Since my very first install of punbb (years ago) I've wondered why the process of adding forums to categories is so awkward.  I was browsing the screenshots for 1.3 and thought... "I can't hold my tongue any longer."

Here's my suggestion:  Instead of adding a new forum and then naming it and then choosing the position (as seen here: http://punbb.org/docs/screens/original/ … ation.html )...

how about after choosing the category there is a text field for the new forum title and also a number to enter the relative position.  Let's change a multi step process into a single submission.   Just always felt silly to create, edit, rename, save, edit position, save, etc. etc. etc.

Heck as long as I'm making "Add / Edit Forum" requests, how about having the forum names be editable directly on the admin_forums.php page?  I don't have to hit edit to edit the Position... how about the same thing for Forum title?   Have both fields editable and have a master "submit/update" button for both positions and forum titles.

This is an amazing mod.   Almost too simple to implement and use... I couldn't believe how easy it was to install and use.  Koos, I hope you stick around for a long time to keep creating mods!!!

Regarding leaching bandwidth.   I use to be more worried about this then I am now that BW allotments have been increasing for hosting accounts.    This may be rudimentary, but so far it works for me:

1)  Limit the size of the files that can be uploaded.  If it is 200 kb then only so much damage can be done at once.
2)  Keep an eye on your bandwidth... if you see a spike, check your logs to see where it is coming from.
3)  If my logs show a single image eating up a ton of BW I would delete the image and ban the user.

Other than that, the only way to really keep a handle on this (other than the ways you guys are already discussing) is to have a max # of image downloads per day, etc... but then everything (I believe) would need to pass through a DB, etc.

The main thing I'd like to see added is the ability to resize the original image on upload so members can just resize to meet the max limit on the spot.

bingiman, yeah, I know it's confusing, sorry.  I posted the info in the hopes that some of the coders on this forum would either:

1)  Use it as it is, or hack it to work on their systems
2)  Clean it up and turn it into a real modification

Again, I'm very far from being a programmer... I'm the idea / implementation guy that puts stuff together.  I was simply posting what I believe are the mods my programmer implemented in an effort to give back to the community.

Your first question:  mod_easy_bbcode_PT.php:  Good catch!  This is actually my modded mod_easy_bbcode.php file so I can revert to the original easybbcode mod if I need to.

Your second question:  I didn't put the line / code # where this mod begins as I didn't want people who didn't know what they were doing to implement it and come back yelling at me that it didn't work.  Hope that makes sense.

Again, it would be cool if one of the programming genius types wanted to take the foundation I have above and turn it into a mod or two... just sharing what I've got available to help out this great community!

Hey All,

Let me start off by saying I didn't code this myself.  I had a programmer code it, so I won't be able to provide too much assistance in troubleshooting.   Anywho, here's what I've got:

Mod1: easyBBcode (used Rickard's cool mod)
Mod2: Mofication to easyBBcode mod - Only show the first 11 of about 40 smilies (by defauld the easyBBcode mod shows all smilies)
Mod3: Modification to post.php - Show / Hide "extended" or extra / new smilies


Here is a comparison screenshot of the smilies hidden and showing:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/images/smiliey.gif


Here is the code for the second mod that shows only the first 11 smilies:

<?php

// Display the smiley set
require_once PUN_ROOT.'include/parser.php';

$smiley_dups = array();
$num_smilies = count($smiley_text);
$m=0;
for ($i = 0; $i < $num_smilies; ++$i)
{
    //limit to first 11
    if($m>11) break;    
    
    // Is there a smiley at the current index?
    if (!isset($smiley_text[$i]))
        continue;

    if (!in_array($smiley_img[$i], $smiley_dups))
    {
        echo "\t\t\t\t\t\t\t".'<a href="javascript:insert_text(\''.$smiley_text[$i].'\', \'\');"><img src="img/smilies/'.$smiley_img[$i].'"  alt="'.$smiley_text[$i].'" /></a>'."\n";
        $m++;
    }

    $smiley_dups[] = $smiley_img[$i];
}

?>
                        </div>

Here is the code for the show / hide section:

<table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
    <td width="80%"><IMG SRC="images/clearpixel.gif" WIDTH=350 HEIGHT=1"><textarea name="req_message" rows="20" cols="95" style="border: solid 1px #a5acb2;" tabindex="<?php echo $cur_index++ ?>"><?php echo isset($_POST['req_message']) ? pun_htmlspecialchars($message) : (isset($quote) ? $quote : ''); ?></textarea></td>
    <td width="250" nowrap align="left" valign="top"><?php require PUN_ROOT.'mod_easy_bbcode_PT.php'; ?></td>
  </tr>
</table></div>
<!-- end modified block -->
<label><br />
</label>
                        <ul class="bblinks">
                            <li><a href="help.php#bbcode" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;"><?php echo $lang_common['BBCode'] ?></a>: <?php echo ($pun_config['p_message_bbcode'] == '1') ? $lang_common['on'] : $lang_common['off']; ?></li>
                            <li><a href="help.php#img" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;"><?php echo $lang_common['img tag'] ?></a>: <?php echo ($pun_config['p_message_img_tag'] == '1') ? $lang_common['on'] : $lang_common['off']; ?></li>
                            <li><a href="help.php#smilies" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;"><?php echo $lang_common['Smilies:'] ?></a>: <?php echo ($pun_config['o_smilies'] == '1') ? $lang_common['on'] : $lang_common['off']; ?></li>
                        </ul>
                    </div>
                </fieldset>
<?php

$checkboxes = array();
if (!$pun_user['is_guest'])
{
    if ($pun_config['o_smilies'] == '1')
        $checkboxes[] = '<label><input type="checkbox" name="hide_smilies" value="1" tabindex="'.($cur_index++).'"'.(isset($_POST['hide_smilies']) ? ' checked="checked"' : '').' />'.$lang_post['Hide smilies'];

    if ($pun_config['o_subscriptions'] == '1')
        $checkboxes[] = '<label><input type="checkbox" name="subscribe" value="1" tabindex="'.($cur_index++).'"'.(isset($_POST['subscribe']) ? ' checked="checked"' : '').' />'.$lang_post['Subscribe'];
}
else if ($pun_config['o_smilies'] == '1')
    $checkboxes[] = '<label><input type="checkbox" name="hide_smilies" value="1" tabindex="'.($cur_index++).'"'.(isset($_POST['hide_smilies']) ? ' checked="checked"' : '').' />'.$lang_post['Hide smilies'];

if (!empty($checkboxes))
{

?>

Hopefully I pulled in all the correct code

Let me know what you think.  Do you see any issues with the code / implemenatation?

This is a great idea!  The only problem I discovered is that if someone uses Google in the subject of their post it puts the whole bbcode in the post title / subject.

A lot of people abreviate my site as BYC in the forum and it would be soooooo cool to link all those to the site.  Too bad that when I just tried it, about 15 titles blew up.

elbekko, I installed the Easy Custom Smilies mod, but was surprised that I couldn't edit the names / details of the individual smilies.  That's one of the things I really like about the punbb_smilies mod. 

I like your mod's concept, but to be completely honest, I really do like the interface of the other smilies mod that looks like the pic below.  The main reason I'm not using that mod is that it isn't backwards compatible with existing smilies:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/img/getimg/smilies_mod.jpg

Very interesting idea, thanks...

BTW, I couldn't find the smiley menu screenshot.

I didn't think about this before, but I'm noticing that as I add new smilies that they are all being added to my easybbcode mod.  This is fine for 3 - 5 new smilies, but my community will probably want to add 30 - 40 of varying sizes and shapes.   This would make my post.php page SUPER huge and ugly.    Is there a way to either:

1)  Have the smiles hidden but have a link either open up a window with smilies or in a new window?
2)  Have the basic 12 smiles be available via easybbcode, but have the rest only be available by typing in the smiliey code?

Thanks much!

SOLD!  wink

I'll give it a try and provide any feedback.    I love punres, but the one thing that drives me crazy is that there aren't screenshots for every mod that has a GUI element to it.   I would LOVE to see screenshots <hint hint> for both of these mods.  I've seen some mods where there is a quick screencap of each version along side the download in the "files" section. <hint again>  big_smile

60

(44 replies, posted in PunBB 1.2 discussion)

I'm a huge supporter of PunBB being slim, sleek, and secure.  This is the #1, #2, and #3 reasons why I use it over all the other options.

wobo, I would love to see an extension created (for 1.3) that will have the functionality you described.  Of all the features requested on all of my forums... this is the one that is most consistently asked for.   

Nice thing (as I understand it to be) about an extension, is that if it starts to really drag down performance it can simply be unplugged, right?

Come on elbekko... sell me on your solution!   wink

Does it fulfill the following:
1)  Super easy for non-tech admins to use
2)  Secure and fast (adheres to punbb philosophy)
3)  Will be backward compatible with existing smilies
4)  Will work with "Easy BBCode"
ALSO: 5)  Will it be easily convertible to punbb 1.3 ?

Seriously though, I think your solution (found here: http://www.punres.org/viewtopic.php?id=207 ) looks really good, but am mostly concerned about integrating into the DB and compatibility with punbb 1.3.    Any thoughts?   Also, what are the pro's / con's with putting these into the DB?  I'm sure there is a reason why Rickard didn't originally put smilies into the DB, right?

Thank for your thoughts (and anybody else who wants to add their 2 cents!)

Hey everyone!

I've got a community that loves their smilies / emoticons.   I want the other admin users to be able to load up the mods and I'm wondering which of the mods / plugins for GUI smiley submissions people are using?

A few of my personal top features:

1)  Super easy for non-tech admins to use
2)  Secure and fast (adheres to punbb philosophy)
3)  Will be backward compatible with existing smilies
4)  Will work with "Easy BBCode"

I really thought punbb_smilies would work perfectly for me, but I can't get it to work with existing smilies (see here: http://www.punres.org/viewtopic.php?id=938)

BTW, some of these mods store the files in the DB and some don't.  Which method do you think is better and why?

Also, if you are using custom smilies, how do you present them to users?  Do you show all the custom smilies and allow a click to insert (like easy BBcode)?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions!

63

(18 replies, posted in PunBB 1.2 troubleshooting)

This sounds like an excellent tool!   I like the idea of backing up the DB w/out the search table (since this is such a large portion of the DB and can be re-created easily).   

I hope to see further tweaking refining of this.  Keep up the good work!

64

(27 replies, posted in PunBB 1.2 troubleshooting)

Paul wrote:
elbekko wrote:

Because over 60% of the world's internet users use IE6/7?

Make that more like 85%.

More like 90%.   I have quite a bit of diversity in all the sites I host.  Tech sites tend to have more of a 80 / 20% split while non tech sites can be up to 95 / 5% split.

65

(142 replies, posted in PunBB 1.2 discussion)

Well, my new forum is growing like gangbusters:

http://stats.punres.org/info.php?id=404

How funny, my forum ID is 404   I hope that isn't a bad omen!  tongue

It will be interesting to see how my server handles the growth and at what point I need an upgrade.

66

(11 replies, posted in Feature requests)

Smartys wrote:

I actually had an idea: use the patch file.

Agreed, the patch file has been working pretty well for me so far.  It is the next best thing to a one button solution. 

The only thing I can think to make it easier would be some way to upload and run the patch file from within the admin interface (that would be so cool).  If that can't work, how about uploading the file via FTP and then visiting a URL to process the upload?   Or does this run into the same permission issues?

EDIT TO ADD:

Also, is it possible to combine the patch file and upload script into one process available through the Admin console?

67

(11 replies, posted in Feature requests)

Very valid points Smartys, thanks!    Regarding problems if something goes wrong or mods:  I'd assume that the alternative upgrade steps would still be available, but once 3.0 comes out I would think that upgrading the core wouldn't effect extensions (is that correct?).

Thats one of the things that excites me the most of version 3 is that (again if I understand correctly) extensions will be easier to apply and won't effect the core, and upgrading the core doesn't necessarily effect the extensions.

68

(11 replies, posted in Feature requests)

Hey Gang,

I'm a huge fan of punBB and have it running on a lot of sites.  The only frustration is when there is an update to punBB I've got to go through the upgrade process for every single forum.

Starting with the new and exciting version 3 of punBB is it possible to create a one button upgrade?  I'm not a programmer, so I'm sure I'm missing something since the majority of scripts don't have a one button upgrade.  You usually have to download the zip, upload all the files, run some upgrade script, etc. etc. etc.   I have seen a few scripts that provide an upgrade button, so I'd like to believe this is possible.

Anywho, it would be great to log into punBB as admin and get a notification pop up saying,

"A newer version of punBB has been released.  Backup your site and then click the button below to upgrade to the new verion."

Man, that would be SWEET! big_smile

I've got a community where many members couldn't resize an image to save their life.  In the absence of this cool mod, I've pointed some of the more talented ones to download irfanview (for windows), or just go to one of the many sites that offer online resizing for free.

This would be an interesting plugin for sure.

70

(38 replies, posted in PunBB 1.2 discussion)

Rickard wrote:

We'll have at least PM, "Easy BBCode" and attachments. I'd like to get polls out as well, but it's not a priority.

Yes, Yes, and Yes!   I think you're spot on with the MFAFM  (most freequently asked for mods)... way to be in tune with your community.

Dang I can't wait for this to come out!

teenagegluesniffer, you're a genius!  That worked like a charm!   I copied header.php to header2.php and in index.php I simply redirected the call to header to header2.

I then inserted my php include at the top of header 2 and voila... everything is working perfectly!

Thanks everyone!

Well, here's a little more info.  I want to put the image (which is being called using a php script) into the header of the forum.  A few follow up questions:

1)  I just found out that the main.tpl file doesn't work with php includes (duh.. I guess I should have known that).  How do I get a php include header at the top of every page?

2)  Going back to my first request, best case scenerio would be to pull in the PHP include only into the forum index.php page.  Any way to do this easily?  Paul said to edit the code, but I don't have any idea where to do that.  I'm guessing it isn't as easy as sticking the following in the right place in the index file:
<?php include("/header.php"); ?>

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Great suggestions, thanks guys!  Yes, I want to place an actual image at the top of the index.php page, not a link.   I'll do some experimenting and see if I can get it to work.

Thanks all!

Any new thoughts on this?   I'd be surprised if there isn't a way to put an image at the very top of my index.php page.

Thanks!

Thanks, but what I'm looking for is actually to be able to place an image above the forum, but just on the index page, not a background image.