Board watch

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cooch17
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Posts: 160
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Board watch

Post by cooch17 »

robert668 wrote:I installed BoardWatch a couple of months ago and it was working perfectly, but I wanted to enhance it by adding the text of new posts to the email notification. I followed Alan's instructions to the letter, then modified the .txt files, but the emails did not change accordingly. Alan suggested I purge the cache in the general acp after completing all the steps, which I finally did, and now it works perfectly. This mod is outstanding - I'm happy, my members are happy, and I've learned a ton in the process. Thanks, Alan!
Couldn't agree more. I've also modified the .txt files, added some other variables to the files (would be great if there was a list published somewhere of all the variables for phpBB3), and away it went. Oncxe I realized you had to purge the cache. While I've since learned (found) this is a generic instruction for phpBB and anything you do with templates, but be worth adding an explicit reminder to the board watch docs.

Great mod. :D
asinshesq
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Location: NYC
Name: Alan

Re: Board watch

Post by asinshesq »

cooch17 wrote:...I realized you had to purge the cache. While I've since learned (found) this is a generic instruction for phpBB and anything you do with templates, but be worth adding an explicit reminder to the board watch docs.
Good suggestion, I'll do that in the next round (if I remember ;) ).
cooch17
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Location: Ithaca, NY

preventing duplicate/redundant notices

Post by cooch17 »

Suppose I'm a user working with a phpBB 3 board with the board watch mod installed. Suppose there is a forum (I'll call it statistics), which has two sub-forum (which I'll call Bayesian and Frequentist). I go into the UCP, and select the option to send me a notice whenever there is a post anywhere in the statistics forum, regardless of which of the two subforums its submitted to.

Then, at some point, I get a notice that something has been posted. I access that topic, and post a reply. Now, by default, I'm watching that topic. I'm not subscribed to it, but phpBB has me 'watching it' (if I look at my active subscriptions in the UCP, I see that I've subscribed to the 'statistics' forum, and am watching a particular topic).

Fine, except that as described, if there is another post to the same topic I reply to, the board now generates 2 emails: 1 telling me that something has been posted to the 'statistics' forum, and another telling me that someone has posted a reply or such to a topic I'm watching. This is essentially redundant.

So - the question: what is the best way to prevent what are effectively duplicated emails? What I'd really like is an email if a new topic is posted anywhere in the forum, and an email if a topic I'm watching (and which by definition isn't new) has something posted to it.

Thanks!
cooch17
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Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Board watch

Post by cooch17 »

asinshesq wrote:
reds wrote:what is frustrating me is that I see an plane mail address, not like always the name of the sender
I just want to that user will see a name of the board, not a plane and some naked mail address
If you want the 'FROM' address to appear as a plain english name of the board rather than an email address, you can try this (I haven't tried it myself so let me know if it works):

Code: Select all

				$messenger->send($addr['method']);

#
#-----[ BEFORE, ADD ]------------------------------------------------
#
				$messenger->replyto($config['sitename'] . ' <' . $config['board_email'] . '>');
				$messenger->from($config['sitename'] . ' <' . $config['board_email'] . '>');
Just wondering - interesting tweak, but...which file would we need to edit to add this?
asinshesq
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Name: Alan

Re: Board watch

Post by asinshesq »

cooch17 wrote:...Just wondering - interesting tweak, but...which file would we need to edit to add this?
includes/functions_posting.php
cooch17 wrote:Then, at some point, I get a notice that something has been posted. I access that topic, and post a reply. Now, by default, I'm watching that topic. I'm not subscribed to it, but phpBB has me 'watching it'
Just a small clarification: watching a topic and subscribing to it are the same thing. By default, if you reply to a topic phpbb3 subscribes you to it (although a user can change that default behavior in the ucp by changing the "Notify me upon replies by default" option).
cooch17 wrote:...if there is another post to the same topic I reply to, the board now generates 2 emails: 1 telling me that something has been posted to the 'statistics' forum, and another telling me that someone has posted a reply or such to a topic I'm watching. This is essentially redundant...
I don't think that's correct (at least that's not what is supposed to happen). The code that generates notices for a given post is set up to send only one notice for the post to any particular user. For example, if the user has boardwatch turned on (so that he is supposed to get notices of any post anywhere) and someone posts, the user gets a boardwatch notice and then - because he has already received a notice for the post - his name goes onto a list of users that will NOT receive forumwatch notice or topicwatch notice for that post. Similalrly, in the case you are talking about, if a forumwatch notice goes out to a user for qa particular post his name goes onto a list that is not supposed to get a separate topicwatch notice. So there should be no duplication. Are you saying that on your board people are getting duplicates?
cooch17 wrote:...What I'd really like is an email if a new topic is posted anywhere in the forum, and an email if a topic I'm watching (and which by definition isn't new) has something posted to it.
If a user subscribes to a forum he will get notices for any new topic or reply in that forum (regardless of whether he has subscribed to that topic), subject to the caveat that if he has the options set to send him only one notice between forum visits he will only get one such notice. Are you asking how to change the forum subscription behaviour so that it only notifies you of new topics (not replies)? that has nothing to do with this mod but it is easy enough to do. (But keep in mind that if you make a change like that you risk cnfusing your users.)
cooch17
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Posts: 160
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Board watch

Post by cooch17 »

asinshesq wrote:
cooch17 wrote:...Just wondering - interesting tweak, but...which file would we need to edit to add this?
includes/functions_posting.php
Thanks...
cooch17 wrote:Then, at some point, I get a notice that something has been posted. I access that topic, and post a reply. Now, by default, I'm watching that topic. I'm not subscribed to it, but phpBB has me 'watching it'
Just a small clarification: watching a topic and subscribing to it are the same thing. By default, if you reply to a topic phpbb3 subscribes you to it (although a user can change that default behavior in the ucp by changing the "Notify me upon replies by default" option).
Thanks for clarifying.
cooch17 wrote:...if there is another post to the same topic I reply to, the board now generates 2 emails: 1 telling me that something has been posted to the 'statistics' forum, and another telling me that someone has posted a reply or such to a topic I'm watching. This is essentially redundant...
I don't think that's correct (at least that's not what is supposed to happen). The code that generates notices for a given post is set up to send only one notice for the post to any particular user. For example, if the user has boardwatch turned on (so that he is supposed to get notices of any post anywhere) and someone posts, the user gets a boardwatch notice and then - because he has already received a notice for the post - his name goes onto a list of users that will NOT receive forumwatch notice or topicwatch notice for that post. Similalrly, in the case you are talking about, if a forumwatch notice goes out to a user for qa particular post his name goes onto a list that is not supposed to get a separate topicwatch notice. So there should be no duplication. Are you saying that on your board people are getting duplicates?
Yes, apparently.
cooch17 wrote:...What I'd really like is an email if a new topic is posted anywhere in the forum, and an email if a topic I'm watching (and which by definition isn't new) has something posted to it.
If a user subscribes to a forum he will get notices for any new topic or reply in that forum (regardless of whether he has subscribed to that topic), subject to the caveat that if he has the options set to send him only one notice between forum visits he will only get one such notice. Are you asking how to change the forum subscription behaviour so that it only notifies you of new topics (not replies)? that has nothing to do with this mod but it is easy enough to do. (But keep in mind that if you make a change like that you risk cnfusing your users.)
I'll give it some thought, and confer with a couple of the 'power-user' types.

In the meantime, trying to work through why some users are getting two emails - they're not strict duplicates, but rather, (1) announcing that there is a reply to a topic they're participating in (which I now understand means 'having subscribed to'), and (2) another announcing there is a new post in the forum. Is it possible there is a strange interaction going on between (i) UCP | Board Preferences | Edit posting Defaults -> selecting 'yes' for 'Notify me upon replies by default', and (ii) UCP | Board Preferences | Edit post notification options -> and selecting 'yes' to 'When I subscribe to a forum, send me notice of all posts in the forum'. It is this interaction which seems to be happening, in some fashion.
Last edited by cooch17 on Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
asinshesq
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Location: NYC
Name: Alan

Re: Board watch

Post by asinshesq »

cooch17 wrote:
asinshesq wrote:...Are you saying that on your board people are getting duplicates?
Yes, apparently.
Apparantly, or actually? :mrgreen:

That should not happen, and it does not happen on my test board. Here's what I tried (to make sure we are talking about the same thing):

- I turned off boardwatch for my account

- I turned on forumwatch for my account for 'all' posts or replies in a forum to which I am subscribed

- I turned on topicwatch for my account for 'all' replies in a topic to which I am subscribed

- I subscribed to an existing forum and then to a topic in that forum (I subscribed by replying to that topic but that's the same thing as if I had just subscribed to it without replying)

- I logged out and logged in as a test user

- I had that test user reply to that topic

In that case, i only got one notification (as expected): the forumwatch notification with the text that reads:
Hello test user,

You are receiving this notification because you are watching for all posts
at "Test Forum." The site has received a new reply to the topic
"test." You can use the following link to view the first unread post
in that topic:


http://forum_address/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2162&view=unread#unread

If you want to change your post notifications settings, click on the
following link:

http://forum_address/ucp.php?i=boardwatch&mode=boardwatch

--
Thanks, The Management
Are you absoltuely sure that a single user is getting more than one email. I can tell you that when I was writing this mod, I frequently confused myself with my test accounts, where I would forget that each test account is its own user (who gets its own notices). My test users had the same email address so I would sometimes get multiple emails, but on close look I realized that each user is only getting the one notice he is supposed to be getting.

If a single user is getting more than one notice of a post on your board, something is wrong. Probably something in functions_posting.php. Did you install the mod manually or with automod?
cooch17
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Posts: 160
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Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Board watch

Post by cooch17 »

asinshesq wrote:
cooch17 wrote:
asinshesq wrote:...Are you saying that on your board people are getting duplicates?
Yes, apparently.
Apparantly, or actually? :mrgreen:
I'll check.
That should not happen, and it does not happen on my test board. Here's what I tried (to make sure we are talking about the same thing):

- I turned off boardwatch for my account

- I turned on forumwatch for my account for 'all' posts or replies in a forum to which I am subscribed

- I turned on topicwatch for my account for 'all' replies in a topic to which I am subscribed

- I subscribed to an existing forum and then to a topic in that forum (I subscribed by replying to that topic but that's the same thing as if I had just subscribed to it without replying)

- I logged out and logged in as a test user

- I had that test user reply to that topic

In that case, i only got one notification (as expected): the forumwatch notification with the text that reads:
Hello test user,

You are receiving this notification because you are watching for all posts
at "Test Forum." The site has received a new reply to the topic
"test." You can use the following link to view the first unread post
in that topic:


http://forum_address/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2162&view=unread#unread

If you want to change your post notifications settings, click on the
following link:

http://forum_address/ucp.php?i=boardwatch&mode=boardwatch

--
Thanks, The Management
Are you absoltuely sure that a single user is getting more than one email.
I'm absolutely sure that the user told me they did. As above, I'll check. I also have some test accounts I try out.
I can tell you that when I was writing this mod, I frequently confused myself with my test accounts, where I would forget that each test account is its own user (who gets its own notices). My test users had the same email address so I would sometimes get multiple emails, but on close look I realized that each user is only getting the one notice he is supposed to be getting.
I can see that for a site admin (or mod developer), where you're testing things out, but this is a 'regular' user, who has only one account on the board.
If a single user is getting more than one notice of a post on your board, something is wrong. Probably something in functions_posting.php. Did you install the mod manually or with automod?
Manually. I'm happy to provide functions_posting.php for you to peruse, if that would help - I'll attach it to a PM. In the meantime, I'll get back to the user who reported getting redundant notifications.

Thanks again!
RickMcGowan
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Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:26 pm

Re: Board watch

Post by RickMcGowan »

Hello. I'm basically a newbie at PHPBB. I installed 3.0.6 and Smartfeed mod without problems. Now I installed the Boardwatch mod.

It seems to run OK, except for one (fatal) problem: After installing Boardwatch, I cannot get to the "Users and Groups" tab of the ACP! So I can't administer users any more. I just get a blank page.

I can get to other parts of the ACP like: General, Forums, Posting, and all that, but not to the Users and Groups page.

I have triple checked my installation, run diffs on the files that were modified, etc. I set permissions in MySQL OK. The mod seems to actually work, and I am able to see/set the Boardwatch permissions, etc.

Just can't get to that Users and Groups tab...
For example, the URL for the "General" tab on my ACP takes me to:
http://www.NNNNNN/forum/adm/index.php?sid=NNNN&i=1
The Users and Groups tab is supposed to take me to:
http://www.NNNNNN/forum/adm/index.php?sid=NNNN&i=12
But the latter doesn't work with Boardwatch installed.

I installed by cloning my entire forum tree and making mods in the new one. I can flip back and forth between them, and the ACP Users and Groups tab works totally fine in the original forum setup.

I don't *seem* to get any error messages, but where would I even look for them?

I'm stumped.

Any idea what might have gone wrong? Anything I should also check, that perhaps I haven't thought of...?

Thanks.
asinshesq
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Posts: 6266
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 9:34 pm
Location: NYC
Name: Alan

Re: Board watch

Post by asinshesq »

RickMcGowan wrote:Hello. I'm basically a newbie at PHPBB. I installed 3.0.6 and Smartfeed mod without problems. Now I installed the Boardwatch mod.

It seems to run OK, except for one (fatal) problem: After installing Boardwatch, I cannot get to the "Users and Groups" tab of the ACP! So I can't administer users any more. I just get a blank page...
Sounds like you made a mistake in the changes for includes/acp/acp_users.php. For example, maybe you didn't notice that each 'add after' is supposed to be added after a close parenthesis and semicolon? If you can't figure it out, pm me your includes/acp/acp_users.php file and I'll take a look.

For future reference, mods and much easier to install (with fewer mistakes) if you install with automod.
RickMcGowan
Registered User
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:26 pm

Re: Board watch

Post by RickMcGowan »

asinshesq wrote:maybe you didn't notice that each 'add after' is supposed to be added after a close parenthesis and semicolon?
Haha! Yes! Thank you. That was precisely the problem. Wow, thanks. Now it appears to work just fine, once I moved those ); lines back up where they belong...!
cooch17
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Location: Ithaca, NY

Re: Board watch

Post by cooch17 »

Are you absolutely sure that a single user is getting more than one email.
User reports no further problems. I blame copious amounts of chemical abuse on their part - and not board watch. ;-)
asinshesq
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Posts: 6266
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 9:34 pm
Location: NYC
Name: Alan

Re: Board watch

Post by asinshesq »

cooch17 wrote:...User reports no further problems. I blame copious amounts of chemical abuse on their part - and not board watch. ;-)
:lol:

Thanks for letting me know.
Saundhaus
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Posts: 49
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:15 pm
Location: San Francisco

Re: Board watch

Post by Saundhaus »

So I have everything installed and it all looks right, but my problem is with the cron job. I went to my cpanel and added a cron job with /usr/bin/curl http://www.XdomainX.org/phpbb/mail_digests.php. The XdomainX is just replacement of the actual so I don't get hacked and I have it set to ever 30 minutes and I receive a no input file specified and when I run the mail_digests.php I just get:

Starting mail_digests.php
Ending mail_digests.php

With nothing in between even if there has been something posted. I've got my settings in the UCP set correctly, but I found a section in the mail_digests.php that says:

// Need a board URL since URLs pointing to the board need to be absolute URLs
$board_url = generate_board_url() . '/';
Should I put the location of the board in there? I ask because the email I receive is coming from: Cron <zoidtrap@hermes> php -q /home/zoidtrap/www/phpBB3/mail_digests.php and the directory is phpbb not phpBB3

Thanks,
Eric
asinshesq
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Posts: 6266
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 9:34 pm
Location: NYC
Name: Alan

Re: Board watch

Post by asinshesq »

Saundhaus wrote:So I have everything installed and it all looks right, but my problem is with the cron job. I went to my cpanel and added a cron job with /usr/bin/curl http://www.XdomainX.org/phpbb/mail_digests.php. The XdomainX is just replacement of the actual so I don't get hacked and I have it set to ever 30 minutes and I receive a no input file specified and when I run the mail_digests.php I just get:

Starting mail_digests.php
Ending mail_digests.php

With nothing in between even if there has been something posted....
I think you are posting in the wrong topic. This mod has nothing to do with email digests and does not require cron jobs.

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