Beta 3 - Proposed Features & Last Call For Requests

[Brian]

As we are really starting work on Beta 3 now and everyone should have had some time to get used to Beta 2, I wanted to take this time to post a list of the proposed new features/changes, and also make a "last call" for feature requests. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Beta 3 will be the last beta version before going public with RC1, and will be the last version in which we will be adding any major features (until the next major version release of course). So, first up is the list of proposed features. Please note that this is not a guarantee that these features will be included with Beta 3. At this point in time I don't see any reason why everything listed here should not be included, but you don't always think of potential problems until you dive into the code.

Permissions setting to allow/deny the ability to view thumbnails.
AJAX functions on the "Submit Entry" page to repopulate custom fields when changing categories incase the new category has a different set of custom fields.
Attachment uploads via HTTP links.
Ability to allow your members to change the settings in any of the php file modules if the module has settings, and if the "User Editable" option for that module is enabled.
Ability to edit the dateline of posts the same way you can with entries.
Options to specify different style folders to be used within vBa Blogicles instead of the vBulletin style settings.
"Display Order" setting for attachment types, allowing you to control the order attachments within an entry will be displayed according to their extension.
Update the "Search" module to allow custom fields to be displayed within it, and thus better limiting your quick search fields.
Options to cancel or remove subscribed entries or categories a member is subscribed to through the Admin CP.
"Soft" deleting options for entries and posts.
"Featured Entries" module allowing you to select specific entries to "feature" in this module.
New module similar to the "Generic List" module, but can be changed on a per-entry basis.
Options to allow multi-paged entries.
Options to show custom fields in browsecategory.php.
"Guest Book" module.
Hook locations.

Other Possible Features
These are a few other features on the list that are somewhat riding the fence. The current plan is to let the features above take priority, and then if there's time, see which of these can be included as well. If any of these are especially important for you, please let me know so I can try to prioritize things a bit and hopefully make sure that the most important and needed features are included in the next release.
Ability to enter a URL or thread ID to an already ongoing discussion in the forums and replace the replies and comment system for that entry with the posts from your vBulletin thread instead.
Options to have a "bot" user post entries via RSS feeds from other web sites.
Permission setting for "can view own entries".
Attachment descriptions & titles.
AJAX module positioning for the user side.
AJAX inline title and message editing.


That should cover most of the key features and changes for Beta 3 at this point. If anyone has any other ideas or requests that they would like to see in Beta 3, please be sure to start a new thread in this forum to let us know so we can try to include it. If you have made a suggestion that has not already been implemented or listed above and I have not specifically said whether it would be included in a future release, please accept my apologies for missing or forgetting the thread and feel free to bump your old thread or start a new one to revisit the discussion and see if it can be included as well.

[Lionel]

Please don't forget the pagebreak to span articles on multiple pages.

[Our Sponsors]

[Brian]

Options to allow multi-paged entries.

:)

[attroll]

Another user submitting a blog for someone else (transcriber)
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20614

How about the ability to set the blogicles to use your own set of images instead of the standard VB images http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21472.

vBadanced, Database (automatic forum marking)
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21416

Custom fields displaying in browsecategory listing.
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21392

[Our Sponsors]

[ManagerJosh]

For TextArea, Increase/Decrease Size of Textbox via Clientside.

I'd like to be able to sync infrastructure on two installations of Blogicles but maintain seperate and unique entries.

Custom Boxes - Some sort of organization would be nice. I'd like to maybe see something in a hierarchy format, but showing where the custom fields are assigned to to help visualize where each custom field is assigned to.

Seperate Above Message and Below Message Custom Fields from each other. I think they should be viewed seperately instead of having them clustered together on the list (unless otherwise wanting to select them that way)

Attachment Permissions - I was thinking about allowing my members to download images, like JPEG and GIF, for free via blogicles and up to a certain size, like 2MB or 3MB would require registration, but 1MB wouldn't. Select file types, like ZIP files would require registration to access them.

View All Option for a Parent Category so that it would allow viewing of everything within a child category

Top Searches

Public & Private Drafts - Currently all drafts are private, but I'd like the ability to do public drafts if a members opts to use it. Specifically for showcasing, it would be to give a little sampler or taste of what's to come. Having a "Coming Soon" Module would be helpful too :)

Enable/Disable Comments/Post per Entry. (user discression)

Item association - Great if something is part of a set or doing a bulk upload. Please ensure that proper security checks are put in place so that another user doesn't slip an item into there that doesn't belong in there.

End User Moderation View - A status update on an item, to view whether an item is pending, approved, published, flagged, rejected, etc.

Add Favorite Users

Add Category RSS Feeds Link in <head>

Customizeable Member's Category (like when viewing http://forums.worldsims.org/sims2/browsecategory.php?do=member&entryuserid=2835 Amy Sims could put in her own influences into the design and layout specifically for her own category. Maybe even making it like a Member's Page )

Some sort of transitioning script or internal function that could help transfer files from another platform to Blogicles.

Allowing for users to upload images and/or files and use them directly within an entry instead of displaying them as an attachment.

Credit - if you wanted to give credit to someone and they are a member of your forum, entering their name and/or user id would link up to that user.

Option to disable category listing on frontpage. (even better would be to have it optionized to make it a module menu so that the front page could be dedicated to something like "What's New" or a News Styled Layout like in vBadvanced.) Maybe ability to relocate categories listing to a subpage?

[ManagerJosh]

Priority

Ability to enter a URL or thread ID to an already ongoing discussion in the forums and replace the replies and comment system for that entry with the posts from your vBulletin thread instead.
Attachment descriptions & titles.
AJAX module positioning for the user side.
AJAX inline title and message editing.
Lesser Priority


Options to have a "bot" user post entries via RSS feeds from other web sites.
Permission setting for "can view own entries".

[tfw2005]

Ability to enter a URL or thread ID to an already ongoing discussion in the forums and replace the replies and comment system for that entry with the posts from your vBulletin thread instead.

This is the only thing I am waiting for in order to start using the system. It is the most important thing to me by far. If it doesnt get in, wont be using Blogicles for a while.

[Brian]

Another user submitting a blog for someone else (transcriber)
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20614
That one I'm still going to have to think about a bit more to figure out the best way to handle it and hopefully make it more dynamic and more useful. I'm going to try to work something in that will work for you by beta 3, but can't make any promises yet.

vBadanced, Database (automatic forum marking)
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21416
I'll add this one under "medium priority" for right right now. It's something that I think is needed, but not absolutely necessary by the first public version. If it does not make it's way into beta 3 then it will most likely be in by the "gold" release.

How about the ability to set the blogicles to use your own set of images instead of the standard VB images http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21472.

Custom fields displaying in browsecategory listing.
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21392
Both of these are already on the list. :)






I'd like to be able to sync infrastructure on two installations of Blogicles but maintain seperate and unique entries.
I can see how that would be useful, but right now I think there are too many other features that would be more widely used that should be concentrated on. I'll add it under "low priority", but I can't promise it'll be a feature anytime soon. In the mean time though, I could probably give you a quick "how to" using phpMyAdmin if you could let me know exactly what parts you want to duplicate, and which parts you don't.


For TextArea, Increase/Decrease Size of Textbox via Clientside.

Seperate Above Message and Below Message Custom Fields from each other. I think they should be viewed seperately instead of having them clustered together on the list (unless otherwise wanting to select them that way)

Attachment Permissions - I was thinking about allowing my members to download images, like JPEG and GIF, for free via blogicles and up to a certain size, like 2MB or 3MB would require registration, but 1MB wouldn't. Select file types, like ZIP files would require registration to access them.

View All Option for a Parent Category so that it would allow viewing of everything within a child category

Public & Private Drafts - Currently all drafts are private, but I'd like the ability to do public drafts if a members opts to use it. Specifically for showcasing, it would be to give a little sampler or taste of what's to come. Having a "Coming Soon" Module would be helpful too :)

Enable/Disable Comments/Post per Entry. (user discression)

Add Category RSS Feeds Link in <head>

Customizeable Member's Category (like when viewing http://forums.worldsims.org/sims2/browsecategory.php?do=member&entryuserid=2835 Amy Sims could put in her own influences into the design and layout specifically for her own category. Maybe even making it like a Member's Page )

Added under "high priority".


Custom Boxes - Some sort of organization would be nice. I'd like to maybe see something in a hierarchy format, but showing where the custom fields are assigned to to help visualize where each custom field is assigned to.
So just something like a select box added on the "Custom Fields" page in the Admin CP so you can quickly see what categories it's used in, or did you have something else in mind?

Top Searches
I like that idea, but I do think there are others that should take priority right now. Added under "low priority".

Item association - Great if something is part of a set or doing a bulk upload. Please ensure that proper security checks are put in place so that another user doesn't slip an item into there that doesn't belong in there.

End User Moderation View - A status update on an item, to view whether an item is pending, approved, published, flagged, rejected, etc.

Add Favorite Users

Some sort of transitioning script or internal function that could help transfer files from another platform to Blogicles.


Can you elaborate on these for me, and maybe give some examples?

Allowing for users to upload images and/or files and use them directly within an entry instead of displaying them as an attachment.

Credit - if you wanted to give credit to someone and they are a member of your forum, entering their name and/or user id would link up to that user.

I definitely see the use for these, but I'll have to think about the best way to make it work. Adding under "low priority" until that time.

Option to disable category listing on frontpage. (even better would be to have it optionized to make it a module menu so that the front page could be dedicated to something like "What's New" or a News Styled Layout like in vBadvanced.) Maybe ability to relocate categories listing to a subpage?
It *shouldn't* be too much of a problem to add a module for categories. I'll add that under "medium priority" until I can try it out.


Ability to enter a URL or thread ID to an already ongoing discussion in the forums and replace the replies and comment system for that entry with the posts from your vBulletin thread instead.

Attachment descriptions & titles.

Moved to "high".

AJAX module positioning for the user side.
AJAX inline title and message editing.
These I'm leaving as lower priority for now since javascript isn't exactly one of my stronger points, so that might not be an easy task.






This is the only thing I am waiting for in order to start using the system. It is the most important thing to me by far. If it doesnt get in, wont be using Blogicles for a while.
Ok, it's been moved up. I don't think it'll be *that* hard to work in, so barring any unforeseen problems, it will be included with beta 3.

[ManagerJosh]

So just something like a select box added on the "Custom Fields" page in the Admin CP so you can quickly see what categories it's used in, or did you have something else in mind?

I was thinking more like a seperate page showing which categories a custom field appears. It would show where the custom field was assigned to and custom fields assigned to parent categories would appear in all child categories.


Item association - Great if something is part of a set or doing a bulk upload. Please ensure that proper security checks are put in place so that another user doesn't slip an item into there that doesn't belong in there.

End User Moderation View - A status update on an item, to view whether an item is pending, approved, published, flagged, rejected, etc.

Add Favorite Users

Some sort of transitioning script or internal function that could help transfer files from another platform to Blogicles.

Item Association - For myself, a few of my team members uploads furnitures that's a particular set. It would be great to somehow associate files with one another so that when people download files, they know this is part of a collection of items

End User Moderation - If we enable moderation, I'd like for some sort of status to be there for users so they don't keep repeating submissions. It's for them to know the progress of where their item is in the moderation queue. More so, if it's been in queue too long, they could ask a moderator to look and approve it too.

Add Favorite User - We have favorite entires, but why not favorite users who submit things?

Transitioning Script - I'm moving about probably 800+ files from a different platform. I'm trying to figure out a way to mass move or mass add files quickly and efficently.

[Brian]

Quick side note... I thought I had updated the original post here to include all of the new suggestions. I must have forgotten to save the post afterwards or something though since it obviously hasn't changed. I'll try to get the list updated again in the next couple of days or so.


I was thinking more like a seperate page showing which categories a custom field appears. It would show where the custom field was assigned to and custom fields assigned to parent categories would appear in all child categories.
Gotcha... I was thinking it might be easier to have everything there in one place once they're separated by top/bottom location. That might overload the page a bit though. I'll play with things and be sure there's some easy way to see a listing of all custom fields and the categories they're associated with though.

Item Association - For myself, a few of my team members uploads furnitures that's a particular set. It would be great to somehow associate files with one another so that when people download files, they know this is part of a collection of items
Hrmmm... How exactly would you suggest associating them?

End User Moderation - If we enable moderation, I'd like for some sort of status to be there for users so they don't keep repeating submissions. It's for them to know the progress of where their item is in the moderation queue. More so, if it's been in queue too long, they could ask a moderator to look and approve it too.
Good idea. I'm thinking something like a check to see if the user's entries are moderated, and if so, an extra link could be added to the My Stuff menu to allow users to see those. Does that sound good, or did you have any other ideas for how to handle that?

Add Favorite User - We have favorite entires, but why not favorite users who submit things?
Ahhhh, good idea. Will add to the list when I update it again. :)

Transitioning Script - I'm moving about probably 800+ files from a different platform. I'm trying to figure out a way to mass move or mass add files quickly and efficently.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to work something like that in before the gold release. If you wanted to post a sample of how those files are formatted though I'll be glad to take a look and see if I can help you get those imported.

[ManagerJosh]

Hrmmm... How exactly would you suggest associating them?

Maybe a batch uploading system? Therefore during this upload process blogicles can associate the files together. Mods and Admins should be able to copy/paste a URL or enter a series of entry ids to link them together.

Good idea. I'm thinking something like a check to see if the user's entries are moderated, and if so, an extra link could be added to the My Stuff menu to allow users to see those. Does that sound good, or did you have any other ideas for how to handle that?

I was thinking maybe something along the Side Menu that says Queue

So it would be like:


Queue:
Submitted (0)
Rejected (0)
Pending (0)
Approved (0)
Published (0)


(0) would be basically a counter.

[ManagerJosh]

BTW, any chance we could see the ability to embed videos (ie. quicktime, wmv, etc.) into entires directly? :)

[attroll]

Brian

I don't know if I should post this here on in the request area.

Right now you have it so when you edit the time stamp it also has the option to edit the time along with the date. Is there a way to just have it so you can have the users only edit the date and leave the time alone? Maybe this can be an option set in the ADMIN area.

[bridges]

Ability to enter a URL or thread ID to an already ongoing discussion in the forums and replace the replies and comment system for that entry with the posts from your vBulletin thread instead.

This is the only thing I am waiting for in order to start using the system. It is the most important thing to me by far. If it doesnt get in, wont be using Blogicles for a while.

What does this do? Copies a thread in the forums to appear in blogicles?

[Shelby]

For those of us whom are using it as a poor mans article manager, I have a small request. When browsing a catagory you can edit through the admin panel, whether you see replies. Essentially you allow, us to choose what expanded Entrybit template options are displayed. We can turn off replies, or ratings, etc. This is great when viewing the catagory. How come we can't do this on the homepage?

[tfw2005]

What does this do? Copies a thread in the forums to appear in blogicles?

The desired goal is so that if there is a discussion about "bread" going on in your forums, and you post up on your front page, or in your articles section an entry about "Bread", you can then have each reply in your forum thread show up as individual comments to your Blogicles entry, IN PLACE OF the comments system built into Blogicles. It basically turns off comments, and makes the reply button point to that thread's reply button instead.

This will kill having 2 places to discuss the same topic. Article/Front Page post here, discuss here. Useful for those that will be posting entries into your Blogicles system where the information came from the forums in the first place. You can present it nicely to the world in article format, and allow discussion to continue as it was on the forum, cross linking the 2.

[Ravish]

I would like to see an attachment related feature that is currently missing.

There should be an option to upload additional screenshots/preview/thumbnails while uploading attachments.

[Brian]

For those of us whom are using it as a poor mans article manager, I have a small request. When browsing a catagory you can edit through the admin panel, whether you see replies. Essentially you allow, us to choose what expanded Entrybit template options are displayed. We can turn off replies, or ratings, etc. This is great when viewing the catagory. How come we can't do this on the homepage?
Do you mean with the New or Random Entries modules? If so, you should have the same option to enable/disable fields in those modules' settings.


I would like to see an attachment related feature that is currently missing.

There should be an option to upload additional screenshots/preview/thumbnails while uploading attachments.
I'm not sure I'm following you there... How would that be any different than the current options? You can already upload as many attachments as you would like.

[ManagerJosh]

New Request:

Whitelist/Blacklist for safe HTTP_REFERER downloads.


I'd like to jam up hot-linkers :)

[tfw2005]

Ability to enter a URL or thread ID to an already ongoing discussion in the forums and replace the replies and comment system for that entry with the posts from your vBulletin thread instead.

This is the only thing I am waiting for in order to start using the system. It is the most important thing to me by far. If it doesnt get in, wont be using Blogicles for a while.

Hey Brian,

Didnt install Beta 3 yet, but didn't see this listed in your announcement. Is this in there somewhere, or did you wait for later on?

Later!

[Brian]

I'm glad you brought that up. I'm in the middle of about 20 other things at the moment, but was going to try to find that thread to discuss it once I went through the new posts. So you saved me the work of figuring out which thread it was. :)
After thinking about that one more, I'm not sure that's going to be something that we want to "officially" support. There's just way too many variables that could cause problems (other hacks, vB updates, etc). I also did not want to hold up the release of beta 3 any longer since I think there's only about 2 people I can remember that have mentioned that they really needed that feature. So, what I'd like to do... Before RC1 is released, I plan to do some more testing with that, and probably re-write a portion of the code that pulls the replies so that everything could be easily be altered by a plugin. At that point, it shouldn't take me long to throw a plugin together for you guys that would allow you to use one of your custom fields to enter the link to the thread, and then the plugin would take care of pulling the replies based on that.

[tfw2005]

That is absolutely fine with me. Ill be installing Dynamics for non-front page use (where that plugin would be needed for me), play around, and then just wait for that plugin before we go live using it as our main page.

However, plugin/whatever method, if its going to go far past RC1/August in getting done, please PM me if possible so I don't keep waiting around to go full out with my site restructure/upgrades/redesign.

Thanks!

[Brian]

Will do, but hopefully I'll have some spare time to work on this sooner than that. If so, then I'll go ahead and update the package here before RC1 since it will only be some minor changes to the actual Dynamics code, and then I'll post the plugin in the hacks forum here.

[tfw2005]

So, what I'd like to do... Before RC1 is released, I plan to do some more testing with that, and probably re-write a portion of the code that pulls the replies so that everything could be easily be altered by a plugin. At that point, it shouldn't take me long to throw a plugin together for you guys that would allow you to use one of your custom fields to enter the link to the thread, and then the plugin would take care of pulling the replies based on that.

Any time to play with this yet? Im actually busy on other things and havent had any time to play on Beta 3 yet myself. But I probably wont dive full in to anything till this is around some way or another.

Thanks, and later!

[Brian]

Yes, I have a thread integration plugin/product about 70% finished. Just need to add another plugin or two that will automatically insert the thread for you when submitting new entries, and write up the instructions on how to use it.