Free CMS for structured data. Exist?
Are there any free CMS that allows you to create your own complex data types that have many fields of different types, and is it convenient to operate with them?
My experience further.
Having set out to create a small thematic portal, I designed its model and divided all the data into several interconnected entities. Each of the entities has several fields of different types: text, value from the list, picture, attached file, date, link, link to an item of the same or a different type. Fields can be multiple. This structure allows you to conveniently filter data and link them together.
It was also necessary to create templates for list pages, detailed pages, blocks of related elements and filtering / sorting blocks for list pages.
Having formulated these needs, I decided to look for a CMS suitable for working with such data. Anticipating the question “why didn’t you write a site on the% cool_family% framework?” - because writing a convenient backend for such data structures is a laborious and difficult task .
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I reviewed the most popular free CMS on PHP: Drupal, Joomla, CMS Made Simple, MODx, DataLife Engine. None of them fully met the requirements. As it turned out, most of them in the basic configuration generally do not provide the ability to add your own fields to various types of materials and somehow work with them .
The closest was probably Drupal. It at least had support for custom fields and the ability to create your own views (views) with complex selection / sorting conditions for them (for that, you really had to put together a whole package of modules, CCK + Views + CCK fields).
But even there were many unpleasant moments. For example, to support various types of fields, I had to download many separate modules. Why all this functionality was not implemented directly in CCK is a mystery to me. Also, I have not figured out yet whether it is possible to edit templates manually, and not from the administrative interface. Views Help states that normal-type templates are stored in the database, which means it is unlikely to succeed.
I haven't found anything better than Drupal yet, even though my last review about it was very unflattering. Maybe someone had to solve similar problems, and you know convenient CMS for working with such data structures?
My experience further.
Task
Having set out to create a small thematic portal, I designed its model and divided all the data into several interconnected entities. Each of the entities has several fields of different types: text, value from the list, picture, attached file, date, link, link to an item of the same or a different type. Fields can be multiple. This structure allows you to conveniently filter data and link them together.
It was also necessary to create templates for list pages, detailed pages, blocks of related elements and filtering / sorting blocks for list pages.
Having formulated these needs, I decided to look for a CMS suitable for working with such data. Anticipating the question “why didn’t you write a site on the% cool_family% framework?” - because writing a convenient backend for such data structures is a laborious and difficult task .
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What was needed from the CMS
- Work on PHP5 and MySQL 5;
- Convenient interface for creating your own data types with various fields;
- A wide range of fields of various types. Dates, files, images, links, bindings to other elements;
- Ability to create templates manually using html + css + js, using in them placeholders for substituting data from the fields;
- Assigning selections / sorts by created data fields;
Recruitment
I reviewed the most popular free CMS on PHP: Drupal, Joomla, CMS Made Simple, MODx, DataLife Engine. None of them fully met the requirements. As it turned out, most of them in the basic configuration generally do not provide the ability to add your own fields to various types of materials and somehow work with them .
The closest was probably Drupal. It at least had support for custom fields and the ability to create your own views (views) with complex selection / sorting conditions for them (for that, you really had to put together a whole package of modules, CCK + Views + CCK fields).
But even there were many unpleasant moments. For example, to support various types of fields, I had to download many separate modules. Why all this functionality was not implemented directly in CCK is a mystery to me. Also, I have not figured out yet whether it is possible to edit templates manually, and not from the administrative interface. Views Help states that normal-type templates are stored in the database, which means it is unlikely to succeed.
Summarizing
I haven't found anything better than Drupal yet, even though my last review about it was very unflattering. Maybe someone had to solve similar problems, and you know convenient CMS for working with such data structures?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/57667/
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