Featured Threads

[Paul B]

But its been enjoyable seeing Paul ask questions and Chris work through all his road blocks.

Fixed that for you

 

[Jeremy]

Fixed that for you

If it wasn't for that pesky @Chris Deeming you wouldn't have the add-on!

(Props to anyone who gets the reference. )

 

[Paul B]

Chris has been a huge help.

Considering all I knew about php a week ago was this: php

I'm surprised he hasn't blocked me on Skype, here, Facebook, etc.

 

[Jeremy]

Well, he can't block you here. The amount of questions you have asked me, I can't imagine its that many. lol. Still nice seeing this come along.

 

[Paul B]

Woohoo!



Getting there (very) slowly, and painfully

 

[Paul B]

So a little update then, to expand on my earlier "Woohoo!".

There is now a new option to limit the maximum number of characters retrieved from the first post when featuring a thread:


This new option goes hand in hand with the new Style Property to change the overlay content area height:


As you can see, the defaults are currently set to 1,000 characters and 250px, which works quite well for a regularly formatted post:



What's left to do is:

• Strip out bb code, smilies, attachments, etc. from the post content when featuring, except for URLs
• Save/retrieve/remove the data from the table when featuring/editing/deleting a thread
• Write the template for displaying the featured threads (it's currently hard coded with dummy content)
• Implement perm checks so only those with permission to view the threads can see the featured threads
• Remove a featured thread if a thread is deleted or moderated

There's probably something I've forgotten but that's basically it.

 

[Jeremy]

It looks like I have new plans for the weekend: Fly to the UK, chain Paul to a desk, play with his daughter so he has no reason to leave, and then fly home once its released. Sound like a deal, right, @Brogan?

Can't wait to play with this.

 

[Paul B]

Make it 9 months and we have a deal - she starts school full time then

 

[Jeremy]

As long as you'll pay a 9 month salary, sure. And give me a place to sleep.

 

[Paul B]

I just had a thought...

Although I wouldn't use it personally, I suppose I could add alerts and trophies.
So people would be alerted if their thread was featured and trophies could be awarded based on x number of their threads being featured.

Not sure if that's overkill for this particular add-on.

 

[Brent W]

I just had a thought...

Although I wouldn't use it personally, I suppose I could add alerts and trophies.
So people would be alerted if their thread was featured and trophies could be awarded based on x number of their threads being featured.

Not sure if that's overkill for this particular add-on.

I like that idea. Drives better content for those that want to be featured.

 

[Brent W]

Another idea is to keep track of how many featured posts they have and list them in their profile.

 

[Jeremy]

I just had a thought...

Although I wouldn't use it personally, I suppose I could add alerts and trophies.
So people would be alerted if their thread was featured and trophies could be awarded based on x number of their threads being featured.

Not sure if that's overkill for this particular add-on.

Trophies & Alerts are not nearly utilized enough in add-ons. Just make sure if you add alerts it has the option to disable them.

 

[Paul B]

Those will probably come later, as will the news feed.

Initially I just want to get it coded based on my own requirements, which is a simple block on the forum index.

 

[Shelley]

I just had a thought...

Although I wouldn't use it personally, I suppose I could add alerts and trophies.
So people would be alerted if their thread was featured and trophies could be awarded based on x number of their threads being featured.

Not sure if that's overkill for this particular add-on.

Nope, that isn't overkill imo. Good idea to alert somebody that their thread is featured.

 

[jauburn]

Very much like this idea and would like to try it out on my forum. Would it be possible to download what you have? Thanks.

 

[Mouth]

Any plans to set an expiry date for the featured thread, after which date/time it is no longer a featured thread?

 

[Paul B]

Very much like this idea and would like to try it out on my forum. Would it be possible to download what you have? Thanks.

It's only about 70% complete so not in a fit state for release.
Once I'm happy with it I'll publish it in the RM.

Any plans to set an expiry date for the featured thread, after which date/time it is no longer a featured thread?

It's not something I had considered but I will add it to the suggestions list.

 

[jauburn]

Any plans to set an expiry date for the featured thread, after which date/time it is no longer a featured thread?

Good idea.

 

[Paul B]

Any plans to set an expiry date for the featured thread, after which date/time it is no longer a featured thread?

Something like this?


That's something I would probably use myself so I may try and get that in the first release.