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ericscheid edited this page Aug 2, 2024 · 20 revisions

Notes on folders

This is a scratch-pad work-in-progress of notes. Once the content settles down into something coherent we may create the issue or PR.

Previously on Github..

The chat about folders has brought up many questions and doubts about how to approach the project

here lies a list of related issues that may contain related info, for the purpose of completeness, i will be including all important info from them as well.

Why?

Folders have been suggested for years, as a way to organize work, de-clutter the userpage, and group related documents.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

As a project starter, a definition of a MVP has been set, that is a product with the minimum necessary features for it to work, and from which we can expand by adding little by little.

The MVP should include:

Features

"CRUD" features: create folders, delete folders, update name and contents, and be able to read the contents.

Author-specific

  • opening a link for a non-existant folder should trigger a 404
  • a brew should be able to be in multiple folders at once
  • folders can have subfolders of their own
  • no duplicate names for folders inside the same account
    • ... or at least, within the same folder space — thus two separate folders could each contain different subfolders both named "drafts"
  • folder should appear in the brew title inside the share and edit pages("Examples: how to make tables")
  • folders should appear before any brew in the user page

A URI/link chould be /user/:userId/:folder-slug

Data Model

Folders exist as entities in their own table/collection.

Each folder is owned by one owner, and it only appears in the context of their userpage.

Multiple brews can be assigned to a folder by listing the brew.shareID in the folder entity. (This is distinct and different from a model where the association is achieved via an attribute on the brew entity).

Sub-folders are linked via a list of subfolderIds, in the same manner as how brews are linked.

Minimal Data structure

  • __Id (mongo specific ID field, exists wether we create it or not)
  • folderId (nanoid, required, auto)
  • slug (to use in the URL) (string, required)
  • displayName (to display in the UI) (string, required)
  • owner
  • brewIds (list of shareId)
  • CreatedAt (auto)
  • UpdatedAt (auto)
  • isPublished (boolean, or later: published/unpublished/hidden)

More substantial data structure

ERD of folders, users, and brews

These folders should be displayed in the user page of the author of such folder , opening the folder would bring the user to another page with the content of the folder displayed as if it was a user page.

So all unpublished files will still be invisible to unauthored accounts, even if they are inside a publicly viewable folder.

"Yes, so the "my campaign" folder can contain a published "magic ring" document that the players can see (because they have attained said ring) and also private "magic sword" document because players have not attained it."

Optimal Final Product

Features:

are private folders publicly viewable?

  • thumbnails

  • tags

  • view counts (useless?)

  • systems

  • description

  • brewCount

  • put someone else's brews into your folder (e.g. faves, bookmarks, public resources)

  • folders inside folders?

  • move brews from folderA to folderB

  • ability to hit a button to publish all brews inside

  • folder password

  • select via a picker UI (not by typing strings, unless we support type-ahead magic)

  • smart and dumb folders - additional properties

  • plausible deniability if bad password or no password (give me access or give me death aka 404)

The brew metadata panel and folder picker UI should only show the folders belonging to that user, but also maintain back-end the other user's folder assignments. The associating link between brew and folder is not maintained within the brew itself, but in the folder entity.

We do want to facilitate sharing of folder views. That is, a user could share /user/erics/friday-game to his Friday Game participants; or share publicly /user/erics/monsters to the world..

Data structure

Add these to the minimal data structure (above)

  • description

  • tags

  • password (string, optional, hashed)

  • icon or image (uri-string, optional) (#240)

  • styling (css-text-block, optional) (#240, #1843) ??

  • background (uri-string or color-code-string, optional)

  • subFolderIds [list of nanoids)

  • pinnedBrewId - one brew of brewIds which appears at top of folder, regardless of sort order

  • folder type (smart/dumb) ?? -- or: absence of smart rules ⇒ dumb folder

  • smart-rules

  • authors -- brews have author(s), but folders are owner-specific

  • view-count (integer, auto) -- views are a in-browser experience only, no server hits involved, so no count to accumulate

  • brewCount -- can/should be calculated on the fly though

  • folderCount -- can/should be calculated on the fly though

Problem: multiple authors

If we do go with the brew-in-many-folders idea, then reflecting "this brew is in these of your folders" could be informative. Searching by filter or tag on the userpage should reveal any matching brews, even if hidden inside a folder, so that also implies a need for determining enclosing folder starting from brew.

Roadmap (outdated, needs revision)

More detail:

  • create/delete/rename folders on user page

  • designate folder for brew in metadata pane (via picker UI)

  • create/delete/rename folders via picker UI (prereq: picker UI)

  • designate folder for brew on userpage (via picker UI)

  • nested folders

  • update picker UI for nested folders (prereq: nested folders)

  • brews in multiple folders (prereq: dumb flat folders, designate brew folder)

  • tags on brews (prereq: dumb flat folders [see below *])

  • tags visible/filterable on userpages (prereq: tags on brews)

  • (published brews page)

  • tags on published brews page (prereq: tags on brews)

  • smart folders (???)

UI scratchings

Things free with every browser:

  • folder path visible in window.location for folder views

Things that will need to be visually designed, and also programatically implemented:

  • folders appearing as tiles on userpage

  • folder path appearing on folder-tiles on userpage

  • current folder name/path as a subtitle on userpage

  • button on userpage/view for initiating creation of a folder

  • dialog for creating a folder (name, path, etc)

  • dialog for defining "smart rules" for a smart folder

  • button widget on brew/folder tile for adding/moving that brew/folder to a folder (or removing)

  • button widget on folder view for adding/moving that brew/folder to a folder (or removing)

  • button on userpage for starting a process of selecting many brews/folders for adding/moving to a folder

  • button on /shared/:id page to facilitate saving that particular brew to a folder (i.e to support bookmarking)

  • dialog for selecting a folder for the process of adding/moving a brew/folder

    • should include option for initiating create-a-folder process
    • should include options for Cancel (i.e. do nothing) but also "Remove from Folder"

Folder Tiles

How a folder might appear in the userpage: A wild folder suddenly appears

Notes:

  • the folder slug is displayed, and is also a link to the folder
  • a count of brews within that folder (not counting subfolders)
  • a count of immediate subfolders (not counting deeper)
  • no date created/updated metadata (likely won't be the dates that users expect, e.g. date of most recently edited brew)

Appendix A

Old content about publishing has been moved to https://github.com/naturalcrit/homebrewery/wiki/Published---public---hidden-brews

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