Can I force users to choose a category in Vanilla 2?

whu606

I've searched for this, and found workarounds which I assume only refer to Vanilla 1.

At the moment, the default category is whichever one I last used (as admin), unless, of course, the user starts a discussion from inside a category.

For forgetful members this results in odd threads appearing in non-relevant categories, and me or another mod doing housekeeping.

As for the Vanilla 1 workaround here: http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/7146

I would like to force my users to choose a category before they can post a discussion.

As always, any help gratefully received.

Thanks.

Linc

In /views/post/discussion.php (copy it from Vanilla app into your theme if you haven't yet) find this:

echo $this->Form->DropDown('CategoryID', $this->CategoryData, array('TextField' => 'Name', 'ValueField' => 'CategoryID'));

And replace with:

echo $this->Form->DropDown('CategoryID', $this->CategoryData, array('IncludeNull' => TRUE, 'TextField' => 'Name', 'ValueField' => 'CategoryID'));

Linc

In /views/post/discussion.php (copy it from Vanilla app into your theme if you haven't yet) find this:

echo $this->Form->DropDown('CategoryID', $this->CategoryData, array('TextField' => 'Name', 'ValueField' => 'CategoryID'));

And replace with:

echo $this->Form->DropDown('CategoryID', $this->CategoryData, array('IncludeNull' => TRUE, 'TextField' => 'Name', 'ValueField' => 'CategoryID'));

whu606

Thank you very much for that.

Once again a question answered promptly and perfectly!

My virtual hat off to you all.

Thanks.

jross

@Lincoln, - would there be a way to show a pop-up that let's people know that they didn't select a category - right now on mine the following code shows up in the pop up window:
{"Code":8,"Exception":"Undefined index: \n\n#0
\/home\/vc\/applications\/vanilla\/controllers\/class.postcontroller.php
(140): Gdn_ErrorHandler()\n#1 \/home\/vc\/library\/core\/class.dispatcher.php
(299): PostController->Discussion(Array, Array)\n#2 \/home\/vc\/index.php
(51): Gdn_Dispatcher->Dispatch()\n#3 {main}"}

whu606

jross

using the code Lincoln gave me on my site, if a user doesn't choose a Category then there is 'red box' pop-up at the top of the page 'CategoryID is required'. I haven't found how to change that message, though.

Xaraxia

This would be wonderful. Is it possible to do this within the hooks code or a plugin, so I don't have to modify the base vanilla code?

Though I would argue it should be baseline anyway - if categories are in use, it should force you to choose one.