substr is BAD! fetch_trimmed_title is GOOD!

[Makc666]

A little note for all coders.

I was inspecting MOD:
Cyb - Advanced Forum Statistics
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=122986

And saw that php's substr(); function is used there.
For example:

PHP Code:

$getstats_starter[username] = substr($getstats_starter[username], 0, $trimusername) . '...'; 


substr(); is a bad one for cutting words up to set limit.

You have to use fetch_trimmed_title(); function which is built-in vbulletin.

You asked why?
1-st, VB's uses this function to cut thread titles.
2-nd, most forum uses UTF8.

For example Russian letter in UTF-8 will look like:

PHP Code:

&_236; 


(you have to replace _ with #)
So when you type some word in Russian which consists of 5 letter it will look like:

PHP Code:

&_236;&_236;&_236;&_236;&_246; 


(you have to replace _ with #)
And in this way it is storied in databse.
So it it 30 symbols if you count.

When you use substr(); function you cut by symbols and not by letters!

So if you set to with substr(); function to cut after 27 letter and you will cut the example above you will get:

PHP Code:

&_236;&_236;&_236;&_236;&_2 


As you see the last letter in UTF-8 format was cuted.

And when this one will be displayed on the webpage you will see a bug.

That is why you have to use fetch_trimmed_title(); function.
As it cuts only whole words.
fetch_trimmed_title() relies on spaces when cutting.

If me return to
Cyb - Advanced Forum Statistics
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=122986

in all code I replaced lines like:

PHP Code:

$getstats_starter[username] = substr($getstats_starter[username], 0, $trimusername) . '...'; 


with a good one:

PHP Code:

$getstats_starter[username] = fetch_trimmed_title($getstats_starter[username], $trimusername); 


Here how this function looks like in:
functions.php

PHP 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
*
* @return       string
*/