Profile Enhancements - Personal Notepad

This is a port of my previous Personal Notepad hack for vBulletin 3.5, with some added features and modifications that had been requested. It now makes use of template hooks and is placed in a more convenient location for users.

This hack will add a personal notepad for your members - a feature you may know from for example Invision Power Board. For short, members will be able to edit the content of their own notepad as they want, storing in it whatever they might feel like.

1 automatic template edit
1 product to install

FEATURES

- A notepad in members' main user CP area where they can type in whatever notes they may want to take down and save them
- Notepad can be resized
- Javascript for allowing users to see when they have exceeded the character limit
- Admin CP options (turn on/off, maximum input length, liquid/fixed width, width of fixed-width notepad, usergroups allowed to use notepad)
- No manual template edits
- Fully phrased for easy translation

INSTALLATION

1. Import product-personal_notepad.xml through the Admin CP.
2. Edit the Personal Notepad options in the vBulletin options if desired. (It is automatically turned on upon installation, so if you want to start using it right away without worrying about the options, you can.)
3. There is no 3. You're done. Go inform your members of the addition.

VERSION HISTORY

3.1: Saved space in liquid-width notepad by putting character counter and textbox size changers in the same line, phrased some stuff that was forgotten and added usergroup limitations in the admin options.
3.0: Tweaks for fitting better with the look of vBulletin, cached template, Javascript counter for character limit, made notepad collapsible, added version history.
2.0: Ported to 3.6, added resizing function and admin CP options.
1.0: Initial release.

[Triky]

It could be more pretty and user friendly. Ok, no problem.

[rolfw1]

Thanks, Installed.

[cbiweb]

How is this different than User Notes that comes default with vB? Other than the extra bells & whistles, this Notepad seems redundant.

[Analogpoint]

Originally Posted by cbiweb

How is this different than User Notes that comes default with vB? Other than the extra bells & whistles, this Notepad seems redundant.

This is for each user, not for the Admin Control Panel.

[cbiweb]

But there's a setting that allows all users to use the User Notes, and to make it so nobody else can view them, only the user himself. I'm just trying to think of a reason to use Notepad.

[Analogpoint]

User Notes is more akin to profile comments, and this mod is more like a personal (private) note to self. Not at all the same.

[antialiasis]

In order to use the user notes this way, you would necessarily be unable to also use them as they were intended (i.e. as a way for other users, often moderators, to comment on this user). Additionally user notes are a pain to get to, as in order to post or view them you need to view your own profile (something that requires you to either find one of your own posts, scroll down to the users online list and find yourself there, or use the quick links menu) and then click a further link from there, while to get to the notepad you only need one click in a very straightforward place. Of course you are free to use the user notes as a way for users to keep their own personal notepad, but this does have quite a few advantages provided that you are willing to install hacks on your board, which of course not all administrators are.

Personally, if I were unwilling to install hacks and wanted to achieve this effect through the default vBulletin features, I would rather simply use the suggestion posted on page three about adding a private profile field than start messing around with the user notes. Both are less accessible than the notepad, however.

[MediaHound]

Great hack, thanks!
Future version suggestion:
ajax reload, not a full page refresh
Thanks again, clicks install

[arkkhoax]

Everything works great except I get a message that says

Could not find phrase 'notepad_saved'.

when I try to save data in the notepad.

I tried adding the phrase in the Phrase Manager, regenerating the style cache, and reinstalling but it still does not show up. Am I doing something wrong or missing something? Is there anything I should know about adding the phrase manually. My attempts seems to have failed. I am running 3.6.8.

[arkkhoax]

Ok, figured it out. Somehow my database got corrupted after installing this. After uninstalling the plugin, running a database repair, and running the tools.php file to fix the language files everything works! Yay!