Forum Display Enhancements - Alternate Last Post Display

Alternate Last Post Display
By: Idan B.

1. Description & Usage:
Alternate Last Post hack will allow the forum admin to make the "Last Post" column on forum look different (have another/better layout):
Hack will make it with user avatar picture & instead of showing post date, it will show "time diff" since the post (for example: 4 Hours, 5 Minutes ago") - See pictures in attachment for better understanding. :up:
This Hack can be enabled on both Forum Home & forum Display or Forum Display Only.
The hack was develop for request of Theater (request was made here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=214212 )
I assumed this request might be "handy" to other users of community, so developed it to be a fully working modification.

2. Installation:
Please click Mark as Installed.
Installation is pretty easy - just download & install:

• Extract zip for product xml & no-avatar picture.
• Goto: AdminCP->Plugin System->Manage Products : Choose "Add/Import Product" and import this product xml (product-alt_last_post.xml)
• Upload the "anonymous_avatar.gif" file onto /images/avatars/ directory. If testing it on your develop board, be sure to upload there as well.

3. Upgrade From Older Version:
1. uninstall previous version
2. Download new version xml & install as instructed in previous section.

4. Configuration:
Once installed, the "Vbulletin Options" under admincp will have extra section:
Section name: "Alternate Last Post Display"

• Enabled ? - Yes/No (default YES)
• Enable on Forum Home ? - Yes/No (default NO)
• Enable on Forum Display ? - Yes/No (default YES)
• Use "Last Post" text as title ? - Yes/No (default YES)
• Show differential time ? - Yes/No (default YES)
• Align "Never" to LEFT ? - Yes/No (default YES)
• Use profile picture instead of avatar ? - Yes/No (default NO)
• Picture width - INT (default: 40)
• Picture height - INT (default: 40)
  

5. Known Bugs:

• Forum Tabbbed modification has known competability with this mod - result it is not showing on forumhome. Currently debugging this one to allow fix on next version.
• v1.1.4 released. Since v.1.1.0 code was re-writeen completely from "scratch" and now it should support multi-languages (other than english) ! Note: Cyrillic & Latin chars reported to have some issues, still under check)
• See changelog below for full description of stuff fixed.

6. TO-DO's LIST (Next Versions):

• Allow thread view option on admincp.
• Other mods (such as Forum Tabbed Modification) conflict fixes - under checking !.
• [S]Admincp option to set avatar width/height.[/S] added in v.1.1.4
• [S]Admincp option to select between profile and avatar picture.[/S] added in v.1.1.4

NOTE: Currently supported format chars for date/time (v1.1.4) are :
Date: "j","d", "m", "n", "F", "M", "Y", "y","S"
Time: "h", "H", "g", "G", "i", "s", "a", "A".
Any other chars will result with Post Time: N/A displayed !

NOTE: i've left v1.1.3 and added in addition the v1.1.4, just in case anyone has problem, he can download old version & rollback.

Enjoy hack & dont forget to click Mark as Installed

[IdanB]

12 Jun 2009 (19:20) - Version 1.1.4 released :

• FEATURE ADD: The template used for this mod no longer resides inside plugin code. Now it's installed as new template, so everyone can edit for their own needs.
• FEATURE ADD: New admincp option: set width/height of picture shown
• FEATURE ADD: New admincp option: allow selection between avatar and profile picture
• FEATURE ADD: Now mod supports date format string with "j" & "S" chars.

06 Jun 2009 (20:25) - Version 1.1.3 released :

• BUG FIX: Fixed regexp again to support more non-english chars on date.
• VISUAL FIX: avatar picture now set to 40x40, so any non square pictures wont look "ugly" on display.
• ADMINCP OPTION REMOVED: vbSEO admincp option removed - now works automatically inside code, doesnt need to select it
• ADMINCP OPTION ADDED: select time display : differential (xxx ago) or orignal date & time as configured for vbulletin
• ADMINCP OPTION ADDED: select "align to left" for the "Never" (if forum has no posts

05 Jun 2009 (21:08) - Version 1.1.2 released :

• BUG-FIX: Fixed regexp to better support non-english chars on date
• FEATURE-REMOVED: "D" letter on date time format not supported. I was mistaken at first to think i could. Having date showing as "Sunday" rather than number of day (1..31) doesnt allow me to take that & gnerate exact date from it. Therefore, this letter has been removed & no longer supported!

05 Jun 2009 (19:35) - Version 1.1.1 released :

• BUG-FIX: Add code that handle case where last post showing poster nick of user that doesnt exsits anymore inside db (eg. deleted). In the above case, the profile link will be showing as "User Was Deleted From DB"
• BUG-FIX: changed name of vars used in templates to have known prefix, should avoid any chance of conflict with some other mod.

05 Jun 2009 (13:15) - Version 1.1.0 released :

• Code was re-written. Now mod support any language.
• New admincp options for both vbSEO & the text used for thread title.

30 May 2009 (13:15) - Version 1.0.3 released :

• BUG-FIX: now supporting any date / time string that user configured into admincp. Note the following chars are supported: "d","m","n","D","F","M","Y","y","h","H","g","G","i ","s","a","A"
• BUG-FIX: nicks now support space (also vbSEO fix that convert space to +)
• FEATURE-ADD: Yesterday/Today & by now used as part of vbphrase & not hard-coded into plugin code.
• BUG FIX: avoid any case of negative time in some condition.
• VISUAL-FIX: added LEFT align inside Last Post column, so it will look much better.
• Note: till any official announcement, this modification does not support any non-english boards (date locale will not be matched so likely to show Post Time N/A). I'm still trying to find workaround that will support any language & not attempt to patch code to be language specific.

29 May 2009 (18:33) - Version 1.0.2 released :

• BUG-FIX: all mktime() added precondition to determine the nature of vars passed to it, to avoid input it with NULL. Should time variable(s) be missing, the hack will display "Post Time N/A" (phrase named: alt_lp_post_time_na);
• vbSEO should now be fully fixed to show links correclty & according to vbSEO way. Eventually, no admincp were added, this was auto detected inside code.
• BUG-FIX: some more extra checking were added to avoid some other coding pitfalls.

29 May 2009 (16:46) - Version 1.0.1 released :

• BUG-FIX (*): did not read thread link correctly with vbSEO installed. This should be fixed & working - please report any further problems. (*) Note this still display links using showthread.php & member.php . Further support to vbSEO will be available on v.1.1.0 due to be released by tonight/tomorrow.
• BUG-FIX: The table missing NOWRAP tag, so if skin doesnt set minimum width to "Last Post" column, it will looked bit streched.
• BUG-FIX: Global plugin enable/disable option on admincp didnt work properly
• BUG-DIX: date that was showing as "Yesterday" / "Today" was not properly handled by code. now fixed.
• FEATURE-ADD: All text were created as phrases, allowing easy translation without need to go into code:
  phrases added are:
  alt_lp_last_post
  alt_lp_by
  alt_lp_years
  alt_lp_year
  alt_lp_weeks
  alt_lp_week
  alt_lp_days
  alt_lp_day
  alt_lp_hours
  alt_lp_hour
  alt_lp_min
  alt_lp_mins
  alt_lp_sec
  alt_lp_secs
  alt_lp_ago

[4nawadir.com]

Nice mod
Installed
will be translated to arabic

[4nawadir.com]

there is a probleme
you can see it here
http://leenkat.com/vbtest/forumdisplay.php?f=1

[IdanB]

Originally Posted by 4nawadir.com

there is a probleme
you can see it here
http://leenkat.com/vbtest/forumdisplay.php?f=1

Did you upload the no avatar image to the images/avatar/ folder ?
if you look at the missing image path you'll see it's looking for:
http://www.leenkat.com/vbtest/images...ous_avatar.gif
that isnt there. Upload it.

Also note if you translate this you might need to go into code, as the "Last Post" & days/weeks/minutes text are hardcoded into plugin.
I'll try to place these expressions text out to vbphrase on next version.

EDIT: about the block width, it depands on skin, lemme try to place spacer gif to make this better.

EDIT2: wait 10m, will place text into phrase & will force minimum width to block, so your skin wont wrap text to break it.

[4nawadir.com]

Done i upload it
but there is an author probleme
see it

[IdanB]

Originally Posted by 4nawadir.com

Done i upload it
but there is an author probleme
see it

Like said, it's the skin thingy.
Gimme 10 minutes, i'll upload v1.0.1 that has both external phrases for every text & i'll also place some spacer inside table to force minimum width to colum.

[saviola8x]

Not work on forum install vbSEO ~~"

[IdanB]

Originally Posted by saviola8x

Not work on forum install vbSEO ~~"

gimme html fragement of the link as seen by vbSEO when install, i'll re-do the regexp to support them as well

EDIT: gimme an hour, it will fixed now. will be working on v.1.0.1 once uploaded.

[IdanB]

Version 1.0.1 posted.
Read changelog for full details of what's fixed & changed.

Few notes about vbSEO:

1. a "work-around" patch was made to make modification work with vbSEO installed till next version is out (1.1.0).
2. Patched revision allows to read vbSEO links & properly "translate" it to non-vbSEO links (showthread.php & member.php).
   Note: since the vbSEO knows to read normal links and convert them to it's own link, it still works. Yea, i'm aware the vbSEO users would want the links to show same as vbSEO display it. That will be implnated as admincp option in next revision as mentioned above.