Gossamer Forum: Products: Gossamer Forum: Development, Plugins and Globals: Private Message Folders?

Mar 5, 2004, 7:17 AM

sangiro

Enthusiast (524 posts)

Mar 5, 2004, 7:17 AM

Post #1 of 45

Shortcut

Private Message Folders?

Has anyone considered writing either a plug-in (or maybe GT can consider this as a feature) that will allow users to create folders to organize their private messages?

I have thousands of PMs in my "inbox" and actually want to keep a lot of them, but would like to reduce the size of my inbox and make it easier for me to find old messages again. There's more than 160,000 messages in my system so I'm pretty sure my users will find this useful.

...even a search feature for PMs will help....

Safe swoops
Sangiro

Mar 5, 2004, 5:03 PM

afinlr

Veteran (1921 posts)

Mar 5, 2004, 5:03 PM

Post #2 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Just like to agree that a search function would be great.

Apr 21, 2004, 1:30 AM

sangiro

Enthusiast (524 posts)

Apr 21, 2004, 1:30 AM

Post #3 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

** Bump **

Anything on this front yet?

Safe swoops
Sangiro

Apr 29, 2004, 11:36 AM

webslicer

User (236 posts)

Apr 29, 2004, 11:36 AM

Post #4 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Just the other day, I went to search my private messages.

Then I realized there wasn't any message search available, and couldn't believe it!

I will pay $50 by Paypal or ?? if someone wants to program this.

May 1, 2004, 1:15 AM

sangiro

Enthusiast (524 posts)

May 1, 2004, 1:15 AM

Post #5 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [webslicer] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Quote:

I will pay $50 by Paypal or ?? if someone wants to program this.

And I will gladly pay the same for a folder system. Wink

Safe swoops
Sangiro

Last edited by:

sangiro: May 1, 2004, 1:17 AM

May 1, 2004, 1:10 PM

webslicer

User (236 posts)

May 1, 2004, 1:10 PM

Post #6 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Same here. I will add in $50 for a folder plugin as well.

Jul 2, 2004, 6:35 AM

Franco

User (422 posts)

Jul 2, 2004, 6:35 AM

Post #7 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

I will pay $50 too for a folder plugin or/and a search plugin...

Jul 2, 2004, 7:11 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 2, 2004, 7:11 AM

Post #8 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Franco] Private Message Folders? In reply to

I may have a look at something like this sometime soon. Quite a cool little feature (and something I sympatise with, as I have a *LOT* of PM's too).

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 2, 2004, 10:04 AM

Franco

User (422 posts)

Jul 2, 2004, 10:04 AM

Post #9 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Great!

Thank you!

Last edited by:

Franco: Jul 2, 2004, 10:05 AM

Jul 6, 2004, 3:59 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 6, 2004, 3:59 AM

Post #10 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Franco] Private Message Folders? In reply to

I'm getting there Smile

(see attachment).

The features I'm currently looking at putting in;

1) Search (by username, as well as a part where you can enter part of the PM, and it will search for that string)
2) Ability to add a new folder, by simply entering its name.. and clicking submit (makes it nice and simple).
3) Option to transfer all of your PM's into a folder (say "Default", or whatever they choose).
4) The original PM system can still be reached (and used), even with this plugin installed. Literaly, all this plugin does, is hook into GForum, and if it recognises one of the functions, it will run my code :)

I'm also looking into how easy it will be to get span pages working. I know its not that easy (from when I did Ace_News and MyFaves) ... but I'll give it a good go first :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 6, 2004, 8:56 AM

sangiro

Enthusiast (524 posts)

Jul 6, 2004, 8:56 AM

Post #11 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Nice. Keep at it. Smile

Safe swoops
Sangiro

Jul 6, 2004, 10:52 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 6, 2004, 10:52 AM

Post #12 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Getting there :) I now have the following done;

1) Add Folder (supports a "valid charachter map" of the letters/digits/charachters that you want to allow)
2) Quick import ... which basically lets you import all your PM's in a format that this mod can read.
3) Pretty slick design interface if I do say so myself Cool

4) Full category options (similar in the way that Ace_News v3 works), and it will allow you to show the category listings in 2 columns!
5) You can also use the normal PM system too, but it just won't be organised/searchable etc .. which my manager is :D

I'll let you know how I get on with finishing it off.

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 6, 2004, 12:02 PM

sangiro

Enthusiast (524 posts)

Jul 6, 2004, 12:02 PM

Post #13 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Curious to see how it plays out. My advice on the actual template design... keep it as close as possible to the Gossamer-Mail defaults, layout and style. It makes customization a lot easier. Smile

Safe swoops
Sangiro

Jul 7, 2004, 2:33 AM

hoefti

User (190 posts)

Jul 7, 2004, 2:33 AM

Post #14 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

great !

linktobuy Web Directory
Ratgeber Recht

Jul 7, 2004, 2:58 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 7, 2004, 2:58 AM

Post #15 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

In Reply To:

Curious to see how it plays out. My advice on the actual template design... keep it as close as possible to the Gossamer-Mail defaults, layout and style. It makes customization a lot easier. Smile

Did you mean to say "Gossamer-Mail" ? Wink

I've tried to keep it as much like the header/footer system that the default GForum template have. Pretty slick IMO :)

Only thing that I won't add in, is the "Sent PM's" function.. as that will add a lot of development time (I'm doing this as a favor really...I don't have much free time at the moment Unsure

).

Well, I'll keep everyone updated :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 8, 2004, 10:16 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 8, 2004, 10:16 AM

Post #16 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

I've now got it working (on our server). I tried adding in spanning pages, but that didn't work that well, and it messed up some of the features (wouldn't show some PM's, which is obviously no good). Is spanning pages something people are looking at?

You can give it a go here if you want;

http://ultranerds.com/...rum.cgi?do=pmmanager

Please note, this is our live site.. so be considerate when sending yourself test PM's Wink

1) Search works (by username, or query)
2) "Import into folder" feature
3) "Unassigned" folder, where you can view PM's that havn't yet been assigned to a folder.
4) "Move" link on PM's, so you can transfer them to a different folder (not added yet...I'll get that done tomorrow).
5) The existing PM system still works :) (for those who want to do it the old fashioned way Tongue

)
6) A charachter map, so you can decide which charachters are allowed to be used in folder names (definable in the plugin settings).
7) Folder limit (i.e limit them to 10 folders). Once they reach this limit, it will show them an error message. Again, this is customizable from the plugin area.

A couple of things I still really want to add;

1) Search function for "sent" PM's (these are sometimes the more elusive of all)
2) A folder, where you can view the sent messages seperatly (their own seperate folder).
3) An "export" feature, where you can print your PM's to either a flatfile database (pipe, CSV, etc), as well as (hopefully) a format that Outlook/Outlook Express can read, so you can import your PM's into outlook! (please note, if I ever get this function to work, it won't work with attachments, i.e nothing will be attached to the downloaded files).

Thats pretty much everything I can think of at the moment. Any feedback will be much appreciated :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 8, 2004, 12:06 PM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 8, 2004, 12:06 PM

Post #17 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

I've added the option to search Sent messages too now. You can search by;

* Post contains.
* Username
* Type: Sent / Received.

I'm off for the night now. I'll update you on my progress tomorrow :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 9, 2004, 2:12 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 9, 2004, 2:12 AM

Post #18 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

I've now added a "delete" folder option (which moves all the PM's in it to the "Unassigned" folder).

Just gonna add in a "move" feature, so you can change which folder a PM is put in.

This is one beast of a plugin Cool

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 9, 2004, 3:08 AM

hoefti

User (190 posts)

Jul 9, 2004, 3:08 AM

Post #19 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

hello Andy

Can your Plugin quote a message.

I wait for this a long time ago

greeting hoefti
linktobuy Web Directory
Ratgeber Recht

Jul 9, 2004, 3:49 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 9, 2004, 3:49 AM

Post #20 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [hoefti] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Quote:

Can your Plugin quote a message.

Hi. I'm not sure what you mean? When a reply is made to a PM, it should show you the PM below. All you have to do then, is press the "quote" button on the form, and then it will make the [quote]..[/quote] tags for you Smile

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 9, 2004, 3:53 AM

sangiro

Enthusiast (524 posts)

Jul 9, 2004, 3:53 AM

Post #21 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Andy,

Looking good!

Take a bit more time, make it nice and solid. I think this is a great plugin and a lot of people will find this useful. Smile

Two quick comments:
Consider renaming "unassigned" to "Inbox". Sticking with conventions that are familiar to users is a good usability practice. I know "unassigned" is exactly what those messages are, but that's just not how users think - it's how programmers think! Wink

Also, when I delete a PM it returns you to the default PM view. It should probably return you to the "folder" you removed the PM from.

I'll keep checking in. Thanks for taking the time to build this. Smile

Safe swoops
Sangiro

Jul 9, 2004, 4:04 AM

sangiro

Enthusiast (524 posts)

Jul 9, 2004, 4:04 AM

Post #22 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

In Reply To:

Andy,

Looking good!

Take your time, make it nice and solid. No need to over-engineer. I think you're thinking about the right functionality. My guess is a lot of people will find this useful. Smile

Safe swoops
Sangiro

Jul 9, 2004, 6:18 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 9, 2004, 6:18 AM

Post #23 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [sangiro] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Thanks :)

I'm trying to work out a way to automatically redirect a user to the new PM manager (and not the old one), after a PM has been deleted.

Quote:

Consider renaming "unassigned" to "Inbox". Sticking with conventions that are familiar to users is a good usability practice. I know "unassigned" is exactly what those messages are, but that's just not how users think - it's how programmers think!

Very valid point..I'll make the change in the plugin :)

Thanks for the feedback. If you have any more, please feel free to pass it onto me :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 14, 2004, 2:15 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 14, 2004, 2:15 AM

Post #24 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

Still working on this. I had to redesign parts of it (which should speed it up in the long run).

I am now going to add a new field to the PM folders themselves (FolderID), which will then link to a specific entry for that folder in another table.

I'm hoping it won't take too long, as the bulk of its there already. I just *really* wanted to get the sort options sorted (I couldn't get them to work with the old method).

I'll keep you all updated :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jul 17, 2004, 9:06 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jul 17, 2004, 9:06 AM

Post #25 of 45

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Private Message Folders? In reply to

I now have it all working with a "FolderID" field (to the "Message" table), which links the messages to specific folders. This made it a million times easier to find the correct PMs (also uses less CPU, as it has less work to do).

I'm literally just working on getting the sort order working for folder views (can't get it to work for searches, sorry).

As usual, I'll keep you posted Smile

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Private Message Folders?

(Page 1 of 2)

Last edited by:

Last edited by:

Attached Files: