imRating – an ImpressCMS infrastructure module
Since last weekend, I have been working on imRating, an ImpressCMS module that will provide a standardized way for modules to handle voting of content and showing ratings. The module is based upon the structure of the similar imTagging module.
This is what I call an Infrastructure module. The main goal of it is to provide a service to other modules in such a way that they don’t have to reinvent the same functionality over and over again. In the first release of the module, there won’t be any fancy rating stars or javascript-based animations. The service will simply accept numbers for the individual votes, and return numbers if the rating of an object is retrieved. All the fancy stuff is to be added later, or even provided by the module, if something weird is needed that nobody else thought about (or wants).
I’ve been working with the latest version of imBuilding in the SVN repository, and although there are some quirks consistent with the alpha-release status, it is working quite well as initial step. Next step will be to get a closer understanding of the do’s and don’ts of the IPF framework.
In ProjectPier, those are items on my current task list. I plan to have a working first version by the end of this month, and propose it to the other icms developers for review and suggestions.