BBCode MOD to reference topics, posts, forums...

[goa103]

Hello,

This is not a MOD request but Drexion, a moderator, told me to post my topic here. Moreover I can't post in other forums and the moderator wasn't able to help me, he told me I just can't post, I don't understand but I can't do anything about it. If the MOD I'm looking for doesn't exist, I plan to develop it myself and with all people who are interested to work on it (even I don't think it's such a complex project ^^').

I wonder if there's already a MOD to reference topics, replies, forums... from a forum using BBCode tags. Does such a MOD exist ? I couldn't find any on the MOD database.

The aim would be to avoid using the url BBCode tag to reference objets (topics, posts...) from a forum.

For example if you want to reference this forum in your post, actually you have to use the http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=17, it's what Drexion when I asked him how I should submit this topic. Here I even use the url BBCode tag to reference the user Drexion, when I could use a user tag. So thanks to such a MOD, we would be able to reference this forum using a forum tag and write forum=17 for example. And to reference a user we could use a user tag or the username instead : user=44968 or user=Drexion. These BBCode tags would be automatically replaced by hyperlinks to view the forum or the user profile.

I got the idea a long time ago and decided to submit this topic because one of the forum I know was moved from one location to an other and all references to forums, topics, all URLs referencing a forum objet are broken.

The power of these BBCode tags is also that you don't need to extract the name of the object (forum, topic...), the MOD will automatically extract the name from the database, using the object id you provide. So instead of forum=17 you get a nice MOD Request hyperlink. It could even prefix these special hyperlinks with icons so users know what they're clicking (goodies ^^).

All your remarks and suggestions are welcome.
JM

[jpb]

Such a mod would be fab.
Given the quality of phpbb's dynamic separation of code, design and language I am little surprised that this does not exist already.

[goa103]

Such a mod would be fab.
Given the quality of phpbb's dynamic separation of code, design and language I am little surprised that this does not exist already.

Same enthusiasm on the french board, I count two votes . People who don't understand the power of these BBCode tags should definitely adopt them once a first version of the MOD is released.

It will be my first MOD for phpBB. Don' hesitate to post your ideas or suggestions to help us develop a first class phpBB MOD. My first aim is to provide users with tags for all phpBB objects : forums, topics, posts, user profiles...

However I don't really know how I will be able to announce its first release on the MOD Release Announcements & Support forum as I'm not allowed to post on it, but first I will post it on the MOD Beta Development forum.

The above paragraph written using the BBCode tags I plan to implement :

However I don't really know how I will be able to announce its first release on the [f=15] forum as I'm not allowed to post on it, but first I will post it on the [f=16] forum.

Extended BBCode Guide :

How can I reference a forum from a topic ?

You have to use the forum reference BBCode tag f, which stands for forum, and specify its id - the forum numeric identifier - as a parameter. For example to reference this forum, MOD Requests, whose URL is http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=17 you simply have to extract the forum identifier 17 from the ?f=17 URL query. The URL query parameter name f is used as the BBCode tag name. So referencing a forum using the BBCode tags is as easy as extracting the URL query and bracketing it : [[f=17]] (How can we insert the bracket characters in a topic ? Isn't there any brackets equivalent of the HTML < and > entities ?).

I also read the Can I add my own tags? question-answer from the BBCode Guide and wonder how I can integrate the reference BBCode tags to the upcoming system.

JM

[jpb]

Hiya

Just wonder if you are develing this mod or not?

[goa103]

Just wonder if you are develing this mod or not?

Designing it first but I was expecting some answers from the phpBB team. They mention in the BBCode guide a feature that would greatly help me :

No, I am afraid not directly in phpBB 2.0. We are looking at offering customisable BBCode tags for the next major version.

So when is the next major version ? phpBB 3 ?

Actually the only way to MOD it is to patch it as I can't extend the set of BBCode tags automatically.

[goa103]

Note that I will post a alpha release so you try it as soon as it's ready. I'm a bit busy these days but implementing completely shouldn't take that much time.