Introducing DiscussionTopic

rbrahmson

This is the first public version of this plugin. We've used an internal version for a while on our intranet and our users loved it.

Read the readme and the configuration screen which is loaded with explanations.
This is not a simple plugin - take your time to learn the options and use the built-in simulation option within the configuration to see how it would work for you.

Feedback is welcome.

River

Feedback....

it is not on github but has a link to github - did you add it to github?
https://github.com/rbrahmson/VanillaPlugins/tree/master/DiscussionTopic - at this time, there is a 404 error you may not realize.

how does manual addition of a topic provide an improvement over a tag? using the tagging plugin?

the plugin code would be much easier to read if you got rid of the debugging code prior to uploading. If someone needs to debug they can always add debug statements where they want and the code would not be filled with unnecessary clutter.

River

locales should be defined like this I believe. locale/en.php

you are using the old form I believe (en-Ca folder with definitions.php) this is DEPRECATED.

DiscussionTopic/locale/en-CA/definitions.php

better to use (locale folder with file name with 2 letter abbreviation of language)

notice how vanilla forums developers do it here https://github.com/vanilla/vanilla/blob/master/plugins/Debugger/locale/en.php

this info would be handy in the official documentation regarding plugin development and locales.

http://docs.vanillaforums.com

rbrahmson

Thanks @river. This is very different from tagging. There is no expectation of user input. The manual mode is aimed at admins or users with special permission who may correct few topics or deal with specific subject matter. For example, users may create a discussion titled "I get somehting has gone wrong when I attempt to attach a file". Because of the typo the priority phrase "something has gone wrong" was missed. In manual mode this can be fixed without changing the discussion title.

FYI, Language analysis goes beyond the Porter Stemmer that you mentioned.

I'm traveling right now. Will put this in github when I return. Thanks for reminding me.

Also thanks on the locale notice. Will be fixed.

Looking forward to see how it works out for you and others.

rbrahmson

Uploaded to github.

River

now that you added to github and link works as indicated in add-on page , besides the already mentioned two issues that I noticed ....

• 1 locale problem that you have with deprecated usage.
• 2 and removal the clutter of debug statements.

noticed this...

• 3 suggest not ending all your code with ?> (it is not only NOT needed, It can introduce problems). including it, It can introduce difficult to find rss problems and other issues.

just one example to avoid this. it is in all of your files. while you may not have any problems now introducing one blank line prior to it, can add a headache.
https://github.com/rbrahmson/VanillaPlugins/blob/master/DiscussionTopic/views/Topic.php#L39

Notice how NONE of the developer code ends with ?>

https://github.com/vanilla/vanilla

rbrahmson

Thanks @River. I appreciate your coding standards/style feedback. I'm now abroad so it will take some time to fix these. Truth to be told, this is an old plugin which I converted quickly for public use as a reaction to a discussion I found here about a "something has gone wrong" issue and what can be done with recurring issues with vanilla and helping new users find related answers on this forum.

I am seeking feedback about how the plugin works with forum data and how its customization works out with specific forums.