Blinking notifier in welcome bar when receiving a new pm

Don't you just hate it sending a pm to someone and he/she never reads it untill some weeks later? Using the build in pop-up bar from vB that problem is easily solved, but has to be turned on by the user since it is not a default setting.

VB.org offered me two sollutions, but were both (sound on pm, or that ugly blinking red message that is used by this forum) a bit over the top. I then found JohnBee's cleaner version which did the trick in Internet Explorer, but didnt function when using Firefox. Plus there was a lot of code that needed to be added, so even though I had zero experience in Javascript, i started crafting one myself.

Now this version works both in Internet Explorer as in Firefox, they look exactly the same (as in speeds) plus only 17 lines of code are added to one single template style. You can change the blink color to any color you like and also change the speed of the blinking. (setInterval("doBlink()",500, where 500 is the speed in milliseconds)

installation
In AdminCP, in your navbar template, find

ht = document.getElementsByTagName("html");
	ht[0].style.filter = "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(grayscale=1)";
	if (confirm('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]'))
	{
		return true;
	}
	else
	{
		ht[0].style.filter = "";
		return false;
	}
}
//-->

After add

<!-- [Fusion's `ing PM mod :: http://ut2004.titaninternet.co.uk] -->
function doBlink() {
  var blink = document.all.tags("blink")
  for (var i=0; i<blink.length; i++)
    blink[i].style.visibility = blink[i].style.visibility == "" ? "hidden" : ""
}

//fix by Piglet
function startBlink() {
	window.preblinkonload();
	setInterval("doBlink()",500)
}

if (document.all && ! window.preblinkonload){
	window.preblinkonload = window.onload;
	window.onload = startBlink;
}

//-->

In the same template, find

<if condition="$show['pmstats']"><br /><phrase 1="$vbphrase[unread_x_nav_compiled]" 2="$vbphrase[total_x_nav_compiled]" 3="$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[private_messages_nav]</phrase></if>

Replace with

<if condition="$show['pmstats']"><br />
			<if condition="$bbuserinfo['pmunread']">
			<phrase 1="<blink><font color=#ff0000>$vbphrase[unread_x_nav_compiled]</font></blink>" 2="$vbphrase[total_x_nav_compiled]" 3="$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[private_messages_nav]</phrase>
			<br />
			<else />
			<phrase 1="$vbphrase[unread_x_nav_compiled]" 2="$vbphrase[total_x_nav_compiled]" 3="$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[private_messages_nav]</phrase><br /></if></if>

This gives you a red (#ff0000) blinking message when having a pm in your box, after which you are done.

---------------------------optional---------------------------

Alternatively, if you just want blinking text (so text with default font color blinking on and off) simply skip the last step and do this one in stead.

In the same template, find

<if condition="$show['pmstats']"><br /><phrase 1="$vbphrase[unread_x_nav_compiled]" 2="$vbphrase[total_x_nav_compiled]" 3="$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[private_messages_nav]</phrase></if>

Replace with

<if condition="$show['pmstats']"><br />
			<if condition="$bbuserinfo['pmunread']">
			<phrase 1="<blink>$vbphrase[unread_x_nav_compiled]</blink>" 2="$vbphrase[total_x_nav_compiled]" 3="$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[private_messages_nav]</phrase>
			<br />
			<else />
			<phrase 1="$vbphrase[unread_x_nav_compiled]" 2="$vbphrase[total_x_nav_compiled]" 3="$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[private_messages_nav]</phrase><br /></if></if>

The end result should look like this, in your own board colors ofcourse.

Dont forget to press install if you like this little mod.

Update (26-5-2005): This mod had a conflict in IE with an other mod, namely a 2nd breadcrumb we've added at the bottom for easy scrolling, which caused us to have an overflow error in Internet Explorer. So basicly, this mod should have worked for other forums, it just gave us specificly a slight hickup cause of the nature of our board. Still, the code has been updated so that it works now for both us and other forums that may have messed with the onload command.

[MThornback]

*Installed* but it doesn't blink when pop-ups are enabled on PMs....not until the pop-up is actioned anyway...after that...works like a dream

[Peace_Hope]

I get an error saying: stack overflow on line 368

Anyone know what is going on?

[Peace_Hope]

Ok, it is fixed. I accidently had the onload function in there twice.

[kregger]

Didn't realize I needed this until here recently. hehe Thanks! *clicks Install*

Craig

[kregger]

How can I make the part that's flashing clickable? The first thing people will do is try to click on the flashing part. Or I did anyway. hehe

[MRGTB]

Very cool, works with both IE and Firefox. And also works across my whole site on the vBGallery and vBadvanced CMPS 2 RC2 pages becuase it only requires navbar hack.

Installed clicked

[o0Hubba0o]

Originally Posted by kregger

How can I make the part that's flashing clickable? The first thing people will do is try to click on the flashing part. Or I did anyway. hehe

Lol I did that too, even though I've used it thousands of times before this hack, I still tried clicking the pretty flashing words first lol. Though it's not that big of deal for me, people will figure it out heh.

[Snake]

I'm wondering if this hack will work just fine on 3.5 RC2?

[MRGTB]

if the code is the same that you search, but check the code is exactly the same word for word. I don't see why not.

You aways backup templates etc anyway with notepad for restoring back if it doesn't work.

[Fusion.nl]

Once we got 3.5 installed, ill install this again anyway. Maybe even make an installer once I figure out how to do it.