[obmob]

Well, changed a couple of phrases for vb 3.5.4, working fine, thanks Boofo.

In includes/functions_bigthree.php there is already a function that finds out someones online status.

Within that file find:

PHP Code:

if ($setstatusimage) 
  { 
    eval('$user[\'onlinestatus\'] = "' . fetch_template('postbit_onlinestatus') . '";'); 
  } 


BEFORE that, put:

PHP Code:

// HACK : START : STATUS ACCESS 
  switch ($onlinestatus) { 
    case 0: 
      $user['IsOnline'] = false; 
      break; 
    case 1: 
      $user['IsOnline'] = true; 
      break; 
    case 2: 
      $user['IsOnline'] = true; 
      break; 
    default: 
      $user['IsOnline'] = false; 
      break; 
  } 
  // HACK : END : STATUS ACCESS 


Now the $user object has an additional property in its array:

$user['IsOnline'] indicates that the user is online or not... or rather, should appear online to the current user... it takes into account invisibility and permissions, as the code above this already does all of this.

Now, all we have to do is find the avatar line in the postbit template and add a conditional to it:

PHP Code:

          <if condition="$post[IsOnline] == true">
                      <a href="member.php?$session[sessionurl]u=$post[userid]"><img src="$post[avatarurl]" alt="<phrase 1="$post[username]">$vbphrase[xs_avatar]</phrase>" border="0" /></a>
                      <else />
                      <a href="member.php?$session[sessionurl]u=$post[userid]"><img src="$post[avatarurl]" alt="<phrase 1="$post[username]">$vbphrase[xs_avatar]</phrase>" border="0" style="filter:alpha(opacity=30);-moz-opacity:0.3;opacity: 0.3;" /></a>
          </if> 


Notice that if it's online, it doesn't even have the style added... which is a good thing as why apply opacity when it's not required?

Secondly I apply both the IE and Mozilla and Opera opacity switches at the same time. Yes, I said Opera... Opera is currently using the CSS3 recommendation of 'opacity'... which is the best thing to do as that is also what Mozilla will be using in the future.

Styles set like this are ignored if not applicable... so it breaks nothing.

Anyhow... more elegant because of the simplicity of the code modification and the fact that we keep all of the presentation logic in templates rather than in code.

It shouldn't be hard for those who want to use this for the memberlist or memberprofile to add a call to the fetch_online_status() function in functions_bigthree.php and to add a conditional to their template.

But yeah... a different way of doing the same thing. Better? Hard to say... but I think a little more elegant.