Feature Request - Answered Post

The Forum Rules, general FAQ and questions or comments about the forum are posted here.
User avatar
Ryan Norton
wxWorld Domination!
wxWorld Domination!
Posts: 1319
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:01 pm

Feature Request - Answered Post

Post by Ryan Norton »

One thing that would be REALLY handy for me is an answered post feature like the microsoft boards have.

Basically the topic originator or moderator can set a post (or more than one) as an answer - it will show up specially on the topic list and it provides a smart way to search for unanswered posts, rather than the current 0 post way.
[Mostly retired moderator, still check in to clean up some stuff]
vdell
Ultimate wxWidgets Guru
Ultimate wxWidgets Guru
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:44 pm
Location: Finland
Contact:

Post by vdell »

I think that would be useful too. Especially with a larger thread, which might have some "unrelevant" posts for the reader.
Visual C++ 9.0 / Windows XP Pro SP3 / wxWidgets 2.9.0 (SVN) | Colligere
Jorg
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3971
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 9:38 pm
Location: Delft, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by Jorg »

Please take a look at:

http://www.phpbb.com/mods/

And maybe you will find something that can be used. I scanned the list quickly but didn't see anything, I might have looked for the wrong thing.

Regards,
- Jorgen
Forensic Software Engineer
Netherlands Forensic Insitute
http://english.forensischinstituut.nl/
-------------------------------------
Jorg's WasteBucket
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jorgb/wb
lowjoel
Part Of The Furniture
Part Of The Furniture
Posts: 1511
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:37 am
Location: Singapore
Contact:

Post by lowjoel »

when you say "answered" post does it mean like the moderators click a button and the topic will be marked as "resolved" and locked?
Jorg
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3971
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 9:38 pm
Location: Delft, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by Jorg »

Well yes, sort of.

Some people help, and they browser for items that are not yet answered. This is something the link "View unanswered posts" does. However sometimes people answer themselves or add new info to the post, which does not make it answered, but they fall out of the "unanswered posts" category.

Also, when a post is flagged as answered it can be filtered from the list of yet to be answered posts, or you can search through answers only, omitting all other posts like announcements etc.

I think that is what Ryan means unfortunately I have not found a MOD yet that does it.

- Jorgen
Forensic Software Engineer
Netherlands Forensic Insitute
http://english.forensischinstituut.nl/
-------------------------------------
Jorg's WasteBucket
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jorgb/wb
lowjoel
Part Of The Furniture
Part Of The Furniture
Posts: 1511
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:37 am
Location: Singapore
Contact:

Post by lowjoel »

as i said i can give a shot at it... but no promises lol i wrote a few mods already (seach phpbb forums for my username lowjoel) i think i wrote 3.. lol yep doesnt make me a good modder lol but ya ill try anyways :D
GianT
Earned some good credits
Earned some good credits
Posts: 124
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:44 pm
Location: Guadeloupe, French West Indies
Contact:

Post by GianT »

Hi, talking about answered posts, I was thinking about something...Sometimes, people (it happens to me a lot :D ) find themselves the solution to their problem, or just another way to do it. That's what happened to me in the c++ forum. I found another way to do what I wanted to, so I put the flag [cancelled] instead of [resolved].

I was thinking of the possibility to grant the user that posted the problem to delete the thread...Is this possible?
Jorg
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3971
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 9:38 pm
Location: Delft, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by Jorg »

Well I think it is better to simply ask a moderator (or me) to delete the thread, or lock it. Locking is also a way of cancelling it.

I haven not yet seen a solution to mark a thread as answered also..

Regards,
- Jorgen
Forensic Software Engineer
Netherlands Forensic Insitute
http://english.forensischinstituut.nl/
-------------------------------------
Jorg's WasteBucket
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jorgb/wb
User avatar
Ryan Norton
wxWorld Domination!
wxWorld Domination!
Posts: 1319
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:01 pm

Post by Ryan Norton »

[Mostly retired moderator, still check in to clean up some stuff]
upCASE
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3176
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:55 am
Location: Germany, Cologne

Post by upCASE »

Hi!
Just to clearify: "Answered" in this context means "Solved", right?

Well I suppose this is possible, but involves altering the tables and maybe add a new column with a flag controling the threads state.
Who would be able to set this flag? I think the best way would be to do it like http://www.experts-exchange.com. There the original poster and moderators can set a post to "Solved" state. So I guess it should be like this:

1. Check the original poster of the message
2. Check if the user logged in is the original poster of the thread or a moderator
3. If yes: Add an option in each posts title bar or under it to set the resolved flag.
4. When displaying the postings list, check the flag and add another icon for it.
5. Add a search option for solved postings.

I suppose adding the option itself isn't too difficult, but displaying the icon and updatin the search might take some time.

I'm volunteering to try it. Unfortunatly I uninstalled phpBB some time ago... Jorg: Do you have a "test" forum I could work on.
If not, well, I'll simply reinstall phpBB on my local box and try hacking it up here :D
OS: OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Win XP Pro
wx: svn
Compiler: gcc 4.5.1, VC 2008, eVC 4

"If it was hard to write it should be hard to read..." - the unknown coder
"Try not! Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
upCASE
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3176
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:55 am
Location: Germany, Cologne

Post by upCASE »

Hi!
As allways this thing got me and I had to try :D

I have finished a simply, yet working, "solved thread" mod. It requires a lot of hacking in both phpBB sources and the used template, but it is manageble.
Here are some screens:

1. Topic overview with "solved" threads marked (I know the icon looks crappy)
Image

2. The actual posting with a choice to mark it
Image

One things not that nice is that only the whole topic is marked as being solved, but it doesn't store the answer posting that is lead to it being solved. Every posting has an icon to mark it a solved.
So far only the original poster and mods can mark topics.

Tell me what you think :D
OS: OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Win XP Pro
wx: svn
Compiler: gcc 4.5.1, VC 2008, eVC 4

"If it was hard to write it should be hard to read..." - the unknown coder
"Try not! Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
upCASE
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3176
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:55 am
Location: Germany, Cologne

Post by upCASE »

Hi!
Forgot to mention:
There's a new search option that does searching only in solved posts.
OS: OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Win XP Pro
wx: svn
Compiler: gcc 4.5.1, VC 2008, eVC 4

"If it was hard to write it should be hard to read..." - the unknown coder
"Try not! Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
vdell
Ultimate wxWidgets Guru
Ultimate wxWidgets Guru
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:44 pm
Location: Finland
Contact:

Post by vdell »

upCASE wrote: Tell me what you think
Looks neat! 8)
upCASE wrote: So far only the original poster and mods can mark topics.
Well, that should be enough, right?
upCASE wrote: One things not that nice is that only the whole topic is marked as being solved, but it doesn't store the answer posting that is lead to it being solved. Every posting has an icon to mark it a solved.
It would be nice if the original author (or a mod) could mark the post that answered the question (like in experts-exchange) but I personally don't know how much of more work would that result in. :)
Visual C++ 9.0 / Windows XP Pro SP3 / wxWidgets 2.9.0 (SVN) | Colligere
upCASE
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3176
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:55 am
Location: Germany, Cologne

Post by upCASE »

Hi!
vdell wrote: It would be nice if the original author (or a mod) could mark the post that answered the question (like in experts-exchange) but I personally don't know how much of more work would that result in. :)
Hmm... yes that would be nice indeed. I'm currently tinking of a solution for this. I guess it could be done in two ways:
1. Alter the postings table and add a flag for posts that lead to the thread being solved.
2. Create a new table that would have to be searched and keep track of solved status there.

I'm unsure what solution would be better...
And there's another drawback: I would have to do some more work on the actual template (Morpheus blue, right?).
OS: OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Win XP Pro
wx: svn
Compiler: gcc 4.5.1, VC 2008, eVC 4

"If it was hard to write it should be hard to read..." - the unknown coder
"Try not! Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
upCASE
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3176
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:55 am
Location: Germany, Cologne

Post by upCASE »

Hi!
Ok, altering the table is the easiest way. Looks like this now:
Image
OS: OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Win XP Pro
wx: svn
Compiler: gcc 4.5.1, VC 2008, eVC 4

"If it was hard to write it should be hard to read..." - the unknown coder
"Try not! Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
Post Reply