* the date e.g. '2 hours ago' reflects the date of the first message in the exchange, not the most recent

Change line 42 in PrivateMessages/discussion_grid.php from:
<td class="MailBoxDate">'.TimeDiff($this->Context, $Discussion->DateCreated).'</td>
to:
<td class="MailBoxDate">'.TimeDiff($this->Context, $Discussion->DateLastActive,mktime()).'</td>


HELP ... pllllleaaaaaaaaase! :(

this is the only problem what i have with friendly-urls ...

why no one can help?

It seems there are so many problems associated with Friendly URLs.

Am I missing something? Is it really that useful an extension that people put up with so many incompatibilities and issues?

Posted: Wednesday, 14 February 2007 at 11:20AM (AEDT)

FriendlyURLs is useful from an SEO and simply a human readability point of view.

Also, it's not really an extension, but a core feature IMO since it's bundled with the main download and enabled in a different way to every other extension out there. I think the incompatibility comes from extension authors not testing with both FriendlyURLs turned on and turned off. Either that, or the MOD_REWRITE rules in FriendlyURLs don't encompass everything that extensions can do by default? Certainly FriendlyURLs is a feature that is very attractive to a large number of people.

Something I'd like to see until the Friendly URLs is made more "extension friendly" is a way to disable it using a parameter in GetUrl(). Extensions like this don't neeed Friendly URLs outside of aesthetics.

I think Option A would work best. It's what most people would expect. Also, if you send a message and it's responded too it should be in the "Inbox," too, so they can find it easier.

If you figure out a way to have it show "Sent" messages in the Sent Mail folder as well as the corresponding discussion in the "Inbox" that would be killer.

I think I have in Inbox/Sent Mail boxes working as described above. I would appreciate if someone could help test, substituting the two below functions in place of the originals in PrivateMessages/default.php:

function GetDiscussionCount($View) {
$TotalNumberOfRecords = 0;
$s = $this->Context->ObjectFactory->NewContextObject($this->Context, 'SqlBuilder');
$s->SetMainTable('Discussion', 't');
// MINOR KLUDGE: There's not apparent way w/ SqlBuilder to add 'DISTINCT' within
// the MySQL function Count(). It works just fine, but breaks the rules a bit.
$s->AddSelect('DISTINCT t.DiscussionID', '', 'Count', 'count');
$s->AddWhere('t', 'Active', '', '1', '=');
$s->AddWhere('t', 'CategoryID', '', $this->CategoryID, '=');
if ($View == 'Inbox') {
// Count discussions in the Inbox when they are addressed directly to you.
$s->AddWhere('t', 'WhisperUserID', '', $this->UserID, '=', 'and', '', 1, 1);
// Count discussions in the Inbox that *you* have sent, but only after one or
// more reply has been made. This may or may not be how you want
//this to work.
$s->AddWhere('t', 'CountComments', '', 1, '>', 'or', '', 1, 1);
$s->AddWhere('t', 'AuthUserID', '', $this->UserID, '=', 'and');
$s->EndWhereGroup();
$s->EndWhereGroup();
} else {
// Add join to access all users who have contributed to a discussion.
// Trying work this with AuthUserID or LastUserId just doesn't cut it.
$s->AddJoin('Comment', 'co', 'DiscussionID', 't', 'DiscussionID', 'join');
$s->AddWhere('co', 'AuthUserID', '', $this->UserID, '=');
}
$result = $this->Context->Database->Select($s, $this->Name, 'GetDiscussionCount', 'An error occurred while retrieving Discussion information.');
while ($rows = $this->Context->Database->GetRow($result)) {
$TotalNumberOfRecords = $rows['Count'];
}
return $TotalNumberOfRecords;
}
function GetDiscussionList($RowsPerPage, $CurrentPage, $View) {
$TotalNumberOfRecords = 0;
if ($RowsPerPage > 0) {
$CurrentPage = ForceInt($CurrentPage, 1);
if ($CurrentPage < 1) $CurrentPage == 1;
$RowsPerPage = ForceInt($RowsPerPage, 50);
$FirstRecord = ($CurrentPage * $RowsPerPage) - $RowsPerPage;
}
$s = $this->GetDiscussionBuilder();
$s->AddJoin('Comment', 'm', 'CommentID', 't', 'FirstCommentID', 'join');
$s->AddSelect('Body', 'm');
$s->AddWhere('t', 'Active', '', '1', '=');
$s->AddWhere('t', 'CategoryID', '', $this->CategoryID, '=');
if ($View == 'Inbox') {
// Display discussions in the Inbox when they are addressed directly to you.
$s->AddWhere('t', 'WhisperUserID', '', $this->UserID, '=', 'and', '', 1, 1);
// Display discussions in the Inbox that *you* have sent, but only after one or
// more reply has been made. This may or may not be how you want
//this to work.
$s->AddWhere('t', 'CountComments', '', 1, '>', 'or', '', 1, 1);
$s->AddWhere('t', 'AuthUserID', '', $this->UserID, '=', 'and');
$s->EndWhereGroup();
$s->EndWhereGroup();
} else {
// Add join to access all users who have contributed to a discussion.
// Trying work this with AuthUserID or LastUserId just doesn't cut it.
$s->AddJoin('Comment', 'co', 'DiscussionID', 't', 'DiscussionID', 'join');
$s->AddWhere('co', 'AuthUserID', '', $this->UserID, '=');
}
$s->AddOrderBy('DateLastActive', 't', 'desc');
if ($RowsPerPage > 0) $s->AddLimit($FirstRecord, $RowsPerPage);
return $this->Context->Database->Select($s, $this->Name, 'GetDiscussionList', 'An error occurred while retrieving discussions.');
}

Another issue to keep in mind:
By default, this extension allows you to PM yourself. This throws in all sorts of problems with counting and sorting. For clarity, I added a bit of code to put a stop to that.

Up top at the end of the $Context->Dictionary definitions, add something along the lines of:
$Context->Dictionary['ErrNoWhisperToSelf'] = 'You cannot send a Private Message to yourself. Please choose a valid recipient.';

In function PrivateMessageForm, change:
if (ForceIncomingString('WhisperUsername', '') == '') {
$ResultDiscussion = false;
$this->Context->WarningCollector->Add($this->Context->GetDefinition('ErrWhisperUsernameMandatory'));
} else {
$ResultDiscussion = $dm->SaveDiscussion($this->Discussion);
}
To:
if (ForceIncomingString('WhisperUsername', '') == '') {
$ResultDiscussion = false;
$this->Context->WarningCollector->Add($this->Context->GetDefinition('ErrWhisperUsernameMandatory'));
} elseif(ForceIncomingString('WhisperUsername', '') == $this->Context->Session->User->Name) {
$ResultDiscussion = false;
$this->Context->WarningCollector->Add($this->Context->GetDefinition('ErrNoWhisperToSelf'));
} else {
$ResultDiscussion = $dm->SaveDiscussion($this->Discussion);
}

@bshultz: Nice work! I added all your changes and it works great. Now if you could just fix the e-mail notifys not sending you would be my hero, lol.

Ok, still tinkering with this because it's an extension I *really* need. There's a few more issues to fix and then I'll release a zip of my modified files. Of the list of bugs and feature requests posted up-thread (plus some of my own), here's the status:

Fixed:
email notification
a reply to a sent message does not count towards the message count in the inbox
the inbox shows sent messages
the date e.g. '2 hours ago' reflects the date of the first message in the exchange, not the most recent
folder message counts
WYSIWYG toolbar does not appear

Done:
req: friendly URLs compatibility
req: unread message count on the tab
req: notification on the discussion list of a new PM

Unresolved:
req: ability to delete messages (**No idea how to handle this)

Unknown:
senders of messages are not shown in the inbox/outbox lists

Bschultz, we are very much looking forward to your .zip file :)

@alani: Thanks.

My modified version of the Private Messages extension can be found here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/q0vl9j
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qpyzi6 (updated)

Notes:
1. Feedback/Bugs
I tested the modified code on a fresh Vanilla install (along with the following extensions: Wordpress Integration, BetterBBCode, BBInsertBar, Post Preview) and have Private Messages working as expected. Of course, what works for one person may well fly into a billion pieces for others. That in mind, please let me know if you find bugs or have feedback.

2. WYSIWYG Toolbar, et.al.
Extensions such as the BBInsertBar and Preview Post will now work as expected with one important caveat: you must modify the desired extensions' default.php to make it aware of Private Messages.

To give an example, with the BBInsertBar, I changed the following line from:
if (in_array($Context->SelfUrl, array("post.php", "comments.php")){
To:
if (in_array($Context->SelfUrl, array("post.php", "comments.php"))
|| ($Context->SelfUrl == 'extension.php' && ForceIncomingString('PostBackAction', '') == 'PrivateMessages')){

3. Friendly URLs
My fix for Friendly URLs might not please everyone. I would have preferred formatting URLs as such: http://some.host/extension/PrivateMessages/19/Message
Due to the way URLs are formed via GetUrl(), however, I had to push everything into the query string: http://some.host/extension/?PostBackAction=PrivateMessages&DiscussionID=19&View=Message
Since SEO is not a concern in this case (these are private messages after all), I hope this is acceptable to most.

Also, does this fix the Inbox tab display issue?

At any rate, thanks :) !

Thanks for the update, your work is much appreciated.

Earlier in the discussion, Jazzman mentioned that the tab did not display Inbox (1) or some such if there was a new message... And you said you fixed this. However I have not received any new messages so I can't know if you added this...

I have two other feature requests, both of which I think should be easy...

1) If you fixed the Inbox tab display, could you mimic this on the panel, so that if there were new messages it would say so in the Private Messages block?
2) How does one integrate TinyMCE and Private Messages? I didn't understand your BBInsertbar comments so I can't possibly convert to TinyMCE.

Again, many thanks!

bshultz, thanks for fixing this extension. It works like a charm now!

Perhaps we could salvage some of the old CSS to fix that? IE6 is unfortunately still quite prevalent..

okay i haven't read the whole thread by now, but i'm using this extension now for a few weeks.

some of the main problems i recognized are:
- cannot delete or edit private messages
- no compatibility with BBInsertBar, EditInPlace, BetterBBCode, Htmlformatter & PreviewPost

features i would like to have:
- new message notification on the discussion/categories page


thanks for this great extension although.

Hello bshultz!!

Thanks for your work on Private Messages!! I've been away from the community for a while because of other work things. I'm glad you have resolved a few issues and I'd like to update the extension in the add-ons repository with your version if permitted. Can you send me the latest version you're using? My email address is: mkrijtenberg@gmail.com

Jazzman

Still a lot of work to do, but nice job.

My #1 request is that the tab at the top change if you have new messages - like Inbox -> Inbox (1).

one comment:

the username field is not long enough for some of my users' login names. (i use wordpress integration; wordpress does not limit your login name length). i think the length restriction could be removed safely on this field.

one question:

if you send a message, it appears as unread in your sent mail. if you then read this message in your sent mail, does the other recipient see it as read? or is it still an unread message for them? i just wanted to check.

I'm getting ready to install this extension but I'm not quite sure which is the most recent/stable version?

Or wait until Jazzman releases the next official version with the updates in it :)

i got the working version from the link above.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/qpyzi6

hi!

i just added the delete message feature to bschultz's
(actually it just hides the discussion for this user)

if someone want to test it i will upload the new files.

Ideally, it would delete messages... but beggars can't be choosers.