Newbie seeking general advice

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wxyzard
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Newbie seeking general advice

Post by wxyzard »

Hi, I'm new to web programming. I'm thinking of using phpBB for a website I'm planning.

Does anyone recommend an IDE that they like for using with phpBB?

I'm planning to make some fairly minor custom changes for my website. How does phpBB code compare to other platforms, IOW is it easier or harder to make custom changes to it?

Thanks!
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: Newbie seeking general advice

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

depends on the changes. if you are only talking about styling changes then you only need to know a little html/css.
if you want to make coding changes to the actual php files then you would need to know php and really understand phpBB as well as possibly
mysql etc.
however, phpBB is designed to use extensions to add functions or change certain functions of the program

bottom line is most people don't find the need to do any custom coding to phpBB. It is a bulletin board software and does a very good job of
being a bulletin board straight out of the box.

you can add extensions and you can install custom styles to change the look/layout of the pages etc.

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HB
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Re: Newbie seeking general advice

Post by HB »

wxyzard wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:34 amDoes anyone recommend an IDE that they like for using with phpBB?
I like Eclipse PHP because of the syntax highlighting, error checking, smart search, and especially the built-in version history. The drawback is Eclipse demands a lot of memory/CPU. I don't bother with its PHP debugger. When I use older laptops with less umph, I like Atom for speed.

Another must-have is XAMPP. It has a quick install of MySQL/Apache/PHP, so you can test your code changes locally before uploading them.
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AlfredoRamos
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Re: Newbie seeking general advice

Post by AlfredoRamos »

If you will be making small changes as you mention, you don't really need an IDE like PhpStorm, for example, because you might not use most of its features.

Using any text editor like Atom, VSCode / VSCodium or Sublime Text would be enough if you are still learning.
wxyzard wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:34 am How does phpBB code compare to other platforms, IOW is it easier or harder to make custom changes to it?
It depends on programming background you have if you meant to create extensions.

Cosmetic changes are fairly easy in any platform that use HTML templates directly, like phpBB does.
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wxyzard
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Re: Newbie seeking general advice

Post by wxyzard »

OP:
Thanks everyone! Yeah, I do need to make some changes, and I figure it'd be easier to make them directly instead of making an extension.

For example, when a user submits changes to their profile info, I want the code to check if they uploaded an avatar or not... if they did then they get assigned full permissions (are a registered user), but if they didn't then they get assigned to a limited permission group. IOW, I want the avatar to be a required field.

Another example, I want to add a dropdown box & button to the public profile screen so users can report a bad user. The existing/built-in ability to report a bad post isn't sufficient for my needs.

Another example, I want the memberlist search screen to filter by some custom fields I'm adding, instead of what it currently does.

Another example, I want to delete the existing topic sort dropdown completely, and use a simpler sort dropdown, because the existing sort dropdown doesn't allow users to sort the topics by topic creation date (which is a popular way to sort topics, possibly the most popular way, so IDK why it's not the default or even available LOL).

Just some minor changes like that. Also, I want to do some very minor visual/graphics changes too.
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david63
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Re: Newbie seeking general advice

Post by david63 »

wxyzard wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:04 am Just some minor changes like that
Those are not "minor" changes and will require some major code changes. Most can probably be achieved with extensions although I do not recall seeing any being available for what you are wanting to do.

For someone who is
wxyzard wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:34 am new to web programming.
I would suggest that you start learning PHP and how it is implemented in phpBB before trying to make such changes as they are not simply cosmetic.
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