As you can see from the attached image, the user interface for the Smartfeed extension is pretty much done and looks and behaves virtually the same as it did before. Some development notes:
- I have skipped integrating jQuery for now so the Javascript logic is pretty much the same. It may not be needed and for a first version I may choose not to delve into it as it takes considerable time to figure out how to do it the proper way.
- The URL will put out slightly different values for key/value pairs. The phpBB Mod/Extension team really doesn’t like text strings like ATOM1.0 in URLs and variables and prefers constants, so I plan to go that route. For example, feed_type=0 will be the same as feed_type=ATOM1.0 in the 3.0 mod. Example of the new URL: http://example.com/phpBB3/app.php/smartfeed/smartfeed?u=2&e=C3TRedNDS4Z4coB4fbxHTUM8knYNy2X7_7Xj4y4y_PWxw6yeDkbUp1yXcG6-vJQgwc9UOBZfz19D0VzpaYHnKw..&lastvisit=1&limit=-1&count_limit=10&sort_by=0&feed_type=0&feed_style=3&max_word_size=10
- Certain fields that use to accept a blank now show a zero (0). This made the Javascript a lot easier and less confusing and actually more consistent
- I’m deferring testing the ability to generate a new Smartfeed key for later. That code will probably need to be rewritten or possibly removed.
I am now puzzling through the Administration Control Panel interface. In phpBB 3.0 you largely did not need a template, rather you added a lot of instances to an array to generate the controls. The example provided shows using a template. I’d prefer to go with the old approach if it exists rather than recreate a lot of logic. The methods of doing so are not well documented.
When both of these are done I’ll tackled what used to be know as smartfeed.php itself.
The URL will look a little different because of the extension syntax. Instead of smartfeed_url.php it will be something like:
http://example.com/phpBB3/app.php/smartfeed/smartfeed_url?sid=9b424e637f2eb0a81a132efd020c9d3a
Those of you wondering when I’ll be getting around to a digests extension: I will learn 80% of what I need to know to do that by doing Smartfeed, which is simpler. I’ll start the Digests extension while Smartfeed undergoes its first round of reviews.
All this depends on having time to do so. Being semi-retired it is easier to find the time, but when there is consulting business that will take precedence because it generates income. The extensions do not.
