Forum OpenACS Development: Re: relational segments: how do you use them

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Posted by Randy O'Meara on
Ola,
    I looked at the acs__add_user() pl code. It does an acs_user__new() and then a membership_rel__new() that relates the new user_id to the magic_object 'registered_users' (actually -2). Is this the relational segment you alluded to above? Is there another step that creates another relational segment that relates the user_id to "Main Site Members"? I didn't find it.

Tom,
    This discussion is very timely. I've been studying essentially this same problem for a long time now. I really would like to create subsite sub-groups and then assign subsite-wide permissions to users depending on their membership in these groups, creating a multiple-role system consisting of administrators, service managers, users, and auditors.

    Were you successful in creating sub-groups and then assigning permissions based on sub-group membership? If so, would you mind sharing the code, tables and pl functions that you developed to implement your "role" system?

Thanks,

Randy

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Posted by Tom Jackson on

I think the problem is the terminology we are using. Actually you don't have to think about adding a party to a relational segment. A relational segment is a simple way of grouping parties based on their rel_type to a group. It says in effect all parties that have rel_type x to group y are in the segment, like a segment of the population.

So the first step is to think of what kinds of relationships you want to be valid on a group. You then create the rel_type. The rel_type has to have a supertype that traces back to either membership_rel or composition_rel.

Once you have a group of the right type, and a party of the right type, you can make the party a member of the group using either membership_rel__new or composition_rel__new, making sure the rel_type attribute is set to your new rel_type.

Now if you want a relational segment to group parties based on their rel_type to the group, you use rel_segment__new to do that. You just need to name the segment, and know the group_id and the rel_type for the segment.

For every party with a rel_type of the right type to the group, rows will be inserted into party_approved_member_map (assuming you used 'approved' for the member_state attribute to membership_rel__new).

What do rows in this map represent? They represent aliases for the party. All registered users have an alias id of -2. In other words, a party can get permissions on an object_id by virture of permissions given to one of their aliases. If you look above at my printout for member_id = 823 from this mapping table, you will see all the 'alias' party_ids. These ids are joined to the grantee_id in the acs_permissions table for permission checks, therefore the map explodes the member_id into a list of grantee_ids.

All that is left is to assign the privilege you want to the alias (group, relational segment or party) or grantee. The key to understanding all this (for me) was this sublime piece of code:

select 1
 from acs_permissions p, party_approved_member_map m,
 acs_object_context_index c, acs_privilege_descendant_map h
                 where p.object_id = c.ancestor_id
                   and h.descendant = permission_p__privilege
                   and c.object_id = permission_p__object_id
                   and m.member_id = permission_p__party_id
                   and p.privilege = h.privilege
                   and p.grantee_id = m.party_id
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Posted by Tom Jackson on

Anything this sublime needs more commentary, don't you think? This join, used in acs_permission__permission_p, combines The Holy Trinity of OpenACS Core: Objects, Parties, Privileges. The result, when the join succeeds, is One. Maybe everyone should meditate on this join as their first assignment to understanding OpenACS. :)

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Posted by bob phillips on
how long since you slept, tom ?

oth, this is a devine thread. ;)

bob

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Posted by Tom Jackson on
how long since you slept, tom ?

Shoot, I was hoping noone would notice! Actually I spent most of last week flat on my back and in severe pain from a back strain/sprain. The fog cleared at the moment I saw Don's little jewel of code.