News.php

[Alan Cramer]

A lot of people have been asking about a News Script for YaBB SE which is simple enough to use as the original one.  Well I have a little preview for all those YaBBers out there.

http://www.yabb.info/news_examples.shtml
http://www.yabb.info/news_examples.php

This should be available in the next release, and in a couple of days, may be a mod for those who want to add it to the current release, but if this is in the next release, it will be built in to YaBB SE as a feature to compliment the SSI.php file.  Like SSI.php, it is something you can choose to use or choose not to.  It is not enforced.  Looking forward to your feedback.

This works very much like [CV]XXL's original news script in a way, mainly by news_template.php which has been adapted from the original script itself.  This is handy for those of you who used the original script with YaBB 1 Gold, making it possible to keep your old template, with a few small changes, and using it with YaBB SE.

[Nemesis]

Sweet can I beta test it for yeah.

Looks good!

[Alan Cramer]

You will have it soon, just like everyone else.  But I can't really say when.

[irbrian]

This is great, I'm really looking forward to it.

Is it compatible with 1.0.0 and 1.1.0? If not, which one is it compatible with?

[Dave A]

Isn't there something like this already?  Or is this the same one?

[Alan Cramer]

This is great, I'm really looking forward to it.

Is it compatible with 1.0.0 and 1.1.0? If not, which one is it compatible with?

I definately know it is compatible with 1.1.0 but as for 1.0.0 I am not sure.  This will definately be included in the next release of YaBB SE though.

Isn't there something like this already?  Or is this the same one?

This is a different one to the one that is around already.  This is integrated into the forum itself, so no need to download extra files once the next release comes out.  This one uses similar template format to [CV]XXL's News Script for YaBB 1 Gold, cept the tabs are different, but other than that, it works practically the same.

[Alan Cramer]

Now the News.php file will work with variables set in the URL rather than the file itself.  The list of Variables is below:

• board=#     Board ID Number you wish to show as news
• limit=#     Limit of News Items to show (default=5)
• template=name     Name of Template File without the Extension (defaults to news_template.php without this)
• ext=name      Extension of the Template File (can't use this without template=name, defaults to php.)

eg. http://www.yabb.info/community/index.php?action=news;board=9;limit=4;template=news_template;ext=php

even though i wouldn't need the template and ext, i could if i wanted to use a different template file on the spot, without altering code.

[Nemesis]

Alan I sent you email, thanks Nemey

[Alan Cramer]

Now the News.php file will work with variables set in the URL rather than the file itself.  The list of Variables is below:

• board=#     Board ID Number you wish to show as news
• limit=#     Limit of News Items to show (default=5)
• template=name     Name of Template File without the Extension (defaults to news_template.php without this)
• ext=name      Extension of the Template File (can't use this without template=name, defaults to php.)

eg. http://www.yabb.info/community/index.php?action=news;board=9;limit=4;template=news_template;ext=php

even though i wouldn't need the template and ext, i could if i wanted to use a different template file on the spot, without altering code.

To clarify this a bit better, you would need to have as bare minimal the following:

eg. http://www.yabb.info/community/index.php?action=news;board=9

You don't need to use the other 3 variables if you want to use the defaults.

[Alan Cramer]

Okay finishing up the final script for now, and to sum up the changes.

Now there are no user changed variables stored in the News.php at all.  All variables as mentioned above, are in URL format now.  Now time format is fully taken from the Settings.php file.  And the time itself is now fully multilingual via the lng file your YaBB SE uses.

Upon using this script, to set any display options, it is via the news_template.php (or your own template file) and the variables in the URL of the Include.  (This script totally supports both SHTML SSI and PHP Includes)

[Godai]

I must say: tested it and kicks ass

[Mostmaster]

If there's a poll in a message, will the poll be displayed in the news.php?

[Nemesis]

Negative, it only works with regular posted messages.

You can make a poll on news board, problem is it will only show the polls comments not the poll itself. Not a big deal, I really only wanted it for news anyways, I have a seperate poll scripit I made for other pages.

[Jaxom]

Isn't there something like this already?  Or is this the same one?

sort of. Search for the latest_topics addon if you want to see my original mod., or check out http://www.theguildhouse.net/latest_topics I'd be the first to admit it was a rough and ready hack I put together for my own board, and released in case anybody else wanted one while an 'official' one was coded. The template system especially is a mess.

I believe tino has released a variant of my addon with a more complicated template system - i had a look at it, and it's an easier addon to use than the latest_topics one, tho the code is a bit of a mess due to the name change.

After testing latest_topics on the maintenance release (original release of the addon works fine on either version btw) I started work on a new version of latest_topics, with a completely different template system (more along the lines of the yabb template) and a separate config file. I was planning on releasing two versions - a standalone version which would allow you to have multiple copies on one yabb forum (i.e. a news board, a latest 'all posts' summary etc) and a second version which would integrate as a standard mod, with the options in the standard installed mods section of admin.

I did not submit my original addon for official sanction as frankly, it's a hack job, and i expected a better one to be along shortly - which it looks as if it is.

I have two questions tho about news.php.

1) Will it allow you to select to show as news by a board, a category or all categories (i know the last one is a function of ssi.php, but i like to have more control over the 'look' of my headlines). Or can you only show the topics in a particular board?

2) Can you select to only show the oldest (i.e. topic starter msgs) newest (latest reply) or all msgs in all topics by date?

This matters to me, as in an announcement board i only want the starting msgs with the followups as comments. In a headlines bit, i want only the latest msg of a topic, as otherwise a busy topic could take all slots of the headlines - which is a bit of a waste. If I'm doing a whole category (I have a jokes section, for example) then watching all msgs, regardless of whether they're followups or no, is important.

Anyway. If the official news mod is no to either point above, and there are no plans to add that functionality, then i might as well continue with the latest_topics mod as i need those functions in my 'news' mod. Assuming no-one objects of course.

Alan: if your mod has the functionality I need, then I'll be more than happy to drop latest_topics - otherwise, I might as well direct ppl to the News.php for a straightforward news addon, as i'm already doing for SSI.php for simple headlines, and finish my rebuild of latest_topics.

I would then submit my mod for official testing and hopefully sanction...

[Tino]

hi jaxom,

think I should remove my version from my server, cause you are working on a newer version. dave is still working and I think two news-scripts (and yours was the first   ) are enough.
How do you find the the changes I made? I agree with you, I made only small changes but I didn't like to give a second version of latest_topics to the community,so I've changed the name.

cu

tino