Would-be-nice-to-have phpBB extensions
Posted: July 3rd, 2019, 10:37 pm
One effect of a recent thread on this board was to identify an extension to the phpBB software these boards use that would be nice to have for moderators because it would speed up a tedious process for them. Starting at viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18224#p231842, csearle identified the problem, I said that it was clearly automatable by an extension but I hadn't managed to find one and Itsallaguess found one that looks suitable. It hasn't been implemented yet because (among other things) a phpBB version upgrade needs to be done first, but it has resulted in assessing and hopefully installing the extension being put 'on the list'.
I'm starting this thread to provide a place for similar co-operative suggestions between users. I would suggest the following guidelines for its use:
* It's primarily for identifying reasonably common tasks (either for moderators or for users more generally) that one is fairly certain necessarily involve a distinctly tedious course of action at present, but could be automated by a phpBB software extension, and for identifying phpBB extensions that are available and do the job (probably from those available from https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/extensions-36, as I don't know of any other sensible source).
* It is also for providing alternative solutions - e.g. if someone has posted about such a task, but has managed to miss a quick-and-easy way of performing their task, by all means reply to say what that way is.
* However, this thread is not intended for "How do I do this?" questions. You should be fairly certain that your task cannot be performed quickly and easily as the system currently stands before posting it. This is in the interests of the thread being reasonably quickly skimmable to get a list of extensions people would like to see, and of any that have been found that seem to fit the bill.
* For the same reason, please don't start debates or discussions on this thread about whether it's actually desirable to be able to do a task someone wants to do more quickly, about how one might go about developing a particular extension, about the technical details of using a particular extension, etc. Instead, start a new thread for whatever debate or discussion you want and post just a link to it here. That way, this thread remains easily skimmable, and people can click on any such links for which they want to see the details, and skip past the rest.
To get the ball rolling, two tasks for users that I not infrequently find myself wanting to perform:
* Reply to a post quoting it, but as a PM to its author rather than as a post to the thread it's in.
* Reply to a post quoting it, but in a new thread rather than as a post to the thread it's in.
They're things I can actually do at present, but the process is tedious: start a quoted reply to the post by clicking the " button in it, start a PM or a new thread in another window, cut-and-paste the quote from the first window to the second, ideally add "In <link to original post>:" before the quote now in the second window to make it easy to locate where it's from, complete and submit the reply in the second window, remember not to submit the reply in the first window, or to convert it into an "I have replied at <link to new thread>" reply before submitting. It's also a bit error-prone, especially with regard to the last part!
With a good extension, the first could be as simple as clicking a PM button alongside the " button. The second could be similarly simple if the new thread is to go to the same board, but two bits of added functionality would probably be useful: first, the ability to put the new thread on a different board, and secondly, the ability to automatically generate the "I have replied at <link to new thread>" reply to the original post on its board.
Are there any such phpBB extensions in existence?
Gengulphus
I'm starting this thread to provide a place for similar co-operative suggestions between users. I would suggest the following guidelines for its use:
* It's primarily for identifying reasonably common tasks (either for moderators or for users more generally) that one is fairly certain necessarily involve a distinctly tedious course of action at present, but could be automated by a phpBB software extension, and for identifying phpBB extensions that are available and do the job (probably from those available from https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/extensions-36, as I don't know of any other sensible source).
* It is also for providing alternative solutions - e.g. if someone has posted about such a task, but has managed to miss a quick-and-easy way of performing their task, by all means reply to say what that way is.
* However, this thread is not intended for "How do I do this?" questions. You should be fairly certain that your task cannot be performed quickly and easily as the system currently stands before posting it. This is in the interests of the thread being reasonably quickly skimmable to get a list of extensions people would like to see, and of any that have been found that seem to fit the bill.
* For the same reason, please don't start debates or discussions on this thread about whether it's actually desirable to be able to do a task someone wants to do more quickly, about how one might go about developing a particular extension, about the technical details of using a particular extension, etc. Instead, start a new thread for whatever debate or discussion you want and post just a link to it here. That way, this thread remains easily skimmable, and people can click on any such links for which they want to see the details, and skip past the rest.
To get the ball rolling, two tasks for users that I not infrequently find myself wanting to perform:
* Reply to a post quoting it, but as a PM to its author rather than as a post to the thread it's in.
* Reply to a post quoting it, but in a new thread rather than as a post to the thread it's in.
They're things I can actually do at present, but the process is tedious: start a quoted reply to the post by clicking the " button in it, start a PM or a new thread in another window, cut-and-paste the quote from the first window to the second, ideally add "In <link to original post>:" before the quote now in the second window to make it easy to locate where it's from, complete and submit the reply in the second window, remember not to submit the reply in the first window, or to convert it into an "I have replied at <link to new thread>" reply before submitting. It's also a bit error-prone, especially with regard to the last part!
With a good extension, the first could be as simple as clicking a PM button alongside the " button. The second could be similarly simple if the new thread is to go to the same board, but two bits of added functionality would probably be useful: first, the ability to put the new thread on a different board, and secondly, the ability to automatically generate the "I have replied at <link to new thread>" reply to the original post on its board.
Are there any such phpBB extensions in existence?
Gengulphus