GSOC 2011 Idea : WordPress Triggers and Actions
I am Bharadwaj, a graduate student at University of Minnesota. This is my proposal for GSOC 2011 – WordPress.
In a sentence :
GUI and framework for creating and mapping triggers and actions.
A little longer:
There are two arguments that triggers and actions could be useful.
Argument 1: There are times when you wish the system performs certain actions. For instance, if a new user registers, send them an welcome email. If you update an old post, make it sticky for a while.Redirect users to a notice page after they login.
Argument 2: The wordpress hook and actions is a very rich set of libraries and almost every plugin makes use of one or more of wordpress hooks. For example, there are a lot of plugins, which just add content to the bottom of the post – example a bookmark or share this plugin.
In both the above cases, it can be useful if users were able to define rules which state that certain actions should happen when certain triggers are pulled.
This is highly influenced by wordpress hooks and also by drupal triggers and actions.
I propose a plugin or core component of wordpress which are detailed by terms of functionality.
Triggers:
The main interface list all triggers. There will be a default set of triggers. Users will also have the ability to add/edit/delete triggers.
Example Triggers:
1. User comments on post
2. New user Registers
3. User saves a post
4. User updates his profile.
5. Admin approves/deletes a comment
6. User views a post.
7. User Logs in
8. User Role Changes
Actions:
A default interface to perform basic CRUD operation on actions.
Example Actions:
1. Send Email
2. Redirect to URL
3. Append to Post Content
4. Add javascript
5. Add Stylesheet
6. Turn off Comments in a Post
7. Ping
8. Display a Message
Mappers:
This screen will allow the users to associate one or more actions to one or more triggers.
1. When new user registers -> Send email to all users – Kind of notify and welcome
2. When viewing a post -> Append to post content – A share this button [Remember this is currently implemented by a plugin]
3. User Logs in -> Redirect them to a information page.
4. User updates his profile -> Display some message, perhaps a thank you.
5. Old Post Updated -> email author of post
6. When viewing a post -> Append javascript, May be this chart js plugin is used only on this page.
In all the above examples, it was very clear that the site administrator would be able to have a lot of control over the site without having to reply on specific plugins, many of which may not exist.
Experience :
PHP : Advanced
WordPress : Plugin/ Theme Developer [ Author of Super Events Plugin - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/super-events/]
Work Experience : 4 years, Currently working as a PHP developer in a startup in Minneapolis. Resume : http://bharad.net/resume.html
Academic performance : HCI, UI Design, Advanced algorithms, Database Structure and Implementation
Open Source Projects : I have started a few projects on github and have been pretty active despite my graduate school and 20 hours/week work schedule. https://github.com/teraom
Why WordPress? : I personally own at least 50+ websites than run on wordpress. I am an active participant at Minneapolis-St.Paul WordPress user group. This is a chance to give it back to the community. OK, Bragging rights sound sweet! 
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