Smiley Mod for SMF? it can't be.. he didn't do it did he?

[BiGBLiZZ]

Well, I would love to tell you I have done it...  I am close, honestly I am guessing I am about 90 -92% complete with the whole thing.

I have been working on this thing since 1.0.5, and am currently doing it on RC2.

Here is what I am trying to do and what I have done so far:

Multiple pop ups is the key.  40 bajillion people want smileys to be better organized in SMF.  I created categories for my 600+ smileys, I have a total of 9 categories.  one of which is "favorites"  which will be those shown on the post form.  The other 8 will be separate pop ups like the "more" pop up now, except that each pop up will hold different smileys.

On my virgin forum (1.1 RC2 with no mods or themes installed) I have done the following:

Created the categories, the $txt descriptions for everything, and added the pop up buttons to the post form and PM form.  There are the shown smileys and 8 pop up buttons with different names.

I have made the drop down menus include the category names, so that you can go to Admin >>Smileys and Message Icons >> Add/Edit/Set etc and move your smilies to the proper pop up window.


Now I am stuck.  I believe I have 3 steps left:

1. In Admin >> Smileys and Message Icons >> Set Smiley Order you will see 2 options, Post Form and Pop Up.  I need to add the other 7 pop ups here so you can manually move the smileys around between the pop ups.

2. Alter SQL/PHP code to allow for storage of alternate smiley categories

3.  Clean up the code.

Now, I have located the files that need to be changed to accommodate the changes for step 1, I just can't seem to get the thing to comply with me.  I once got it to show the 8 pop ups and the post form, but the tables were all screwed up.  Now all I can get it to do is to list the pop up window labled as the last pop up $txt I entered.

I also know which files contain the SQL stuff, however the coding in there is written in such a way that is is either/or, not multiple choice.  the strings are either 0 or 2, I will need to change this to be 0, or 2, or 3 or 4 or 5 etc... to 9

Once these are done I believe the Mod will work correctly, then it will be time to clean up the code.  Why do I need to clean up code?  Because to be brutally honest I know almost NOTHING about php and I know absolutely nothing about SQL.  I have more often than not just copied the code that was there, pasted below and changed the things to allow for the new stuff.  After the mod works I can go back with my php and SQL books and tutorials and make them work with less space.

Once all that is done I can work on other little tweaks I want to incorporate such as being able to install the mod on YOUR forum and give you the ability (through Admin panel??) to change the names of the categories, and other things like that to make the Mod easier on the end user.

I have been pulling hair out for the last 3 months on these last 3 steps.  I now come here asking for help.

If ANYONE is interested in trying to get me through any of these steps I would be MOST greatfull!!

You can see the virgin forum here:  http://forumtest.outsidetheurl.com

You may join if you like and you can make posts and PMs to see what I have accomplished.

Also on this forum I have listed EVERY file and change I have made to this point.  You can read the thread to see where exactly I stand.

PLEASE keep in mind that I am stabbing in the dark with this as I am a Flash and HTML guy, not a PHP/JS/SQL guy, so NO LAUGHING at my code!!!   

I am doing this for my forums, yes, but I want it to be a nice install mod for SMF for everyone to use, as well as maybe spur the SMF admins to include this as a regular feature!

If you are interested in helping or have ANYTHING to say that would be a help, please reply to this post, or even better, join the virgin forum and post things there!

Thank you

[BiGBLiZZ]

No one?  So I am completely on my own here?

Okay...  I will do my best.

[BiGBLiZZ]

I was able to get a commitment from another SMF user to help with the SQL items I am having troubles with.

After upgrading to RC3, we will begin work on completing this thing, then making a Mod or something.

Just updating everyone. 

I see a person joined the forum and looked around, hope you saw all the changes!

It was nice to see the views on the thread there jumped, which tells me that a lot of you are interested in the mod.

Just wish you would have said something, I feel so alone... LOL

[Fiery]

Hello,

Nice idea, if you want help on this I would post in SMF Coding Discussion
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=60.0

[BiGBLiZZ]

Howdy!

I have already been there once before and was thoughtfully ignored as well.  Oh well, I will knock this out eventually.

Now that I have help with the SQL stuff it should go faster

[Fiery]

Howdy!

I have already been there once before and was thoughtfully ignored as well.  Oh well, I will knock this out eventually.

Now that I have help with the SQL stuff it should go faster

Ah, sorry about that.  I would help you but I have no idea how to do any of that.

[BiGBLiZZ]

No worries, it is just a tad frustrating cause of how close I am.  I have everything done except the individual storage inside the alternate pop ups.

I am going to crack it though...  one day 

[Bigguy]

Sounds like a good idea. I would also help but I am not the best at php yet. I do know how to package mods though somewhat so if you need help there maybe I can help.

[BiGBLiZZ]

Hey Bigguy, that might be something I look you up for then.  I am just making a text file right now with the instructions.

I don't know php either, or SQL or JS, HAHAHAHA  I shouldn't be attempting this, but oh well, we all gotta learn sometime yes?

Just 2 little tiny things left and they are kicking my butt!

[Bigguy]

Yep, we all have to learn and what better way than to write a mod I'm sure you'll get those last 2 things nailed down.

[BiGBLiZZ]

I hope so!  Some time soon I really hope, my smileys are getting out of control! 

[Krysia]

Wish I could help, as I'm a fan of fun emoticons too... But I've run into my own database problems with trying to add smilies, and I feel as though I'd have an easier time reading Swahili...

[junglecat]

I want this mod! I was going to start a topic today in mod requests or in coding discussions asking if there is a way to have more than 1 smiley popup window.

My users want more and more smileys, and I keep finding more good ones. My smileys are getting out of control!

[Krysia]

Huh. And while I've oodles of cool emoticons for my board, I still haven't figured out how to access them and get them running... earning their keep.

[BiGBLiZZ]

Well, do not give up hope children!  I haven't yet

Me and my helper are still working on this, time is going slow, naturally, but we are making some progress.  Hopefully soon we will have something to show, I feel we are close to breaking this thing wide open!

I wish I could give a time frame, but I just can't.  Keep checking in though

[junglecat]

Any updates on this?

[BiGBLiZZ]

Nothing new yet.  I will be updating to 1.1 final in a few days and then from there getting back to the SQL and php re-writes.

It is slow at the moment, but I am still trying.

[dpiercey]

And it's appreciated!

[Krysia]

Thank you so much for working on this.

I love SMF, but there are 3 (now 2 things, as there's now a mod for the Signature Option issue) things that drive me crazy:

Posts that can be posted in order without moving regardless of sticky and/or reply (such as Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3), and custom smilies.

I look forward to hearing about your progess.

[BiGBLiZZ]

Actually there is a fix for your post issue as well.  Its not perfect, but it works for my game forum

In this forum I have a thread for each of 300 game levels.  putting them in numerical and alphabetical order was of utmost importance.  As you can see by the link I have done this (a little trick with Roman numeral levels).

To do so:

find in Sources/MessageIndex.php:

Code Select Expand


// They didn't pick one, default to by last post descending.

......

// Setup the default topic icons...



where the .... is a bunch of coding.

Replace it with:

Code Select Expand


// They didn't pick one, default to by last post descending.
if (!isset($_REQUEST['sort']) || !isset($sort_methods[$_REQUEST['sort']]))
{
$context['sort_by'] = 'subject';
$_REQUEST['sort'] = 'mf.subject';
$ascending = isset($_REQUEST['asc']);
}
// Otherwise default to ascending.
else
{
$context['sort_by'] = $_REQUEST['sort'];
$_REQUEST['sort'] = $sort_methods[$_REQUEST['sort']];
$ascending = !isset($_REQUEST['asc']);
}

$context['sort_direction'] = $ascending ? 'up' : 'down';

// Calculate the fastest way to get the topics.
$start = $_REQUEST['start'];
if ($start > ($board_info['num_topics']  - 1) / 2)
{
$ascending = !$ascending;
$fake_ascending = true;
$maxindex = $board_info['num_topics'] < $start + $maxindex + 1 ? $board_info['num_topics'] - $start : $maxindex;
$start = $board_info['num_topics'] < $start + $maxindex + 1 ? 0 : $board_info['num_topics'] - $start - $maxindex;
}
else
$fake_ascending = true;

// Setup the default topic icons...


Just before the quoted are is the list of methods to sort by.  You can mess around with those to get your desired result.  (MAKE BACK UPS OF THIS FILE FIRST!!! )

[practical]

Hi, I was wondering if you ever finished this?

[junglecat]

I'd like to know too. I was wondering the other day how it's coming along.

[BiGBLiZZ]

Slowly.  I just moved last week to a new house and got internet back a couple days ago, and I have to go out of state for a couple weeks.

I am still working on it, and my learning of php is getting faster and better too.  Hopefully I can knock it out and have something up soon!

Thanks for the interest!

[BiGBLiZZ]

In case anyone cares the Mod is finished and works great!

I am having a few problems with the Package SDK and correct parsing.  I will have it licked soon I hope and then I will be BETA testing on live forums.

If any of you want to BETA test for me, leave a note here

[Reclaimer]

Oooh looks good. can't help you though.

[BiGBLiZZ]

If anyone wants to see you can find the forum here:  http://forumtest.outsidetheurl.com/index.php

I have uploaded some quick smileys/icons I had on my desktop.  I placed some in each group so you could see it in action.

Enjoy!

I will post back when I have the package ready

[junglecat]

I'm ready to beta test!