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We have a new article submission wizard!
The short version is we have a new article submission wizard (and updated systems) that provides
- An all new, single page article editor.
- An auto-save facility in case of crashes
- The ability for members to edit "edited" articles safely. No more needing to send in updates manually.
- Simplified references to uploaded files.
- A new "Alternative article" option that allows you to create alternate versions of existing articles
- An update for Tips n' Tricks so that they now use the standard article UI
- You can now upload images and downloads for blog and tip articles.
- The ability to easily switch article types (Make an article a tip, promote a technical blog to full article, etc)
The longer version:
About 6 months ago we finally had the time to revamp the aging submission wizard. I wanted a single page editor that allowed in-page (ie Ajax) file and that looked very much like what the final article would look like. The idea is that it would feel like you were editing the article in-place. Click on the title to edit it, upload a file and add the file to the content with a single click etc. And, of course, auto-save with a simple recovery model for those bad times.
I also wanted to address the need to allow our authors more access to their articles. Currently what we do is we pick the top articles and edit them. This editing corrects formatting, spelling, cleans the downloads and generally ensures that the article conforms to our standards. However, once an article is edited by an editor it is inviolate: it can no longer be updated online by the original author.
The reason for this is that, after spending so much time fixing articles, we were getting a little frustrated when members would go an re-edit the article's we edited and re-introduce all the errors we had fixed. This is understandable because they would often simply take the copy of article they had originally written, make corrections to it, then copy and paste it over whatever we had done. So we put an ednd to that for our own sanity and made a pact with ourselves (and with you) that we would be as fast as possible in posting updates you sent in.
However, this punishes those who are good authors for the sake of protecting the few that are bad, so we've come up with a compromise, and also a solution to a subtle problem.
Previously when you posted an article using the wizard, the article would be placed in a Pending queue and would be reviewed by other members who would then approve, disapprove, and/or comment on the article. After approval the article became public and everyone was happy. Except that the author could now edit their new article, upload a bunch of inappropriate material, and have it available immediately. The solution was to modify our system so that all edits of articles create a new pending version of the article. After editing, the old version will still be seen by most members, but moderators will be able to see (and approve) the new version. Once approved the new version replaces the old version and goes live.
In doing this we had to tackle a few issues with files. We choose not to store files as database BLOBs, but as system files, so where do we store your upload files while you're editing? When you start the submission wizard you haven't chosen a section, yet you can upload files. When editing an existing article you may need to upload new versions of files (updated zips or images) but we need to ensure the old version of those files and images are still available for the current article.
We ended up introducing a "Working" directory for your new uploads in order to separate out the old and the new, but this then made life difficult for those looking to reference files in their article's HTML. Previously we had the concept of a "Basename" for an article, which was effectively the name of the article's directory, and which author's used to reference an uploaded file (eg src="basename/myfile.zip"). We've abandoned that since it causes problems with name uniqueness, and in fact abandoned the whole concept of asking members to worry about directories. Now you simply reference an uploaded file by its filename, and we make sure we track things like which file (old or new) you're talking about, as well as ensuring we adjust the references in your articles during the various stages (composing to pending to available).
We've also introduced the concept of Alterative Articles. There are many, many articles that are no longer being maintained and this is a first step to allow other members to take over abandoned articles, or to simply provide different implementations such as a different language.
To provide a symmetric article experience we've now upgraded the Tips n Tricks articles to be displayed in the same manner as traditional articles (as well as their alternatives), and now make it very simple to convert a tip to a standard article, or to any other article type. No more complaint about short articles or long tips. We can quickly recategorise as needed.
This also brings a nice benefit: you can now upload images and zips to your blog and tips articles.
With regards to moving tips to the new UI - you might notice something a little weird with your rep. We moved all the comments that were associated with tips into their own separate forum for each tip instead of having the confusing comments-per-tip-plus-bonus-forum-at-the-bottom.
This release should be conidered a Beta release, so please send in all feedback and bug reports to the Bugs and Suggestions forum.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Good work Chris!
Chris Maunder wrote: In doing this we had to tackle a few issues with files.
Are all the quirks with that worked out now? I found something weird,. I have a pending update, but I am hesitant to let it go through as all the pictures are gone from "preview" page.
Is the preview not working with the pictures or will my "article get broken" if I go through with my changes?
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As far as we know the kinks are gone, but we have seen a couple of issues from bugs in our old system that only manifested once we moved to the new system. It's amazing how these bugs hibernate - like cicadas.
What is the URL of the article? I'll take a look and sort out whatever the issue is.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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I fixed up the links and it's all good now, though I think I may have inadvertently published a version of your article you were still working on. If you wish to rollback, go to the Revisions tab on your article, choose the version you wish to revert back to, and hit revert.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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All good, that is what I tried to do.
I see tha TOC links broke (or where broken already?). I can fix them later.
Thank you for the help.
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Hi Chris.
I had to roll back a few versions and put in my changes again. What is needed for me to make the new version "active"? Right now it says "pending"?
- Kjell
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High level members are constantly reviewing the Pending list. Once 5 of them approve it it's live. This is usually a quick process.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Hello,
When I try to publish my article, I see this error: "The content is either too short or default."
I don't know why? and What can I do to publish the article.
It's not a short article.
Do not criticise, if you don't have any better idea.
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Thanks for the great change Chris! 
Is it possible to roll back a change after updating? I mean just in case we find out something went wrong after updating an existing article (due to maybe a bug or malfunctioning).
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Meysam Mahfouzi wrote: Is it possible to roll back a change after updating
Absolutely. Hit the Revisions tab, choose the version you wish to use, and hit the Revert button.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Cool I like the new wizard, will be making use of it really soon
Sacha Barber
- Microsoft Visual C# MVP 2008-2012
- Codeproject MVP 2008-2011
Open Source ProjectsCinch SL/WPF MVVM
Your best friend is you.
I'm my best friend too. We share the same views, and hardly ever argue
My Blog : sachabarber.net
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Thanks Chris. Is there any possibility to upload the article from a HTML file?
Cheers,
Jani Giannoudis
Meerazo.com - Resource Sharing Made Easy | Co-founder
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This is something I've toyed with for a few years but never got around to fleshing out.
My idea was to allow you guys to fill in the template, then upload the template and have the submission wizard populated based on the template you uploaded.
Is that what you were thinking?
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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No. Currently I can get the article HTML for editing offline. I'm wondering how I can upload my offline document into the new Article Submission Wizard.
Cheers,
Jani Giannoudis
Meerazo.com - Resource Sharing Made Easy | Co-founder
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So even easier: just include the HTML file as one of the uploads and have the HTML appear inside the editor?
There's always simply the option of viewing the HTML in your offline editor, copying it, and pasting it directly into the editor...
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Many thanks Chris!
I didn't recognize the button '<>' for the HTML view. The symbol looks like the 'Insert HTML character' within the message editor. It would be more intuitive to label the button with 'HTML'.
Cheers,
Jani Giannoudis
Meerazo.com - Resource Sharing Made Easy | Co-founder
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Done!
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Great!
One small suggestion: to distinguish this view command better from the formatting buttons, you may right-align (editors right edge) the 'HTML' button.
Cheers,
Jani Giannoudis
Meerazo.com - Resource Sharing Made Easy | Co-founder
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One thing (bug?) I noticed was that the preview and the look after "submitted" was not the same.
The preview looked like I expected it too, but the look in the pending version that I only could see after submitting it looked different
example
This is some text in the html view
and for <bold>fun</bold> I make a line break (in the html view only)
This would in the preview look like
"This is some text in the html view and for fun I make a line break (in the html view only"
But in the submitted view it would look like
"This is some text in the html view
and for fun I make a line break (in the html view only"
I.e. the line break, only visible in the html view editor was visible in the "pending article / submitted" view as well.
I got quite confused of this and kept going back to modify the article until I have "corrected" the html view part as well --- just to avoid that it would look horrendous in its final look
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I noticed while editing your article that there were line breaks in the text which I corrected. These line breaks were actual HTML line breaks (<br/>), so for instance you had the line
For this reason <br />
it is always better to just do pre increments
which is rendered as:
For this reason
it is always better to just do pre increments
When you say "the preview" do you mean within the WYSIWYG editor, or when you hit the "Preview" button? If the former, then it could be that this line break matched the width of the editor screen so wasn't evident. If the latter then we have a bug!
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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With "preview" I mean the preview-button. At that time I thought it was very evident. Preview after preview-button was different from the view when the article was pending. ... but hey I did it at 2-ish at night so my mind was mush.
I.e. I think it's a bug, but I wouldn't stake my life on it.
Cheers
-- Kjell
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KjellKod.cc wrote: At that time I thought it was very evident
Just checking. Some consider the WYSIWYG a preview; some consider the preview to be what they saw in their offline HTML editor. I'm a cautious man.
A bug then. I will add it to the TODO list.
Thanks again for helping out with answering the endless questions.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote: Thanks again for helping out with answering the endless questions.
It was my pleasure. I am a huge fan of T.C.P and the spirit of its members. It's the best source of code learning out there. 
Great work by you guys
Cheers
-- Kjell
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I've tested both on live and on development and can't replicate the issue. It may have been an earlier bug we've since fixed. A few days ago I did reset the document format on a few articles that had been incorrectly set, and we also updated our rendering code.
In any case, if you see it again just let us know.
BTW - you have a ton of outstanding Draft versions of that article you recently published. Would you like me to clean up the debris for you?
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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