Changing defaults for users' Forum Preferences?

spencers

Hi everybody -- Does anyone know how one can change what defaults are set for users' Forum Preferences? For example: in Account > Forum Preferences under Discussion list options, "Jump to the last read comment when clicking on discussion topic" is used by default. I do not wish this to be the case, but danged if I can figure out how to change this. Thanks!

lech

Hey spencers, At the moment, those defaults are set as-is, primarily so you can get some functionality from the start even if you don't want or need it. This is mainly a core feature so there's not much you can change there at the moment. However it would be nice to be able to set some defaults later on that sets this up for other users.

spencers

Hi Lech -- Sounds like you're saying that even if I'm comfortable with going under the hood, making the required changes would be too widespread to summarize here, yes?

lech

Pretty much, yes. You shouldn't go digging into the core files, because when updates roll around, you're going to be left doing it again. I'll post an enhancement bug about this and see where it goes from there, this could allow admins to define default settings for all thier users.

spencers

Alas, I'm going to have to try to hack this anyway -- my client hates the jump-to-end default as much as I do. :-) Anyway, I've already modified some aspects of the core files so the app will integrate with our site, so in for a penny in for a pound...

lech

spencers... you do realize you can turn that feature off in your user preferences, right?

spencers

Hi again, Lech. Yep, I did indeed see that in the user prefs. But the issue is the default state assigned to all new users upon first registering. Thanks...

lech

Ahh, alright. Well, happy upgrading is all I can say from this point on, because you'll be rewriting those files as each new version gets released. You might find it easier to apply those changes via an extension rather than alter core files if it's an option.

Minisweeper

Perhaps there should be some sort of ability to make a default account setup similar to /etc/skel in unix. Either by extension or as core. Hum.

cstuder

I would wish this too. And it would have to be as flexible as possible, so that extension can be controlled also. (In my experience, 'normal' users rarely bother to check out the preferences so they will miss out on a great deal of cool features.)

Mark

feel free to add this to the enhancement list on the docs site. I'll definitely do it if I have time before the next rev.

cstuder

Lech was faster than me, the feature request was already added to the list a couple of days ago. Feel free to ignore me.

NickE

You could make an extension to do this. Just hook into the UserManagement class and replace the CreateUser() function with your own, creating the Settings field with the values you want it to include.

lech

I am a god damned Wiki Ninja!