Thread

Hi,

Can ExpressionEngine be used for an Extranet or Intranet,
where users are required to login and will have access to files and content specific to them?

From what I’ve read, it doesn’t do this out of the box and I’ll have to user add-ons/modules/plugins at extra cost?

Is this correct?

If it isn’t could someone explain how I would go about building it.

Many thanks/

Hello UKFreelancer,

Thank you for posting your question.

ExpressionEngine can do this out of the box. It is made easier and more manageable with Add-Ons. Please note that in ExpressionEngine one member = one group which means users would belong to either group A or group B, but not both. For example a group that can see content as opposed to a group that cannot.

For logging in you could use a SafeCracker form on the front end.

Assets might be a great Add-On for your example allowing you to map uploads to one directory.

I hope this answers your question. If you have any more questions, please let me know and I will do my best to answer those for you.

Cheers,

Basically you create the site as you normally would.  Then create a member group with the proper access privileges. Then go through and set access at the template level - making sure all templates are only available to the member groups you want.

You actually don’t even need safecracker to login - you can use:

{exp:member:login_form return="site/index"}

http://ellislab.com/expressionengine/user-guide/modules/member/index.html#login-form-tag

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the assist. Appreciate it!

Thanks,

Thanks for all the advice, really appreciate it.

What I’ve got at the moment are template_groups based on the Clientname, member_groups based on the Clientname and Categories based on the Clientname. I restrict Channel entries by Category, as some content will be for all Clients and some won’t.

What I need now, if it’s possible, is to have a way to Create all these in one go, without having to manually Add New Template Group, Add New Member_Group, and Add New Category. Is there a module/extension/plugin that does this?

Are there any modules for alternative ControlPanels or “Build your Own” control panels?

I haven’t seen anything like that, no.

You might be able to handle the templates through some clever naming - using conditionals & segment values to pull the right content, etc, but there’s no getting around the channel creation.

Hello UKFreelancer,

Thanks for chiming in Mike. Appreciate it.

Is there anything else we can help you with UKFreelancer?

Cheers,

Thanks for all the help: (I’ve posted this in the community forum as well, as I need as much help as possible)

I’ve now started my first ExpressionEngine project for a training centre’s extranet, where they will tailor content to a specfic company and just wanted to get some Feedback to see if I’m building it the right way, and if anyone else would build it differently.

The requirements:
Site can only be accessed via a login which admin will provide.

There will be one admin person creating all the content, no community interaction yet (but there may be some commenting put in later).

Each client will be given their own URL: e.g.

http://www.myextranet.com/google for google customers
http://www.myextranet.com/yahoo for yahoo customers

Once logged in:
Home Page:
- Will display personalisation welcome message with users name
- Will display supplied content relating to details about the innovation centre
- Will display links to other site pages to include
- Agenda with company specific session details.
- Attendees
- Menu for lunch break
- Documents, area where admin will put pdfs/word docs etc
- Contact/Support page
- Training Centre Information

Front end delegate login
- Simple front end login, tailored to the client
  e.g. google would have google’s logo, yahoo would have yahoo’s logo.
 
Backend admin
- Admin login
- Manage clients and users
- Scheduling seesions for the agenda
- Personalised content per client
- Add, amend and update text content of site
- Upload and manage files

I’ve started by creating TemplateGroups (named google, yahoo etc)
Then have templates for each of the pages e.g. (index, agenda, menu, documents etc)
I have setup Channels for each of those pages e.g. Agenda, Menu, Clients etc)
I then have entries in those channels categorised using the clientname as the category.

It is working in a fashion, but it is starting to get very messy in the backend for the admin person to manage i.e. when they Add a new client, they have to add a new templategroup based on a default group, add a membergroup, add a category etc…

As this is my first ExpressionEngine project, thought I’d get as much help as possible!
Would you have built it this way?
Or is there a better way to build it?

Any help much appeciated,

UKFreelancer

Hello UKFreelancer,

This all looks very thought out. I am happy to hear you have posted this in the community help forum as well.

You mentioned that you have started working on your project and created some groups. Do you have a license? I am not seeing one on your account.

Let me know!

Cheers,

Personally I do not have a license, however the agency/client that I am working for do have a license.

It was me who suggested using ExpressionEngine, as originally they wanted me to build a CMS from scratch using CodeIgnitor, but timescales are extremely tight!

As EE2.0 is built on CodeIgnitor, I thought that the best route to go.

Hi UKFreelancer,

If your agency could email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with their license number and your forum username we can add a “support credit” to your account. This will allow you to post in the tech support forums and get full support for your license.

Sean

Thanks for all the advice,

I have just sent an email from my agency email account with the relevant details.

UKFreelancer.

Hey UKFreelancer,

Thanks for that follow up. Much appreciated.

It sounds like ExpressionEngine might be a really good fit.

You should be hearing back from us soon.

Cheers!

Thanks for all the responses.

I believe the support credit has now been applied.

Do I need to re-post this in the Support section?
There has been a slight change to the requirements, were the client now wants a user to be able to select their lunch menu options.

Many thanks,

UKFreelancer.

Hello UKFreelancer,

I think the better place to post your questions would be the Community Help Forum where you will get more input on implementation and suggestions around the “how-to” portion. The community is really great about coming along side fellow ExpressionEngine users and working through practical uses.

There are also several forums/contact options associated with the various Add-Ons that you have selected. I know those will be helpful as well.

Mike, who has posted to this thread, has written tutorials and a book that are really helpful.

Is there anything else I can help you with?

Cheers,