Share content between sites

[carlomanf]

This is one of the two major features of this plugin, the other being #2.

If a post/page exists on the parent site, and the parent grants permission, any of its children sites should be able to re-publish that post/page.

Furthermore, if a child site creates a post/page, and the parent grants permission, any of the sibling sites (or the parent site) should be able to re-publish that post/page.

[carlomanf]

Some notes on how this will work.

When the parent initiates the share:

• Nothing happens to the original post/page
• The child is able to re-publish the post/page on demand
• Upon re-publication, a new post is added to the child table with post type network_post
• This post initially has no post content or post meta of its own, but pulls from the parent tables
• Its post parent references the original post in the PARENT table
• Its post author is whoever re-published it
• If the parent updates the original, the changes are reflected on the child
• If the child adds post content or post meta, it overrides the parent content
• The child can revert the post/page back to the parent version, in which case content is erased from the child tables

When the child initiates the share:

• The admin on the parent site first must grant permission
• If permission granted, a new post/page is created in the parent tables, which is a duplicate of the original
• The post on the parent site is assigned to the same author as the original
• Admins on the parent site can modify the post, including post author
• The original is converted to post type network_post and its post content and post meta erased
• The post parent of the original references the new post in the PARENT table
• The post author remains what it originally was, regardless of change on the parent site
• The child can override the parent content in the same way as if the parent initiated the share

Regardless of who initiated the share:

• If the user who edits the child version is the same user who happens to own the parent version, the edits are applied to the parent version, NOT the child version.
• If the user who edits the child version is NOT the same user who owns the parent version, the edits are applied to the child version only, leaving the parent version unchanged.

[carlomanf]

When the parent initiates the share:

• Nothing happens to the original post/page

Actually, this won't work, because then any child site should be able to re-publish anything from the parent site without the parent's permission.

What will have to happen to the original post/page is the addition of a post meta, _supernetwork_share, that indicates it is a shareable post/page. If this post meta is not present, child sites will not be able to re-publish it even if they hack their own database.

This post meta would also be added to the parent version when the child initiates the share and the parent approves it.

Related, I'm not sure that using a separate post type network_post for the child version is a good idea after all. It may be better to keep the authentic post type and just add a post meta, _supernetwork_post_parent, that confirms it is linked to a post on the parent site.

[carlomanf]

As of 23b7129, it's possible to add or remove the post meta _supernetwork_share to any post or page on a main site. There is not yet any functionality to it.

I will close this issue because it does not refer to any specific task, but the notes can still be used for reference and new issues can be created for specific enhancements of this feature.