GARS 1.01 Release Discussion

[The Geek]

This thread is for the general discussion of the GARS 1.01 release package that was uploaded today for license holders.

Please note that I have left the 1.0g version up as well. Make sure you chose the right freaking package!

This release was slightly pre-mature in the fact that I was mid-flow starting to put the custom field code in. So you may notice a couple new tables and some extra bits of code, however this isn't usable yet.

This release is a standard service release to address known issues. This package addresses the following reported bugs:


Missing comments and odd numbering of comments
Member review problems (i.e. rating not getting saved unless rate this! is used)
Clicking Next or Previous on an alpha sorted type doesn't work as expected (now it does!)
noquote code added to GARS_pb reply button (this requires a GARS_pb template revert if you have messed with it)
Added new admincp url to empty the mod cache if its acting odd on you. The url is admincp/gars_admin.php?do=cleancache
Fixed synopsis getting snipped regardless of your settings
Cleaned up snip_and_parse function for PHP5 users
Various other minor fixes.
There are still a couple other things I'm working on:

Couple of hard coded phrases. Haven't gotten to these yet. Gotta find them!
Started 'comments only on last page' but commented option out till I have more time to test
Started custom thread fields. This still has a little way to go
Started ground work for Save Draft functionality.
If there are any other issues I may have missed, accept my apology. Bugs can get kind of lost on these forums. I'm working on a bug tracker mod for GARS, but am trying to get some of the other functions sorted first.
If there is something I have missed, please feel free to give me a friendly nudge in this thread.

[The Geek]

Forgot to say:

To upgrade, overwrite all physical files and import the product-gars.xml file (overwriting your existing install)

nJoy

[GTAce]

This upgrade will not wipe out any current settings, data, articles, etc....correct?

[The Geek]

correct. They are safe and sound. Only problem you will run into is if you uninstall it.

[trana]

This release was slightly pre-mature in the fact that I was mid-flow starting to put the custom field code in. So you may notice a couple new tables and some extra bits of code, however this isn't usable yet.


I'm getting excited!

[dongdong]

you are very fast, with your updates.. i like that ;)

[roscoe]

When my members have linear - newest selected, they can't get the article content. The first post on each page is not the article, and the very first post (last page, bottom) is the article truncated. When I click the read more link, I am taken back to page 1 which has the latest posts.

I tested here, and the article is in fact the oldest post in the thread, but I am wondering if this forum has been updated to 1.01

*** UPDATE ***

If an article has enough comments to spill into multiple pages, in linear-newest mode, I go to the last page and the article is truncated.

If the article does not have enough comments to spill over to 2+ pages, the article is rendered at the bottom of the thread correctly. Can anyone confirm?

[Michelle]

Will I lose my translation when I upgrade? :o
Cause another admin told me that he lost his :o

[Ramses]

Will I lose my translation when I upgrade? :o
Cause another admin told me that he lost his :o
If you import the xml file you will loose it. Make it as I did, download your translated language and after upgrading import it again. Works very fine to me.

[poprulz]

Nice update geek!

i guess u didn't notice something in the readme file(upgrade)

"Upload the product-gmart.xml file into your admincp product manager (be sure to tick the overwrite option). This will install the required DBs and phrases "

i guess it should be "product-gars.xml" for GARS...a small typo...

anyways...way to go :)

[JirQUEST]

i was wondering what's going to happen to the phrases? are they going to be overwritten (because i changed some of it here and there)?

[The Geek]

Roscoe, ill check it out but I havent noticed anything yet.

As for your phrases everyone, download your translations first :)

[badblu]

I havent had a great look over it yet but i couldent find the sort by filed ie. sort asending in order of when it was posted.
________
Iolite portable vaporizer (http://iolitevaporizer.net/)

[The Geek]

Thats handled via your forum manager however there IS an override in your type settings to cause it to sort alphabetically

[roscoe]

Roscoe, ill check it out but I havent noticed anything yet.
Were you able to confirm this geek?

[The Geek]

Not yet... can you PM me an account and URL so I can test on your site?

[roscoe]

Sure but I would rather you test it here. I've tested it with several accounts on my site already.

Unfortunately none of the Tuts or Articles here (that I could find easily) have a second page to test with. I did consider spamming one to try. ;)

You'll have PM in 10 minutes.

[The Geek]

Actually, I think I know what you mean now. Its truncated becauseits a preview of the article after page 1 of the comments.

Is that what you mean?

[roscoe]

I think you understand.

Irregardless (I know that's not a word, which is why I use it as much as I can), it would be nice to fix this one up. I've got dozens of members who read lineaer newest and they can't read articles. It's a big deal on my board.

[The Geek]

The easiest thing would be to remove the first post preview template option (just blank it out in your template set) as I think thats whats causing the confusion.

I think im going to have to start using irregardless. Its groing on me :D

[roscoe]

Didn't work.

[trana]

Any update on when we might see the custom form fields?

[T2DMan]

Hi. First post here. I specialize in seo'ing of vBulletin, and so have lots of clients, a number of whom would be good candidates for GARS, and at least one that has made a purchase from my recommendation.

So I have a copy myself that I am testing out.

While I could do the programming to fix, as this is only for my test site at the moment, I will leave it to you to get a fix release.

Issues

When I add the "reviews" template to a forum, existing threads are not converted until I edit the thread and save.

If I have an authors review, then choose to not show it, it still gets shown. If I then edit the review, of course the review options no longer show on the edit. But when I save the review, the review shows as n/a against everything rather than just having the review deleted.

As an admin, I cant edit the ratings of a member.

When as a member, I post a review, it is not shown. I once got the reviews to show, but no longer. I have said "Yes" to every option in settings, but it does not show.

When reviews take up less than a line, the featured reviews column is not right justified, it moves to the center in explorer (fine in firefox).

Where is there facility to only show x number of featured reviews? My featured reviews list is getting rather long.

Is there a summary review for each thread - gets average for all reviews placed. I would like this in the position of/around the authors review.


These issues took me minutes to find, although a little longer to write up.
Bound to be more issues...

Would love to get these fixed, or comments as to where I am going wrong.

Its a great product, but a little early for me to recommend this - for the reviews part anyway, or maybe its that my experience is as yet limited for this?

[The Geek]

Hey there. Thanks for the feedback and bug issues, ill get them resolved for next release.

Thanks

[trana]

Any word on the possibility of an easier implementation of custom fields and controls? That Custom Fields hack on .org is sweet, I wish GARS was that easy.

[The Geek]

Its in the pipeline :)

[roscoe]

I'm still stuck with articles that do not work for my members using Linear Newest. While perhaps not that pressing to most, it is a major pain in the arse for me to tell folks that they have to change the way they read the board in order to see our member content.

No disrespect for anyone looking for more out of GARS, but I for one would just like the existing issues quashed before any additional functionality is added.

[Dennis B]

I'm relatively new to GARS, but here are issues I have been having:
A deleted featured article still appears as "featured". I deleted the article, still there. I deleted it forum, still there. I even removed it manually from the DB and it was still there!
In the template GARS_options there are two hard-coded phrases, "Synopsis" and its description.
When I disallowed replies to the forum where GARS is active, the "comment/reply" button is still showing, altough it does not actually allow the user to reply when clicked.
Same as above for "New Article".

[jluerken]

A deleted featured article still appears as "featured". I deleted the article, still there. I deleted it forum, still there. I even removed it manually from the DB and it was still there!


Turn of the caching for the modules

[LIST]
In the template GARS_options there are two hard-coded phrases, "Synopsis" and its description.


Should be fixed with GARS 2.x

[LIST]
When I disallowed replies to the forum where GARS is active, the "comment/reply" button is still showing, altough it does not actually allow the user to reply when clicked.


You can change this behaviour manually with a if clause in the templates.

[LIST]
Same as above for "New Article".
[/QUOTE]

Same as above.

You should wait for GARS 2.0 which will be released soon. This version will fix several smaller issues and add new functions.

[Dennis B]

jluerken,

Thanks for your reply, but this is not vBorg, and I sure hope The Geek's attitude towards primary bugs like these is a bit different than the "wait till I have time" attitude.

This is a paid-for script. The Geek made a lot of fuss about paid for hacks in vBorg. As a customer, not a fellow coder, I expect support for this script to be at least equal or better than the best supported free hacks in vBorg. I appreciate The Geek's work and don't mind editing the code directly, but I expect fast replies and the changes to be laid out nicely for me. If I were to think about how to edit this code, I shouldn't have paid for it in the first place. I'm using the script on a live forum and unless it's a new functionality, I can't tell my members/customers to "wait". :mad:

Anyway, I edited the templates to fix the missing phrases by myself, that was easy. Now the buttons are a little trickier, because the if clause has to take into account vb permissions and GARS permissions set under GARS > Settings in the ACP. If you would be so kind to list all those variables for me, at least the ones defined by GARS, then I might try to do the edit myself.

[jluerken]

This button have nothing to do with GARS. This is something from vB 3.5
If a thread is closed you see the CLOSED image for example etc.....

Check the postbit template, I think there was a fitting if statement to solve this for you.
I've done something similar weeks ago....

[Dennis B]

Concerning the buttons, I did a few tests and apparently there is a conflict with another hack, since this behaviour is not exclusive of the Articles forums. So I'm taking both items back from the list of issues in my first post.

I'll disable the hacks that use forumdisplay and/or showthread, where I believe the problem lies. I have a couple others that use both hooks, besides GARS, and since I'm having trouble with both, that could be a hint.

[The Geek]

running admincp/gars_admin.php?do=cleangars will get rid of the stuck feature
The 2 hard coded phrases are known issues that will be resolved in 2.0
Stumped about your new comment button, but it appears to be another hack you have installed?
I never said 'wait till I have the time'. I have been working my ass of on all feature requests and bug fix requests. 2 hard coded phrases seems to be the only issue I can see with your post.

Thanks

[Hell?]

I can understand you Dennis, but I can vouch for the Geek's extraordinary attitude in support, considering he's the only one working in both aspects of development, I've seen entire companies who can't match his genuine care for the products and his customers.

[Dennis B]

Geek,

I never said you said that. Sorry for any confusion, I just got a little pissed off at the first answer where I was just told to "wait".

Concerning the buttons, both the forumdisplay* (newthread button) and showthread* (reply button) scripts seem affected. I have 5 hacks installed that use hooks at both positions: GARS, Default Sort/field Order for Forumdisplay, Access Permissions Based on User's Post Count, Personal Stickys and PhotoPlog. Not sure if you ever heard about problems with any of these. Any hint or suggestions where to start looking would be appreciated. Thanks and again - sorry for the previous words. Hopefully you can help me sort this out.

[WAR]

I have the Personal Sticky's and the Default Sort/Field Order plugins installed without any conflict with GARS if that helps at all.

[Dennis B]

Thanks, it sure does help!

[The Geek]

if you disable all other hacks, does it work?