Administrative and Maintenance Tools - Zoints Private Thread Comments for Staff

This modification is a fantastic means for staff members to efficiently communicate within a thread without normal members being able to see what is said. It has been tested extensively by quite a few different forums.

This box appears in showthread.php for staff members. Only staff can see it.




The admincp options:




Official support for this modification will take place at http://network.zoints.com in this specific forum.

Enjoy and be sure to check out our other modifications

CHANGELOG:

2008/05/01 - 1.2.1
- Compatible with vB's CSRF protocol

[Revpolar]

I was thinking that if you can make something like this then making a whisper hack would be possible.
Meaning members could send a private note to another member within a thread. Like someone could whisper to DChapman after this post that my idea is silly and he should ignore it. And only DChapman could see it.

[Shelley_c]

Originally Posted by DChapman

If someone would like to make a small icon for forumdisplay.php that signifies that there is a staff comment in the thread, we'll look into making that request happen this weekend. Our graphic guy is on vacation.

We're also going to look into adding the option to make the box appear at the bottom of the thread.

What kind of image were you thinking of? If your still needing an icon let me know what you need and the dimensions and I can knock something up.

[Zoints]

Originally Posted by Shelley_c

What kind of image were you thinking of? If your still needing an icon let me know what you need and the dimensions and I can knock something up.

Actually, we've decided we'll just use a default vBulletin image to avoid the trouble of the upload. But thank you for the offer!

[OmniBuzz]

How do I change the "Add" label in something else ?

<textarea name="threadcomment" cols="80" rows="3" class="bginput"></textarea><button type="submit" class="button">$vbphrase[add]</button>

Thanks.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by yesfans

Anyway the entry box can have a space added below it. It sits right on top my forums, looks silly.

This one is easy. Edit product-zointsthreadcomments-1.2.0.xml as follows:

1. Find

	<templates>
		<template name="THREADCOMMENT" templatetype="template" date="1142603058" username="Who" version="1.2.0"><![CDATA[<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%" align="center">
	<tr>
		<td>
			<if condition="$threadinfo[threadcomments] > 0">
				<if condition="$show['morethreadcomments']">
					<div align="center"><a href="showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=$threadinfo[threadid]&amp;showall=1">[$vbphrase[threadcomments_more]]</a></div>
				</if>
				<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%">
					$commentbits
				</table>
			</if>
			<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT != 'postings'">
			<div align="center" style="margin-top: 10px;">
			<form name="threadcomment" action="showthread.php" method="post">
			<input type="hidden" name="s" value="$session[sessionhash]" />
			<input type="hidden" name="t" value="$threadinfo[threadid]" />
			<input type="hidden" name="addcomment" value="1" />
			<input type="hidden" name="page" value="$page" />
			<textarea name="threadcomment" cols="80" rows="3" class="bginput"></textarea><button type="submit" class="button">$vbphrase[add]</button>
			</form>
			</div>			<else />
			<br />
			</if>
		</td>
	</tr>
</table>]]></template>

Note the part highlighted in red.

Add

<br />

between "</form>" and "</div>".

Save. Reimport the product using "Overwrite".

Originally Posted by SportsZone

This hack is a great idea, but I think it would be better if this mod used BB code and it was coded in a way which only admin/mods could see. This way, you can add comments to posts, which only the site staff can see, instead of saying something above the first post, which imo, is quite inconvenient. I'm not sure if it's possible to create, but it would be a great hack.

Re-read the thread. It already does both of those things.

Originally Posted by Twilkey SRT

I have two input boxes for some reason and when I add a comment it adds it twice. Can you help please.

You imported the product and then also did the manual edits. Go back to the readme.txt file and delete those two manual edits.

[jerudc]

Is the suggestion of Revpolar's "Whisper" possible? I'd love to have something like that on my board.

Is there a way to make a mod so a user can type something in a post so only the other user mentioned (and the moderator and Admins) can read it? Like the following example.

Jenny walks into the room and saunters up to Billy [whisper Billy] "Hey, do you want to go play cards?" [/whisper]

Billy would see: Jenny walks into the room and saunters up to Billy "Hey do you want to go play cards?"

Everyone else would see: Jenny walks into the room and saunters up to Billy WHISPER TO BILLY

Just wondering if this was even possible.

[djbaxter]

Just wondering if this was even possible.

I'm just wondering if this is even desirable.... on a forum. Isn't that what IRC and IMs are for?

[Spank]

Nice hack, will come in useful for e-dramas =D

Just a suggestion: I think it would make it tidier if there was a button for Staff Comments which you could click, it would then take you to another page where you could add and view comments for that particular thread (just like how the user notes works)

Originally Posted by GSX-Racing

Is there any way we could have a little text above the box saying 'Moderator Notes:" or something?

Here's how I did it, very simple even for a n00b like me:

Open product-zointsthreadcomments-1.2.0.xml

Find:

<template name="THREADCOMMENT" templatetype="template" date="1142603058" username="Who" version="1.2.0"><![CDATA[<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%" align="center">
	<tr>

find in line:

<![CDATA[

inline after add:

<b>Staff Comments:<b>

so you have:

<template name="THREADCOMMENT" templatetype="template" date="1142603058" username="Who" version="1.2.0"><![CDATA[<b>Staff Comments:</b><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%" align="center">
	<tr>

Save, reimport product remembering to allow overwrite.

[djbaxter]

Good idea, Spank.

I made one change for my moderators:

<b>Staff Comments (hidden):<b>

[jerudc]

I'm just wondering if this is even desirable.... on a forum. Isn't that what IRC and IMs are for?

I run a Play by Post site. It would be VERY desirable. It would lend to more efficient roleplay and keep everything in the storyline.