vBStatus allows your users to update their status to tell other members what they are doing/thinking at any given time. A user's status is displayed under their names in their postbit, in their User Profile, and anywhere else you choose!
User's can edit their status quickly and easily via AJAX.
Features and Configuration options include:
Admin Option: Turn modification on/off
Admin Option: Ban usergroups from updating their status.
Admin Option: Set a max character count for status messages.
Admin Option: Set the number of characters of a status message displayed per line. (Word wrapping will occur for status messages longer than this defined value.)
Admin Option: Define a standard status prefix to be appended to the start of all status messages after the username. (i.e. Attilitus is doing something.)
Admin Option: Define a default status for users with a blank status.
Admin Option: Define the character set used for encoding status messages. (The default value of this option should work for most character sets.)
Feature: Status messages may be updated in-line.
Feature: All languages and character sets are supported. (Most, if not all, should work with the default encoding option. Others may require some configuration in the admin options.)
Feature: Users may press the Enter key to confirm their status update.
Temporarily Deactivated in v5: Admin Option: Allow defined usergroups to modify other user's status updates. (For moderation purposes)
There are 4 template edits for this hack. The installation readme file will guide you through the entire process.
Special Update Instructions for users of vBStatus v4
This version of vBStatus was mostly written from scratch. Please note that there are two features that are missing from v5 that were present in v4: the ability of members of certain usergroups to modify the status updates of other users, and the ability for users to edit their status in a popup window. If you need those features, don't upgrade yet.
The upgrade process that I suggest is:
Import the new product xml file. Make sure that you check Allow Overwrite.
Remove all template code in templates: postbit, postbit_legacy, memberinfo, and header that is between <!--BEGIN VBSTATUS--> <!--END VBSTATUS--> tags.
Delete your current vbstatus folder and all of its contents.
Install vBStatus v5 as instructed in the installation instructions text file included with the modification.
Version 5.1
Support for non-english characters has been added.
A small modification was made to the installation script to make it more robust.
Upgrade Instructions: Reupload all files (allow overwrite), and reimport the product (allow overwrite). No additional template edits are required to for the upgrade.
Version 5.2
Users may press the Enter key to submit their status.
Upgrade Instructions: Reupload all files (allow overwrite). No additional template edits are required for this upgrade. You may reimport the included product, if you desire, to update the version number to 5.2
Version 5.3
Important security update to fix a cross site scripting exploit.
Upgrade Instructions: Reupload all files in the upload folder to your forum root, and allow overwrite. It is not necessary to re-import the product xml file.
Note: The files available in this thread will always be for the most recent version of the modification.
If you previously used vBStatus in vB 3.x your member's old status messages will be preserved.
Please do not forget to click INSTALL
They are not related, aside from the fact that they implement similar functionality. This modification is an upgrade of a modification for vB 3.7 that I developed about 2 years ago. You should judge the differences for yourself.
Temporarily Deactivated in v5: Admin Option: Allow defined usergroups to modify other user's status updates. (For moderation purposes)
Why?? That is something I think is very necessary!
Yes. I agree, but I would not use the adjective "very."
Right now a user's status message is never saved. A user only has a "current" status. If a user persistently uses his status messages inappropriately, then the user could be moved to a usergroup not allowed to use the modification. Otherwise, the user could be asked to change his status and, since status messages are never saved, that offending status message would be gone forever.
Regardless, the feature will be added before I put vBStatus back upon its back-burner. Since it is bad practice to allow any kind of user content without full means of moderating such content. The only reason it was not put into this version is because I developed this version overnight, and wanted to ensure that the features I did implement were implemented well.
If only we could combine this mod and DBTech's. I love how DBTech's mod gives you a tab in the profile with a timeline of status updates. I love how this mod allows moderators and admins to edit inappropriate statuses (you need to enable this quick, right now it's the only benefit over the other MOD).
Could you and DBTech collobrate? I know DBTech has collaborated on mods before.
If only we could combine this mod and DBTech's. I love how DBTech's mod gives you a tab in the profile with a timeline of status updates. I love how this mod allows moderators and admins to edit inappropriate statuses (you need to enable this quick, right now it's the only benefit over the other MOD).
Could you and DBTech collobrate? I know DBTech has collaborated on mods before.
I don't believe there is anything to be gained through collaboration.
I will likely add a feed of a user's recent status messages if/when I implement a status history system. (If only for the reason that a user must have a centralized place to edit/delete their past status messages.) A profile tab might be the most appropriate place for such a feed, but there may be a better place for it.