XThreads

My Spiel
XThreads is one of my larger plugins which I have been working on for a while.  Originally planned to release it inline with MyBB 1.6, but who knows when that'll be out.  It perhaps doesn't include everything I wanted it to, but does have most of the things (plus I want to move onto other projects).

What does it do?
Take a look at RateU's forum for some nice ideas of what it can do.  I also have some more basic examples here of what can be done with XThreads.  I'm pretty sure there are many other applications of this plugin, but those examples just give you some simple ideas.

The basic idea is giving you the ability to define custom fields for your threads, and providing methods to give you a lot of flexibility with customising forums.

Warning: I'm not going to bother with "beta" labels and so on.  I've done some testing on this myself, but it's by no means extensive.  Use this at your own risk.

Installation Instructions: standard installation procedures apply - you can find them in the announcement here.
You may need to CHMOD the uploads/xthreads_ul/ folder to 0777 after uploading the files (probably won't though).

Upgrade Instructions: unless stated otherwise, the general procedure for upgrades is to simply upload the new files, then visit your AdminCP.  In there, you'll be presented with a notice to run the upgrade - just follow what it says from there on.

Usage Instructions: this is a complex plugin, and unfortunately, you're probably going to have to figure this out yourself, depending on what you want to achieve with this plugin.  HTML and CSS knowledge is strongly recommended; you should also be familiar with MyBB's template system.  Some demonstrations can be found here - hopefully these will give you a good idea of how things work.  I suggest looking at the thread descriptions example, as this is fairly easy to understand (IMO).  If you can understand how everything works, there, perhaps try out the gallery example.

Known conflicting plugins
- MyPlaza Turbo -
If you are using MyPlaza Turbo, note that the author decided to use a particularly odd method to implement certain functionality, practically destroying compatibility with any plugin which hooks into the forum add/edit routines.  I've included a patch to address this issue - you need to replace inc/myplaza/myplaza_admin_plugin.php with the following file (it's unlikely that this will be committed as the author has decided to discontinue development)

  myplaza_admin_plugin.php (Size: 56.27 KB / Downloads: 2410)

- PL9 Forum Icons -
Affects certain functionality.  See here for a solution.

- PHP in Templates, v1.4 or older -
Similar to PL9 Forum Icons - solution is just to update to the latest version.

- MyAdvertisements - (update: older versions only, later versions may not conflict)
Affects some thread functionality, see here for a solution.

- Group Post CSS -
See here http://mybbhacks.zingaburga.com/showthre...http://mybbhacks.zingaburga.com/showthread.php?tid=378&pid=59

All bug reports, suggestions, criticisms are appreciated (though I may not always implement suggestions) so please feel free to post them.
If you find this plugin useful, I would be grateful if you could give some token of appreciation for the work that has gone into this, and perhaps post some example usages you've come up with in the XThreads forum to help others get an idea of what can be achieve with this plugin (and for my own interest's sake ).


Github: https://github.com/zingaburga/XThreads-MyBB-Plugin
Note: do NOT use the Github version, unless you know what you're doing
Changelogs: v1.10, v1.20, v1.21, v1.22, v1.23, v1.24, v1.25, v1.26, v1.27, v1.30, v1.31, v1.32, v1.337, v1.40, v1.41, v1.42, v1.43, v1.44, v1.45, v1.46, v1.47, v1.50, v1.51, v1.52, v1.53, v1.60, v1.61, v1.62, v1.63, v1.64, v1.65, v1.66, v1.67, v1.68

[RateU]

(02-06-2011 05:01 AM)RocketFoot Wrote:  Will the upgrade effect any existing xthread forums?

I've upgraded and I don't find any problem with it

[x-Treme]

It will break existing forums if you have MyNetwork installed. Deactivate MyNetwork before upgrading your xthreads.

[RocketFoot]

OK...I'm good!  I don't see any problems!  Thanks!  

[ZiNgA BuRgA]

Does the upgrade still conflict with MyNetwork?

[x-Treme]

(02-06-2011 09:32 AM)ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:  Does the upgrade still conflict with MyNetwork?

Yes it does...I think it's the Profile system of MyNetwork that's causing the problem.

[leefish]

The other day Tomm used my board to test 1.1 of My_Network - getting it working with XThreads is a big priority for him. There were a couple of issues - so he went off to work on them - I will install 1.4 and offer up leefish again to be his guinea pig.


EDIT: Hmm, not good - even with MYNetwork deactivated I was unable to get the uploader to run.... I will contact Tomm.

[ZiNgA BuRgA]

I recall trying last time but didn't get an issue.  IDK, but if someone can provide step-by-step instructions, starting from a clean install, on how to reproduce a problem, I'm will to at least try and have a look.
Thanks!

[leefish]

A question about radio buttons/list boxes in custom thread fields.

I am using XThreads 1.4 on a friends forum, and I am trying to make a thread layout where in the first post 4 threadfield options are visible to group A and those 4 options and two additional options are available to group B. This thread layout will be used by both groups.

If I set the field to any setting other than Everyone(required) then I get this ugly (not set) value showing on the fields input  on new thread, but if I set the fields to Required then the two groups can't share the same set up - and I kind of wanted them both in the same forum (Its a list of answers to an invite list).

Is there a way round this? It says in the thread fields that we can get more exotic arrangements via template edits but I have no idea where to start - and would that even solve the "problem"?

[ZiNgA BuRgA]

You can't actually assign permissions to individual values unfortunately.
Maybe I can add that in though - with the new ACP editor I added in, it might not be too bad...

But if you want to do it now and don't mind template edits, you could hide the input field, and use template conditionals to hide certain items in the listbox.  Set the editable to Everyone (required), and it should automatically select the first visible item.
Note that this isn't a true "block" as groups could theoretically set other values through request forging.

[leefish]

Well, its more that its the two extra fields - its a wedding thing - ceremony, lunch and party. Not everyone is invited to the lunch, so I don't want them to see a field saying are you attending the lunch.... so thats a separate field. It also helps to keep the filtering simple - I am hoping to use the new sorting url you see. Its hiding the NOT SET line that I am after really - can that be done do you think?