yvComment - Comments extension for Joomla! 1.5

[knight1986]

Thank you very much for your precious help.. my issue is completely solved..

[ahafa03]

Hi,plz help me,,,when i want to use yvcomment in joomla 1.5 ,it show me following error...
Guest user account is not properly configured. Please set 'Username of Guest' option to the Username of registered user. guest_username=""
plz help me?i m waiting

[xqleg]

Hi,plz help me,,,when i want to use yvcomment in joomla 1.5 ,it show me following error...
Guest user account is not properly configured. Please set 'Username of Guest' option to the Username of registered user. guest_username="" plz help me?i m waiting

Go to Site / User Management and create additional user for example with name "guest".
Go to yvComment plugin and:
1. Option "Allow guests to add comments" set to YES
2. Fill "Username of Guest" box with name of created user ("guest")
3. You can set "Check guest name" option to YES

[fondoeil]

Hello Yuri,

one question :
- does it work with Joomla 1.5.7 ?

Thanks

[yvolk]

Hello Yuri,
one question :
- does it work with Joomla 1.5.7 ?
Thanks

Yes, it does.
Currently, Joomla! core code is moving towards more openness to the people and to third party extensions, so my estimate is that yvComment will work with future releases even better

[mmeytin]

Yuri, had a question about yvComment usage. When I set the parameter to Auto Close comments after certain number of days, the form is still displayed. Only after someone fills in the information and hits Submit do they see a message that comments were closed for an article. Is it possible (maybe with template override) to make it so that a form would no longer be displayed if comment period has ended? And a related question - is it possible to close a certain article for comments even if it has not reached the specified time period? Thanks in advance for your help!

[yvolk]

First, let me say, Thanks a LOT for this addon! Its fantastic. I just
have 2 quick questions I couldn't figure out.

1) Is it possible to remove the "comments (0)" from below the article
name on the front page? it is messing up the format of my homepage.

You don't like only "comments (0)" or e.g. "comments (1)" and "Add your comment" also?

2) I want to allow guests to post comments, but I also want there to be
a reason for them to register. I made a username called "guest" for my
site, and then made that the default username for guest comments.
However, guests are still able to add their name to comments. I would
like for registered users to have their username displayed, and guests
to simply show "guest." Basically, no option for name whatsoever, it
just defaults to their username. Is this possible?

There is no option like "Allow guest to enter his name" - name is required for guests now.
I don't think this option will stimulate any guest to register: The guest can always put his name in the comment itself?!

[Metahmaid]

Thanks for the quick response!

I am fine with the "Add your comment" and EVERYTHING within the article. What I don't want is where it shows the amount of comments below the "read more..." link on the homepage. I would like that to be removed. Is that possible?

And, as for the second question, I am basically wondering if it is possible to remove the name field, and just auto-use the username.

[yvolk]

Thanks for the quick response!
I am fine with the "Add your comment" and EVERYTHING within the article. What I don't want is where it shows the amount of comments below the "read more..." link on the homepage. I would like that to be removed. Is that possible?

This will be possible in v.1.19, that I'm working on now...

And, as for the second question, I am basically wondering if it is possible to remove the name field, and just auto-use the username.

This may be easily done using template override: Just change in your custom template for comment view <input name='created_by_alias' ...> to the <input type='hidden' name='created_by_alias' value='guest' />

[rilkurt]

Hi Yuri,


I just installed yv comments. Great job, it works great.
I have 2 little questions.
Is it possible to resize the field where you enter the comment?
Now it goes over all the width of the main area and design-wise on my site it would work much better if it was a smaller area.
And second, is it possible to replace the "Add your comment" and "X Comments" with a little icon or something smaller?
If that's not possible, is it possible to change the test "add your comment" to "0 comments"?

thanks again.


best,

David

[yvolk]

Is it possible to resize the field where you enter the comment?
Now it goes over all the width of the main area and design-wise on my site it would work much better if it was a smaller area.
And second, is it possible to replace the "Add your comment" and "X Comments" with a little icon or something smaller?
If that's not possible, is it possible to change the test "add your comment" to "0 comments"?

Hi, David!
Everything, that you mentioned, may be done using template override of 'components\com_yvcomment\views\comment\tmpl\default.php' file (read more on the homepage/forum)

[Metahmaid]

Ah, cool then! Suppose I am waiting for v1.19

Any idea when it will be released?

[rilkurt]

Hey Yuri,

thanks for your answer and email. I changed to the default view in the latest comments module and now it's almost the way I want it.
I'm really noobish with Joomla, so sorry if these are kind of stupid questions. I'm trying to figure out how to use the template override to have the Author Alias instead of Author displayed in the latest comments module.
Is there a step-by-step instruction to do template override somewhere?
Also, if someone could point me into the right direction which lines in the code I have to change to have the Alias instead of Author displayed, I'd highly appreciate it.

thanks,

David

[Lambas]

Hello my friends!
Thanks very much for this great system!!!!

Please can you tell me how to make the title of 'add your comment' smaller??
It is huge
I look into the css 's but i dont know what i should change
Thanks very much again!

[mmeytin]

Please can you tell me how to make the title of 'add your comment' smaller??
It is huge

If you're talking about "Add your comment" text immediately above the form, I believe it is controlled by "div.yvComment .Form h3" CSS selector. I copied all yvComment CSS styles to a CSS file located inside my template and modified them in my own file.

I look into the css 's but i dont know what i should change

You can use Firefox browser with Frebug extension and its "Inspect" feature. This tool is indispensable for any CSS debugging and formatting tasks. See: http://getfirebug.com/ for more information.

[Lambas]

Man this is great!!!
Thanks you vey very much!!! It was there you told me
Im just a bit noob with all these

But seems that god dont love me!
I fixed this and now i just noticed 2 real problems!!!

1. when i am in a category blog view, the first article dont have the 'add comment' option.
and even i open the full article of the category and add a comment from there then if i go back to category blog view then the again there is nothing in the first article, but the comment is counted to the second article! lol! i cant believe it!



2. the second problem i have is when i preview a comment ... the half form it missing on right...

any ideas??
ill get some screenshots up to understand what i mean because my English are not so good

IGNORE my first problem!!!
the comment status is on the bottom and not on top ... i confused )
now i just have to put it on top ..

the second problem remain

[jjoojjoo]

i am a newbie of using yvComment, and once I installed the plug-in, I found I got the following problem:

In the PlugIn Manager, I found the field: sectionid = Element not defined for type = section

which it disallow me to post any comment

My nice joomla is using 1.5.5, any ideas? thanks a lot!!!

yvcomment.jpg

[infograf768]

Side Note: update your joomla to 1.5.7 ASAP (security)

[yvolk]

i am a newbie of using yvComment, and once I installed the plug-in, I found I got the following problem:
In the PlugIn Manager, I found the field: sectionid = Element not defined for type = section

Try this on a fresh install of Joomla. - I think, this may be result of some incorrect upgrade of Joomla...

[mmeytin]

Hi, Yuri! Can you comment on my earlier question? Is there a way to do this in current version of yvComment? Thanks much!

Yuri, had a question about yvComment usage. When I set the parameter to Auto Close comments after certain number of days, the form is still displayed. Only after someone fills in the information and hits Submit do they see a message that comments were closed for an article. Is it possible (maybe with template override) to make it so that a form would no longer be displayed if comment period has ended? And a related question - is it possible to close a certain article for comments even if it has not reached the specified time period? Thanks in advance for your help!

[yvolk]

Yuri, had a question about yvComment usage. When I set the parameter to Auto Close comments after certain number of days, the form is still displayed. Only after someone fills in the information and hits Submit do they see a message that comments were closed for an article. Is it possible (maybe with template override) to make it so that a form would no longer be displayed if comment period has ended?

I didn't test this in v.1.18, but I made sure this will work, as you want, in v.1.19 of yvComment, that I'm preparing for release now.

And a related question - is it possible to close a certain article for comments even if it has not reached the specified time period? Thanks in advance for your help!

No. I didn't invent smart enough place/method yet, where and how to do this... Maybe we need some "meta tag" for the article to close comments...
May you find out, how this should be done from Joomla's architecture point of view? (What is "best Joomla!'s practice" to do this?). I don't like another box in yvComment's configuration with list of Article's IDs

[mmeytin]

I didn't test this in v.1.18, but I made sure this will work, as you want, in v.1.19 of yvComment, that I'm preparing for release now.

Thanks, Yuri! I'll look forward 1.19 release.

And a related question - is it possible to close a certain article for comments even if it has not reached the specified time period? Thanks in advance for your help!

No. I didn't invent smart enough place/method yet, where and how to do this... Maybe we need some "meta tag" for the article to close comments...
May you find out, how this should be done from Joomla's architecture point of view? (What is "best Joomla!'s practice" to do this?). I don't like another box in yvComment's configuration with list of Article's IDs

I'll try to find out, although I don't have that much knowledge of Joomla architecture. I'll let you know offline if I found anything.

[yvolk]

What's new in v.1.19 (see in more detail on the Homepage):
1. Added: yvComment is 'Print aware' now: forms, buttons and links to add comments are hidden from 'print' page of the Article.
2. Added "Allow comments on comment" global option for yvComment (only for "Use Content Table"="Yes") with these values:
- "No" - this is the simplest option.
- "Owner's reply only" - only Author of the Article or Administrator is allowed to add exactly one comment on Comment. This comment on comment can not be commented. This behavior works similar to JED - see "Owner's replies" for some reviews ("reviews" are, in fact, comments).
- "One level deep" any Comment on Article may have any number of comments. These comments on Comment can not be further commented. So, this is restricted case of "Threaded comments" (see next value).
- "Threaded comments" - each Comment may have any number of comments. Each comment on Comment may also be commented, and so on to any level deep. If this value is selected, every comment, as e.g. article in blog view, has "Comments(n)" or "Reply" link, that leads to the standard Joomla!'s 'article' view of this comment, where users may see and/or add comments on this Comment.
3. Added "Comment Linkable" option for yvComment (only for "Use Content Table"="Yes") The link leads to the article view of comment, where users may see and/or add comments on this Comment.
4. Changed: "Position of comments" option was replaced with three options: "Position of comments in Article view", "Position of comments on the Frontpage" and "Position of comments in other views" to allow more flexible customization of the plugin (Unfortunately, Joomla! doesn't allow to configure plugins differently for different menu items/articles, so this, not very elegant decision, was taken). Now you may have comments of the Article in the Module (yvComment module) rather than 'inside/below' the Article! See section "Comments of the Article in the Module" for more details.
5. Added "List of IDs of Articles which may, or may not, contain comments" option in addition to existing options for Sections and Categories of Articles to be commented. This option gives you maximum flexibility in defining, which Article may, and which may not be commented. E.g. you may decide to enable commenting for one Article only.
Please note, that if Article already has comments, and later you would disable commenting on this article, comments on this Article still will exist and will be visible to users.
6. Added image to show, if comments are closed, to the article view of plugin, near number of comments. I couldn't decide, where to put it, by felt, that this image should be somewhere...
7. Added "Delay loading captcha image" option, that enables to delay loading captcha image until user starts to type text of comment (or clicks in the comment text box). The purpose is to speed up page loading and lessen the load on the server. Most users will not comment. Now they wont have to wait for the captcha image to load. (Thanks to Jan Tångring for the contribution)
8. Added five new translations (new languages) since previous release, see them at JoomlaCode:
- Greek (Thanks to Ziouzios Dimitrios and Stefanidis Fotios).
- Polish (Thanks to Tomasz Ziółczyński).
- Portuguese pt_PT (Thanks to Rui Braz).
- Slovenian (Thanks to Tomi Malenšek).
- Ukrainian (Thanks to Vitalij Mojsejiv).

[jjoojjoo]

i am a newbie of using yvComment, and once I installed the plug-in, I found I got the following problem:
In the PlugIn Manager, I found the field: sectionid = Element not defined for type = section

Try this on a fresh install of Joomla. - I think, this may be result of some incorrect upgrade of Joomla...

thanks for your help, I'll try it on a fresh Joomla, of course, I will try it on 1.5.7 + 1.19

anyway, Im very appreciate your work!!

[Reind]

I don't know what has changed but there are some issues with this version.

First: Template overrides that are in the template folder (templates/mytemplate/html/com_yvcomment/comment/) are ignored. When i use the default and default_item.php and edit them so it generates the classes i want (without capitals etcetera) and upload them they are totally ignored by the comment system.

This seems like an serious issue because it breaks the template override users would normally use to give the component their custom look.

Second: After every article their is an number of comments displayed, even when the possibility to add comments is disabled. So when their is no option to comment on an article why should the number of comments be displayed below an article? It makes no sense to do that in my opinion. Why not do it the "old way" like it has been done in the past, only generate output when it needs to do it and don't add output to pages that are disabled for comments by the plugin.

I made an rollback to to the old version of yvcomment (1.18.4) because in my opinion 1.19 does more harm than good. New functions are only usable when you store comments inside the same tables as your content (in my opinion an very bad idea, just store comments inside their own table. I don't see any benefit to do it like the default way inside the content table!)

Maybe it's an idea to set up an user group that will test future releases before they are thrown into the wild

[yvolk]

I don't know what has changed but there are some issues with this version.

First: Template overrides that are in the template folder (templates/mytemplate/html/com_yvcomment/comment/) are ignored. When i use the default and default_item.php and edit them so it generates the classes i want (without capitals etcetera) and upload them they are totally ignored by the comment system.

This seems like an serious issue because it breaks the template override users would normally use to give the component their custom look.

I just tested on Joomla! 1.5.7 to override both default.php and default_item.php - they both work!
But, please note, that default_item.php is for preview of new/edited comment only: List of comments is from components/com_yvcomment/views/listofcomments/tmpl/default.php
So, I can't confirm this as a bug.

Second: After every article their is an number of comments displayed, even when the possibility to add comments is disabled.

If I understood you right, you see e.g. Comments(3) even if you can't add comments to the article?!
If so, this is by design: user may see other's comments even if he can't add them...

I made an rollback to to the old version of yvcomment (1.18.4) because in my opinion 1.19 does more harm than good. New functions are only usable when you store comments inside the same tables as your content (in my opinion an very bad idea, just store comments inside their own table. I don't see any benefit to do it like the default way inside the content table!)

Some people praise me for this feature

Maybe it's an idea to set up an user group that will test future releases before they are thrown into the wild

Great idea! I think, everybody, who wants to participate in the testing, should apply to "Join the project" in JoomlaCode?!
So, I will release new versions at first for members of the project only (alfa versions...).
Please, be the first, if you like!

[Reind]

I just tested on Joomla! 1.5.7 to override both default.php and default_item.php - they both work!
But, please note, that default_item.php is for preview of new/edited comment only: List of comments is from components/com_yvcomment/views/listofcomments/tmpl/default.php
So, I can't confirm this as a bug.

I tested it this afternoon on my website and changed the default and default_item.php but with no result. When i placed back my old template overrides it seems to work but then the component doesn't work anymore.

So if there has been some major changes regarding to template overrides maybe it's an idea to list it on the website? Now it looks like the component is using both comment and list view for generating output. For example, in the old situation i could change the class "NumComments" for example inside the com_yvcomment/comment/default.php but now there isn't an class like that anymore in that php file... it's listed inside com_yvcomment/listofcomments/default.php

So there has been an huge change when it comes to template overrides and that's not mentioned one word at the website. In my opinion the current way isn't the best way to do it because there are different files that needs to be corrected if someone want to use template override. In my opinion the old way (just edit /mytemplate/html/com_yvcomment/comment/default.php) was the right way.

Now it's to bloated in my opinion and not an nice way to work with it because you need to edit 3 or more files to correct all the output.

If so, this is by design: user may see other's comments even if he can't add them...

i only want the comment option on section 1, category 1 and 2 and that works great BUT when i'm in category 3 or 4 of the same section the comment solution still display's "Comments ()" and that shouldn't be there.

Some people praise me for this feature

To store the comments inside the same table as content is stored in? I don't see any reason why that's needed. It only puts data in an table where it doesn't belong. In my opinion everything that isn't an core component should store it's data inside his own table just to be shure it doesn't break compatibility of the database in future joomla releases. An component table could be easily dropped BUT when the data is stored inside the normal content table that's a lot of work.

I know there is an option to store the comments inside their own table (i'm using it) but some functions aren't available when i use that method. Maybe it's an bad idea (and i don't know why) but why not alway's store the data in it's own table and not use the content table for that just like any other comment system that's out there is doing.

Pardon my french, i'm dutch

[yvolk]

I just tested on Joomla! 1.5.7 to override both default.php and default_item.php - they both work!
But, please note, that default_item.php is for preview of new/edited comment only: List of comments is from components/com_yvcomment/views/listofcomments/tmpl/default.php
So, I can't confirm this as a bug.

I tested it this afternoon on my website and changed the default and default_item.php but with no result. When i placed back my old template overrides it seems to work but then the component doesn't work anymore.

So if there has been some major changes regarding to template overrides maybe it's an idea to list it on the website? Now it looks like the component is using both comment and list view for generating output. For example, in the old situation i could change the class "NumComments" for example inside the com_yvcomment/comment/default.php but now there isn't an class like that anymore in that php file... it's listed inside com_yvcomment/listofcomments/default.php

So there has been an huge change when it comes to template overrides and that's not mentioned one word at the website.

Sorry, this is my fault: I thought, that I mentioned too much already in the list of changes.
But now every interested person may see detailes, that we unveiled in these messages

In my opinion the current way isn't the best way to do it because there are different files that needs to be corrected if someone want to use template override. In my opinion the old way (just edit /mytemplate/html/com_yvcomment/comment/default.php) was the right way.

As I understand, template override works for you also, but you didn't know, what to change to see, that it works?
As for me, when I tested that feature, I simply added something like "echo 'custom default.php';" near the top of the template to see, that it works.

Now it's to bloated in my opinion and not an nice way to work with it because you need to edit 3 or more files to correct all the output.

listofcomments view existed long ago, but it was used mainly in "List of comments" in the backend. "comment" view used its own copy of "listofcomments".
Two copies are very hard to maintain, so I "optimized" this and got rid of second copy, so now (almost) every list of comments uses the same part of code (and template also).
Did I explained the reason of this change?

If so, this is by design: user may see other's comments even if he can't add them...

i only want the comment option on section 1, category 1 and 2 and that works great BUT when i'm in category 3 or 4 of the same section the comment solution still display's "Comments ()" and that shouldn't be there.

I tested this:
1. I put:
"1" as section ID (News)
"25, 29" as category IDs (of the same Section "About Joomla!").
So there is category 30 ("The community") from Section "About Joomla!", that is not listed.
2. I created 'About Joomla Blog' Section blog view of "About Joomla!" section to see Articles of all three categories.
--
I see Comments(N) and "Add your comment" for articles of first two sections and I don't see anything e.g. for Article "Joomla! Facts" from category "Community", that is not included in the list.

So, everything works Ok
I think, the problem is in your (now outdated) custom templates.

Some people praise me for this feature

To store the comments inside the same table as content is stored in? I don't see any reason why that's needed. It only puts data in an table where it doesn't belong. In my opinion everything that isn't an core component should store it's data inside his own table just to be shure it doesn't break compatibility of the database in future joomla releases. An component table could be easily dropped BUT when the data is stored inside the normal content table that's a lot of work.

I know there is an option to store the comments inside their own table (i'm using it) but some functions aren't available when i use that method. Maybe it's an bad idea (and i don't know why) but why not alway's store the data in it's own table and not use the content table for that just like any other comment system that's out there is doing.

MANY functions are available only if you use "Content table" just because these functions are (or 'use') existing functions of Joomla! core. If I would like to implement the same features for MY own table, I would have to reinvent that wheels and create (and then fix bugs, maintain...) the same functions myself. - This is a way, which many of "Joomla! extentions" go, but this way leads to "custom world inside Joomla, 'thing of its own'..." and not to the 'native Joomla! extension'.

[Reind]

Sorry, this is my fault: I thought, that I mentioned too much already in the list of changes.
But now every interested person may see detailes, that we unveiled in these messages

Maybe it's an idea to make some documentation about these things because there isn't much information about it works now

listofcomments view existed long ago, but it was used mainly in "List of comments" in the backend. "comment" view used its own copy of "listofcomments".
Two copies are very hard to maintain, so I "optimized" this and got rid of second copy, so now (almost) every list of comments uses the same part of code (and template also).
Did I explained the reason of this change?

Maybe it's an idea to use an template system like its done with J!Reactions, in my opinion still the best commenting software there is for J! but it isn't J1.5 compatible. It's very much like templating J! itself, just call an function in the place where you need it to be like [name] [date] [bbcodebar] [fulltext] tags inside an custom lay-out.

In my opinion 1.19 is an step back regarding to the styling of the yvcomment system. You need to edit more than one file to make it look like the rest of your website and besides that... who needs to make an custom template for the backend? So if there are 2 files it doesn't matter, one for the frontend and one for the backend (like any other component that i'm using does). Just an simple list view for the backend, and an highly configurable for the frontend.

I'm sticking to 1.18 because when upgrading to 1.19 all the template work has to be done again and that's not my favorite thing to do

Oh and another thing, why is it nescesary to show an yvcomment link on every article even when the comment option is disabled? I setted up an test site to run some tests and i noticed this strange behaviouir. On every page the following code is added to the source,

Code: Select all

<div class='yvComment' id='yvComment'>
<div class='PoweredBy'><a href="http://yurivolkov.com/Joomla/yvComment/index_en.html" target="_blank">yvComment v.1.19.0</a></div></div>

That's also a minor issue when upgrading to 1.19, even when the comment system is disabled it stil add's stuff to your page that shouldn't belong there.

In my opinion the developpers should take 1.19 back to the drawing board and rethink there thoughts about templating and new functionality and how it should be added to the component.

[stopher83]

Hi yeah i am having really problems with my comments please look at filmsulike.co.uk.

As you can see the main logo for comments comes up but not a comments box please help??