[pmwiki-users] Block Link Creation from Group

[Patrick R. Michaud]

On Tue, Feb 27, 2007 at 04:57:57PM +0000, Hans wrote:
> 
> Sivakatirswami's question was about blocking new page creations from
> an existing group. 

To me, it's not really clear what the original question is asking.
His question doesn't say "an existing group", it says "any group":
    
    How can one block creation of new pages in any group
    where, for example, {$Group} = TODO*  ??

And the subject says "link creation", not "page creation".
That's why my response was specifically tailored to answering
the question of limiting the creation of groups.

> So maybe the question needs refining:
> After initial creation of a number of pages in a group, how can we
> block creation of any further pages by authors editing the existing
> pages?
> Or as the topic subject suggest: How to block link creations in
> existing groups with a certain groupname pattern?

I don't like the phrase "block link creations" -- it sounds
as though one is trying to prevent authors from adding links
to a page.  I think we're trying to prevent the creation of new
pages.

There's lots of ways to do this.  An easy way is to create
an $EditFunction that disallows creating new pages:

    function CreateDisallowed($pagename, $page, $new) {
      global $EnableCreatePages, $EnablePost, $MessagesFmt;
      if (IsEnabled($EnableCreatePages, 1)) return;
      if (PageExists($pagename)) return;
      $EnablePost = 0;
      $MessagesFmt[] = 'Creation of new page blocked';
    }

Then, to block creation of new pages, one simply sets

    $EnableCreatePages = 0;

This can be done in a local/Group.php file to block new
pages for that particular group.  To block creation of new
pages in groups matching a given pattern (say, all groups
beginning with 'TODO'):

    if (preg_match('/^TODO/', $pagename)) 
      $EnableCreatePages = 0;

Of course, the CreateDisallowed() function and/or $EnableCreatePages
setting can be made more sophisticated  -- e.g., to allow admins
to create new pages even though others are blocked.

Pm