Add-On Releases - CES Site News

CES Site News
Version: 1.6.3
vBulletin 3.7.x, 3.8.x supported

*** NEWS ***
5/15/2008 - v1.6.3 released
5/5/2008 - v1.6.2 released
5/2/2008 - v1.6.1 released
4/17/2008 - v1.6.0 released
11/7/2007 - v1.5.1 released
9/9/2007 - v1.5.0 released
4/12/2007 - v1.4.1 released
4/5/2007 - v1.4.0 released
4/1/2007 - 4/2/2007 - v1.3.1 through v1.3.2 released
3/30/2007 - v1.3.0 released
3/23/2007 - 3/26/2007 - v1.2.0 through v1.2.4 released
3/14/2007 - v1.1.1 released
3/12/2007 - v1.1.0 released
2/9/2007 - v1.0.8 released
1/29/2007 - v1.0.7 released
1/23/2007 - 1/27/2007 - v1.0.0 through v1.0.6 released

Known Issues:
- none

What It Does:
This allows you to turn one of your forums into a news blog.

Live Installation: http://www.crackedeggstudios.com/news.php
This site is usually an update or two ahead of what's available in this thread, because that's where we do all our testing.

Products to Install: 1
Plugins Included: 14
Files to Upload: 7
Files to Edit: 0
New Templates: 8
Template Edits: 0

Mod Features:
- adds options to the Forum Manager
- uses forum permissions
- threads in the given forum become articles
- pull articles from other forums
- full-text articles are displayed in a customized forumdisplay
- post replies are added as comments
- set number of articles and comments per page
- turn on/off announcements in news display
- turn on/off attachments in news display
- turn on/off last comment in news display
- ajax quick edit in news display (basically, quick edit in forum display)
- display articles on every comments page
- limit size of article preview
- additional BB-Code tags for articles

BB-Code Tags:
[previewlength]value[/previewlength]
Placing this anywhere in an article overrides the preview limit for that article only. Multiple [previewlength] tags are cumulative. A "Read More..." link will appear if this tag is used.

[preview]value[/preview]
Placing this anywhere in an article defines text that will only show on Newsdisplay. Text contained in this tag completely replaces the post text on Newsdisplay. Multiple [preview] tags are cumulative. A "Read More..." link will appear if this tag is used.

[more]value[/more]
Placing this anywhere in an article defines text that will only show on Shownews. Text contained in this tag does not replace the post text on Shownews. It only hides text from Newsdisplay.

*** Changelog ***
As of Version 1.6.3:
- bug fix: preview functions do nothing since alias support added
- bug fix: preview functions never worked on editpost or newthread
- bug fix: inconsistent postbit after quick edit
- updated files: news.php, shownews.php, ces_news_bbcode.php,
ces_news_quick_edit.js

As of Version 1.6.2:
- bug fix: more database errors in vB 3.6.x
- bug fix: post controls hide on news display in IE7
- bug fix: threadbit and postbit widths inconsistent
- updated templates: ces_news_postbit, ces_news_threadbit
- updated files: shownews.php

*** Screenshots ***
1. New Forum Manager Option
2. Site News Settings
3. News Articles (forumdisplay)
4. Comments (showthread)

[Chadi]

Excellent

Works now. Thanks for a great hack, also great support

5 stars!

[ninjamaster]

thanks for this

[dizzy100]

Outstanding work and works really well. However the bbcode tags are quite dangerous

I wasn't sure about a numeric value so assumed you meant [preview]this is the txt we wish to have as our teaser[/preview] and this isn't.

Submitting that deleted this is the text we wish to have in our teaser and just leaves and this isn't in both the body and the teaser (so effectively deleted the text within the bbcode that you can't get back ).

Now if you use it as it should be [preview]28[/preview] so it only shows the first 28 words thats fine and it works well. However the danger is using it somewhere in the body of your text without closing the bbcode and deleting all text within it BBcode, by its nature, usually encapsules something and i think we'll all assume to encapsule the text we wish to use as a teaser.

think a better solution would be to approach this (if possible) as i tried on my first attempt. I.e. have the bbcode open where you wish to start to new teaser (cancelling the default for that article) and then closing it where you wish it to end. Then thats the new teaser (much easier than trying to work out how many words your new teaser needs). What do you think ?

Everything else appears to work perfectly, including paths, comment box size and even that pesky white line in the username Outstanding.

[thincom2000]

Um... although the text may APPEAR to be deleted, it should still be there when you edit the post... Also if you don't close the tag, I'm pretty sure vBulletin just doesn't parse it. That has been my experience, anyway.

When you said "dangerous," I thought for a moment you had somehow installed my [anything] tag which isn't included with this hack, and a spammer having permissions to use it messed up your entire board.

The purpose of [preview] is just to override the AdminCP setting with a new value, and was not meant to be used as BB-code (it just makes use of the BB-code parser because then I don't have to write code myself to parse it out). I, for one, abhor typing in a "short article" for a preview, and then typing a different article for the actual article. So that's why it just shows the first numeric_value words of the article.

[dizzy100]

Originally Posted by thincom2000

Um... although the text may APPEAR to be deleted, it should still be there when you edit the post... Also if you don't close the tag, I'm pretty sure vBulletin just doesn't parse it. That has been my experience, anyway.

When you said "dangerous," I thought for a moment you had somehow installed my [anything] tag which isn't included with this hack, and a spammer having permissions to use it messed up your entire board.

The purpose of [preview] is just to override the AdminCP setting with a new value, and was not meant to be used as BB-code (it just makes use of the BB-code parser because then I don't have to write code myself to parse it out). I, for one, abhor typing in a "short article" for a preview, and then typing a different article for the actual article. So that's why it just shows the first numeric_value words of the article.

No it definitely deleted them Try it locally and re-edit after you've done the steps i highlight above. That text is now gone completely, including the bbcode I tried it several times and all with the same effect. The text is missing in the main view and the teaser and isn't now available to edit either, hence why i said dangerous Imagine writing a long article, wrongly using what you thought was a bbcode (because you even called it a bbcode) and then hitting save. You have now lost half your article.

I still think if its a bbcode it should act as one or it will certainly cause confusion. Failing that a simple tag of something like ----more---- and it will splt to a readmore link there. This isn't a great solution you have provided (sorry im just offering constructive feedback) and will most certainly lead to confusion. You're probably better to parse it using your own tag or really do a full bbcode.

I'll try the bbcode again on my test posts to make sure it wasn't me, but im 100% confident i can reproduce that effect each and every time .

I'll get back to you soon.

Please don;t see this as a nag, its really not. I love this hack and it does pretty much most of what i require. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

[dizzy100]

OK i can confirm 100% it does delete the text when the bbcode is applied as a bbcode.

to test this wrap your [preview][/preview] tags around some text and save. You'll notice that text has disappeared in both post view and teaser view. Click edit and both the bbcode and the text you wrapped the bbcode around is gone completely (in both wysiwyg view and bbcode view).

I can duplicate it each and every time.

[SnitchSeeker]

There are some errors in your demo that make me leary of installing it. It looks GREAT! But I am nervous that it might mess up some of my settings since I have such a HUGE news section (thousands of threads, 5-10 new daily).

The errors I spotted were all dead or bad links. For example, click "Comments (0)" link in an article and I get a 404. Same goes for several other links. Is this because I am a guest or are you also experiencing this?

I must say this looks really GREAT so far in spite of the errors. I hope you can work out any bugs it may have and that I will be able to use it. I'll wait a bit to see your responses.

[SnitchSeeker]

I have taken a closer look at your site/demo and really like what I see. Still, there are a few things that I can't figure out so maybe you can help me with them.

1) Do any of your news articles use the preview limit? I believe it is supposed to be possible to show only the first X words on the main news page and force users to click on the article to read the rest.

2) Does it use a seperate template so that I can easily customize the look of the news page? For example, I would like the headlines to be bigger (and in H2 tags), the [quote] button not to show up or to be a [comment] button, the "Last Comment" text to be clickable (currently it seems users have to click the tiny arrow at the end of the text), etc.

3) I am really looking for something that can make my news forum look more like this site's news. When you're in a news article, it doesn't show comments until you choose to view them. Ideally it would be cool to have that as a cookie setting (view or hide comments).

Even if I can't do all these things with your mod, maybe I can customize it to do them for my forum.

I mainly want to know what specifically this mod includes and what of the above it doesn't so I know how much work it will be to get it to do what I need.

Thanks!

[thincom2000]

I am unable to duplicate the 404 error you describe.

None of my articles currently use the preview limit although it is entirely possible to do this.

It uses 7 new templates in all, the article body itself uses 1 on Newsdisplay and another on Shownews. You can eliminate the Quote button by editing the templates, however, if you want to change it to "Comment," you would have to modify your forum's images. You can make the "Last Comment" text clickable by editing (translating) that phrase for your forum.

You would have to find your own javascript for show/hide of comments. This not possible with vBulletin's vbcollapse feature since each comment uses a new table. You should then edit your SHOWNEWS template to include the changes you want.

As for the [preview] tags eating unsupported preview text, the tags never disappear for me when I try to edit, even with text between. This may be because you are using the WYSIWYG editor, in which case you should not be able to modify any BB-code after submission. Switch to the Standard editor and you should see it again.

As for the practical use of the [preview] tag, I will change the name to [previewlength] for the next update, and add a [more] tag which will encapsulate the text that hides on preview for the next update. How's that?

[dizzy100]

Originally Posted by thincom2000

As for the practical use of the [preview] tag, I will change the name to [previewlength] for the next update, and add a [more] tag which will encapsulate the text that hides on preview for the next update. How's that?

Ah yes your correct. I just checked this and low and behold, theres the text when the wysiwyg editor isn't enabled. Worried me silly that I use the wysiwyg editor always so i never noticed anything out of place there.

A better approach would be to have a bbcode type tag that just cuts the length for the teaser but still displays for the body too. This way you don't have to write a lead in teaser and a body, you just use the same content (we could even then assign it a button).

I think this is stable enough for me to install now and again i thankyou for your hard work. Awesome mod.

**Clicks install**