UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums General Suggestions and Feedback No Text Feature

It would be cool if the script automatically detects the fact that no text is added to the body, and rather than return an error, it simply inserts "No Text". <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

I would even be happy with a "No Text" button. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

What would be the point of a post without content?

I see little use for it myself, but for those users who have been using WWWBoards, for example, for years they prefer the option of just putting "No text" in the body. Trust me, I have thousands of users who are FANATICS about this silly feature. I'd like to add just to get them off my back. This is mainly for systems migrating fro THREADED discussions. Sites using UBB likely will never see such a request

Yeah, that's something that people who are used to fully threaded boards do a lot. It's extremely annoying. They write the WHOLE text of their message in the subject line (which might just me "me too" but they often write a whole long sentence) and then they end the subject line with (NT) or similar to mean that there's no body text. It's so common that a lot of people also use (more) in their subject line just so others will realize it's NOT a no-text message.

The entire practice drives me nuts. I *always* click on the NT posts anyway, just because I'm not used to it. And it seems to me like a subject line should just be a subject line. But if you're used to it, I think it's a time-saver or something. Bulletin board communications for very lazy typists. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

Phoenix

Thanks for telling me - I learned something new here <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> . Well, sounds like a silly practice - I'm actually glad w3t doesn't allow that <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> . Of course, there would be an easy way to do what Strategist wants - in addpost.pl find
<font color=red>
# -------------------------------------
# Make sure there is a subject and body
if ( ($Subject eq "") &#0124;&#0124; ($Body eq "") ) {
w3t::not_right("$lang{'ALL_FIELDS'}",$Cat);
}
</font color=red>
and replace with
<font color=blue>
# -------------------------------------
# Make sure there is a subject and body
if ($Subject eq "") {
w3t::not_right("$lang{'ALL_FIELDS'}",$Cat);
}
elsif ($Body eq "") {
$Body = "No Text";
}
</font color=blue>
That should do it <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> - I couldn't test it though, I managed to crash mine and I'm waiting for a database restore <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> .

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. I noticed yours was down... every time I click on one of your posts, I'm prompted for the password to your site (because of trying to load your picture).

Phoenix

Yeah... sorry about that... I should link it somewhere else for cases like this... they promised to get it recovered from a backup within half an hour (thanks to Rick's tip on daily cron backups <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> ) but I'm still waiting... and it's been an hour and a half - still, they are quite responsive *whew*

Gerrit, what did you do to crash your database? I'm just curious (so that we can avoid that). Anyway, good luck.

Well, actually I didn't manage to "crash" it, but to erase all posts... because I was messing around with the deletepost.pl file to do a hack (<A HREF="http://www.wwwthreads.com/perl/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wishlist&Number=12630&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&vc=1#Post12630" target="_new">http://www.wwwthreads.com/perl/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wishlist&Number=12630&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&vc=1#Post12630</A>) and I accidently deleted a very important couple of lines - this turned all posts into "*DELETED*" - YIKES! I got that fixed now... *whew* and my w3t is back up now too! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Of course it doesn't make sense, but on many forums, people just post in the subject line, a sentance or so... saves reader's time.

But with W3T, if you have your subject line limited to a reasonable number, and as you see... not many people do this.

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

Aaargh! Do they have to restore your backup? Aren't you do allowed to do it yourself?

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

I am allowed to - but I learned something new about this - I didn't know I had to flush all tables first <img border="0" title="" alt="[Embarrassed]" src="images/icons/blush.gif" /> ... now I know and should be able to do it myself <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Some of these people are nearly impossible to please, but now they also want the characters NT (for no text) to be automatically appended to the end of the subject line if the body of the message is left blank (see hack above). The hack shown above works GREAT, now they just want the added subject portion too. Is this tough to do? Thanks again folks for everything!

That should be easy to do... try this instead:
<font color=blue>
# -------------------------------------
# Make sure there is a subject and body
if ($Subject eq "") {
w3t::not_right("$lang{'ALL_FIELDS'}",$Cat);
}
elsif ($Body eq "") {
$Body = "No Text";
<font color=green>$Subject = "$Subject *NT*";</font color=green>
}
</font color=blue>
that should append the Subject with *NT* - of course you can use what you want for that.

Looks like they got you back up in good time as well. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Phoenix

Yes they did, in a matter of a few hours, *whew* I'm really glad about their great service.

What about a "no text" Post Icon to over-ride the regular Post Icon?

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

That sounds like a good idea, but then you can't have an icon... I've seen a lot of boards that add (nt) at the end of the subject, in plain text. That seems to be popular.

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

'NT' sends a chill of horror down my spine! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" />
They can't be allowed to win them all! If they have the energy to choose a Post Icon, they should use it to write a proper message. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

So simple, yet so powerfully effective. That one line of code has just saved us a ton of desertions! Thank you so much Gerrit, I really, really appreciate it. <g>

You're welcome! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Just kidding... but I had nothing more to say!

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

Of course I didn't read this because it said (nt)...

but how widespread is the use of '@' for the same purpose? It would take up less space - 1 letter as opposed to 4.

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

I, too, wonder if there wouldn't be an alternative to advertising for a Microsuck product <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> .

I was waiting to see how long it would take for someone to read and reply to it. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> But anyway, you can use a ^ at the end of a message, @ doesn't mean end of message to me, while ^^^ is used in some cases.

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

BUT, if this post body is blank, you can't continue.

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

Can't leave it blank 'cos I haven't implemented the hack yet...

Your ^ looks as though it's an up pointer to me.

Best of all would be a 'no txt' Post Icon.

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

Well, the image will get to the bandwidth boys out there. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

How about a # at the end?

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

I like it <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

The @ vs ___ battle goes on!

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

What's the matter? Do you have a personal aversion to snails?

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

Nah! There's something more 'final' about the snail.

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

A tiny image about the size of the "new" icon wouldn't take up much bandwidth, would it? I think that would be the perfect solution.

What on earth are we talking about???

I'm completely baffled. What would a snail or a _ or a ^ be representing? You've utterly lost me. And Icon for who what when? Huh? Teensy tinsy icon images shouldn't bother us bandwidth battlers much because they are the one thing that does get cached on these ages, so a users only downloads them once. But I don't know what we're talking about.

Phoenix

Exactamento! Not only would half of them wonder what on earth was going on but once you've stuck something extra on the Subject, you have the problem of getting rid of it for edits and replies.

Come over and have a look at how I decided to do it:
[url}http://www.amdragon.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=test[/url] <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" />

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

Looks like it works good... but I would use a different "nt" icon, I think (I don't know exactly what, but different <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

Oh yes, complete block against the @ symbol! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> j/k But an @ symbol means something totally different while a ^ and # are both symbols that are already related to the end or finishing of some content. Just makes more sense to me.

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

Eileen,
You have done another great job, and more less:) stayed away from the "NT" ad for Microsoft.

<font color=red>D</font color=red><font color=orange>a</font color=orange><font color=blue>v</font color=blue><font color=green>e</font color=green><font color=purple>A</font color=purple>

I really like Eileen's implementation. I've got to agree... if they have time to select a post icon, they have time to type a message. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

But for now I think I'll skip implementing any of this stuff. So far none of my folks are complaining about the lack of a "no text" feature, and I hate to encourage them to use this really annoying mode of communication. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

Phoenix

>>a ^ and # are both symbols that are already related to the end or finishing of some content.

Not to me, they're not.

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

I've done something similar with the "deleted post" handler and have also tried an alternative 'no text' Icon. Have a look at my newly installed experimental boards:
<A HREF="http://www.amdragon.com/cgi-bin/w3t/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=test" target="_new">http://www.amdragon.com/cgi-bin/w3t/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=test</A>

I'm considering a hardcoded "file" Icon for posts with an attachment...

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

I don't think I can convince you.

Muhammad Chishti
Creative dIRECTOR
<font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>

Does that matter? Everyone has their own board anyway, so let's do it B.K. style - you can have it your way! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

Exactly - and do you want fries with that? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" />

<img src="http://www.amdragon.com/images/eileensig.gif" alt=" - " />

Yeah, with extra catchup <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

Gerrit, I am trying to re-add this hack to 5.11 and the code has changed slightly, could you please post how this would actually work now? It is a very popular feature and I know our visitors would be livid if it were suddenly gone. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Scott "Jhariden" Yaskin
<A HREF="http://boards.stratics.com" target="_new">http://boards.stratics.com</A>

Sorry, I haven't had time to look into upgrading to 5.1.1 yet (not even 5.1.0), so I can't help you there right now. Maybe someone else who actually has this installed (I don't because I don't like this practice) can help you with this.

Not a problem, I already got the solution. Thanks though! It was a mistake on my part Here's the solution for 5.1.1 in case anyone needs it:

<pre># -------------------------------------
# Make sure there is a subject and body
# if ( ($Subject =~ m/^\s*$/) &#0124;&#0124; ($Body eq "") ) {
# w3t::not_right("$lang{'ALL_FIELDS'}",$Cat);
# }
if ($Subject =~ m/^\s*$/) {
w3t::not_right("$lang{'ALL_FIELDS'}",$Cat);
}
elsif ($Body eq "") {
$Body = "[nt] = No Text";
$Subject = "$Subject [nt]";
}
</pre>

The commented code is the original.

Regards,

Scott "Jhariden" Yaskin
<A HREF="http://boards.stratics.com" target="_new">http://boards.stratics.com</A>

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> Great! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> Glad to hear you got it worked out.