movabletype/mt-plugin-workflow

The Worfklow plugin for Movable Type provides fine-grained control over which authors may publish content.

Workflow, a plugin for Movable Type

• Authors: Six Apart
• Copyright: 2006-2010 Six Apart Ltd.
• License: GPL
• Site: http://www.movabletype.org/

Overview

The workflow plugin is designed for users of Movable Type who require fine-grained control over which authors may publish content.

Requirements

• MT 4.x

Features

Workflow allows you to grant publishing permission to only the authors you choose (editors), while other authors (contributors) may only save entries as drafts. Once satisfied with their entries, contributors can transfer their entries to an editor who may then publish the entry to the blog.

Documentation

Workflow steps are defined on a per-blog basis right now. To see the list, open up the 'Manage' menu and select 'Workflow.' New steps are always created at the end of the workflow. Steps can be associated with roles or authors. When transferring an object to the next step, a new owner will be chosen by selecting the user (from the list of users associated with the next step) whose most recent workflow status change is oldest (i.e. one who hasn't made any changes in the longest time).

Entry Transfer

To transfer an entry to another author, simply click the "Transfer ownership of this entry" link at the bottom of the edit entry page for an existing entry. Then select the author to whom you wish to transfer the entry and click the "Transfer" button.

Publish Control

To enable the publish control feature of Workflow for a particular blog, click the "Edit Publish Permissions" link at the bottom of the main page for the blog. A number of options will be presented. Selected the most appropriate one for your setup and click the "Define Permissions" button.

To administer the publish permissions, assuming the current author has permission to grant publish permission, simply click the "Edit Publish Permissions" link at the bottom of the main page for a blog that has been setup for use with Workflow. Select the checkboxes to reflect the permissions desired and click the "Update Permissions" button to save the selections.

Template Tags

Workflow provides template tags that provide access to the original author of an entry (determined the first time an entry is transferred). For each MTEntryAuthor* tag that Movable Type provides, Workflow provides a corresponding MTEntryCreator*.

Installation

1. Move the Workflow plugin directory to the MT plugins directory.
2. Move the Workflow mt-static directory to the mt-static/plugins directory.
3. Move all of the .php files in the php directory to the php directory.

Should look like this when installed:

$MT_HOME/
    plugins/
        Workflow/
            [plugin files here]
    mt-static/
        plugins/
            Workflow/
                [plugin static files here]
    php/
        [plugin PHP files here]

TODO

• Add transformer callback to insert entry creator column into entry listings.
• Add transformer callback to alter the entry status dropdown in the entry edit page (to what? remove Scheduled? change "Published" to "Finished" for folks who cannot publish?).
• Clean up old unused cruft.

Support

This plugin is not an official Six Apart release, and as such support for this plugin is not available.