[RFC|Merged] Last topic title in forum list

These requests for comments/change have lead to an implemented feature that has been successfully merged into the 3.1/Ascraeus branch. Everything listed in this forum will be available in phpBB 3.1.
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Oleg
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by Oleg »

This feature apparently is togglable for each forum independently, is this what we want?

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DavidIQ
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by DavidIQ »

I think that's overkill. I don't even think it should be something that can be turned off. If someone really wants to turn it off they can go edit their style and remove it. So many on/off switches... :?
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jsebean
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by jsebean »

DavidIQ wrote:I think that's overkill. I don't even think it should be something that can be turned off. If someone really wants to turn it off they can go edit their style and remove it. So many on/off switches... :?
Agreed, should be something just default in the style always on and a style edit can remove it, however, to have a toggle switch would be a bonus that I personally wouldn't fight against.

It should also keep permissions in mind. I'm not sure how it currently works now...
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imkingdavid
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by imkingdavid »

jsebean wrote:It should also keep permissions in mind. I'm not sure how it currently works now...
Good point. Forums that a user can see but not read should not display the title of the last post.
Also, I may have asked this before, or at least meant to, does this show the title of the latest post or the title of the topic that contains the latest post?
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by nickvergessen »

I personally would just use the existing template var in the forumlist and let the rest be done by extensions.

I have several configuration options in my MOD which are all used by some users, some result in heavier queries (f.e. displaying the topic title instead of the post subject).

The extension could than just unset the variable for the phpbb default code and display its own values.
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MichaelC
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by MichaelC »

nickvergessen wrote:I personally would just use the existing template var in the forumlist and let the rest be done by extensions.

I have several configuration options in my MOD which are all used by some users, some result in heavier queries (f.e. displaying the topic title instead of the post subject).

The extension could than just unset the variable for the phpbb default code and display its own values.
I agree with this but after discussion with rxu (and perhaps imkingdavid and igorw I can't fully remember) I was told it should be topic title, not post title.
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by imkingdavid »

I'm okay with displaying the post title, but when the topic title is blank, the following is shown:
Image
How about in the case where a post subject is blank, the topic title is used? Or should there just be some other placeholder text?
EDIT: I guess we're going to (for now) just remove the empty line in that case.
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by MichaelC »

imkingdavid wrote:I'm okay with displaying the post title, but when the topic title is blank, the following is shown:
*snip*
How about in the case where a post subject is blank, the topic title is used? Or should there just be some other placeholder text?
EDIT: I guess we're going to (for now) just remove the empty line in that case.
Just don't put anything if its blank?

And shouldn't we really not allow empty post subjects?
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Re: [RFC] Recent topic title in forum list

Post by imkingdavid »

Unknown Bliss wrote:And shouldn't we really not allow empty post subjects?
RFC? :D
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Last post subject and/or last topic title

Post by rahulr92 »

There is considerable difference in opinion regarding whether the forum list should display the last post subject or the topic in which it was posted. I hope to reach a consensus regarding the same with this post. I will start by listing the possible options and their relative merits/de-merits as I was able to understand after many discussions though IRC and this forum :
1. Display the last post subject.
Benifits:
  • The template variable for last post is presently being generated and passed. All we need is to display it.
    Consistent with remaining last post details.
Drawbacks:
  • Last post subject line might not directly relate to the topic. Soln:Nil
    Last post subject line might be empty.
    Soln:
    • a)Default to present behavior. Show nothing. Also done for password protected forums.
      b)Display some placeholder text to preserve the use of link.(eg:Last Post)
      c)Show the topic title instead.(again this will require most of option 2 to be implemented)
    Last post subject line might contain 'Re:'. Not very appealing. Soln: Strip it and show remaining text i.e. topic title.
2.Display title of topic in which last post was made.
Benefits
  • This info. could be more useful.
Drawbacks:
  • This could require some heavy querying. Soln: We might be able to reduce this by creating additional columns in database table to store this info.
There can again be further opinion regarding where the link should lead to:
  • 1.Starting of topic
    2.Last post
    3.Last unread post
Please suggest how it should be implemented and correct me if I am wrong in any of the details.
Also I have done a patch which does the following things:
  • Displays last_post_subject linking to last post in the forum list
    Provides a global toggle in acp to turn the feature on/off
    Considers passworded forums and user read previlages
PR: https://github.com/phpbb/phpbb3/pull/721

Today a small discussion had taken place between me and an- regarding the same. I am posting the IRC log of the same here.

(01:25:15 IST) an-: was the topic title/post title issue addressed?
(01:26:07 IST) rahulr92: an-: It was decided that only post-title be shown by default and remaining can be done using extensions.
(01:26:31 IST) an-: what is the behavior if post title is empty?
(01:26:32 IST) rahulr92: topic titles require heavier query
(01:26:55 IST) rahulr92: if empty, nothing is displayed. not even a new line, like now.
(01:26:56 IST) an-: which queries are needed for topic titles?
(01:27:29 IST) an-: also post titles have Re: in them
(01:27:40 IST) an-: i have a feeling that would look ugly
(01:27:56 IST) rahulr92: viewtopic.php?f=108&t=41893&start=10#p237371
(01:28:44 IST) an-: why are we doing this if it is going to be half done?
(01:29:07 IST) rahulr92: This can provide basic functionality.
(01:30:09 IST) an-: viewtopic.php?p=237393#p237393 - i have never seen this on an actual board
(01:30:22 IST) an-: also i have never seen Re: there which i expect you would have to have if you use post titles
(01:30:38 IST) an-: so it seems to me that the way this is currently implemented is not how boards are actually use this
(01:31:03 IST) an-: s/are//
(01:31:31 IST) an-: if extensions can fix it they can implement the whole thing, no?
(01:32:03 IST) an-: you are basically asking extensions to do the hard part
(01:32:28 IST) an-: surely the easy part can be done by extensions at least as well
(01:33:40 IST) rahulr [75c708e0@gateway/web/freenode/ip.117.199.8.224] entered the room.
(01:33:44 IST) marc1706 is now known as modernist
(01:33:48 IST) modernist left the room (quit: Disconnected by services).
(01:34:20 IST) rahulr: an-: Sorry, my pidgin has gone unresponsive.
(01:36:47 IST) rahulr: The issue shown here:viewtopic.php?p=237393#p237393 has been fixed. Now empty lines are not displayed.
(01:37:17 IST) an-: ok but that means the feature does not work for that case
(01:37:50 IST) an-: i would suggest investigating queries needed to display the topic title and comparing them against indexes we have
(01:38:32 IST) rahulr: an-: Showing the topic title is not just hard. nickvargeesan had implemented a MOD for this. There were posts saying that this slowed down the page.
(01:39:02 IST) rahulr: [2012-04-04 10:54:08] <rahulr92> In the forum table we have all the details of the last poster. The details of the first poster for each topic is available in the topics table. In order to find the topic in which the last poster posted, should I be querying the topics table with the last poster id to obtain the first post id and then querying the posts table with that post_id to obtain the post_subject. Or shall I add a 'last_post_
(01:40:09 IST) an-: so the issue is you want to add a column for last post's topic title?
(01:40:14 IST) an-: to forum table?
(01:40:26 IST) an-: this is a negligible change performance-wise
(01:40:53 IST) rahulr: that column keeps changing quite often.
(01:41:05 IST) an-: you update the respective rows anyway?
(01:41:09 IST) an-: when a post is made?
(01:41:20 IST) an-: therefore updating another column would be free?
(01:41:50 IST) DavidIQ left the room (quit: Quit: HOME!).
(01:42:12 IST) rahulr: Well, we already have the last_post_title as a template var.
(01:42:32 IST) rahulr: All I did was display it. No further querying was required.
(01:43:08 IST) rahulr: http://www.flying-bits.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3808
(01:43:38 IST) an-: i seem to recall some table scans being involved
(01:44:23 IST) an-: but it's not needed if you add a field as i mentioned
(01:44:31 IST) rahulr: Actually, this was supposed to be my first patch. I am just starting to get the hng of things :)
(01:44:40 IST) rahulr: *hang
(01:46:34 IST) rahulr: We could chop of the the Re: in those cases so as to display the topic title, with a link to the last post.
(01:46:57 IST) rahulr: Also we could keep placeholder text for empty subjects
(01:46:58 IST) an-: http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&start=15
(01:47:27 IST) an-: (16:11:40) an-: i would suggest investigating queries needed to display the topic title and comparing them against indexes we have
(01:47:38 IST) an-: if we want this functionality we should do it correctly
(01:48:00 IST) an-: my understanding is we can have it without a performance penalty by adding one column to forums table which would be free
(01:49:19 IST) an-: (16:18:21) rahulr: Actually, this was supposed to be my first patch. I am just starting to get the hng of things - maybe not what i would have suggested for a first patch, but now you either need to see it through to the end or do something else
(01:50:19 IST) rahulr: an-: If that is what you think, I will try to incorporate the last topic title. I might need some help with the LEFT JOIN queys, though.
(01:50:32 IST) an-: please post on area51
(01:50:33 IST) rahulr: *querys
(01:50:39 IST) an-: and obtain a consensus
(01:50:44 IST) an-: include this entire log
(01:51:15 IST) an-: if you summarize the issues and options that will probably be helpful too
Last edited by rahulr92 on Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:24 am, edited 3 times in total.

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