How difficult would it be to add the ability for a logged in user to view the profile of another logged in user (think, building a community with hobbies, credentials, etc.).
That wouldn't be too bad. I think the best thing to do would be to add another table to the database for the rest of the things you want to store about the user. Maybe a profile table. The first column would be the id. Second would be user_id and everything else would be the other info you want to know. This way you could be sure that other updates would't break your features. Then I could talk you through writing that page... or I might just include the ability in UserSpice itself. If that's something you're seriously interested in, let me know.
My thought was that it's not hard to include a basic table and a few little hooks to build the functionality, but I don't think I'll build it out very far. If anything, having a table called profiles already there just gives people some common way to call these features if they start building mods for UserSpice. I'm thinking I'll start with 3 columns in the database and the basic sql queries and then leave it up to users to do whatever they want with that stuff...or they can just not use it.
That's a great way to do it. I still want to get that audit table so I can roll it in to the admin panel and use some of the features. I hope all your stuff is going well.
I'm actually most of the way through the profile process. I have the view_all_users. The profile display page is done. Now I'm just making a little WYSIWYG way for the user to make a profile. Obviously there's not much in these to start with, but it's working.
The other reason I decided to take this on was that it was better to add the row creation to the user class when the new user is created. Now each new user automatically has a bio.
I'm finishing off the 3.1 top-nav redesign tonight/tomorrow so we could bring 3.1 up to a point.
If we get it polished up a bit, we can add some kind of auditing and then look to tweak it ready for 4x.
OP here. Much like the login system, I think when it comes to features, they should be viewed as more of feature hooks. User profiles ties in quite tightly with the user accounts, and the entire point is to make user management accessible for more common users who don't have the ability or time to generate the entire system.
This is where the tutorials and templates come in handy to demonstrate how to embrace and extend the functionality that is there, without modifying the core functionality and thus ensuring that updates are somewhat less painless.
And when it comes to the profile details, as long as the hooks are there to add and extend, then the user can do so to their hearts content. In my case, I'm developing a true threaded forum where important discussions will be held, and all I need is a link to some set of profile details. Even if it were just username and textblob so that posters can put a small list of their credentials, where they come from, and what experiences they have.
I agree the full "community" mindset with relationships or whatever goes way above and beyond user management.
