Mahz's Dev Journal

[Mahz]

I just noticed the Notifications button (not sure if it's because I'm typically on my phone or... what) but when I click on it, it brings me to an error page. Can someone explain to me what it is and possibly why it's suddenly an error? Thanks! ~Melly

@SinfulSkills

I disabled that page until I do a database upgrade. It'll be working soon.

[Erklings25]

Hey Mahz, when I go onto certain threads the server randomly logs me out.

[Mahz]

Hey Mahz, when I go onto certain threads the server randomly logs me out.

@Erklings25

Okay, tomorrow I'm gonna chill with new stuff and try to figure this out. Some other people have an issue with sessions too. Taking the guild down in a moment to upgrade the database version. Maybe 10-20 min? (Done)

[Mahz]

- [Experimental Feature] You now receive notifications when people Mention (Ex: @Mahz) or QuoteMention (Ex: [quote=@Mahz]...[/quote]) you. Details: - [quote=@Mahz]...[/quote] sends a notification (QuoteMention) while [quote=Mahz]...[/quote] does not (Regular Quote). - Only the first 10 Mentions/QuoteMentions will turn into notifications to prevent abuse. - Nested Mentions/QuoteMentions do not trigger notifications. In other words, if you quote somebody's Mentions/QuoteMentions, those will not turn into notifications. We only want to generate notifications for the Mentions you've written in your post and the immediate QuoteMentions you're replying to. - The purpose is to have a hopefully lightweight/effortless way to be notified when someone is talking to you. - All notifications will show up in the new Notifications page. You can get there by clicking the bell icon in the top-right corner. Tip: From your Notifications page, clicking the notification's link to the PM/post will auto-clear that notification for you.

[Hank]

Does it work when I use it on myself? @Hank EDIT: It doesn't.

[Mahz]

Does it work when I use it on myself? @Hank EDIT: It doesn't.

@Hank

I don't even know if it works at all yet. I haven't tested it yet on the production server. Testing.

[Hank]

Yep, that worked. Got a notification.

[Captain Jordan]

Sweet. Awesome work, @Mahz. EDIT: So I screwed it up and didn't bracket the mention. Does it still notify when I edit and fix the mention code?

[Mahz]

Sweet. Awesome work, @Mahz. EDIT: So I screwed it up and didn't bracket the mention. Does it still notify when I edit and fix the mention code?

@Captain Jordan

Yeah, I started playing with sending notifications from the update-post flow, but it was complex enough to warrant its own project. For example, I need to implement a time-limit and I want to do a better job of exposing the notifications that your post generated so you can think about patching it to send any missed/forgotten mentions. I'm always reluctant to pile on more table joins. I still haven't figured out a fast way to fetch topics with a boolean that says if currentUser has posted in that topic.

[Genkai]

Hey Mahz, just a quick comment/question! When I go to the PMs page, there's no option to PM someone, instead I have to go a post or their "page" in order to do so. Is it possible for you to make an option for "PM Someone" on the PM page? And maybe a reminder that you can PM multiple people? I was sending one off just now but I wasn't sure with the updates recently, if we still could. (which we can)

[Mahz]

Hey Mahz, just a quick comment/question! When I go to the PMs page, there's no option to PM someone, instead I have to go a post or their "page" in order to do so. Is it possible for you to make an option for "PM Someone" on the PM page? And maybe a reminder that you can PM multiple people? I was sending one off just now but I wasn't sure with the updates recently, if we still could. (which we can)

@Genkai

Oh yeah, good catch on the missing button! I'll do that now. I thought the text-field placeholder was good enough to indicate that you can PM multiple people: But I realize that you never see it because, when you click "Start Convo with _____", it populates that field and hides the hint. I'll add the hint above the field so you can always see it. Genkai always catching my oversights.

[Genkai]

That text-field placeholder used to be there, I recall seeing it in the past but now if you go to directly PM even one person (which you can only do from their page) the username is already filled in, thus erasing the text that used to assure people of multiple participants that it would be a-okay! And yeah a button with a fresh conversation (all fields NOT yet filled in) would be lovely! And glad to help. I hope my mild freakout about multiple recipients saves anyone else some concern. But hey, seeing the notifications are up and running is also pretty nifty so hopefully in the future, we may be able to get notifications about new posts in subscribed threads (since it might alert someone to check their subscriptions more readily)? (Not email mind you, but the small bell icon, since I figure it will be used for more than just mentions)

[Captain Jordan]

Hey Mahz, just a quick comment/question! When I go to the PMs page, there's no option to PM someone, instead I have to go a post or their "page" in order to do so. Is it possible for you to make an option for "PM Someone" on the PM page? And maybe a reminder that you can PM multiple people? I was sending one off just now but I wasn't sure with the updates recently, if we still could. (which we can)

@Genkai

Oh yeah, good catch on the missing button! I'll do that now. I thought the text-field placeholder was good enough to indicate that you can PM multiple people: But I realize that you never see it because, when you click "Start Convo with _____", it populates that field and hides the hint. I'll add the hint above the field so you can always see it. Genkai always catching my oversights.

@Mahz

It's probably on your list to do, but have you considered grabbing the real usernames as people type out their PM recipients and displaying them in a dropdown? Some modern sites have started to do this, probably prompted by Facebook and the like, and it's nice when you don't quite remember if you've got the spelling right.

[Genkai]

I think the old site let you do that, @Captain Jordan. It would be nice to have it make a comeback though it may take more clever coding. (A guess though)

[Mahz]

Latest push: - new-convo button added to my-convos page - added descriptions to the fields of the new-convo form

[Genkai]

Great, just what I had in mind. Now I just gotta go send a strongly worded message to Internet Tough Guy, someone needs to put him in his place. Thanks for the prompt fix @Mahz!

[Mahz]

we may be able to get notifications about new posts in subscribed threads

@Genkai

Yeah, this feature is definitely in the gems.

It's probably on your list to do, but have you considered grabbing the real usernames as people type out their PM recipients and displaying them in a dropdown? Some modern sites have started to do this, probably prompted by Facebook and the like, and it's nice when you don't quite remember if you've got the spelling right.

@Captain Jordan

Definitely. I'll trigger Twitter's Typeahead.js dropdown whenever you've typed the string "[@<letter>" into an editor. It's pretty slick. In other news, I'm almost done with the feature that tracks the forums and topics that users/guests are viewing. That allows me to bring back the "Off-Topic Discussion (17 Viewing)" numbers on the homepage and the "7 Users and 8 Guests are viewing this topic: Mahz, Genkai, Captain Jordan" on the topic view. I always loved that feature and it's been heavily requested. Makes the forum feel more alive.

[Genkai]

So the dropdown will be triggered when doing a mention OR a PM? If that's the case, it saves me time from having to copy/paste or try and remember who I'm even talking to and why they have to have a long ass username. ^^ Which means, I can't wait for that to be implemented. Thanks for the heads up~

[Mahz]

So the dropdown will be triggered when doing a mention OR a PM?

@Genkai

Right. Although the first release will just implement it for @Mentions. Until it's implemented for the "Participants" input-field on the new-convo form, you'll be able to at least get username-autocompletion in the post editor and then cut&paste it to the list.

[Genkai]

That's quite fine, after all, any bugs would be easier to fix for one than both PMs and Mentions. And fair enough. *nods* I did have a thought which is in regards to our PMs but when you do manage to get a proper Who's Online/Viewing This Thread (which I assume won't be for a few weeks or a month) is it possible to have people viewing the thread at the top, rather than below on bottom where it used to be? I was just thinking some people just go to certain threads to see if their partner(s) are reading the post/IC (which would be good to differentiate between which tab is being looked at, if possible) and rather than scroll down to see, it might be more convenient if those viewing were at the top than the bottom. But then again if it clutters the top too much, I understand. Just a thought.