Yes, but let me think about it for a moment or two. Actually quite a while as I'm about to get real busy for a spell.

Basically a "static page" would be a snapshot of your blog as it exists right now, so if you want a fixed entry page you'll want to check out [url=http://forums.b2evolution.net/viewtopic.php?t=14046]this post about custom $disp pages[/url].

The next trick, and the part I'm not sure of off the top of my head, is how you make your blog actually always point to this page when no other page is actually called for. It will NOT be your $baseurl in your conf/_basic_config.php file - of that I am quite certain.

Now I'm splitting this topic in half. Please friend: help us keep the forums tidy. I moved a real bug to the bug reports, but now this issue is much more appropriate in "b2evolution support".

Thank you for moving the bug to the Bug Forum.

As for the entry page issue, I looked at John's suggestion, which builds a custom page. The page I want doesn't have to be custom. It could be a regular b2evo Post or Page. I just want it to be the first thing people see whenever they go to my blog.

Got link? Show us what you got and explain what you want, please.

pannebaker.com/awanavan

I collect half a dozen or more kids from the neighborhood each week and take them to AWANA in a van. I want to explain to the parents what my philosophy of child raising is, what I expect from their kids, and what I hope to accomplish. I.e., where I'm coming from. I want that to be the first thing they see whenever they go to my blog.

John's suggestion would work, but you can do it even easier if you want posts on the 'static entry page'. Note that it won't really be static like an html page, but it will be non-changing and that's what you want right?

So make blog #1 be the default blog. Post info that you want to be there in the order you like.

ALL other posts go in different blogs. Create a blog for each destination, or perhaps for each outing? If you use blogs for each major grouping after the initial entry/explanation page you would still retain categories to 'drill down' information a little bit. You could then put your bloglist back in your header and people could navigate to the bit they want to find other than the main page.

You then always give out the main page URL and let interested parties find the bit they're wanting to learn about.

With this method you're doing no file editing at all - that's a plus?

So, let the bloglist be the main menu. I guess I could even put it in the sidebar instead of the heading.

Sounds like a lot of blogs, (one for each category). But, I don't have a better idea.

Thank you, sir.
Barry

Thinking more about your plans, perhaps only one other blog is all you need? I'm not sure, but I think you can put in your blog #1 sidebar a list of posts from blog #2. If not perhaps the categories from blog #2 can go there? Worst case is that you make a second blog and put the bloglist in the sidebar, then on the AWANA blog you list all your cats and subcats or whatever you think will let your visitors navigate your web.

It's really complicated because it's really deep software, but once you get to know it you'll be like "yeah this or that will work but that other way has a great benefit so ... ".

Best of luck with it!

Ed, I've been thinking more about it, too. I've asked my kids' parents to use RSS to keep up-to-date with changes I make. Two (or more) blogs would complicate that. (I'd want to make the blogs seamless, but they'd have to subscribe to each individual blog to get all the updates.)

I've thought of two other possibilities. One, write my "entry page" as a post with a future Issue Date, and set b2evo to show future posts. Then my entry page would always be on top. (I thought I remembered a place where you could set b2evo to show future posts, but in looking for it this morning I don't find it. Maybe what I was remembering was Post List, Filters, Posts to show, where you can show Future posts. But, that shows them only on that backoffice page, not to the public.)

(Or, I guess an alternative would be that after I post anything I could edit my "entry page" post's Issue Date to be one minute later than whatever I just posted.)

Second idea is to put "Please Read This" in big bold letters in my sidebar, and have it link to my "entry page" post, (which would no longer be an "entry page").

I think I'll go with the first idea for a while, (until I get tired of editing that Issue Date), and then go to the second idea.

But, Ed, thank you for your time in this. Without a knowledgeable person in effect telling me there's no way to do what I want, I might have wasted a lot of time looking.

1) create a new post type "on top" or whatever

2) use a stub file

3) change/add the following to the stub file

$orderby = 'ptyp_ID datemodified';

4) make your intro post and set its post type to whatever you called your new type

¥

¥åßßå, I'd like to try your idea, but it's not working.

I've put a stub file on my server, at /public_html/awanavan/awanavan.php It's content, (less some comments), is:

<?php
$blog = 4;
$show_statuses = array();
$timestamp_min = '';
$timestamp_max = 'now';
$orderby = 'ptyp_ID datemodified';
/**
 * That's it, now let b2evolution do the rest! :)
 */
require_once dirname(__FILE__).'/conf/_config.php';
 
require $inc_path.'_blog_main.inc.php';
?>

I've set Blog settings, AWANA Van, URLs, Blog base URL: Relative to baseurl: http://www.pannebaker.com/awanavan/awanavan.php

I've made a Post Type of "Opening Page", and saved a test page of that type. Then I saved a test post of type "Post".

The last thing posted still comes up on top when I open the blog. (I'm using pannebaker.com/awanavan to open the blog.)

Did you, perhaps, intend to write something other than 'ptyp_ID datemodified' in your "orderby" statement?

Barry Pannebaker wrote:

I've set Blog settings, AWANA Van, URLs, Blog base URL: Relative to baseurl: http://www.pannebaker.com/awanavan/awanavan.php

Try changing that to the selection that says you're using a stub file, then fill in the name of your stub file. I'm pretty sure that is required to use a stub even if your "relative to base" field seems to indicate a stub file. After that Yabba's suggestions are rarely off the mark.

If you want to do it without a stub file ( as you appear to from the way you call your blog up ) then just add the code to index.php

As you can see from calling your stub file ( [url=http://www.pannebaker.com/awanavan/awanavan.php]your stub[/url] ) it does actually work ;)

¥

EdB wrote:

Try changing that to the selection that says you're using a stub file....

¥åßßå wrote:

If you want to do it without a stub file ( as you appear to from the way you call your blog up )....

Sorry, lack of knowledge on this end, fellows. I do want to use the stub file.

In Blog settings > blog > URLs, the 'Blog base URL:' selections available (in 2.3.0cr1) are

Default blog in index.php(Current default : AWANA Van)
Explicit param on index.phpindex.php?blog=123
Extra path on index.phpindex.php/url_name
Relative to baseurl:http://www.pannebaker.com/awanavan/
Subdomain of basedomainhttp://url_name.pannebaker.com/
Absolute URL:

Which one should I be using?

Barry Pannebaker wrote:

The last thing posted still comes up on top when I open the blog. (I'm using pannebaker.com/awanavan to open the blog.)

If you want the post to come up when you use that url then the changes need to go in your index.php

¥

¥åßßå wrote:

If you want the post to come up when you use that url then the changes need to go in your index.php

That works! I'm thrilled! B)

I've added the $orderby parameter near the end of my index.php

# Additionnaly, you can set other values (see URL params in the manual)...
# $order = 'ASC'; // This for example would display the blog in chronological order...
$orderby = 'ptyp_ID datemodified';

// That's it, now let b2evolution do the rest! :)
require $inc_path.'_blog_main.inc.php';

?>

Changed my Blog settings > blog > URLs > Blog base URL: from 'Relative to baseurl' back to 'Default blog in index.php'.

And, renamed my stub file, (from 'awanavan.php' to 'wananvan.php'), so it won't be used. (And I'll delete it after I get your confirmation that I don't need it.)

And that works. I can call the blog with pannebaker.com/awanavan, and the Opening Page comes up on top. Thank you!

I think I understand somewhat how the $orderby = 'ptyp_ID datemodified'; parameter works. When I added the new post type, it's ID became the highest number ID of all types, (5001). And, apparently $orderby displays in descending order. So, anything of the new post type will be on top. Right? And, if I post more than one Opening Page type entry, 'datemodified' will put the one modified last on top, (descending order again, I suppose).

Now, if I were to add another post type, that would cause us problems, right?

Thanks,
Barry

That pretty much sums it up ;)

What you can do is change the ID in your database to a reaaaallllly big number so that if you create more post types they'll still have a lower number. If you do that it's best to do it before you make your Opening page post otherwise you'd also need to change the post_ptyp_ID in items__item as well ;)

You can safely delete your stub.

¥

Stub file deleted.

My thanks to Ed, Yabba, and those who've written the wiki.