Speech-mark turns to " in result of a query

[sparklywater]

I have this function which trims the thread-title of the latest posts after a query fetches the latest posts. Everything works well except I've noticed that if this query trims the thread-title at a speech-mark ( " ) , instead of displaying the speech-mark in the result it shows &quo... instead. But if I increase the cut-off by a few more characters then the speech mark is displayed correctly. How can I make the query display the speech-mark without it displaying '&quot...' at certain lengths of cutoff?

Here is the query to trim the thread-title:

if (strlen($row['thread_title']) > $vbulletin->options['latest_trimplusthree'])
{
// adds the cutoff ... with substr
$row['thread_title'] = substr($row['thread_title'], 0, $vbulletin->options['latest_trim']) . '...';
}

--------------- Added 1220329262 at 1220329262 ---------------

someone help please...

[sparklywater]

has this been posted in the right section?

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Try using multibyte functions instead. So mb_substr() instead of substr(), and mb_strlen() instead of strlen().

[sparklywater]

Thanks for your reply, I've just tried that but it still shows &quo... in the results.

--------------- Added 1220440916 at 1220440916 ---------------

This is the query which fetches the latest posts:

// query to get the last posts
$query = $vbulletin->db->query_read_slave("
SELECT
post.postid, post.pagetext as pagetext, post.userid, post.username, post.dateline AS date,
thread.forumid, thread.title as thread_title, thread.threadid,
forum.forumid, forum.title as forum_title, thread.replycount as replies, thread.views as views
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "thread AS thread
INNER JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "post AS post on (post.postid = thread.lastpostid)
INNER JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "forum AS forum on (thread.forumid = forum.forumid)
WHERE post.visible = '1' AND thread.visible = '1' AND open = '1' AND $platest_and AND $platest_and_1
ORDER BY postid DESC
LIMIT $plimit"
);

[Opserty]

Try the fetch_trimmed_title (http://members.vbulletin.com/api/vBulletin/_includes---functions.php.html#functionfetch_trimmed_title) vBulletin function instead.

[sparklywater]

Try the fetch_trimmed_title (http://members.vbulletin.com/api/vBulletin/_includes---functions.php.html#functionfetch_trimmed_title) vBulletin function instead.

Thanks but I have no idea how to use that function.

[Opserty]

Did you click the link and read the function description? ;)

[sparklywater]

Did you click the link and read the function description? ;)

How can I make that function work with this query:

// query to get the last posts
$query = $vbulletin->db->query_read_slave("
SELECT
post.postid, post.pagetext as pagetext, post.userid, post.username, post.dateline AS date,
thread.forumid, thread.title as thread_title, thread.threadid,
forum.forumid, forum.title as forum_title, thread.replycount as replies, thread.views as views
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "thread AS thread
INNER JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "post AS post on (post.postid = thread.lastpostid)
INNER JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "forum AS forum on (thread.forumid = forum.forumid)
WHERE post.visible = '1' AND thread.visible = '1' AND open = '1' AND $platest_and AND $platest_and_1
ORDER BY postid DESC
LIMIT $plimit"
);

[Opserty]

You don't use it in the query... you do it to the title you've fetched.

[sparklywater]

The query has the following line which fetches the thread title, doesn't it?

SELECT
thread.title as thread_title


I have to use that query to get the latest posts on the forum, but the part I'm stuck on is using a function to correctly trim the thread-title of these latest posts.

If I use the function you linked to, I would have to make it work with this query which fetches the actual posts, is that not correct? The title itself isn't enough because I need the thread-titles to link to the latest posts.

[Dismounted]

You run the function when you're looping through the results - not in the query itself.

[sparklywater]

You run the function when you're looping through the results - not in the query itself.

I looked in /includes/functions.php and found the following lines of code:

// ################################################## ###########################
/**
* Trims a string to the specified length while keeping whole words
*
* @param string String to be trimmed
* @param integer Number of characters to aim for in the trimmed string
* @param boolean Append "..." to shortened text
*
* @return string
*/
function fetch_trimmed_title($title, $chars = -1, $append = true)
{
global $vbulletin;

if ($chars == -1)
{
$chars = $vbulletin->options['lastthreadchars'];
}

if ($chars)
{
// limit to 10 lines (\n{240}1234567890 does weird things to the thread preview)
$titlearr = preg_split('#(\r\n|\n|\r)#', $title);
$title = '';
$i = 0;
foreach ($titlearr AS $key)
{
$title .= "$key \n";
$i++;
if ($i >= 10)
{
break;
}
}
$title = trim($title);
unset($titlearr);

if (vbstrlen($title) > $chars)
{
$title = vbchop($title, $chars);
if (($pos = strrpos($title, ' ')) !== false)
{
$title = substr($title, 0, $pos);
}
if ($append)
{
$title .= '...';
}
}

//$title = fetch_soft_break_string($title);
}

return $title;
}

//


Now if I use the above code as it is in my page it doesn't work, ie. no trimming of the thread-titles. I've tried changing the value of $chars from -1 to other values like 45 but that doesn't work either. Do I need to change anything else for this code to correctly trim the thread-titles?

Can you please give an example of the code I need to use?

[Opserty]

fetch_trimmed_title() is a function, you use it like any other function such as substr() or rand() or mysql_query() or something. It is just a user defined function, nothing special.

fetch_trimmed_title (line 641)
Trims a string to the specified length while keeping whole words
fetch_trimmed_title (string $title, [integer $chars = -1], )
string [B] $title: String to be trimmed
integer $chars: Number of characters to aim for in the trimmed string
boolean $append: Append "..." to shortened textThat tells you what variables you put into the function. (It is the same as when http://php.net/substr lists what parameters are for the substr() function)

[sparklywater]

what does the -1 in ' integer $chars = -1 ' mean?

Can someone refer me to a website / tutorial which would answer these kind of questions?

[Dismounted]

Look in the function's code - you even posted it. It's one of the first lines of the actual function.

[sparklywater]

Look in the function's code - you even posted it. It's one of the first lines of the actual function.

I know it's the number of characters to aim for in the trimmed string, but I was asking specifically about the negative value, ie. why the number of characters is a negative value ( -1 ).

[Opserty]

Dismounted meant you should read the PHP code, for the function, you yourself have already posted...

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1614218&postcount=12

(Read it line by line if you need to :p)

[sparklywater]

that doesn't answer my question, and you're not helping.

[Opserty]

Go to the 15th line of the PHP code you posted... I don't need to help you. The answer is staring you in the face. ;)

If, after you've read the 15th line (and the few lines after it) and I mean after! (No cheating :p) You still don't understand, post the 15th line and 3 lines underneath it.