Adding a mini admin to a webpage.
- by DADU
Hello
Picture this: you are creating a little module that people can incorporate into their website easily, for example, a little contact form.
It would consist of a PHP file that outputs some HTML, a Javascript file (ajax etc.), a CSS file and a CSS skin. Now the person who doesn't know much about coding wants to integrate it on a webpage (website/index.php). We could do this with three rules of code:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="module/css/module.css" />
<script src="module/js/module.js"></script>
<?php require_once 'module/module.php'; ?>
There's no doubt this part is questionable, right?
Now when we want to add an admin for this little module, there are two options:
Accessing the admin via an extra URL like website/module/admin.php
and after authentication, displaying
a page where the person can do all
the settings. The person then goes
back to index.php to see the
results.
Enabling the admin via an extra URL like website/module/admin.php
and after authentication,
redirecting back to index.php. The
person can now edit the module directly
(HTML5 contenteditable) and see
changes live, on the webpage where
everybody else will see it when the
person saves the changes.
Option 2 has a couple of advantages:
The person doesn't have to toggle between admin and index.php.
The person can see directly how it's looking at the webpage it's integrated in.
The person probably feels like the module is more part of the webpage/website.
Of course option 2 has some disadvantages too:
Not everything works well editing it inline.
The person would need to have an HTML5 compliant browser.
Probably some more I can't think of right now.
Now I have a few concerns that's I can't seem to see a clear answer to.
How would we let the person
integrate the admin on their
webpage? The admin files only need
to be included in index.php if the
person has choosen to edit the
module via the url
(website/module/admin.php). But how
can we do this if we have a
admin.css file that belongs in the
head section, an admin.php file that
goes into the body, and another
admin.js file that's included at the
end of the body?
How would we know the file that
admin.php needs to redirect back to,
after authentication? index.php
could be any webpage with any name.
Any real life website/web apps examples using this principle are welcome too.
If there's something unclear, I am glad to add additional info.
