Welcome to django-postman’s documentation!¶
This is an application for Django-powered websites.
A list of available translations is maintained in the Wiki.
Your contribution to the translations is welcomed here.
Basically, the purpose is to allow authenticated users of a site to exchange private messages within the site. In this documentation, the word user is to be understood as an instance of a User, in the django.contrib.auth context.
So it is mainly for a User-to-User exchange. But it may be beneficial for a subscriber to receive inquiries from any visitor, ie even if non authenticated. For instance, a subscriber as a service provider wants an ask-me-details form on a presentation page to facilitate possible business contacts. In this case, the visitor is presented a compose message form with an additional field to give an email address for the reply. The email is obfuscated to the recipient.
What is a message ? Roughly a piece of text, about a subject, sent by a sender to a recipient. Each user has access to a collection of messages, stored in folders:
Inbox for incoming messages
Sent for sent messages
Archives for archived messages
Trash for messages marked as deleted
In folders, messages can be presented in two modes:
by conversation, for a compact view: the original message and its replies are grouped in a set to constitute one sole entry. The lastest message (based on the time) is the representative of the set.
by message, for an expanded view: each message is considered by itself.
Here is a summary of features:
A non-User (email is undisclosed) can write to a User and get a reply (can be disabled by configuration)
Exchanges can be moderated (with auto-accept and auto-reject plug-ins)
Optional recipient filter plug-ins
Optional exchange filtering plug-ins (blacklists)
Multi-recipient writing is possible (can be disabled by configuration) with min/max constraints
Messages are managed by conversations
Messages in folders are sortable by sender|recipient|subject|date
‘Archives’ folder in addition to classic Inbox, Sent and Trash folders
A Quick-Reply form to only ask for a response text
A cleanup management command to clear the old deleted messages
It has support for optional additional applications:
Autocomplete recipient field (default is ‘django-ajax-selects’), with multiple recipient management
New message notification (default is pinax-notifications)
Asynchronous mailer (default is django-mailer)
Moderation¶
As an option, messages may need to be validated by a moderator before to be visible to the recipient. Possible usages are:
to control there is no unwanted words in the text fields.
to make sure that no direct contact informations are exchanged when the site is an intermediary and delivers services based on subscription fees.
Messages are first created in a pending state. A moderator is in charge to change them to a rejected or accepted state. This operation can be done in two ways:
By a person, through the Admin site. A specially simplified change view is provided, with one-click buttons to accept or reject the message.
Automatically, through one or more auto-moderator functions.
Filters¶
As options, custom filters can disallow messages, in two ways:
user filter: a user is not in a state to act as a recipient
exchange filter: criteria for a message between a specific sender and a specific recipient are not fulfilled
Contents: