Batch editing/adding/deleting

[onjegolders]

I think one thing which would really add to the ease of setting up and managing sites within PW would be added batch functionality.

One small example, I had added a dozen or so new users as a testing process and I wanted to delete them.

To do so I had to click each one individually, then click delete, then check the box to confirm and repeat eleven times.

This is no great hardship but I believe it's a good example of the occasional bottleneck in the backend.

Of course this can be done in the API and Ryan's even helped me to create my own batch delete form in the past but it just feels odd having to do this through one of my templates.

I should also point out that Soma has done some great work on a module to add some batch functions but I think if pages had checkboxes and delete/edit functions on them it would be a great addition!

[Marty Walker]

+10 to anything that aids in batch moving/deleting/creating pages.

[Soma]

Maybe still no the best, but you can also use this great module by Nico to add a delete action to page tree. http://modules.processwire.com/modules/process-page-delete/

Open admin tree and browse to users, delete one after another.

BTW I think this module doesn't belong to Process module but Admin Helpers, Nico?

[onjegolders]

Maybe still no the best, but you can also use this great module by Nico to add a delete action to page tree. http://modules.processwire.com/modules/process-page-delete/

Open admin tree and browse to users, delete one after another.

BTW I think this module doesn't belong to Process module but Admin Helpers, Nico?

You're right Soma, it's very useful but I still think there's call for a an admin-wide way of performing batch operations. For all that PW feels light years ahead of other CMS I find the "3 steps for one action" thing a bit limiting.

[Philipp]

For all that PW feels light years ahead of other CMS I find the "3 steps for one action" thing a bit limiting.

This is nice if your client is using the side and you're not longer developing the site. Then it's a little bit of a security measure not do easily delete pages, users and stuff. 

In Development on the other hand, it's really sometimes a little bit frustrating. I'm always using the "Page-Delete" and the "Page Copy" Modules just to be faster. 

Maybe a solution would be a switch - if debug or development modus is active, you get those easy delete links and batch operations. If not, everything will require some more steps for security.

[onjegolders]

This is nice if your client is using the side and you're not longer developing the site. Then it's a little bit of a security measure not do easily delete pages, users and stuff. 

In Development on the other hand, it's really sometimes a little bit frustrating. I'm always using the "Page-Delete" and the "Page Copy" Modules just to be faster. 

Maybe a solution would be a switch - if debug or development modus is active, you get those easy delete links and batch operations. If not, everything will require some more steps for security.

You may be right Philipp, but I feel that it's something that should be in there. PW is by far and away the best system I have ever used and I find this exclusion surprising, considering how prevalent it is on most other systems.

[apeisa]

I always use api for bulk creating and deleting. Few lines of magic and superpowers.

[onjegolders]

I always use api for bulk creating and deleting. Few lines of magic and superpowers.

I agree, you can use API for all these tasks but that's a very strange way to do it in my opinion.

These are all operations you want to perform in the admin, surely? And you want a reasonably responsible client to have access to it too.

[apeisa]

Nope for clients and when I am developing it takes very little time to first loop and echo and then loop and delete.

But I agree that there definitely are developers and clients who would prefer admin tools for that kind of functionality. I just don't personally think that as a high priority since those are quick to do from API.

[onjegolders]

Nope for clients and when I am developing it takes very little time to first loop and echo and then loop and delete.

But I agree that there definitely are developers and clients who would prefer admin tools for that kind of functionality. I just don't personally think that as a high priority since those are quick to do from API.

So if a client had to add 15 events or delete 20 users, then they shouldn't be able to do it? This is the bread and butter of creating, editing, deleting data, surely this should be very high on the list of priorities?

[apeisa]

I'd say it is super rare situation when client needs to delete 20 users, so that shouldn't be a high priority or dominate the UI design.

Adding 15 events/pages is a more common situation. While I think creating multiple pages is already pretty smooth, that is something where "power tools" comes in handy. I think there are already bunch of modules to allow batch adding/removing/editing of pages?

When we start adding all the features to the core, we are soon having more buttons and actions than Word has. 

[onjegolders]

I don't think it would need to dominate the design at all. You're talking about ticking boxes or multi selecting then a select box with a context menu.

It's all about being efficient in handling the content and fields/templates.

If you think about it, it's a huge part of what the CMS is:

Adding fields and templates, creating pages, updating them, publishing them, unpublishing them, deleting them, changing user access.

Surely being efficient at all this is the system's "bread and butter".

I think the various modules help plug a gap but I don't see this sort of functionality as occasional or project-specific and hence I see it very much as part of the system core.

[caribou]

I agree with onjegolders - we manage 100s of pages as map placemarks, and I can't ask users to delete hundreds of pages by hand if an import goes south. I also want to be as hands-off as possible, and I'd much rather give them the ability to do this.

Edit: playing around with Batcher, it might do the trick.

[apeisa]

I don't think that bulk editing tools aren't useful, I think quite opposite. But I think that it is a feature that not every site needs and also can be easily done through API or custom module. So my personal opinion would be having this kind of tools as modules instead of core features.

[OrganizedFellow]

I always use api for bulk creating and deleting. Few lines of magic and superpowers.

So how would this work?

Could you share a little snippet?