Can Vbulletin's "Rich-Text Editor" save pasted images locally?

[PaulEscobar]

Before reading, let me say...

My question is very simple.

But it begs alot of explanation.
Which is why I've typed so much.
Feel free to just read the red-lettered parts, to get the quick-version of my question.


My Personal Background...

I am a "potential customer", not looking for "support instructions".

I work in the Oil and Gas industry.
I'm used to working with Microsoft's ONENOTE program.
But my co-workers are not familiar with this software.

So I'm thinking of creating a forum.
We'd share general articles and research, in an easy manner.

But there's a certain prerequisite the forum-software must have.


My Problem...

Vbulletin has a great "rich text editor".

It's a real time saver, and is easy to use.
You can avoid html coding and even "bbcode".
It allows users to copy from outside sources, while pasting with images and formatting intact.

I notice that the pasted images tend to be hotlinked (files hosted on foreign sites). If the foreign site goes down, the images can disappear from a post.

Since I want to use the forum as a database, this is troublesome.


What I need...

When pasting into the "rich text editor"...
I'd like the images to be AUTOMATICALLY converted/re-hosted on my own local site.

I know there are "image hosts".
But many users of my forum will not be familiar with image-code and image-hosts.

If the rich text editor can simply convert their pasted foreign-images into locally-hosted images...it would save alot of time.

Is Vbulletin capable of doing this?

--------------- Added 06 Feb 2008 at 03:35 ---------------

Just to note..
I originally posted this at "Vbulletin.com".

Many responders there suggested I post my topic here at "Vbulletin.Org" instead.

So I'll try it, hoping to see if there are any possible solutions to my query.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

This is not possible by default with vBulletin. It should be possible to create a modification to do this, but i have not seen such released yet.

[PaulEscobar]

Thanks for replying Marco.

Since that is the case, I will hold off on purchasing VB.
If this feature was available (as a modification or whatever), I'd have no hesitation purchasing.

[falguni1]

the same feature was requested at smf and they said it will not be done.

It is not correct as many of the images are copyrighted.

[Dismounted]

It CAN be done, but it would/would not be legal depending on where you live/location of the server.

[PaulEscobar]

Originally Posted by Dismounted

It CAN be done, but it would/would not be legal depending on where you live/location of the server.

Perhaps I should clarify.
I have no interest in, or need for, violating copyrights.

The forum I'd like to setup would not be public.
It's for team members, who already have access to certain documents & materials.
Alot of times, they are articles and research we have done ourselves.

We already share these on other mediums, such as emails and OneNote.
But the current way we communicate information is inefficient.

Instead, I'd like us to communicate on a forum.
This would arrange our ideas better, and allow us access to many more communication features.

My problem is that the forum would require migration.
The data from emails and OneNote would have to be transferred to the forum.
Without an automatic upload feature, this would be time-consuming and unfeasible.

Originally Posted by falguni1

the same feature was requested at smf and they said it will not be done.

It is not correct as many of the images are copyrighted.

As far as I know, it's the responsibility of the website owner to ensure compliance with copyrights. Vbulletin and other forum systems are not responsible for content.

Look at my case.
I have tons of my own research in my email account, and in my Microsoft-OneNote book.
So do my teammates.

They are properly formatted, and arranged in a certain way.
Using Vbulletin's current "Rich Text" feature...our images would be useless. Since you can't get images hotlinked from someones personal computer or email account.

But if we got to paste/upload...the images would appear as desired.

[SEOvB]

Originally Posted by Dismounted

It CAN be done, but it would/would not be legal depending on where you live/location of the server.

So you're saying if i use the attachment feature for a copyrighted image its illegal?

the only illegal thing in this action is that you're becoming "owner" of the content that will become uploaded to your server if the system work that way. actually, having just a link to the image is publically acceptable because the net can be viewed by all... but if you host it on your site, you have to ask permission to do so...

it's the same as if you see your neighbour's car in the street... you can see it. if you want it in your driveway, you have to ask your neighbour to move it there... or you steal it.

[PaulEscobar]

Originally Posted by nexialys

the only illegal thing in this action is that you're becoming "owner" of the content that will become uploaded to your server if the system work that way. actually, having just a link to the image is publically acceptable because the net can be viewed by all... but if you host it on your site, you have to ask permission to do so...

it's the same as if you see your neighbour's car in the street... you can see it. if you want it in your driveway, you have to ask your neighbour to move it there... or you steal it.

In a general sense, that's a good point.

But for those with copyright concerns, I'll repeat...
Suppose the content IS YOUR OWN...
A Vbulletin Rich-Text upload feature would be priceless.

I just sent an email to a colleague in Calgary a few minutes ago.
I included 3 images of pie-charts, in between my paragraphs.

With Vbulletins current setup...
I can't just copy and paste my email into the rich-text editor.
The images can't be hotlinked.
I have to re-save the images to my hard drive, upload them to an image host, and then paste the image-code exactly where it was before.

That maybe fine with just 1 email.
But I have 87 emails of this nature.
And they have to be transferred over to any potential forum.

Things get worse if I'm using the Vbulletin attachment feature.
I can't have my chart directly under the relevant paragraph.
Makes for hard reading.

[Michael Morris]

Let me make sure I understand this - you want to be able to have an image be uploaded when it is pasted into the WYSIWYG editor from anywhere yes?

If so, it's flat out impossible - for security reasons javascript cannot read image data from the clipboard of the host OS or read a file's contents without going through the browser's file input control. You must upload the image as a separate action, and no vendor can provide you otherwise unless they also rewrite your browser.

Note, this *might* be possible using ActiveX controls in IE, but ActiveX is the sourcepoint of 95% of IE's security flaws and it is highly recommended that you turn it off, leave it off or, better yet, don't use IE.