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Is there any possibility of you folks at IPS looking into ways for us to hook into some things we can't today, namely the various IPSMember methods or other static methods like those?  I'm sure there are technical hurdles to allowing this, but with them being untouchable right now it restricts us mod makers from doing some things we might want to.

For example, there are two fairly popular hooks of mine for IP.Board 3.1 that I cannot upgrade to make work in 3.2 now due to the combining of avatars and profile photos: my Default Avatar and Identicon Avatars hooks.  Those used to work on the principle that I could hook into the userInfoPane template and do my work of showing a new avatar, since that was the only place by default that avatars were ever shown.  Now, though, avatars/photos are shown in tons of places, and there's no realistic way to hook into each one individually.  So ideally what I'd like to do is hook into IPSMember::buildNoPhoto(), and use that function to show something else if I wanted to.  But there's no way to get to that function right now.

Maybe some of the code could be moved off into library files that we could hook into?  That way, IPSMember::buildNoPhoto (or others like this, that may need to be hookable) can still be called like normal, but they return the value from a library file, which can be overloaded.  I don't know if this is even feasible, but I'd like to hear if this may be something that can be looked in to.  It seems that these static methods are showing up more and more in the product, so It'd be great if they weren't so black-boxed to us third party developers.

We have upgraded the IPS Community to IP.Board 3.2.0!

This is the first step in the testing process for IP.Board 3.2.0's upcoming release. We will be testing the new version here for several weeks and working on fixing issues with the goal of our first public beta release being as stable as it can be.

Please look around and help us in testing by submitting reports to our bug tracker so we can all work together to create a stable release. Keep in mind that our applications - IP.Gallery, IP.Blog, IP.Calendar, IP.Chat, IP.Downloads, and IP.Content - have also all been updated to be compatible with IP.Board 3.2 so please also test those. Your help is greatly appreciated!

You may wish to review the What's New in IP.Board 3.2 topic for information on the exciting changes in IP.Board 3.2.


Downloading IP.Board 3.2.0

IP.Board 3.2.0 is not yet available for download.

We are using it here on our company forums both as a preview for feedback and to identify any possible issues before release. Before a final release we will be testing it here on our company forums for a few weeks and then posting betas for download for all active license holders and invite you to participate in the beta testing process when we reach that milestone. When the final, supported release is made available we will make an announcement here.

I have put together a patch zip which resolves the following issues:

• Multiple "5030" error message emails
  
• (Safe Mode Enabled) Missing language strings from the ACP
  
• (oAuth PECL extensions) Twitter 'cannot redeclare class' / blank page issue
  
• (Non CURL) Twitter log in returns to log in form
  
• (Non .htaccess FURL) Gallery FURLs not working correctly.
  
• (Non .htaccess FURL) Facebook LIKE button incorrectly 'liking' root URL

http://www.invisionp.../310patches.zip

The main download zips have been updated at the time of this post. If you are not affected by any of these issues then you do not need to apply the patch.
Further details are available in our knowledge base: http://community.inv...knowledge-base/

First of all, 3.1 is looking pretty good .

The notification system is exciting, and I know that this is the first beta release, but I think it could be improved.  Currently, the system seems to work like that for personal messages.  You are taken to a list of notifications, and clicking on one opens a new page with more details.  Personally, I think something more lightweight and less complex would be even better.  Something similar to the way Facebook displays notifications would be nice.  For example, instead of seeing a list of:

New reply to your status Today, 02:12 PM
New reply to your status Today, 11:07 AM
New reply to your status Today, 10:58 AM

And then having to click on each one to see the pertinent details on a new page for each, just list the details of the notifications:

Bartosz Misiak replied to Mike54's status  |   Today, 02:12 PM
iikato repled to AnthonyKinson's status  |   Today, 11:07 AM

You could have an AJAX button/check mark/etc. next to each notification that allows a user to mark each one as read/unread.  I think that, in general, this way is simpler and gives more information at one glance without having to click into additional pages.

There also needs to be a more visible way of knowing that you have new notifications.  For example, like the number that shows up over the profile picture in the user navigation when you have a new private conversation.

.Wolfie, on 23 February 2010 - 07:20 PM, said:

Wolfie, you can take snippets of your own quotes to provide an out-of-context experience, but the reality is you poured cold water over the idea from the start and then proceeded to challenge my viewpoint because it made yours look bad. I on the other hand have been rather non plussed about the whole ordeal. I simply assumed no one with a grain of sense would think that providing a better ux and using less resources was a bad idea. I don't agree its the "end all be all" but I am also not arguing with users because... god forbid... vB did it fist.

There is a difference between endorsing and trying to discredit suggestions without constructive comment simply because you like to argue.

Kotonoha, on 23 February 2010 - 07:58 PM, said:

Huh? Buggy? In all the years its been there, I can't think of a single bug revolving around vB's Ajaxed Quick Reply that I am aware of. Not one. It also shows all the posts since you last visited the page to reply. I suspect you must be thinking of another forum package. Not vB.

Nor has anyone said its better just because its ajaxed. It required at leas 2 less page loads and a faster, smoother ux. How on earth is that a bad thing?

Whats next? Should we argue against having a mobile skin?


I wasn't all that bothered about this feature as I assumed it would eventually make it in because of its logical merits. Now I see that there is certainly another side to "feature suggestions" called "defend the suggestion to prove its worth (and bring your stats)". And if its a vB feature... be prepared for it to be a long and drawn out battle. Doesn't matter if it saves resources. Doesn't' matter if it creates a smoother ux. What matters is if you can PROVE that in the wave of negativity and red light thinking.

Pretty disappointing stuff I may add.

I don't understand your point then. The only point I can make out is "Just because FB does it doesn't mean its a good idea". Thats valid, but also a "cup if 99% empty" viewpoint. FB are doing a good job at creating a great UX experience. Why shouldn't that be acknowledged and aspired? Twitter doesn't require full page loads to add "Yea, baby I like it". Why should a FARRRRRR more complex piece of script like IPB?

Stop getting hung up on the fact "its been done before" and look to implement what makes sense along side of the regular innovation one comes to expect of IPS.

The Geek, on 23 February 2010 - 07:02 PM, said:

What's not to understand?  Constantly using FB as a reason isn't a good reason.  Making claims doesn't mean the claims are true.  Overall the thing is, consider more than just what you think is what everyone else wants, what you think would make IPB the ultimate product, what you think is a must have.

Speaking specifically about AQR..  If (a) it does use fewer resources to accomplish a goal -and- (b) it wouldn't be 'broken' for people with incompatible browsers or functionality -and- (c) can be disabled per forum/site, then I have nothing against it.  I'm just not jumping around throwing a party like, "OMG that's the best idea I ever heard!"

Geez, is it such a crime that I'm not endorsing the AQR idea with every last ounce of my life?

This follows on from the discussion in the Customer Lounge regarding skins.. specifically my objection to there being no backgrounds and or borders on a lot of CONTENT areas of the board.

Dearest Darling Rikki....

It would appear that there are a large number of areas of Content blocks within the Default skin (upon which all skins are based) that do not have backgrounds specified.. they are relying on the body background, which is not best practice imho...If you could see your way clear to changing this, I am sure the community of skinners, and individuals trying to skin would be hugely grateful

Here is a visual example for you....

1. New Blogs screen in the IPB Default skin.



2. New Blogs screen with the base IPB default skin, but just a different darker body background - as you can see the lack of a background behind the content areas is significant when you start making any changes.. there are a lot of areas of the board like this too.


3.... You might say "well just add a background colour and a border to that div wrapper"... in this case #main_column, however that just gives one an ugly box of colour, without any ability to style it without changing the functionality of that div. (and god forbid if it is a class used elsewhere as well) It also breaks in Firefox in this case...  so then you have to fiddle around adjusting margins/padding... and hope and pray to various Greater Entities.. that it works in all browsers, and doesn't create 10 other problems in other areas.

To work around this I have included my own wrapper class in all those areas of the board thus affected (and there are a number).. however that has led to a huge workload whenever upgrades roll around, as then every template I have edited to add this wrapper has to be manually upgraded, in every skin. Additionally the blogs no longer supports this (that I can find..) I spent days trying to get it to work before giving up.. but not before much screaming and pulling my hair out and generally turning the air blue around me in the process.


4. This is something like I (and my customers) would WANT it to look like... far more styled and in keeping with the rest of the skin.. only problem is this is proving to be almost impossible to achieve (in the blogs anyway).  The other areas throughout the board the look can be achieved, but only with a lot of work.



imho... having easily adjustable and editable backgrounds to content areas is a must - I think it is pretty fundamental to have a background behind content areas, not rely on the body background. Same with borders to content areas... I haven't checked lately because I have been using my wrapper everywhere instead.. but last time I tried it you couldn't add a border attribute to the main content areas because of the border-collapse: collapse - has this changed?  If not.. could it... you should be able to add a border to content areas without drama.

To close dearest Rikki, I know I am not the world's greatest coder, and perhaps I have missed some blatantly obvious way of achieving my aims without all this rigmorole... (Highly likely - But if so you got to ask how total noobs are feeling!!!) and I also know that many of the youngie skinners and grooovsters don't feel borders or footers etc to be totally cool and web2ish etc etc.. but most of us grown ups quite like those things... as my customer base and queue for custom skins says.......and rully trullly it would be most excellent to not have to cry everytime IPS releases a new update because of all the useless non productive, non creative work it creates.



Edit to add other areas...

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Many people ask about converting from another platform to IPB. I have just recently made the IPB conversion live on my second site and its currently at the stage where both versions are up and running. This makes it an ideal scenario for people to compare like with like as the intent has been to focus on a similar feature set, so that members don't get too confused. With the site anniversary this year, we did take the opportunity to do a little rebrand, but other than that, here is the comparison.

At Midlands Weather VB you will find:

• Vbulletin 3.8
  
• Blog module
  
• Project module
  
• Photopost Pro
  
• vB Advanced
  
• Awards modification
  
• Links Directory
  
• Chatbox

While at Midlands Weather IPB you will see:

• IPB 3.0.5
  
• IP.Blog
  
• IP.Tracker
  
• IP.Galley
  
• IP.Content
  
• Awards Modification
  
• IP.Links
  
• IP.Shoutbox

I'm very pleased with the IPB suite as you can imagine. This is the 2nd conversion I have now done. There are still a few loose ends to tie up, then the redirects will go in in a week or two and the old site will vanish. The beauty of moving to IPB is that I now have a 1 stop shop for support for all my products and easy admin interface, while all my licensing is also in one place. I am very happy with my decision to move across and if this comparison helps others to make the choice, then it can only be a good thing.

Thanks IPB!

We are pleased to announce IP.Gallery 3.1.0 has been released.

The following is a list of what's new in this version of IP.Gallery:

Friendly URLs
We've integrated gallery into the global FURL system used by IP.Board 3, this will allow gallery to create friendly URLs for categories, albums, and images.

Category/Album Covers
When viewing an image, you will have a new option to set that image as the 'cover' for the category or album that contains the image.  When a cover image is specified for a category or album, that image will always be displayed, in place of the last uploaded image thumbnail.

Sub Albums
Albums now support unlimited sub albums, which work exactly like gallery sub categories.

Profile Picture Album
You can now create a new kind of album, a 'Profile Picture' Album. After this album has been created, any images that you upload to it will be displayed on the change picture page in your User CP, making them easy to select as your profile image.

Image notes
Image owners are now able to add notes to sections of their images, positioning and resizing them to suit. Other members will be able to see the notes when hovering over the image. (An example)

Image rotation
Images can now be rotated in 90° increments, to compensate for those photos taken in landscape or portrait, but saved in the wrong orientation.

New slideshow
We have completely rewritten the slideshow feature! It is now a unified interface, loading images on demand as necessary. Users can play or pause the slideshow at will, or jump to specific photos using the thumbnail bar.

Friends-only albums
When creating an album, users can now choose to restrict viewing to only those users who are on their friends list.

Reputation support in comments
We have added support for IP.Board's reputation feature in comments posted within IP.Gallery.

Interface tweaks
We have updated the style of categories so that larger versions of the image are used, to give more impact. The image listing has also been updated, and will now show as many images on a row as the users browser can fit. This should improve the display of IP.Gallery for users who have higher screen resolutions. The image view screen has also been improved, including support for those features mentioned above.


Downloading

You can download IP.Gallery 3.1.0 if you have an active license in the client area. As always, make a backup of your community before proceeding.

I bought the blog mod only to find out its nothing what i thought it was. When i requested a refund, i get bombarded with "we cant do that for you" crap.



Heres my pretty conversation with Nakisha.

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Quote

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Like wow, i just want my 50 bucks back and its leading to be so difficult. I never thought IPS would have this kind of problem. Normally any other Company goes, okay, your not satisfied, thats alright, we WILL give you back the money. The real drag is... i thought IPS was all about Customers, no?


What do you all think about this?

back in 2004 & 2005 I bought a Invision Power Board (IPB) lifetime license from Invision Power Services.

I then shut down my IPB site for a few years because I didn't have the funding to keep it up

It's now 2009 and I found the funding to put my site back online so I went into my Invision Power Services client account to get IPB 3.0.5 and my Invision Power Board (IPB) lifetime is misisng form my account. I sent a ticket to the Invision Power Services staff about this and all they say is they found where i bought the 2 Invision Power Board (IPB) lifetime licenses from them but both Invision Power Board (IPB) lifetime licenses were sold & I know this is not true I rember I sold the one that was bought in 2005 a few mounths ago but I didn't sellt he one that was bought in 2004 so I sould still have a Invision Power Board (IPB) lifetime license in my account but they are saying I don't.

So anyone who is looking to buy IPB do your self a big favor and don't because if this happened ot me then who knows how many other clients they have done this to.

Charles, on 22 July 2009 - 04:26 PM, said:

That argument is on pretty shaky ground. You might, in that case, start charging extra for FURLs, AJAX skins, or any other progression in the software... as far as I'm concerned, my license entitles me to use IPB and it's features in all future versions, forever... You're moving the goal posts in order to sheppard legacy customers into your newer pricing bracket...

... and yes, I do pay my annual support fee already.

I also think it would be a handy thing to show the user.

Possibly have 2 boxes to enter the ban reason, one that is shown to the user and one for admin users so you can elaborate on the reason for other administrators. If none is entered for the admin it uses the same reason as the user, if none is entered for the reason nothing is shown for them.

We are pleased to announce Invision Power Board 3.0.0 Beta 4 is now available.  Additionally, the following development releases are available in your client area to test:

• IP.Converge RC 1
• IP.Blog 2.0.0 Beta 2
• IP.Downloads 2.0.0 Beta 2
• IP.Gallery 3.0.0 Beta 2

  The fourth beta release of IP.Board 3.0.0 is now available for download to those with current, active licenses to IP.Board. This fourth beta is only available to active license holders.
  
  This is the fourth beta release so please take a moment and read this entire announcement before downloading.

• As this is a beta release there will be bugs and issues with the software. Please report any issues using our bug tracker. Before reporting please first quickly check to see if anyone has already reported your issue.
• This beta is encoded using IonCube. Beta releases are encoded so we can better control the release and ensure any reported problems are code-related and not due to modifications. Please ensure you are familiar with how to install IonCube encoded PHP software. The final version will not be encoded.
• Technical support is not available for this beta software.
• Do not use this software on a public install. Wait for the final series for your public installs.
• There may be no upgrade path between beta versions.
• You may upgrade from IP.Board 3.0.0 Beta 3, or from any pre-3.0.0 version of IP.Board.
• In general, only download and participate in the beta test if you are comfortable working with beta software.

  System Requirements
  
  This beta version of IP.Board 3.0.0 requires PHP 5.1.0 or greater and MySQL 4.1.22 (5.0 or greater preferred) to operate. We have included the Ioncube loaders with the download for 32 bit servers. If your server is running a 64 bit operating system, you will need to visit Ioncube directly to download the loaders.
  
  Testing Help
  
  This is the second beta to include the upgrade script. Please be sure to test this thoroughly on backup copies of your forum database. Do not upgrade your live site. Also, we would appreciate feedback from those upgrading from older versions of IPB as well.
  
  Also please give good testing to the skinning system, importing, exporting, creating new skins, etc.
  
  Known Issues
  

• The AdminCP help system is still being populated and styled. The final version will be complete and look much more integrated. It will also be hidden by default.
• Subscription Manager is not included in this beta.

  
  
  
  Download IP.Board 3.0.0 Beta 4
  
  If you have an IP.Board License:
  
  To download, log in to your client area. You will see the beta download information by clicking into your license purchase. As stated above, technical support is not available so please only download if you are comfortable beta-testing software.
  
  If you have IPS Hosting:
  
  Shared hosting customers can download by clicking into their hosting package. Forum hosting customers can also download but will not be able to install in their hosting account as Forum Hosting packages are limited to one install. Feel free to use another hosting account for this.