Safe Mods

[Michaelo]

I have posted it at phpBB... in mods forum... wonder how they will respond... Mike

[Highway of Life]

Do you have a link for us?

BTW, over the next few weeks FountainofApples plans to create his AVS Advanced Version System for phpBB3... that is one recommendation I would have for every MOD.

[geoffreak]

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 1&t=550219

[Ladysarajane]

I have posted it at phpBB... in mods forum... wonder how they will respond... Mike

They responded like normal...negatively that is. What is it with change that people hate? Michaelo, I love the safe mod you had in your earlier version of your portal. I played with it on my local host and I found that it would come in handy if a mod does not agree with your board. I am for this ideal

[Synaptic Anarchy Syn]

If phpBB.com required safety and flexibility in their MODs they'd lose most of the existing 2.0.x roster.

[Groovy]

If phpBB.com required safety and flexibility in their MODs they'd lose most of the existing 2.0.x roster.

most == all -- but maybe a small handful.

[Synaptic Anarchy Syn]

I fear for 3.0.x, personally. Most, if not all, of the members here who are working on modifications are taking the time to do them right. Every one I've seen and worked with myself is very close to what Mike it looking for in its preservation of the original source. And really, why modify a function when you can add a new one with a little logic dictating its use? Why add large blocks of code to a file when you can use an include statement?

imo it makes more sense to code that way. I'm a novice, but still. Doesn't it?

It doesn't seem to for a lot of 2.0.x modders, many of which are just waiting for 3 to go final so they can inundate the DB with conversions of their useless garbage, I'm sure.

[A_Jelly_Doughnut]

I write my code to tightly integrate into the phpBB source. I don't see the point of adding a new file for anything less than a couple hundred lines of code. Modifying existing functions actually means increased compatibility with other MODs, as opposed to duplicating phpBB3 functions. Consider a MOD which duplicates a phpBB function with an additional argument. Consider further a second MOD which adds another argument to that same function. You've got a mess if duplication is used, and a two simple MODs if not.

[Ladysarajane]

I write my code to tightly integrate into the phpBB source. I don't see the point of adding a new file for anything less than a couple hundred lines of code. Modifying existing functions actually means increased compatibility with other MODs, as opposed to duplicating phpBB3 functions. Consider a MOD which duplicates a phpBB function with an additional argument. Consider further a second MOD which adds another argument to that same function. You've got a mess if duplication is used, and a two simple MODs if not.

I am not a mod writer, and I can see your point. I am an end user that at times has killed their board with a incompatible mod. Not all mods will go together. That is a fact whether there is safe mods or not. But the ability to "turn off" a mod if something goes wrong might be a benefit for the inexperience person that needs to get assistance to fix the problem. This way the forum function will be preserved, but the mod functioning disabled. If a mod goes bad now.....there is no ability to turn off a mod and your board is useless until you get help to fix the malfunctioning mod.

As to your statement about :

Consider a MOD which duplicates a phpBB function with an additional argument. Consider further a second MOD which adds another argument to that same function. You've got a mess if duplication is used, and a two simple MODs if not.

I am not a modder, but this might happen with reg mods if a person is adding a second mod to thier board(at least it happened to me on phpbb2 board). They would need to get help to get the mods to work together from one of the mods authors, to get them to work together anyways.

I see the majority of end users of the phpBB3 software as being users that are not knowledgeable in php. That is the group modders should be developing mods for.

[A_Jelly_Doughnut]

I see the majority of end users of the phpBB3 software as being users that are not knowledgeable in php. That is the group modders should be developing mods for.

I agree with that statement.

But writing MODs such that they don't interfere with each other is the primary tool I have to make the user's job easier. This is a fairly easy task. It does take a little more MOD author time, and does complicate the initial install a bit. Still worth it to me, though.

This idea used to be known as "EMC" before the EasyMOD project sorta petered out. [tangent]I don't know what is going on exactly, but EasyMOD doesn't seem to be moving very quickly any longer. Neither Nuttzy nor markus_petrux are on the phpBB team any longer, and the two of them were the largest players in EM development.[/tangent]

/me goes to bed