Major Additions - Yet Another Awards System

*** CREATE A BACKUP OF YOUR FORUM AND DATABASE BEFORE INSTALLING ***

DESCRIPTION:
This is a Medals/Awards system. Admin can give members awards, and award icons will be displayed in member's profile, posts, as well as in a award list.

FEATURES:
In AdminCP
- Can Create/Edit/Delete/Reorder categories/sub-categories in ACP (with category name and description)
- Can Create/Edit/Delete awards in ACP (with Award Name, Description, Icon URL, Image URL)
- Can Move one (or all) award(s) from one category to another
- Can set some awards un-classified (not displayed for public)
- Can re-order awards in awards showcase
- Issue awards to members, based on username or userid, with Issue Reason
- Remove awards from members
+ Writes granting/removing awards to the log

In ModCP
- Issue awards to members, based on username or userid, with Issue Reason
- Remove awards from members
+ Writes granting/removing award to the log

Front page
- Display awards list in with: Award Name, Description, Icon, Image, and Members who get each award.
- Display awards showcase in profile, with Award information, Issue time and reason
- Display award icons in postbit (showthread, showpost, announcement, private)

New Features/Additions since 3.8
- Points System
- Separate Award Request/Recommendation Forms
- CSS Customizable

Current Release Version 4.0.9

• Added - Handling of user merges
• Added - Handling of user deletes
• Added - Manage awards on per user basis
• Added - Extra info to the logs for mass removal and editing of issued awards
• Added - Ability to collapse categories on awards.php
• Added - Checksum file for checking for suspect file versions
• Added - Various missing phrases
• Fixed - Memberlist not showing awards when option is active
• Fixed - Navtab not being selected (vb version < 4.2)
• Fixed - Category title not being displayed on awards.php
• Fixed - Logging not working in modcp
• Fixed - A few other minor bugs

[jagtpf]

Good news on the changes.

Is it possible to allow a nominated Usergroup to Award from a particular category. i.e. someone who is not Admin or Mod.

And bypass the need for using cps and issue awards directly from dropdowns on postbit?

[squidsk]

Originally Posted by jagtpf

Good news on the changes.

Is it possible to allow a nominated Usergroup to Award from a particular category. i.e. someone who is not Admin or Mod.

And bypass the need for using cps and issue awards directly from dropdowns on postbit?

It currently isn't possible for someone who isn't an admin/mod to issue an award. Though as I mentioned the award request system is being re-worked.

I also wouldn't allow issuing of awards from postbit dropdown, but might consider adding the ability to start the recommend/request award option from the postbit.

[jagtpf]

Thanks.

The guy who ran the Forum before us started with a modified version of modcp to allow another member to award - giving access only to the relevant category and nothing more. He then went on to create a drop down from postbit (?) which gave a direct way to issue awards (Staff and one other).

Annoyingly he passed on the Forum without any background paperwork, and I've not been able to replicate the modification since we upgraded to v4.

The modification to modcp still works.

I have the files he created (I think all of them, as they'll still be on the server) - not too sure about any template modifications.

[alcazarx]

Its squidsk decision what to include and what to update, although he seems to use some of me and CAG's suggestions

Anyway, me think Awards and such should be handled by the board administration (meaning admins and mods) not regular users.
In old phpBB and phpFusion we had a similar mod and it was always given by the board administration (in our vB Forum currently only Global Moderators can give awards from ModCP and only those that are "enabled" by administrators).

@squidsk: Some questions.

Added - New setting for controlling whether inactive awards are displayed in modcp, default is yes for backwards compatibility

Aren't they currently not included in display by default?
No whether if displayed or not me thinks that "inactive" awards should not be given in either ModCP or ACP. Thats why they're inactive

Added - New admin permissions, one for issuing awards and one for managing awards

Good idea, currently (at our forum) any admin with permission to manage awards can do anything in the mod. Maybe we will test this and report results. Thanks.

[jagtpf]

@alcazarx : Of course it's squidsk's choice on what to do with his mods!
We've used this Award System on our Forum since 2007.

I merely offered suggestions, as do others on these boards.

I only explain what facility we use/could use - and the ability of one other usergroup to issue awards reflects the way our Forum operates.

Nothing wrong with suggestions?

[squidsk]

Originally Posted by alcazarx

Its squidsk decision what to include and what to update, although he seems to use some of me and CAG's suggestions

You two have made good suggestions and I try to implement any and all good suggestions that people make.

@squidsk: Some questions.
Aren't they currently not included in display by default?
No whether if displayed or not me thinks that "inactive" awards should not be given in either ModCP or ACP. Thats why they're inactive

In modcp in the current version they are displayed and able to be awarded. That will no longer be the case. This was actually a request you made. On the admincp side, I'm leaving it as is where admins can issue inactive awards or not, as I don't think limiting admins or making them jump through hoops in areas they have permission is beneficial.

Good idea, currently (at our forum) any admin with permission to manage awards can do anything in the mod. Maybe we will test this and report results. Thanks.

I felt that the two aspects, issuing and managing, were sufficiently different that it warranted two different permissions.

[alcazarx]

Originally Posted by squidsk

In modcp in the current version they are displayed and able to be awarded. That will no longer be the case. This was actually a request you made. On the admincp side, I'm leaving it as is where admins can issue inactive awards or not, as I don't think limiting admins or making them jump through hoops in areas they have permission is beneficial.

Oops ,we already did it in both ModCP and ACP. We dont see a point in giving Awards that are "disabled". If you want to leave it as is, ok fine.

Originally Posted by squidsk

I felt that the two aspects, issuing and managing, were sufficiently different that it warranted two different permissions.

As told, we tried it and its working here (the hard part was to tell vB to read the updated bitfield_custom.xml again .We had to use tools.php for this.), but we had to split "award.php" (copying it to "award_issue.php") to avoid too much in-file code changes. So now we have the original file for those who can manage awards and the copy for those who can only give/revoke awards. Maybe you have a better workaround in your update.

Anyway, you'll have 3 permissions for the Award mod then, since you already Need the Standard
"Can manage Settings" to edit the mods settings

[jagtpf]

Could someone clarify the setting "Award User Manager"

thanks

Geoff

[squidsk]

If you go through the Award Manager you can do stuff with awards but everything is organized by awards (and award categories). Award User Manager is where you go to deal with awards for a specific user. When you click on it you'll be taken to a simplified version of the user search page from admincp/user.php which will let you search for a user you want to manager the awards for.

[jagtpf]

Originally Posted by squidsk

If you go through the Award Manager you can do stuff with awards but everything is organized by awards (and award categories). Award User Manager is where you go to deal with awards for a specific user. When you click on it you'll be taken to a simplified version of the user search page from admincp/user.php which will let you search for a user you want to manager the awards for.

Ah - right - OK thank you for the explanation .... Something never used and I was just curious...