Pre-Sales Questions!

[kbowen0188]

I have a friend who bought a IP license, and then never got around to actually using it. I have tinkered with it in his stead, which has really helped me get a "feel" for what I want in a forum. This brings up a list of things that I wanted to ask about, to see just how possible they are.

• Users able to flag topics. This will be a board for a fantasy game, where people will play out fantasy stories in threads. If any of you are familiar with DnD or anything like so, you will get the concept. A "Storyteller" posts what the people see, and the people post with how they react. Players are also allowed to interact solely with each other, and then get their threads "awarded" when they are finished. If possible, I would like for it to be possible for users to "Flag" topics. This would preferably be a button, where they could click, and then choose what they are flagging it for (Ready for Awarding, Needing Storyteller Moderation, etc). They could insert any comments, submit it, and then it shows up in the moderation queue. Or something similar. It could even show up in the reported items.
• Disabling auto parsing URLs. This one is actually very big. IPB has no way of letting you disable the function that auto-wraps a copy-pasted URL with the bbcode tags. This can break some other custom BB code, and is extremely annoying.
• If possible, an integrated "Pages" system. I can tell there is one (I think), from playing around in the demo. If I understand correctly, it just makes custom HTML pages? I am looking to transfer a lot of information over from MediaWiki to Xenforo, so I can have all my eggs in one basket. I am currently simply using MediaWiki to display and store information, and do not actually need a wiki system in the sense that it can be edited and contributed to. I just need a good, easy, elegant way for users to access original fantasy lore and rules if they need to. In my mind, the integrated Pages would work better than bridging the Mediawiki and Xenforo software. Correct if I am mistaken.

These are the major ones. There is another, creating BBcodes that allows single pane frames (So a user can style the background of their posts with images and colors), but as long as I can disable the auto-parsing, I should be able to get that to work.
Thanks!

 

[Jeremy]

1. Moderation queue = reports.
2. Globally, this does not yet exist, but could most likely be accomplished with an add-on. Per-post, see Brogan's response below.
3. This exists as the "Pages" node type.

 

[Paul B]

URLs can be posted without being parsed using the plain tags.

 

[Jeremy]

URLs can be posted without being parsed using the plain tags.

I think he meant globally...

And for the last one, there are two add-ons available that will help you in creating custom BB Codes (one by me, the other by another member).

 

[kbowen0188]

This confuses me a bit when you say moderation queue equals reports. I see a "moderation queue", and I see a "reported items". Does it go to both sections? I would personally like to keep "reports" on an admin level, and what I describe in 1 to a moderator level. If this isn't possible, that is fine, I am just seeing what I can do.

To further explain the URL issue, I have a code that allows me to create single cell frames to act as a "background". So, for instance, if I wrote in [frame=#00000o]Post content goes here.[/frame] it would create a black box containing the post. However, with IP, if I type in [framepic=insert url for background image here]Post content goes here.[/framepic] then it automatically wraps the URL in url tags, breaking the code. I would personally like it if people had to manually wrap their code, or highlight the URL and click the URL bbcode button, etc. Anything but it automatically adding the tags.

 

[Jeremy]

This confuses me a bit when you say moderation queue equals reports. I see a "moderation queue", and I see a "reported items". Does it go to both sections? I would personally like to keep "reports" on an admin level, and what I describe in 1 to a moderator level. If this isn't possible, that is fine, I am just seeing what I can do.

To further explain the URL issue, I have a code that allows me to create single cell frames to act as a "background". So, for instance, if I wrote in [frame=#00000o]Post content goes here.[/frame] it would create a black box containing the post. However, with IP, if I type in [framepic=insert url for background image here]Post content goes here.[/framepic] then it automatically wraps the URL in url tags, breaking the code. I would personally like it if people had to manually wrap their code, or highlight the URL and click the URL bbcode button, etc. Anything but it automatically adding the tags.

Wait, no, I am mistaken. I misread your post. Moderation queue is separate, but you can't have members place items into the queue. You'll need a custom add-on for this (or prefixes).

The frame BB Codes can be created using either Custom BB Codes Manager or BBCodes & Buttons Manager. You'll need an add-on (or custom coding) to do this with the default system.

 

[kbowen0188]

That makes sense. What exactly is a prefix?

 

[Paul B]

See here: http://xenforo.com/community/forums/resolved-bugs/

Note the coloured prefixes on each thread.

 

[kbowen0188]

Prefixes actually work quite well, and I am tinkering with them now. To clarify, if I see correctly, a moderator can click on the prefix to then display every single topic that shares that prefix. Is it possible to add a prefix at any time, or only at the creation of the topic?

 

[Paul B]

Anyone can click on a prefix to sort.
You can also filter via the thread display options dropdown in each forum (at the bottom).

Anyone with thread title editing permissions can add/change prefixes at any time.

 

[kbowen0188]

However, it looks like that is a moderator permission that gives universal permission to edit titles? Users are not allowed to edit their own titles, unless I am missing the button/permission?

 

[Mike]

Users editing their own thread titles is a change that's coming in 1.2.

 

[kbowen0188]

That answers all of my questions, thank you very much.

 

[cclaerhout]

Disabling auto parsing URLs (...). This can break some other custom BB code, and is extremely annoying.

That's strange, your question wasn't that hard to understand. It is even stranger than your a potential customer asking for a simple question. So the plain Bb Code will disable every Bb Codes & any other formatting options but will be useless for any custom Bb Codes since it will disable it too.

ie: [b]http://www.xenforo.com[/b]

[plain][b]http://www.xenforo.com[/b][/plain]

The solution to disable the autolinking properly with custom Bb Codes has been mentioned many times and is available here. Only one addon "officially" integrates this function, it's this one. See this screenshot (can be disabled in 2 clicks). I just remind that this addon can be freely modified (CC by licence), is available on Github here, and has been done for my personal needs & to support the XenForo Community as well (may be some still don't get this). It is a temporary solution waiting for an official Bb Codes & Buttons Manager which, I hope, will have as many options as the existed ones.

There is another, creating BBcodes that allows single pane frames (So a user can style the background of their posts with images and colors), but as long as I can disable the auto-parsing, I should be able to get that to work.
Thanks!

I'm not sure to understand what you call a "single pane frames", but if you look after some kind of online publishing tools for formatting your messages, consider to have a look at this addon.

If you have question regarding those addons, please contact me in pm since you can not post in their threads, and since I will restrain myself to reply in forums for which posts can't be edited.

 

[Paul B]

That's strange, your question wasn't that hard to understand. It is even stranger than your a potential customer asking for a simple question. So the plain Bb Code will disable every Bb Codes & any other formatting options but will be useless for any custom Bb Codes since it will disable it too.
ie: [b]http://www.xenforo.com[/b]

Incorrect.

http://www.xenforo.com

[b][plain]http://www.xenforo.com[/plain][/b]

 

[cclaerhout]

Incorrect.

http://www.xenforo.com

[b][plain]http://www.xenforo.com[/plain][/b]

That solution (credit goes to Mr. Goodie2Shoes) implies to manually use the plain tag inside the custom bb code which is quite an horrible solution for users which, most of them, don't even know the plain tag exists. But if you like it, it's fine. A similar solution is to use white space between url and tags (credit goes to Chris).