Forum OpenACS Improvement Proposals (TIPs): Re: Add new "file" content type to acs-content-repository

Hi Dave,

I wasn't sure why you need a new type but I understand it's basically to enable search only on "searchable" content.

Thinking aloud:

So the diference between generic content and the one you need is its visibility. But really you're talking about "generic content".

I wonder if creating a new type is the right thing to do to solve the "searchable" thing. A type should remain a type and not a way to store a property of the object (searchable).

If the main concern is searchability, a different acs-type does not seem to be a good solution to me. If one would like to change an item from searchable to unsearchable (or vice versa) one has to change its type (or maybe some supertype in its type hierarchy). This does not seem right.

Within xowiki, we use the publish_status for changing visibility (publish_status 'production' means "not yet ready", invisible to search; status 'ready' means visible). this works quite well, it changes as well the visability in some includelets, or for example the external visablilty (rss, google site-map index, etc.)

Another option would be certainly to add to cr_items/cr_revisions (not sure what i am opting for) an attribute "searchable".