Search for Connections Mod

[Ken Roy]

1 hour ago, tngrlkrz said:

there was added a 'showmedia' link to the thumbnail, similar to a few other pedigree and descendant charts with thumbs. But again...just an unnecessary 'bonus'. 

Ron,

That is a personal option that will not work for every one.  Some of us still use the old style default photos because they do not existing in showmedia folders.

[tngrlkrz]

1 hour ago, Ken Roy said:

Ron,

That is a personal option that will not work for every one.  Some of us still use the old style default photos because they do not existing in showmedia folders.

I was just comparing to some 'out of the box' TNG charts  in which thumbs can be clicked to showmedia.   Ancestor standard, vertical and Descendant standard and vertical all provide this option.

However, I would agree that the 'living color' option is quite personal, since it is based on a mod and is not found in standard TNG.

[mjaro]

On 3/20/2021 at 8:27 PM, tngrlkrz said:

to some 'out of the box' TNG charts  in which thumbs can be clicked to showmedia

I have this functionality in my todo list. However, I plan also to switch to the standard TNG boxes in place of my own "contrivance", and then the issue disappear...

[mjaro]

Hi all my friends which use the Connections mod,

Do you consider all the mod parameters useful? Most of them set a first-run only default value which can be then easy changed. This is the case for $compactBoxOpt, $sortByOpt, $showTxtOpt and $maxRopt. Not using them would simplify cfg.

Please let me know your opinions.

Michał

[Michel KIRSCH]

I don't :-))

Michel

[tngrlkrz]

Hi Michal,

15 hours ago, mjaro said:

plan also to switch to the standard TNG boxes

Seems like it might be more than a bit of work if the thumb click to showmedia is the main visible change,  especially considering what you have in v4d works so well, but, yes,, sounds good if you're up to it and perhaps makes it easier for you to maintain your code  

14 hours ago, mjaro said:

Do you consider all the mod parameters useful?

Since you have those options also directly on the connections page, they may seem to be redundant.  But they are not really, since without them the user has to find them in mod to keep them permanent.  Changing 'on the fly' each time would be inconvenient for each session.  You would have to clearly document  how to set them in the files.  I think that is what the Edit Options were designed for : .. to enable the author to provide easier ways for the admin to setup the mod.

[Michel KIRSCH]

23 hours ago, tngrlkrz said:

But they are not really, since without them the user has to find them in mod to keep them permanent

Ron, you're right, but once the session is started (and a session can live for weeks !) changing the parameter's value in MM have no effect... it is destabilizing for the user...

23 hours ago, tngrlkrz said:

Edit Options were designed for : .. to enable the author to provide easier ways for the admin to setup the mod

If the user love the compact mode, he will change in the connection-form (where he can directly see the difference with the normal mode).
When a new session is started, the mode will begin with the option defined in the MM.
The user must know that changing in MM parameter is necessary to begin his session with his preferences...

Michel

[Ken Roy]

On 3/26/2021 at 5:02 PM, mjaro said:

Do you consider all the mod parameters useful? Most of them set a first-run only default value which can be then easy changed. This is the case for $compactBoxOpt, $sortByOpt, $showTxtOpt and $maxRopt. Not using them would simplify cfg.

Michal,

I use your edit option defaults and only modify the colors to match Template 20 and to restrict the Connections tab to logged in users only since I am always exceeding MySQL execution minutes recently.

[tngrlkrz]

16 hours ago, Michel KIRSCH said:

and a session can live for weeks

I guess my thinking was that Edit Options are for setting defaults deemed to be most applicable for the admin's site (and most users), but the user can override for the session only.  

 

16 hours ago, Michel KIRSCH said:

user has to find them in mod to keep them permanent

When I stated that,  I was referring only to the 'admin' user who installs the mod.  

That said, I have no problem reducing the edit options, but the admin needs to know where to change them so they are permanent except for user overrides.  In addition to the wiki, this could be documented in the mod description and seen in MM.

[theKiwi]

On 3/26/2021 at 6:02 PM, mjaro said:

Do you consider all the mod parameters useful? Most of them set a first-run only default value which can be then easy changed. This is the case for $compactBoxOpt, $sortByOpt, $showTxtOpt and $maxRopt. Not using them would simplify cfg.

 

My thoughts are to let the Admin define the options in the Mod's Edit Options settings, and have less options available to the site's visitors - i.e. remove some of the options that show on the connections.php page. This would prevent users continually loading a page with different options which would help with less loading on the server if it's asked to continuously generate the page over and over with the different options.

For the people who have set it to only show for logged in users, you could maybe be allowed to allow your logged in users whether they might be able to change the options on the page, but as someone with no users logging in to his site, I'm fine with me defining the settings that all visitors to the site will see.

Roger

[Michel KIRSCH]

11 hours ago, tngrlkrz said:

When I stated that,  I was referring only to the 'admin' user who installs the mod

Ron, you're right... I'm too tired. Indeed, only Admin have access to the parameters...

I take back all what I said!

Michel

[tngrlkrz]

On 3/26/2021 at 4:38 PM, mjaro said:

I have this functionality in my todo list. However, I plan also to switch to the standard TNG boxes

Hi Michal,

Just a thought since you have a todo list, maybe...   For my use,  I added an  'End Person'  to the diagrams. Arrows depicting path flow.

 

A slightly different legend:

[mjaro]

6 hours ago, tngrlkrz said:

 I added an  'End Person'  to the diagrams. Arrows depicting path flow.

Great idea! I myself needed something like that!

[mjaro]

I made so many changes that a new sub-release is now justified:

 - display life years below name in boxes
 - initials() function replaced by a more universal one
 - presentation and validation functions moved to separate connections-lib.php
 - fix page header to display photo and dates
 - fix bookmark and log entry for clickable connections results
 - added End Person mark on diagrams
 - (tested but finally deprecated due to unneeded conversion by Wordpress/Aple : arrows in diagram in place of non-directional signs)
 - TNG custtext include added at the end of the mod custtext
 - compatibility to PHP8 improved
 - if End Person mark is not set then Start Person mark (and legend) is used in its place

Thanks to everyone for inspirations and test results (also sent in private mails)

I'm attaching the mod version 13.0.3.4f, and wait for your feedback!

Michał

Connections_v13.0.3.4f.zip

[Ken Roy]

2 hours ago, mjaro said:

- fix page header to display photo and dates

Michal,

2 hours ago, mjaro said:

fix page header to display photo and dates

Why are you not using the TNG functions for displaying the photos and dates for the page heading?

2 hours ago, mjaro said:

validation functions moved to separate connections-lib.php

why are you creating your own functions instead of using the TNG functions for validating whether someone is living and whether the user is allowed to view Living persons

2 hours ago, mjaro said:

added End Person mark on diagrams

How do we override your color selection for start and end person icons?

[tngrlkrz]

1 hour ago, Ken Roy said:

How do we override your color selection for start and end person icons?

In the mod's language folder, the  $text['pri'] and $text['fin'] variables in the ~custtext.php files.

[Ken Roy]

1 hour ago, tngrlkrz said:

In the mod's language folder, the  $text['pri'] and $text['fin'] variables in the ~custtext.php files.

Thanks Ron,

However that means if I am using more than one language I have to override in multiple places, instead of overriding a style class definition. 

[mjaro]

3 hours ago, Ken Roy said:

5 hours ago, mjaro said:

fix page header to display photo and dates

Why are you not using the TNG functions for displaying the photos and dates for the page heading?

I initially just cloned Relationship tab (also to use its form), but it didn't display dates well for me. Thus I added my own lifeyears display. The photo (+signature) display function is the TNG standard.

3 hours ago, Ken Roy said:

5 hours ago, mjaro said:

validation functions moved to separate connections-lib.php

why are you creating your own functions instead of using the TNG functions for validating whether someone is living and whether the user is allowed to view Living persons

For determining living/private rights I do use TNG functions. I added checking if the ID received from user is a valid one: some databases use a constant-length numeric part, and I allow the user to write "IRN" in the form (i.e., only number and not the full ID containing the prefix and possibly suffix). Then I can check if the ID represents a person in the tree.

I also added mjainitials() replacing TNG initials() because the original one cannot handle East European alphabets correctly (incl. cyryllic/greek). I posted my solution to Darrin.

Michał

[mjaro]

48 minutes ago, Ken Roy said:

Thanks Ron,

However that means if I am using more than one language I have to override in multiple places, instead of overriding a style class definition. 

Ken, OK, I'll turn this into a class (it was such in the "e" version). This implies, however, that the mod user has to modify genstyle.css, or has to modify mytngstyle.css for every allowed templates... But if you are sure that this is more convenient way I'll do a class.

I must say I'm not happy that my styles go into genstyle.css. I would prefer to keep them in a separate file (and still allow to override them by mytngstyle.css). Why do you want me to modify genstyle ? (unless the Connections is not a part of TNG).

Michał

 

[Ken Roy]

1 hour ago, mjaro said:

The photo (+signature) display function is TNG standard.

Michal,

I beg to disagree.  It used to be that way in v4a

Now in the current v4f version, it does not show the gender icon, years, nor signature

 

 

 

[mjaro]

Hmmm, strange... My intention was to use the default dates function but it wasn't working. Anyway, the photo+signature is the TNG default. I have to re-check what is the problem.

[Ken Roy]

3 hours ago, mjaro said:

I must say I'm not happy that my styles go into genstyle.css

Michal,

If you use your own style sheet or inline styles in a mod then you may need to document how the users need to override your choices.  Since you are using your own cust_text.php files out of your mods subfolder, you already may already have to document what the user needs to do to override your choice of custom text on inline styles in text variables.

There are several articles in the How TNG Works  that explain how a user can override styles and text variables within TNG

4 hours ago, mjaro said:

mod user has to modify genstyle.css, or has to modify mytngstyle.css for every allowed templates.

Mod users only need to override the styles for the template they are using in their mytngstyle.css.  Sorry I cannot speak to WordPress users, but suspect that if they are using TNG styles without a template, their overrides would be in the mytngstyle.css in the TNG root css/ folder

[mjaro]

1 hour ago, Ken Roy said:

have to document what the user needs to do to override your choice of custom text on inline styles in text variables.

Ken, I assumed that no special documentation is needed since custom texts of the mod can be overridden in the default way using languages' cust_text.php.

1 hour ago, Ken Roy said:

mjaro said: for every allowed templates

Of course you are right, I should have written "for every templates they are using".

1 hour ago, Ken Roy said:

that explain how a user can override styles

I follow the articles (I read all of them!) as well as your early advice, and thus put my styles to genstyle.css to make the styles available to every templates, to allow users to override them at the template level. Why I'm not happy is because at the still early stage of my mod (and my programming skills) I have to continuously edit the genstyle.css which is the only important global TNG file I touch (sometimes making errors).

Michał

[Ken Roy]

2 hours ago, mjaro said:

custom texts of the mod can be overridden in the default way using languages' cust_text.php.

Michal,

Are you saying that I can enter the inline style overrides to your definitions in your connections/languages/English-UTF8_custtext.php

7 hours ago, tngrlkrz said:

In the mod's language folder, the  $text['pri'] and $text['fin'] variables in the ~custtext.php files.

to change your color definitions for the starting and ending points?  Will have to try that out.  Not something I ever tried before.

[mjaro]

13 minutes ago, Ken Roy said:

Michal,

Are you saying that I can enter the inline style overrides to your definitions in your connections/languages/English-UTF8_custtext.php

to change your color definitions for the starting and ending points?  Will have to try that out.  Not something I ever tried before.

Ken please wait, I see that the include statement gets wrong path and will not work. I have to correct.