Fork Threads

Boring Preamble
Sometimes a thread gets really long or some posts generate interesting but off topic conversation. I wanted to test the new cool product manager system and thought of this very simple mod to add Fork Thread functionality to the end user.

What it does
Allows the end user to divert off-topic tangents into a new thread, while automatically quoting the original thread.

Specs
Plugin: Included

Phrases added automatically: 2
fork_prefix and fork_this_post

Templates added automatically: 1
newpost_fork

Templates to edit: 1
postbit or postbit_legacy

Images to upload: 1 (optional)
fork.gif

How to Install

This is a full blown plugin. Follow the usual instructions for a plugin. Then you have to edit the postbit or postbit_legacy template.

For the graphical version you have to insert these lines where you want the link to appear:

PHP Code:

<a href="newthread.php?fork=1&do=newthread&p=$post[postid]"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/fork.gif" alt="$vbphrase[fork_this_post]" border="0" /></a> 


For the text version use this code:

PHP Code:

<a href="newthread.php?fork=1&do=newthread&p=$post[postid]">$vbphrase[fork_this_post]</a> 


You may want to place it in an "if" conditional so that only users who can post New Threads will see the image. Just use the same code as what's embedded in the "quote" image.

Updated to version 1.0.1 on 08/18/2005

*Modified to use the phrase manager.
*Fixed minor bug when "Automatically Quote Post / Thread Title" was set to "no".
*Fixed minor bug where after processing the title I pointed to the wrong variable

Preview and Live Demo

Preview attached. Or you can Register and try to fork the posts in the fork me thread.

Graphics help solicited

The quickie image I put together of a fork sucks
If someone comes up with an edited image of the .psd file vb comes with I will edit this post.

Wishlist for this mod

1. I doubt I will have the time to put this together, but it would be nice if there was a dropdown with forums the user has permission to post in so that the user can fork the thread to a different forum.
2. Adding a post to the original thread stating it had been forked and a link to the new thread

Final note

Oblivion Knight donated an image you can use of a fork (Thanks). It is attached to this post.

[GilbertZ]

Originally Posted by nexialys

maybe crop your screenshots, big white spaces are not looking good..

and like said... GREAT idea!

I will. I'm working on a bunch of code and have many programs and windows open so photoshop won't load I used Paint instead and screwed up. When I have some more RAM I'll fix it.

[GilbertZ]

Originally Posted by Azhrialilu

One thing that might be useful is if it added a post to the original thread stating it had been forked and a link to the new thread - otherwise on a busy board you could get loads of forks many of which could be under the same thread.

Thanks. I actually meant to add that to the wishlist.

Would it look better to have a full blown post with a link to the fork or just a note in smallfont in the post that was forked? (I think the latter, but the complexity of the mod would become considerably greater).

[GilbertZ]

Originally Posted by Vizionz

this is a pretty good idea it would be better if it let u choose where to put the fork after.

That's in the wishlist.

Originally Posted by Vizionz

and it should be called offtopic instead of fork :P

Not sure I like "offtopic" but if people have ideas for better wording than I used, please post them. I tried to find your site to see how it looks as "offtopic". Can you post your url? (You can PM if you want it private.)

I'll switch wording to reflect the best received suggestions.

[GilbertZ]

Originally Posted by jesus likes pie

Just wondering, whats the difference between this and splitting? (apart from the fact that it says "Forked:" before the title.

This can help you avoid having to split in the first place. This is for your users where splitting is for the admin.

This is similar to the quote feature. It starts a new thread quoting the old post.

[jesus likes pie]

OH......

I thought this was only for the admin. O.K consider this installed on The UberGamers Forums

[jesus likes pie]

Um if we're supposed to get the fork image from the attachment, I dont like the fact that it has a white background. Can you make it transparent?

[GilbertZ]

Originally Posted by jesus likes pie

Um if we're supposed to get the fork image from the attachment, I dont like the fact that it has a white background. Can you make it transparent?

I suck at graphics. I'm hoping someone who is good at it will offer something better.

[jesus likes pie]

dont worry i suck at em too :P

[Floris]

Originally Posted by nexialys

maybe crop your screenshots, big white spaces are not looking good..

and like said... GREAT idea!

I agree, great idea and nice of you to write it out in a full blown plugin and tnx for sharing!

[GilbertZ]

Thanks for the nice comments everybody!

[Oblivion Knight]

Originally Posted by jesus likes pie

Um if we're supposed to get the fork image from the attachment, I dont like the fact that it has a white background. Can you make it transparent?

How about this as an alternative?

[GilbertZ]

Just a quick question to any vb dev.

There are two new variables called in the plugin. I didn't really see the point of initializing them with a $var=""; statement considering the vars are not used in any database calls, plus they are essentially initialized with a value when they are used. If those fields are attempted to be passed into the page, since they aren't globalized, they should be nullified anyway.

However, I know you are doing funky things with plugins, serializing them etc, so I wanted to know what are your best practices for new vars in a plugin?

[Chris_D]

Fork off!

[Oblivion Knight]

This doesn't seem to be functioning correctly if the option "Automatically Quote Post / Thread Title" is set to No.

Every time I click on the fork icon, the new thread title is "Forked Thread: " with the same added inside the URL tags. Shouldn't it be grabbing the thread title if no post title is defined?

[GilbertZ]

I wasn't sure the best way to handle that as the setting is set to "yes" for me.

Are you saying you want the post part of it to quote the title and leave the subject blank?