or when new comments have been posted,
or... And 
>> unfortunately, the person on Google's side of
things who's in charge 
>> of making incremental improvements is out on
medical leave, so the 
>> tool we have is about all we're going to get.
>>
>> This is a great opportunity for Drupal to shine,
however. With Views, 
>> CCK, VotingAPI, and a couple other add-on modules,
it'd be possible to 
>> whip up a very comparable web app, only with tons
more features such 
>> as  a "new" indicator, the ability to
sort applications by last 
>> updated time, the ability to tag applications, etc.
And if we did this 
>> with something like Organic Groups, we could
potentially build 
>> infrastructure for all 175 open source mentoring
organizations to use 
>> Drupal, plus take some much-needed weight off the
Google admins who 
>> are busy with other organizational things. Nice way
to build positive 
>> relationships in the open source community.
>>
>> Functionality is as follows (rough outline):
>> - "Organization" node type (Organic
group); one for each of the orgs 
>> listed  http://code.google.c
om/soc/2008/
>> - User import of list of Organization Members 
>> (h
ttp://code.google.com/soc/2008/drupal/mentors.html) -- I
think only 
>> admins can see this screen.
>> - "Application" node type with fields for
(starred ones are the 
>> important ones):
>>   - Title*
>>   - Student*
>>   - Student Email*
>>   - Student Major
>>   - Student Degree
>>   - Student Graduation (year)
>>   - Student Home Page
>>   - Student Blog
>>   - Student IM
>>   - Assigned mentor (userreference)*
>>   - Abstract*
>>   - Description*
>> - Probably a "Tags" vocab on that
application node type as well, so 
>> people can group them.
>> - A View that displays a list of applications with
columns for sorting 
>> by things like "last updated time",
"title", "student", and "assigned 
>> mentor"
>> - The ability to vote on applications and display a
score. In the 
>> Google app, this will be basically a +1/-1, or a +4
("I want to 
>> mentor") or a -10 ("Ineligible").
Maybe those last two could be flags 
>> instead and we could just use Vote Up/Down module?
>> - The web app has both private and public comments.
Not sure how we 
>> could do this in Drupal off-hand.
>> - A bunch of data import crap to synchronize stuff
between Drupal and 
>> Google.
>>
>> This is the tricky part: sucking in (and ideally,
synchronizing) data 
>> between Google's app and the Drupal side. For
example, when I post a 
>> comment on Drupal, it ought to show up in the
Google app and 
>> vice-versa.  When an application is updated on
Google's side, it ought 
>> to update it on Drupal's side as well. But at a
minimum, we basically 
>> would need to "screen scrape" information
off Google's end and suck in 
>> applications as nodes.
>>
>> I was pointed in IRC at dataminerapi, which looks
awesome. However, I 
>> won't have time this weekend to monkey with this at
all, and ideally 
>> we need a solution built by *Monday*. : Dmitri's
offered to pick up 
>> the ball and run with it.
>>
>> a) Anyone have time to help him with that?
>> b) Can anyone give us some advice on how to do the

>> screen-scraping/synching? Have some sample code?
etc.?
>>
>> -Angie
> 

Angela Byron wrote:
>
> - The web app has both private and public comments. Not
sure how we 
> could do this in Drupal off-hand.
>
I'm assuming you're referring to the private comments :p

This solution assumes that students are authenticated users,
and that 
mentors are in a "mentor" role.

Create a "private comment" node type. These
private comments will have a 
node reference back to the proposal, and this node reference
field gets 
automatically filled in by using the prepopulate module.
Then, set up a 
workflow, and workflow access, and set private comments to
only be 
visible to the "mentor" role.

We have used this in several contexts to set up private
reviews, and 
it's worked pretty cleanly.

-- 
Bill Fitzgerald
http://www.funnymonkey.com

Tools for Teachers
503.897.7160

Bill Fitzgerald wrote:
> Angela Byron wrote:
>>
>> - The web app has both private and public comments.
Not sure how we 
>> could do this in Drupal off-hand.
>>
> I'm assuming you're referring to the private comments
:p
>
> This solution assumes that students are authenticated
users, and that 
> mentors are in a "mentor" role.
>
> Create a "private comment" node type. These
private comments will have 
> a node reference back to the proposal, and this node
reference field 
> gets automatically filled in by using the prepopulate
module. Then, 
> set up a workflow, and workflow access, and set private
comments to 
> only be visible to the "mentor" role.
>
> We have used this in several contexts to set up private
reviews, and 
> it's worked pretty cleanly.
>
Meh. Nix that. Won't work with OG.

/me shuffles off to look longingly at http://drupal.org/node/
196922

-- 
Bill Fitzgerald
http://www.funnymonkey.com

Tools for Teachers
503.897.7160

Following discussion in #drupal and suggestion by webchick
and cwgordon7, I 
wrote a small module which parses the application list for
mentoring.

It is available on http://drupalbin.com/1314 as a basis for the 
screen-scraping part needed by this application

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Fitzgerald" <billfunnymonkey.com>
To: <developmentdrupal.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 7:50 AM
Subject: Re: [development] Call for action: Drupalize
Google's SoC Mentors 
App


>
> Angela Byron wrote:
[...]

You could do the public/private comments using panels I
think --
panels has its own access control. Have two panels, one for
the public
comments, the other for private comments. The public
comments panel
has the normal comment display / form. The private comment
panel would
display a view that lists comment nodes that reference the
proposal.
Underneath the view would be an "add node" form to
create a new
private comment node. You'd need to do some form_api magic
to hide
unnecessary parts of the form and automagically add a node
reference
to that pages proposal.

That's not the easiest way to do things but it'd work. Set
the private
comment panel so only those with "mentor role" can
see it and to
everyone but the mentors, things would look normal.

Kyle

On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 4:56 AM, FGM <fgmosinet.fr> wrote:
> Following discussion in #drupal and suggestion by
webchick and cwgordon7, I
>  wrote a small module which parses the application list
for mentoring.
>
>  It is available on http://drupalbin.com/1314 as a basis for the
>  screen-scraping part needed by this application
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: "Bill Fitzgerald" <billfunnymonkey.com>
>  To: <developmentdrupal.org>
>  Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 7:50 AM
>  Subject: Re: [development] Call for action: Drupalize
Google's SoC Mentors
>  App
>
>
>  >
>  > Angela Byron wrote:
>  [...]
>
>



-- 
Research Assistant
eBusiness Center  BYU
kyle.mathews2000.com/blog

Comments as nodes? Then just use node_access or somesuch?

On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 2:27 PM, Kyle Mathews
<mathews.kylegmail.com> wrote:
> You could do the public/private comments using panels I
think --
>  panels has its own access control. Have two panels,
one for the public
>  comments, the other for private comments. The public
comments panel
>  has the normal comment display / form. The private
comment panel would
>  display a view that lists comment nodes that reference
the proposal.
>  Underneath the view would be an "add node"
form to create a new
>  private comment node. You'd need to do some form_api
magic to hide
>  unnecessary parts of the form and automagically add a
node reference
>  to that pages proposal.
>
>  That's not the easiest way to do things but it'd work.
Set the private
>  comment panel so only those with "mentor
role" can see it and to
>  everyone but the mentors, things would look normal.
>
>  Kyle
>
>
>
>  On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 4:56 AM, FGM <fgmosinet.fr> wrote:
>  > Following discussion in #drupal and suggestion by
webchick and cwgordon7, I
>  >  wrote a small module which parses the
application list for mentoring.
>  >
>  >  It is available on http://drupalbin.com/1314 as a basis for the
>  >  screen-scraping part needed by this application
>  >
>  >  ----- Original Message -----
>  >  From: "Bill Fitzgerald" <billfunnymonkey.com>
>  >  To: <developmentdrupal.org>
>  >  Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 7:50 AM
>  >  Subject: Re: [development] Call for action:
Drupalize Google's SoC Mentors
>  >  App
>  >
>  >
>  >  >
>  >  > Angela Byron wrote:
>  >  [...]
>  >
>  >
>
>
>
>  --
>  Research Assistant
>  eBusiness Center  BYU
>  kyle.mathews2000.com/blog
>



-- 
Regards
Steven Jones