Best Of
Re: How can I find out what Vanilla OSS version an instance is running?
There is no obligation for sites you don't run to provide that information
You can ask
Also in the HTTP response header
x-vanilla-version: 4.0-2020.024
x00
Re: Importing attachments from SMF 2
Which editor is enabled? I believe you actually need to enable an editor that supports file uploads for attachments to be displayed.
Also check out this discussion:
Re: Brainstorming on the sense of a OS powered community forum
1. Auto Answering (quick win)
I'm aware of some bots around here, but never did find enough info to get one up and running. Bots are neat, and something a lot of forum admins could use on their own sites, so a working example would be awesome.
2. False promises (quick win)
I sort of see the issue, but on the other hand a lot of the missing features are certainly doable, so it's something of a balancing act between showing what's possible out of the box and the true potential of the platform. Two very different use cases, but I suspect most visitors here are interested in what they get when they first install it. I guess it also comes down to whether this little forum is seen as support forum for OS or as a demo for the Cloud. Not sure you could have it both ways, and right now it's not particularly filling either role.
Maybe you need 3. One to demo Vanilla Cloud, one... uh... vanilla Vanilla that shows you what get and one with all the cool toys to show you what's possible.
4. Community releases (quick win)
This is something that interests me a lot. I'm mostly interested in the security patches, since I run a highly customized forum and have zero use for rich editor or theming updates. I'm worried that the longer the next release takes, the bigger and more likely to break my current set up it gets.
Also, a pet peeve: I know it might be difficult to handle otherwise, but I'd really rather if updates wouldn't unnecessarily mess with CSS when not using Keystone or Rich Editor. A couple of 3.x updates messed up my themes, which seemed uncalled for.
5. & 6. Addon section rework (major change)
Yeah, I only tend to visit the addon section to find links to github repos personally.
7. Profile Spammers (might be easy, not sure)
All text fields are susceptible to spam. I get around it by blocking new members from editing their profiles until they'be been verified as actual people. Ideally that would be automated (a few posts, and a time limit or something along those lines) but right now I'm just doing it manually. It's a pretty small forum, so manageable. Also, Akismet, Stopforumspam and Cleantalk are pretty good for checking newcomers. Also google. If the same profile popped up on a dozen forums about different topics on pretty much the same day, it's probably a spammer.
8. "Best of..." (quick win)
Well, Yaga has an option to just turn it off. Maybe Cloud does too. 😋
9. Bitchy, glitchy "Rich" Editor (quick win)
Yeah, not a fan myself. I just find it a little unintuitive. Like I can mostly figure out how to get what I want, but the options are never where I first look for some reason. Maybe years of BBCode and Markdown have ruined me and this is simply how the world works now. I dunno. 🤷♂️
pitkmi
Re: 2020 OSS Roadmap plans
I never meant to be offensive, more sarcastic. Anyway my main issue is that there has been no security updates since 3.3 was released in Oct 2019. I am aware that it has been a difficult year but I am sure that the hackers will not be taking a rest just because there is a pandemic.
ianw5555
Re: How can I find out what Vanilla OSS version an instance is running?
@ianw5555 Vanilla version has never been sensitive information, and is easily accessible throught any HTML inspector for all Vanilla 2/3 installations (and for Vanilla 1 it is printed on the page itself). Security throught obscurity is not really a thing as it is open source software. But you can easily know wich Vanilla is open source or cloud almost open source by checking the version number of some css assets. If the number is simple (like 3.3) that's open source. If it is a strange string (like 5fd8f0e6), that's Vanilla Cloud.
K17
Re: Which reCAPTCHA?
Should I register for the v2 or v3 of reCAPTCHA?
You should register for v2
Re: Vanilla forums amember integration issue
I wish you luck, but I can't image you will find support here. That "amember" is, as far as I know, not a vanilla plugin. And if it is, it might be closed source.
By the way: your forum is an ancient version with known security issues. You really need to update!
R_J
Re: Ok, one more question for today! Is there any way to subscribe to admins posts?
I see two technical problems with that plugin. You should rename "default.php" into "class.emaildiscussion.plugin.php" and edit the line "class EMailDiscussion extends Gdn_Plugin {" into "class EMailDiscussionPlugin extends Gdn_Plugin {"
Afterwards you have to delete "/cache/addon.php".
There is room for improvements, though. The plugin sends mails to all users, including deleted and banned users. Furthermore instead of sending to [email protected] with bcc: all users, the plugin loops through all mail addresses and sends out one mail per user.
I'm no lawyer, but I guess you need to include a possibility to opt out.
R_J
Re: Ok, one more question for today! Is there any way to subscribe to admins posts?
It's not the best example for a beginner plugin. But it's doable, but certainly only if you want to learn. I can give advices, but I will not write code for you.
If you want to develop plugins, you need a test environment. That doesn't need to be a mirror of your live forum. Just some dummy users will be enught. The default Vanilla installation already provides 4 test users and that will be enough.
If you are a linux user, then I guess you know how to install your test environment. If you are a windows I strongly recomment not using some WAMP stack. Your server is running on linux and so should your test server do. Either install Oracles VirtualBox and install some Linux inside. Linux Mint is really beginner friendly.
I have become a fan of the "Windows Subsystem for Linux" (WSL). That allows installing a debian directly on your windows machine. But there is no graphical UI, only a command line. So it requires more Linux knowledge than the VirtualBox + Linux Mint setup.
If you already have a WAMP stack set up, you can certainly go with it. But a plugin that works flawlessly on Windows, might not work on Linux or the other way around.
If you have prepared the test forum, read the basics:
https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/152-what-is-an-addon
https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/151-the-addon-json-file
https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/164-addon-quickstart-guide
The most important task after this is to define the features the plugin should have:
1. It should send mails
2. after a discussion has been created
3. by a person with special permissions
4. but only to those who wants to be notified
Correct? If not, add the missing tasks (one by one if possible)
In one of the links above, there was one very, very important sentence "Download other addons from the Addon Directory and borrow their code.". You yhould take a look how all of the things have been done by others. That's the part where most beginners are lost. Therefore I gathered some examples for you. There are much more, so if you need more, try to find them wih a mighty tool like grep (or Notepad++) or ask and I will give hints on how to find more examples.
Matching the numbers from above, here are the examples:
2. https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/245-event-and-handlers
3. https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/255-permission-checking
4. https://github.com/R-J/kick/blob/master/KickPlugin.php, https://github.com/vanilla/vanilla/blob/release/3.3/applications/vanilla/models/class.discussionmodel.php#L2370
Okay. That has been the preparation. But how to start now?
Create a valid plugin with the following method:
public function base_render_before($sender) {
decho('useless');
}
If you have done everything correct and enable that plugin, as an admin you should see that debug message on every page call. A normal user should not. During the creation of a plugin, you might need to delete the /cache/addon.php file, because it might have cached incomplete addon meta data.
After that you need to implement the features in the following order: 3., 4., 2., 1.
Read about how to implement permissions, take a look at plugins which create their own permissions (the kick plugin does) and see if you can implement this. If you are at this point, ask again.
Just to tell you my expectations as your teacher: if you are not able to make it this far, I'd say you have chosen the wrong class. But that should just serve as an estimation about the level of difficulty up to this point. Learning includes asking questions, so nevertheless please ask at any time.
R_J