Who's Post are you replying to?

[BasilFawlty]

I am a recent convert from UBBThreads (well, I will be once I get my brand-new VB install working). Anyway, one thing that UBBThreads does that VB does not, is to indicate who you are replying to if you just click "Reply" in a specific post. I know that if I click "quote" in a post, then you will know because the quoted info will tell you who you are quoting - that's great. However, in VB, if I click the reply button in a specific post, then it puts my reply at the bottom of the thread, but doesn't tell me who I was replying to. It looks like I'm just replying to the original thread's starting post. I would like to be able to have VB indicate who I am replying to like UBBThreads does, even if I don't quote someone, but only click the reply button at the bottom of their thread.

Say I have a thread started by user "Fred" and there are several replies in this thread. One of the replies is by user "Wilma". If I click the reply button under Wilma's post, I would like my reply, which will be placed at the bottom of the thread, to indicate that I was replying to Wilma and not just to the starting thread post. In other words, I'd like it to loook like this:

RE: Some Topic [Re:Wilma]

Instead of just: RE: Some Topic

Does such a mod already exists? If not than consider this a request.

[Eosian]

It actually already shows this if you view in threaded mode, instead of flat mode.

https://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/vboptions_group_threadedmode

[BasilFawlty]

It actually already shows this if you view in threaded mode, instead of flat mode.



Yes, I know, but I'm talking about flat mode. which 99.999999% of my users (older folks) prefer. UBBThreads has this feature wherein, while viewing a thread in flt mode, you could tell who a reply was intended to be replying to, even if they didn't quote the person.

Since most of my users (probably all actually) use flat mode, I'd like to see this feature in my VB install, thus my suggestion for a mod.

[Eosian]

Fine, add a plugin to hook showthread_query;


$hook_query_joins .= ' left join ' . TABLE_PREFIX .'post parentpost on post.parentid = parentpost.postid ';
$hook_query_fields .= ', parentpost.username parentusername ';



Now edit postbit_legacy or whatever you're using and add;

// original line
{vb:raw post.title}
// add this after
<vb:if condition="$post['parentid'] AND $post['parentusername']">
(RE: {vb:raw post.parentusername})
</vb:if>



Or a little snazzier;


// original line
{vb:raw post.title}
// add this after
<vb:if condition="$post['parentid'] AND $post['parentusername']">
(RE: <a href="{vb:link thread, {vb:raw thread}, {vb:raw pageinfo_post}}#post{vb:raw post.parentid}">{vb:raw post.parentusername}</a>)
</vb:if>

[BasilFawlty]

Ok, help me out here. I come from the UBBThreads world so I understand the concept of editing the code in files. What I'm not clear on is the VB concept of adding a "plugin to hook showthread?" This is VB-sleak which I'm not yet familiar (but want to be). Any tutorials on this?

[kh99]

It's pretty easy: in the admin CP, go to "Plugins & Products" and select "Add New Plugin". Choose the hook location from the dropdown, and paste the code in the large box. You need to enter a title (make it something so you'll remember what it is years from now), and click the Yes radio button on the bottom before saving. The instructions are in the vb4 manual, but with the recent changes to the vbulletin.com site to focus on vb5, I can't seem to get to the vb4 manual.

[BasilFawlty]

It's pretty easy: in the admin CP, go to "Plugins & Products" and select "Add New Plugin". Choose the hook location from the dropdown, and paste the code in the large box. You need to enter a title (make it something so you'll remember what it is years from now), and click the Yes radio button on the bottom before saving. The instructions are in the vb4 manual, but with the recent changes to the vbulletin.com site to focus on vb5, I can't seem to get to the vb4 manual.

Ah, that is easy! Thanks! There are a lot of things different in VB that what I'm used to - I do like the way the plug-ins work - a lot easier to implement mods!

[tommythejoat]

It really is easy and useful for a lot of other things you might want to include in postbit.

[tommythejoat]

Not really trying to bump this, but I finally found the plugin we are using on the NAWCC Message Board. Possibly some of those interested in the reply ID will have some ideas on what might have happened to our setup.

This is one of those things that seems really simple but can really start sucking up time.

I wish hybrid or threaded mode were available here to demonstrate issues and to check if our board is out of spec.