Does $Post[Posts] return a String or Numeric ?

[mistyPotato]

Hello All!

I would appreciate anyone giving me a bit of advice on this.....

I cannot get the value of $Post[Posts] to act like a number so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe this variable needs to be converted to a number for certain operations to work on it?

Thanks for your time :up:

[Kirk Y]

It returns an integer. Where are you trying to use it?

Keep too in mind, that $Post and $post are two totally different variables. If you're using $Post[Posts], you should be using $post[posts].

[mistyPotato]

Hello Kirk and thanks for the reply :up:

Gee, you're the first to tell me that Post and post are different variables. Now I'll go back and see if maybe that's been the problem. I've been trying to use a post count conditional in the post bit legacy template to place a graphic on the left (in the Users information box) based on their post count but so far I haven't been able to get it to work.

Here's the suspect :) code....

<if condition="$post[posts] > 1000"><img src="images/misc/Contributor1.gif"></if>

I've tried changin this every way I could imagine but it still doesn't work. Should I be using the CAPITAL P?

Thanks a million!
MP

[Kirk Y]

Nope, that's how it should be. Make sure you've got the image pointing to the correct path. You should also be using a self-closing tag: <img src="/image/gif.gif" />; but that wouldn't affect it displaying either way.

[mistyPotato]

Wow.

This is my dilemma. Everyone's told me "Yep. it's correct"....but it doesn't work :erm:

If I change the condition to something other than > 1000, such as == 1000, then it works...
so I know the image location is correct.

Seems the conditional does not like the greater than symbol :confused:

[Kirk Y]

Are you certain that the user's have more than 1,000 posts?

[mistyPotato]

We'll, their post count says over 3000 and when I look in the SQL tables I see members with over 1000 posts.

Isn't this odd ?

[Kirk Y]

Hmm... quite.

Okay, let's try going about this another way. Create a new plugin using hook location "postbit_display_start" with the following:
if ($this->post['posts'] > 1000){
$image = '<img src="images/misc/Contributor1.gif" />';
}

Place $image in your postbit where you'd like the image.

[Adrian Schneider]

Once it hits 1000 it is "1,000" so the comma is messing up your comparison.

[mistyPotato]

Thanks again for your help Kirk. It's VERY nice of you to give of your time like this.
It is definitely appreciated.:up:

I added the plug in in hook but I wasn't sure how to add the $Image in the Post Bit Template.
(Did I mention I'm using the Legacy Post Bit Template?)

Do I just put $Image in the template where I want the image to appear?

Sir Adrian, I was Wondering about that. But if that were the case, anything UNDER 1000 should work...but it doesn't seem to either.

What's the difference between posts and postcount?

MP

[Kirk Y]

Once it hits 1000 it is "1,000" so the comma is messing up your comparison.

I didn't realize that they were treated differently.

Thanks again for your help Kirk. It's VERY nice of you to give of your time like this.
It is definitely appreciated.:up:

I added the plug in in hook but I wasn't sure how to add the $Image in the Post Bit Template.
(Did I mention I'm using the Legacy Post Bit Template?)

Do I just put $Image in the template where I want the image to appear?

Sir Adrian, I was Wondering about that. But if that were the case, anything UNDER 1000 should work...but it doesn't seem to either.

MP

Yes, place $image wherever you'd like it displayed -- and remember $image and $Image are two totally separate variables.

[mistyPotato]

Kirk....Kirk....Kirk..............

I THINK YOU'VE DONE IT. :up:


I've looked over about 100 posts and so far, the image IS showing up exactly where it should!

After struggling with this all day, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your expertise and help with this. Thank you for taking the time to follow through on this.

I wonder why it wouldn't work the other way :confused:

I would NEVER have thought to use a plug in like that.

I owe ya!

Best Regards,
MP

[Kirk Y]

I really don't know why it wouldn't work; unless it is as SirAdrian suggested, that 1000 and 1,000 are treated differently.

In any event, I'm glad it's working for you.

[Adrian Schneider]

Your code works because the plugin is processed before it adds the commas in. But yeah, that's why (for future reference). I've seen this happen to 3-4 different people know so it's an easy one to spot!

[mistyPotato]

Thanks to you both :up:

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Like SirAdrian already mentioned, $post['posts'] is NOT numeric, but formatted so it is a string.

Doing a numeric comparison on a string will first cast the variable to numeric ('1,000' will result in the longest integer possible from the start of the variable, resulting in '1' - everything after the comma gets ignored).

If you want to run a conditional on this, you will need to create a plugin that stores the original numeric value in a seperate variable, before formatting occurs.

[Kirk Y]

Interesting, I never realized this.

[Dismounted]

Most numeric values displayed by vBulletin are formatted with vb_number_format().

[Kirk Y]

I actually discovered that last night while I was looking at the Forumhome statistics.