Topic: BoardNews "sticky"?

[giannis_athens]

Added in edit: Please see http://simpleportal.net/index.php?topic=6048.0 for the origin of this topic.
 

The "starting post" parameter just means "don't even consider any posts with a lower number than this one".
 
Boardnews always displays the most up-to-date post/topic on the chosen boards first.

Ok....now there is a clear answer for my query. 
How should i knew that? 
Is there anyway to put a starting post there (not a "don't even consider any posts with a lower number than this one") 

[AngelinaBelle]

I understand your frustration.
The documentation is just not complete -- for lack of people with time to work on the user documentation. If you had time to explain what you've just learn for the benefit of others who are new to SimplePortal, the team may be able to put that into the documentation.
 
There is a pretty easy way to make a block with JUST ONE posting.
You would use a custom php block, and the SSI function ssi_fetchPosts
 
The simplest form of this would be

Code: [Select]

$msgID=35523;
ssi_fetchPosts($msgID, false, 'echo');

If you want to format the output yourself, you could use something like:

Code: [Select]

$msgID=33523;
$item = ssi_fetchPosts($msgID, false,'array');
          echo '
           <h2>' , parse_bbc($item['subject']), '</h2>
            <div>
           ',  parse_bbc($item['body']),  '
           </div>
           ';

For more information about what's available in $item, have a look at the function ssi_fetchPosts in the file SSI.php.

[giannis_athens]

I understand your frustration.
The documentation is just not complete -- for lack of people with time to work on the user documentation. If you had time to explain what you've just learn for the benefit of others who are new to SimplePortal, the team may be able to put that into the documentation.
 
There is a pretty easy way to make a block with JUST ONE posting.
You would use a custom php block, and the SSI function ssi_fetchPosts
 
The simplest form of this would be

Code: [Select]

$msgID=35523;
ssi_fetchPosts($msgID, false, 'echo');

If you want to format the output yourself, you could use something like:

Code: [Select]

$msgID=33523;
$item = ssi_fetchPosts($msgID, false,'array');
          echo '
           <h2>' , parse_bbc($item['subject']), '</h2>
            <div>
           ',  parse_bbc($item['body']),  '
           </div>
           ';

For more information about what's available in $item, have a look at the function ssi_fetchPosts in the file SSI.php.

So this is my ssi_fetchPosts function in my SSI.php file:

Code: [Select]

function ssi_fetchPosts($post_ids, $override_permissions = false, $output_method = 'echo')
{
global $user_info, $modSettings;

// Allow the user to request more than one - why not?
$post_ids = is_array($post_ids) ? $post_ids : array($post_ids);

// Restrict the posts required...
$query_where = '
m.id_msg IN ({array_int:message_list})' . ($override_permissions ? '' : '
AND {query_wanna_see_board}') . ($modSettings['postmod_active'] ? '
AND m.approved = {int:is_approved}' : '');
$query_where_params = array(
'message_list' => $post_ids,
'is_approved' => 1,
);

// Then make the query and dump the data.
return ssi_queryPosts($query_where, $query_where_params, '', 'm.id_msg DESC', $output_method);
}

I did that but only in the

Code: [Select]

$msgID=35523;
ssi_fetchPosts($msgID, false, 'echo');
show my specific post but without any images there.

What kind of changes do you suggest me to make ...and show my specific post, with the images also, there?

[AngelinaBelle]

If you want it to look just like board news, you'll want to use code just like what is in sp_boardNews in PortalBlocks.php
 
So this is going to be all about customization, and I am splitting this topic for clarity.
 
What you want might be best achieved by customizing sp_boardNews to specify a post to show before all the other posts.  If you do a search at this site, you will find how others have customized the functions in PortalBlocks. [SiNaN] has offered examples showing how to add new block parameters, I have done a couple of customizations (sp_articles, sp_boxyNews). There are many more examples from other posters.
 
I suggest you post your idea of having a "sticky boardnews" topic on the
Feature Requests board. If it proves popular, it could be added in a future version of SimplePortal.
 
 
 

[giannis_athens]

If you want it to look just like board news, you'll want to use code just like what is in sp_boardNews in PortalBlocks.php

I have downoladed the Sources/PortalBlocks.php and have found the sp_boardNews function in there..
But its huge!! I mean its over 100 lines function...how am i suppose to edit and where?

What you want might be best achieved by customizing sp_boardNews to specify a post to show before all the other posts.  If you do a search at this site, you will find how others have customized the functions in PortalBlocks. [SiNaN] has offered examples showing how to add new block parameters, I have done a couple of customizations (sp_articles, sp_boxyNews). There are many more examples from other posters.

How i will find those examples, what am i going to seacrh for?

I suggest you post your idea of having a "sticky boardnews" topic on the
Feature Requests board. If it proves popular, it could be added in a future version of SimplePortal.

I will do it straight away, thank you very much!

[AngelinaBelle]

I have another idea.
This will work for you if
1) This is for the portal page
2) You are not already using Articles for something else
 
Simply make your 1 desired topic (articles are always topics) an Article.
 
Then make your boardNews block a bottom block -- it will display after the article.