Business directory feedback

Brandon Meyer this may give Ross FCA more ideas💡

David Scurlock I just wrote a post with a list of needed hooks, filters, and api endpoints that, among other things, would make developing a directory in Fluent Community much easier, but if Ross is working on a directory plugin already before those extension points are available good for him!

He can also review the implementation of SpacesEngine on my platform at https://collabanthnetwork.org/community/spaces/. Note that the directory listings in SpacesEngine also have their own activity feed that's integrated with the community's main activity feed, but it's a pro feature on my site, implemented with a Paid Memberships Pro integration that I developed (see https://github.com/indigetal/pmpro-spacesengine).

I've been watching Fluent Community for awhile and checked in again ahead of possible Black Friday deals, but it's still missing critical developer tools to develop the kinds of custom features and plugins that I would need to remake for feature-parity. I have no idea if the team is working on it or if they've even seen my post - I got crickets when asked about it here and on facebook...

Brandon Meyer maybe Ross FCA will find this useful. Thank you

Brandon Meyer if it is missing critical developer tools then you should create a post about it and post under feature requests, then tag Shahjahan Jewel and keep bringing it up from time to time.

Brandon Meyer Hey Brandon, is SpaceEngine yours? I've not begun development on a business directory yet but as I'd be building it from scratch to work with FC routes, structure, variables etc, I don't envisage any roadblocks. It would basically just be my events plugin but the event page is a business page.

I'm trying to provide needed functionality while avoiding overlap with core FC features and any other 3rd party add-ons. Would rather look at covering all the bases than creating competition.

Ross FCA No, Ben Roberts developed Spaces Engine but I've done some development work for it. Building something within FC's current structure is feasible, but feature parity with Spaces Engine is currently more work than it's worth (baking in a major refactor once Fluent Community matures into a properly extensible platform like BuddyBoss/BuddyPress), and without those integrations the question becomes, why not use any number of directory plugins available in WordPress then in the meantime?

For instance, there is NO API to register custom activity types like BuddyPress's bp_activity_set_action(). You can store custom object_type values in the Reaction model, but there's no helper function or Vue component to easily add "like" buttons to custom content. The Notification model supports custom notification types, but again there's no helper function so you'd need to manually create notification records and wire up handlers. There's no Profile Meta Box API for user profiles to add settings or register custom meta fields...

Spaces Engine listings are just custom post types `wpe_wpspace` with a `WP_Spaces_BP_Component` wrapper class that extends the BP_Component API.

Fluent Community uses custom fcom_spaces database table with models and hooks for space, user, and feed, and doesn't have a standard "Component API" to wrap CPTs into social entities. So to replicate Spaces Engine in Fluent Community, you'd need to create the directory listings CPT or custom table and then wire it into Fluent's social ecosystem. However, Fluent Community is missing at least 6 essential extension APIs so you'd have to create custom REST endpoints, Vue.js components, and manually wire into FC's systems in order to develop a Spaces Engine-equivalent in Fluent Community.

David Scurlock I did, it's at https://community.wpmanageninja.com/portal/space/community-meta/post/api-gaps-that-limit-third-party-plugin-d and also on the Fluent CRM facebook group. I'm still waiting for acknowledgement from Shahjahan Jewel 

Brandon Meyer I like the CA site.

Brandon Meyer I read your comment carefully as if I were an experienced developer, but I didn't understand a thing. 😆

Jéjé immobilier lol - all you need to know is that if those things were provided in Fluent Community it would blow the door wide open for third-party plugin integrations.

I've been advocating incessantly for this for a week now and I'm pretty sure I'm being ghosted, so maybe they're reserving the right to build at that level in FC for themselves. However, if that's the case, I don't know why Shahjahan Jewel didn't just build it with Directus, Nuxt, and Vue - or maybe Pocketbase instead of Directus for built-in realtime without having to do all the WebSocket work. Directus is a more user-friendly, extendible, and type-safe CMS without all the WordPress overhead.

They are arguably building an ecosystem but actually the Vue components and database schemas can be adapted.

Brandon Meyer I also have the feeling that FC doesn't really support or making it difficult for 3rd party developers and if this is the case, then fc may never live up to its full potential.

David Scurlock Probably for the best. Remember how many companies buddied up with 3PDs, only to crush them later? Twitter, Google, Slack, and Open Source advocates like WordPress, Joomla, and so many others.

John Coonen im just saying, 3rd party dev can take FC to the next level, more sales for fluent/fc and for serious 3rd parties that would be promoting their products.

David Scurlock Not disagreeing with you. I was part of the leadership team of a 3PD. I've seen it from both sides.

It's a WordPress plugin though, and a central tenet of WordPress is collaboration in an open source community. It's also the reason for its continued success. Without the huge community of developers working to build tens of thousands of plugins aligned with WordPress standards, it would just be an outdated PHP-based framework with a wonky implementation of React added in the Gutenberg project.

There are modern CMS's with much better architecture but they can't compete with WordPress's ease of use and plugin ecosystem.

Still, there are a number of developers that leverage all that WordPress has to offer and then use their own success to build a wall made of lock-ins and all-in-ones. I'm not sure that's what's happening here, FC is still young, but there are clues that WPMN is already walking down this path. To be fair, BuddyBoss is guilty of this too as a fork of BuddyPress, bbPress, and a number of other smaller plugins.

John Coonen Yes, the most feasible option is to develop a basic integration with an existing directory plugin, especially one with existing or planned integrations with Fluent CRM/Cart.

For instance, you can display listings on profile pages using fluent_community/profile_view_data, and associate listings with Spaces using FluentExtendApi::addMetaBox.

Barring a clear roadmap for the missing extension points, Fluent Community's full potential is still largely prospective so I'm going to stay focused on BuddyBoss/BuddyPress plugins for now. I'll continue keeping an eye out though!

Brandon Meyer there are not that many BD plugins on the market, and from that, there maybe one good directory, and doubt they would integrate into FC. Why would they for a few FC paying customers?

David Scurlock No, but it is better to integrate with an existing directory plugin than create an entirely new one - in either case the available integrations are the same, few, and basic. Developing a directory plugin with deeper integrations would be exceedingly difficult, and if/when the extension points are provided it will not only be easier to do so, it will most likely completely change how something like a directory plugin for Fluent Community is developed in the first place. So if there's enough demand in the FC community, an integration plugin - even from an independent party - is the best solution in the interim.

Brandon Meyer  Ahah! I was wondering whether Metabox would come into the picture.