Blog Taxonomy

Taxonomy extension for RainLab Blog plugin.

Table of Contents

• Changes to Original Blog Plugin
  • Categories
  • Tags
  • Series
  • Types
• Translate Plugin Support
• Migration from Other Plugins
• Implementing Frontend Pages
  • Post Series Navigation
  • Posts in the Series
  • Posts With the Tag
  • Related Posts
  • Series List
  • Tag List
  • Related Series

Inspired by Blog Tags Extension and Blog Series plugins Blog Taxonomy adds both tags and series functionality in a high quality and reliable way. Every post could belong to a single series and at the same time it can have multiple tags assigned.

Changes to Original Blog Plugin

Categories

Categories are meant for broad grouping of your posts. Think of these as general topics or the table of contents for your site. Categories are there to help identify what your blog is really about. It is to assist readers finding the right type of content on your site. Categories are hierarchical, so you can define sub-categories.

Original blog categories were enhanced with ability to add posts while being on a single category page.

They were also placed in a new tag-like style along with tags and series in their own Taxonomy tab of a backend CMS blog page.

Also, categories can now (since version 3.0.0) have a cover image, and an array of featured images (cover_image and featured_images attributes respectively). Two new backend settings were added to enable or disable this extension.

Tags

Tags are meant to describe specific details of your posts. Think of these as your site’s index words. They are the micro-data that you can use to micro-categorize your content. Tags are not hierarchical.

Series

Series could help you to organize your posts in a single flow of related posts.

Types

Since 3.0.0 posts could have types assigned. Post types support can be enabled via backend settings for the plugin. The type is a set of properties that could be associated with the post. Types are being created and edited as separated models in the backend. Each post type defines several properties which are added as additional form inputs when a specific type is chosen.

Translate Plugin Support

Starting from 1.5.0 version Blog Taxonomy supports RainLab Translate plugin when it's installed. All tag and series fields could be translated.

Migration from Other Plugins

Starting from 1.12.0 version Blog Taxonomy supports migration from other plugins. Currently supported plugins are: BlogSeries.

The migration is done via console command:

artisan blogtaxonomy:migrate PKleindienst.BlogSeries

Use -h or --help to get usage help.

Migration example output:

**************************************************
*     Migration from PKleindienst.BlogSeries     *
**************************************************

Migrating series
2 series found
Series "Series 1" => Blog Taxonomy Series "Series 1" (#3)
Series "Series 2" => Blog Taxonomy Series "Series 2" (#4)
All series have been migrated

Migrating related series
Relation "#4" => "#3" added
Relation "#3" => "#4" added
Related series have been migrated

 Do you want to assign newly created series to posts (already assigned Blog Taxonomy series will be overwritten) (yes/no) [no]:
 > yes

Migrating series assigned to posts
Series "#3" has been assigned to a post
Series "#4" has been assigned to a post
Migrated series has been assigned

Migration from PKleindienst.BlogSeries finished

Implementing Frontend Pages

Post Types

Post types provide additional attributes which could be assigned to blog posts. Each attribute when created got its own code (like a slug for a Post, Tag, Series, etc.). This code can be used to access attribute values for individual posts. For this purpose such methods as were added:

typeAttribute(string code) - to get one attribute
typeAttributes() - to get all attributes

So, for example, if you have a "Rating" attribute with a rating code you can show it in the template like this:

<span>{{ post.typeAttribute('rating') }}</span>

Components

The Blog Taxonomy plugin provides several useful components with a basic markup for frontend usage. The default markup is not intended to fit to any existing frontend theme, it is just an example, so if the default markup is not suitable for your website, feel free to copy it from the default partial and replace the markup with your own.

Available components:

• Post Series Navigation (seriesNavigation) - provides navigation within the series for a single post.
• Posts in the Series (postsInSeries) - lists all posts in the supplied series.
• Posts With the Tag (postsWithTag) - lists all posts with the supplied tag.
• Related Posts (relatedPosts) - provides a list of posts related by tags.
• Series List (seriesList) - displays a list of series.
• Tag List (tagList) - displays a list of tags.
• Related Series (relatedSeries) - provides a list of related series.

Post Series Navigation

Component seriesNavigation provides navigation within the series for a single post. You can display, for example, next and previous posts in the same series, show series details and link to its page, etc.

Component properties:

• Post slug - get series navigation for the post specified by slug value from URL parameter; e.g. if post slug is :post the page URL must contain :post parameter which value will be used as post slug to retrieve the series;
• Series page - CMS page which contains postsInSeries component and is used to display a single series content and posts;
• Post page - name of the blog post page to display a single blog post content.

Posts in the Series

Component postsInSeries lists all posts in the supplied series. The component supports pagination and posts ordering.

Available properties:

• Series slug - look up the series using the supplied slug value from this URL parameter; e.g. if series slug is :series the page URL must contain :series parameter which value will be used as series slug to retrieve the series;
• Post order - attribute and direction on which posts should be ordered;
• Page parameter - calculate pagination based on this URL parameter;
• Items per page - how many items (if any) should be displayed per page, "0" displays all items;
• Post page - name of the blog post page to display a single blog post content;
• Category page - name of the category page to display a single blog category content;
• Include tagged posts - additionally include posts tagged with the tags from the current series;
• Include categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts only with these categories will be included into the list;
• Exclude posts - list of post ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; these posts will be excluded from the list;
• Exclude categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts with these categories will be excluded from the list.

Posts With the Tag

Component postsWithTag lists all posts with the supplied tag. The component supports pagination and posts ordering.

Available properties:

• Tag slug - look up the tag using the supplied slug value from this URL parameter; e.g. if tag slug is :tag the page URL must contain :tag parameter which value will be used as tag slug to retrieve the tag;
• Include series posts - additionally include posts which belongs to the series tagged with the current tag;
• Post order - attribute and direction on which posts should be ordered;
• Page parameter - calculate pagination based on this URL parameter;
• Items per page - how many items (if any) should be displayed per page, "0" displays all items;
• Post page - name of the blog post page to display a single blog post content;
• Category page - name of the category page to display a single blog category content;
• Include categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts only with these categories will be included into the list;
• Exclude posts - list of post ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; these posts will be excluded from the list;
• Exclude categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts with these categories will be excluded from the list.

Related Posts

Component relatedPosts provides a list of posts related by tags, e.g. posts which have some tags in common.

Available properties:

• Post slug - get related posts for the post specified by slug value from URL parameter; e.g. if post slug is :post the page URL must contain :post parameter which value will be used as post slug to retrieve the related posts;
• Limit - number of posts to display, 0 retrieves all related posts;
• Post order - attribute and direction on which posts should be ordered;
• Post page - name of the blog post page to display a single blog post content.

Series List

Component seriesList displays a list of series.

Available properties:

• Display empty series - whether to show series which don't have any posts assigned or not;
• Limit - number of series to display, 0 retrieves all series;
• Series order - how series list should be ordered;
• Series page - CMS page which contains postsInSeries component and is used to display a single series content and posts;
• Fetch related posts - if enabled, the component will fetch related posts, so they are properly (as published) available via posts property of the series item; it does an additional request, so decreases performance a little;
• Include categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts only with these categories will be included into the post count and post list associated with the series;
• Exclude posts - list of post ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; these posts will be excluded from the post count and post list associated with the series;
• Exclude categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts with these categories will be excluded from from the post count and post list associated with the series.

Tag List

Component tagList displays a list of tags. Can be used to build a tag cloud (because post count with each tag is available). It also can be used to retrieve a list of tags for specific post.

Please don't forget to use different aliases for components if you use the same component several times on the same page (presumably for different purpose)

Available properties:

• Display empty tags - whether to show tags which were no assigned to any posts or not;
• Tag order - how tags should be ordered;
• Limit - number of tags to display, 0 retrieves all tags;
• Expose total count - the component has totalCount property which would contain either overall amount of tags or amount of tags under "limit" only. For example you have 10 tags overall but you use a limit of 5. This will make component to display 5 tags only. With Expose total count enabled you could still get "10" in totalCount. And you'll get 5 otherwise;
• Fetch tagged posts - if enabled, the component will fetch tagged posts, so they are properly (as published) available via posts property of the tag item; it does an additional request, so decreases performance a little;
• Include series tags - if enabled, the component will additionally include tags applied to the post's series if the post has series and the series has tags;
• Debug output - allows to enable debug output to the browser's console. Need to be implemented by the theme;
• Fetch series post count - if enabled, the component will additionally fetch count of posts which belong to series tagged with this tag, so it will be possible to create more accurately weighed tag cloud;
• Include categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts only with these categories will be included into the post count and post list associated with the tag;
• Exclude posts - list of post ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; these posts will be excluded from the post count and post list associated with the tag;
• Exclude categories - list of categories ids/slugs (can be mixed together) separated by comma; posts with these categories will be excluded from the post count and post list associated with the tag.

Leave this as false if you do not require a whole total count, because it will give you more optimised result

• Include tag filter - whether to include a tag filter input or not. Tag filter is a text input with some JavaScript powered by mark.js that allows you to filter a tag list nicely. Use it if you have a lot of tags to display, because it would allow to search for a specific tag quickly. Possible values are "Never", "Always" and "When tag total count > limit". All of them are self-descriptive, but keep in mind that the last option should be used when both Limit and Expose total count enabled, because you'd get probably an undesired result otherwise. The component exposes tagFilterEnabled property which would be set to true when the filter assets are included and the filter could be used;

The default markup injects JavaScript into {% scripts %} placeholder so please make sure your theme has it. Also, the default code requires jQuery. If you do not have it, please make sure to adjust the code to fulfill your needs

• Post slug - get tags for the post specified by a slug value from URL parameter; e.g. if the post slug is :post the page URL must contain :post parameter which value will be used as post slug to retrieve tags;

It is not required to set it to a real value unless you want to display tags specific for the post

• Tag page - CMS page which contains postsWithTag component and is used to display a single tag content (its posts);
• Tags page - CMS page which probably contains tagList component and is used to display all tags you have;

Related Series

Component relatedSeries provides a list of related series. The same list could be fetched for individual series by accessing its property related_series. The only difference is that the component fills urls for related series.

Available properties:

• Series slug - look up the related series using the supplied slug value from this URL parameter; e.g. if series slug is :series the page URL must contain :series parameter which value will be used as series slug to retrieve the related series;
• Series page - CMS page which contains postsInSeries component and is used to display a single series content and posts.

Upgrade to 1.8.0

In 1.8.0 version Tag Page option for Tag List component was internally renamed, so the component settings need to be revisited and saved again.

Also some Tag List component properties were turned into private properties (they were not supposed to be used in user templates anyway). Please refer to release notes and check if it may affect you.

Upgrade to 1.12.0

Starting from 1.12.0 version Blog Taxonomy supports migration from other plugins. The first supported plugin is BlogSeries.

The migration is done via console command:

artisan blogtaxonomy:migrate PKleindienst.BlogSeries

Upgrade to 2.0.0

Internal logic has been changed significantly. Instead of many-to-many relations for one entity, polymorphic relations for multiple entities are now used.

That's why former cross-reference table ginopane_blogtaxonomy_post_tag becomes deprecated in this version and will be removed in future versions. The data from it will be migrated into a new pivot table ginopane_blogtaxonomy_taggables. For the case when something could probably go wrong, make sure to have a back up of your taxonomy tables.

Upgrade to 3.0.0

Previously deprecated table ginopane_blogtaxonomy_post_tag was removed.