Engage & Dp calendar

[HDInfautre]

Hi
I use Engage on many association sites including an association calendar.
https://joomla.digital-peak.com/documentation/dpcalendar
Would it be possible to comment on an event because the developer seems to be 100% core compatible ?
Regards

[nikosdion]

As noted at the top of the README:

Akeeba Engage is a simple comment solution for Joomla. It is meant to be used with core content (articles) only.

There is no intention of supporting non-core content.

There is a reason for this.

Every comment needs to be "keyed" to a specific content item in a unique way. Most Joomla comment systems you have seen use either a VARCHAR key containing something like extensionName.ID (e.g. com_content.123), or they use a composite key (two columns). Both solutions are dead slow when querying data from the database, i.e. when displaying comments. Therefore, their performance is non-existent.

When I wrote Engage I wanted to solve the performance problem. I was not trying to solve the generic problem of "how do I put comments on any random piece of content, from any random extension". The latter is a problem other people have solved, but its solutions are antithetical to the problem I set up to solve.

This necessitated a different architecture for Engage. Instead of storing an extension identifier and a content identified I am only storing a single, numeric identifier: the Asset ID recorded in Joomla's #__assets table. Of course, this is an internal identifier, not something exposed anywhere else. This means that to add comments to an extension's content we need two things: a. the extension must use #__assets records (therefore have an Asset ID), and b. create a plugin specifically for that one extension to map content IDs to asset IDs, and hook into whichever plugin event the extension (hopefully) supports to display the comments interface. What makes things worse than that, is that you have options, and these options need to be applied per content item, per category, globally, and have a reasonable cascade between these levels. This puts a third restriction: c. the extension must also use Joomla's category system for its content items.

Finally, there's the simple practical aspect of it all. Even if all conditions are met, someone needs to write the plugin from point B. This is a lot of work, not just to write the plugin but also to maintain the plugin for the next several years. So here's the question. If I charged 50 Euros per year per plugin would you buy it? And, most importantly, would at least 100 people buy it so as to make financial sense at all? My experience with Akeeba Subscriptions is that no, people won't buy it, and I will end up spending a lot of my time without making any money, while taking time away from my other software which actually pays the bills. So, unless someone is ready to commit sponsoring the costs of developing and maintaining a plugin for 5 years (to the tune of ~10k Euros) I have no reason to spend any time in doing that. Hence the warning upfront that this is for core content (Joomla! articles) only.

[HDInfautre]

Hi
Thank you for this reasoned and perfectly understanding feedback.
It's exceptional to have such feedback and not just a no!
If I had the money, I would buy this extension but I understand that there is no guarantee that it will be viable to maintain it over time.

Just a question because it seems to me that DPcalendar is very close to the core.
If I had the financial means, what would you recommend to make a bridge between the 2 extensions, a plugin ? and how long could an average developer create this bridge? ... yes I know it's very approximate.

Thanks again for taking the time and support in general.

[nikosdion]

I would have to take a look at DPCalendar to tell you if it's possible. If it uses the #__assets table I think a bridge should be possible, as I said earlier. As for the development time… I can't tell you, as I have only done this for core content which I was already familiar with before I started. I would assume about 2 to 3 weeks, as long as development takes place during the "low season" between two Joomla! releases (a month before and month after a new minor or major Joomla! version we barely have time to breathe).

[nikosdion]

I just took a look. While DPCalendar uses core categories for its calendars, it does not use the core #__assets table for its events. As a result, we cannot create a unique event to asset mapping which means we cannot create an integration plugin with Engage.

[HDInfautre]

ok thanks