How do you mention a username with a space character?

dan39

I have a Vanilla Forum for an Alumni group. So we've set up Vanilla to use "Firstname Lastname" as the user name. Unfortunately, I don't see a syntax to mention users with space characters.

Doing a mention for @Joe Smith @Joe-Smith or @Joe_Smith doesn't find the correct username. Is there a way to make this work?

(Sorry @Joe for using you for this example)

Davidis

Bump

Linc

Sorry, answered this one on GitHub. Underscores are allowed, so that won't work. Hyphens are a bad idea in case they become allowed or someone modifies the filter to allow them. Given that Vanilla 2 won't allow spaces in names, my suggestion is to strip spaces and special characters from pre-existing usernames. Even if we came up with something workable (Joe*Smith?) it would be non-obvious - no one would be able to figure it out without being told, which seems counter to the Vanilla ethos.

Davidis

Actaully lincoln it does allow them or did.
I have a user who registered when i was running 2.0.7 back in july and he registered with a space.

Linc

Really? It definitely doesn't work currently. I wasn't aware of the filter having changed.

Tim

Imported users have been able to retain their spaces.

remouk

That's right. I imported my users and some have spaces in their usernames.

Also, there's a problem with special characters like é è à π ... Is it planned to handle these in mentions?

judgej

ProxyConnect also allows spaces in names supplied by the external CMS.

bobtheman

auto completion, like IRC's tab function would be great here, a much needed feature

sprockett

im also facing this problem...@sprockett

yu_tang

If user "Joe" and "Joe Smith" registered, comment lilke "@Joe Smith called." causes a little bit confused about auto link function.
Space, the final frontier...

amirm

Same issue. I need a workable First Last with exceptions for names like O'hara, or Mary-Anne instead of just 3-20 characters without spaces nor - . A tutorial would be a great help.

RodSloan

@Linc said:
Given that Vanilla 2 won't allow spaces in names, ...

Resurrecting an old thread here, but it's worth noting that, at least in version 2.2, an admin can bypass this and add a user with a space in their name via the dashboard.

R_J

... and from Vanilla 2.3, the current version by now, you can mention a user like that @"first second"

cbeckley

I hope this is still relevant - @amirm mentioned "exceptions for names like O'hara, or Mary-Anne" and I am having a similar issue with punctuation in usernames. Specifically ones that have a period. For example, "first.last". When I attempt to mention a user within a comment like @first.last, then the link to that user's profile is broken. It only links to @first which is not a user (or may be another user).

Linc

@first.last

@"first.last"

cbeckley

Thanks @Linc, but when a user types @fir... and the pick list open and they choose a name expecting it to link to that user, then it's too late to use the quotes as it is already a broken link. Of course we can add instructions to do this and hopefully most will remember, but I was hoping there was a way to either stop new registers from using periods or a way to allow user names with periods in them to work in this manner automatically. I guess not? Thanks!

x00

@cbeckley said:
Thanks @Linc, but when a user types @fir... and the pick list open and they choose a name expecting it to link to that user, then it's too late to use the quotes as it is already a broken link. Of course we can add instructions to do this and hopefully most will remember, but I was hoping there was a way to either stop new registers from using periods or a way to allow user names with periods in them to work in this manner automatically. I guess not? Thanks!

that is something you might want open an issue up in github.

https://github.com/vanilla/vanilla/issues

those sort for issue might take a while to get fixed as they are "edge cases" for the most part but it has to logged as an issue to get fixed in updates.

cbeckley

Thanks, I will do that. I do find it hard to believe that this is an "edge case." If by default the forum allows users to have periods in the their names and by default the mention creates a broken link, I would imagine many forums are experiencing the same issue. Is there something about my forum that acts differently than others?

Linc

If by default the forum allows users to have periods in the their names

I don't believe this is the case.

cbeckley

We did not change anything purposely to allow users to use periods in their names - unless it's related to using social media accounts to sign up? That must be it!