What I want to do is to surround the DiscussionGrid by a <div> element.
Now I'm wondering what would be the best way to go.

I came up with the extension below, the only thing that bugs me about that solution is having to call the constructor of DiscussionGrid() directly. I'd rather be able to somehow extend the discussiongrid, but I can't seem to get that to work...

Here's my code that I have now:

if(($Context->SelfUrl == 'index.php') && $Context->Session->User->RoleID)
{
$Context->ObjectFactory->SetReference("DiscussionGrid", "MyHackedGrid");

class MyHackedGrid extends Control
{
var $Context;
var $DiscussionGrid;

function MyHackedGrid(&$Context, $DiscussionManager, $CategoryID, $View)
{
$this->Context =& $Context;
$this->DiscussionGrid =
new DiscussionGrid($Context, $DiscussionManager, $CategoryID, $View);

}

function Render()
{
$this->Context->Writer->Write('<div id="DiscussionGrid" style="border: 1px solid red">');
$this->DiscussionGrid->Render();
$this->Context->Writer->Write('</div>');
}
}
}

Well I suppose he's busy working on the next rev of Vanilla. When that's released, it should be easy to edit the site theme and add in your extra div.

What you've done is actually the correct way for Vanilla <= 0.9.2.

In 0.9.3 you will still be able to do that, but you will also be able to achieve it in a few other ways. One way would be to create two new controls that you then place into the Page_Render event (it's the only render event in 0.9.3 - all other render events are gone) before and after the datagrid.

Another method in 0.9.3 would be to write two functions and add them to the DataGrid's PreRender and PostRender delegates. This is definitely the most optimal way to perform a simple div enclosure through extensions.

Of course I would still recommend (as ben did) just changing your templates for something as menial as adding a div.

Well, if you want to release an extension that other people can use, then of course you should do it through the delegates. But if you're just doing it for your own purposes to make your installation of your forum look a particular way - I don't see the point in making it an extension since it will be slower than if you had just changed the template.

Wow! There's gonna be a pre_render and post_render? oh goodie!!

Someday I need to write a post_render extension to run HTML Tidy.

Ok, on to the next problem I encountered duing my extension creation:

What I want to do is the discussionmanager not to use 'static paging' but I want to be completely free to set the offset & count. Ie. I want to be able to get rows 13 to 99.
Ofcourse I could inherit from the standard discussionmanager, but then: what if someone has the WhisperExtension turned on? ... what brings me to the generic problem: what if more then 1 extension wants to override the discussionmanager?

Currently it will take the last SetReference (if I'm not mistaking).

The only thing I can think of, is to wait for 0.9.3 and hope ;-) that there will be a delegate during the GetDiscussionList that allows me to alter the created query before it's fired.... or are there better alternatives?

heh, most of the dev community is still trying to wrap their heads around marks insane classes!

I've also been extra lazy being occupied with other things :/

um. Arent eithers usually followed by or's?

>shoot self in foot
I don't see any self here.
>shoot me in foot
There is no you in the foot.
>shoot foot
I don't know which foot you're talking about.
>shoot left foot
You don't have the gun.
>get gun
You take the gun.
You're lantern just went out.
You are attacked by grues.

* * * YOU HAVE DIED * * *

oooeh oeeh! I have a question Mark!!

In the current Vanilla, the extension are loaded / executed before the other controls! This means, if I want to change control behaviour, or output data from e.g. the discussions grid, I have to do scary things...

A better way maybe events, like you said you will add in another post. This means, I can subscribe my extension to an event which executes before or after the body render. Or maybe events like, comment_added, or comment_deleted... W000t :)