Membergroup color, character limit

[Rich`]

Well, you see here.. my problem is that while trying to modify my member groups I've come to a problem such as the fact that "Color in online list:" seems to have a limit which allows only 12 characters to be entered. It would be wonderful if someone could help me remove this limit so I can fully customize my member group color how I want to.

[Colin]

Welcome to SMF,

Why would you need more characters? What are you trying to enter into the field. SMF is expecting a hexidecimal color code.

[impreza]

In place of the color code groups can insert the HTML code of a particular color - it works for me

[Rich`]

I need more characters because I'm trying to use bold, etc. But I can't with the limit of 12. So, how do I change the limit?

[Arantor]

By changing the structure of the table in the database. Unless you know what you are doing, this can cause serious problems.

[Rich`]

How would I go about doing this?

[Arantor]

I'm presuming you want to use this 'feature' in conjunction with one or other of the mods that modifies the user name to be the right colour? That would have to be rewritten, after this is done.

Oh, and then you have to contend with the fact that bold and italic *already* have meanings for the online user list which this would overwrite.

I also would have thought that you wouldn't really want to modify the core database tables in SMF by hand (because it's dangerous) and you can even, just for fun, end up breaking the manage-membergroups area by doing it incorrectly...

[Rich`]

I'm trying to use <span style> code for a glow effect like you are able to do with vBulletin.

[Arantor]

Yes... and SMF out of the box doesn't apply it anywhere except the online list. Which already uses things like bold and italics on top of colour for *existing purposes*.

[Rich`]

I'm already using the "Simple Colorizer" mod which shows the color all throughout my forums. Isn't there a simple way to take away the character limit? Can you please provide an answer in your next response?

[Arantor]

Ah, so you are using another mod (thank you for confirming what I'd already guessed)

There is not a simple way to take away the limit, because it requires both a code change and a database change - and it might not even work anyway which is the point I was trying to make as it might require a change to the mod on top. And for something that often looks cheesy and duplicates something already in use.

The fact you seem unsure about going into phpMyAdmin and directly editing database structure suggests this is probably not a change you should be doing anyway.

[Rich`]

I must find a way, because I simply cannot live with only being able to fit enough code to do bold, and red, can't even fit orange and bold in the box. I simply must find some way to get this done, as I really desperately need to be able to customize my membergroups to their full potential. Also, how long does this ridiculous post verification last on here?

[Arantor]

Also, how long does this ridiculous post verification last on here?

10 posts.

because I simply cannot live with only being able to fit enough code to do bold, and red, can't even fit orange and bold in the box

Don't say I didn't warn you of the consequences. You get exactly what you wish for.

Code Select Expand

ALTER TABLE smf_membergroups CHANGE online_color online_color VARCHAR(80) not null default '';

Themes/default/ManageMembergroups.template.php

Code Select Expand

<input type="text" name="online_color" id="online_color_input" value="', $context['group']['color'], '" size="20" class="input_text" />

Code Select Expand

<input type="text" name="online_color" id="online_color_input" value="', $context['group']['color'], '" size="40" maxlength="80" class="input_text" />

[Rich`]

Well, if did the code change, but I'm having difficulty finding exactly how to change "online_color_ I located it in the database, but it doesn't appear to allow me to edit it.

[Arantor]

Even when I give you the exact SQL command to give to phpMyAdmin... this is why I was so hesitant to give it to you.

Along with the basic code change to the place where you can edit it...

[Rich`]

I believe I've gotten it. Thank you very much for your assistance. Hopefully a problem does not arise. But however I do have one problem.
While attempting to add this to the color only the white glow appears to work: background:url(1.gif);text-shadow:0px 0px 10px white;

[Arantor]

Hopefully a problem does not arise.

I guarantee there are at least two places it is buggy, probably more.

That would likely imply that 1.gif is not where SMF thinks it is, where did you place it?

[Rich`]

I placed it directly in public_html which is where my forum files are located.

[Rich`]

Also, for some reason font-weight:bold; isn't working, but color:orange;, and the white glow on another member group work perfectly fine. I'm not sure if it has something to do with the theme I'm using or what.

[Arantor]

Except that's probably not where SMF will be calling the images from. Link to the site with an example would really help at this point in time, for all this debugging.

Note that I *did* warn you about things not working, bold is one of them for several instances, but we'll see what we can do.