Away message for users

Hi,

This is something that is common in IRC - /me is away

In BBs, a user is either online or offline (or invisible).

But, on my Bulletin Board, the folks created such a community that every time someone goes on a holiday or goes offline for a while, he/she posts a new thread to annouce they're 'away.

So, I wrote a hack allowing a user to change his/her status to "away", including a return date and an away reason which will show up in their profile.

Likewise, the online/offline icon in postbit and buddy list will change to an away icon (a very faded version of the 'offline' one).

Some demo captures:

The Edit Profile screen, when a user is NOT away:



The Edit Profile screen when a user IS away:



The Get Info (User Profile) screen when a user IS away:



The Get Info (User Profile) screen when a user is NOT away:



The postbit icon when a user is away:




How to install:

Download the attached zip file. Upload away.gif to your images dir (or create your own away.gif).

Upload install_awayuser.php to your admin dir and follow the instructions.

Cheers,

Bira

newest version by sho here:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...606#post287606

[Sho]

Anyway, using fresh & clean 2.2.6 files there are at least two code snippets you can't find using the original installer, because JelSoft rewrote them. talon3dhq posted the new 2.2.6 snippets and Boofo applied bira's changes to them.

Also, there is a wrong find/add after in the original installer - it makes you add bira's code where it doesn't belong. Birdie501 pointed this one out.

Finally, there are some very unclear find/replace instructions. For example, you have to search for "...lastactivity" and change it to "...away,lastactivity". Now, in 2.2.6, the line is "...lastactivity,lastvisit". If you just replace the whole line, you loose the "lastvisit". I wrote down the complete new lines and their correct replacements in the new installer.

It's not like you should add errors to your hacks only to make "newbies" work harder, imo.

[Sho]

Some more information about the changes:

Using fresh & clean 2.2.6 files there are at least two code snippets you can't find using the original installer, because JelSoft rewrote them. talon3dhq posted the new 2.2.6 snippets and Boofo applied bira's changes to them.

Also, there is a wrong find/add after in the original installer - it makes you add bira's code where it doesn't belong. Birdie501 pointed this one out.

Finally, there are some very unclear find/replace instructions. For example, you have to search for "...lastactivity" and change it to "...away,lastactivity". Now, in 2.2.6, the line is "...lastactivity,lastvisit". If you just replace the whole line, you loose the "lastvisit". I wrote down the complete new lines and their correct replacements in the new installer.

[Boofo]

That's the key word...experience. After we do enough hacks, we gain the experience to be able to modify sections of code to fit our needs. Apparently, you didn't do the file compare on the upgrade. That is the only way to go for the minor upgrades (i.e 2.2.5 to 2.2.6) as far as I am concerned.

All I was trying to point out that for us who have been around this a little longer, it is easier than it is for the new ones coming along. What is easy for us, can be a nightmare for them. We have all been through that part of it at one time or another and anyone who says he wasn't scared when installing their first few hacks is either a damned genius or a damned liar.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JJR512
When I upgraded to 2.2.6, no, I didn't have it installed. I had it installed in an earlier version, but in an earlier upgrade I didn't reinstall it. Besides, having it already installed shouldn't matter. Having it already installed only saves you the trouble of doing any database changes and possibly adding templates; those are the easy parts. The hard parts are doing the file modifications, and upgrading completely destroys file modifications, because you're using new, clean files.

I understand what you're saying about being a newbie...but it's because I had to figure things out on my own that I'm not a newbie anymore.

But I'm not saying there's anything wrong; I'm just saying that, in my experience, I don't have any problems.

[ULTIMATESSJ]

I also found a few problems when i installed the old one on my localhost, hopefully this one will work, good job

/me clicks install

[ZiRu$]

yes....this one is complete

/me installs it...hope it works good

[Attrox]

I like this one better, nice job! Now to install it...

[Schorsch]

in postbit I want to leave out the away image, instead I want just text ("Schorsch is away!"), located over "registered since", just like it's here in vbulletin.org forums.

how can I do this ?

thanks,
Schorsch

[Sho]

Schorsch:

First change your "postbit_away" template to something like this:

PHP Code:

$post[username] is away. 


Now, you have to understand that this hack changes how $onlinestatus behaves. When a user is away, the online/offline icons in his posts are replaced by the "postbit_away" template. That certainly makes sense, since the online/offline status doesn't really matter when a user is away. Now here's what you *can* do: modify "postbit_online" and "postbit_offline" as well: "$post[username] is online", "$post[username] is offline". Then, move $onlinestatus in your "postbit" template to whereever you want it - above "registered since", for example.

[Schorsch]

cool, thanks Sho, I'll try it this evening

[Sho]

Glad I could help.