Private Messaging and Site Upgrades

Posts: 3227
Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

Well, prior to the meltdown of our server, I was nearing the end of my Alpha 6 battle plan, so I started working on modules to improve Ubercart.org itself. Using a test site I developed the Comment Page module (announced here) and dove into the Private Message module to bring it up to speed. The following key things have been updated:

  • The whole user interface has been given a face lift.
  • Send messages to multiple users. (includes a contacts list to send from)
  • Smarter folder management for filing messages.
  • Internal menu redesigned to include intuitive tabs on the displays.
  • Really.. it's a rewrite of the existing private message module to be decent.

More improvements can certainly be made, but this has taken much longer than expected so I'm moving on. Maybe some day the contacts list will function like a normal contacts list and file attachments will work. Until then, use email. Eye-wink

Let me know if anything is broken. I've proposed in the module's issue tracker that this be accepted as the 2.0 version of the module, but I don't have the time or capability to turn this into patches. Really, patching would be stupid... the modules should just all be overridden. I understand this takes people looking at and testing the code, so please feel free to test the interface here, download the module for your site use, and go to the issue and give it a +1 for inclusion.

(My improvements have become the new 2.x branch of the Private Message module at Drupal.org, but the download there is missing some files somehow.)

AttachmentSize
privatemsg-5--2-0.tar237.5 KB
Posts: 3227
Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

This is a compilation post of all the previous responses to my PM module announcement:

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Wed, 05/09/2007 - 10:07
magdelaine@drupal.org
Posts: 2
Joined: 03/20/2007

I love your new UI! It's beautiful, nice, clean, friendly, etc. Although I must express my fondness for pic of the kid in the cart Eye-wink.

I'm happy to say that I just got the go-ahead to convert a client's static site to Drupal with Ubercart... I'm just learning Drupal now so it will be a while before it's live (I must complete a redesign first) but I will post back here when it is finished.

Do you guys have an IRC channel?

Thanks for all your hard work!

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Wed, 05/09/2007 - 10:10
Ryan
Posts: 1685
Joined: 09/26/2006

Awesome! Yeah, I need to get a tribute page to the Uberkid up somewhere. Sticking out tongue

We don't have an IRC, but we're around the forums from 8-5 EST in the U.S. on week days. Eye-wink And we do check sporadically all the other times, too. (Like at 12:30 AM when I don't feel like going to bed yet and need a break from Minesweeper...)

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Thu, 05/10/2007 - 05:47
bwv
Posts: 214
Joined: 02/27/2007

I am using your privatemsg module with great success. Awesome work. thanks

========
http://greystokefarm.com/store
Running Drupal 5.1, UC Alpha7c, PHP 5.2.1, MySQL 5.0.37, Apache/1.3.33

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Sun, 06/17/2007 - 21:34
protoplasm (not verified)

Very nice module. Great job!!!

Mike

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Mon, 06/18/2007 - 21:46
Cross_and_Flame@drupal.org
Posts: 2
Joined: 05/07/2007

I used the phpbb2drupal script to convert all my old PMs and posts to drupal.

Am I able to simply replace the 1.0 module with your version, and whistle happily along, or will it only work without existing posts?

Thanks in advance! Your support is admirable!

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Mon, 06/18/2007 - 22:48
Ryan
Posts: 1685
Joined: 09/26/2006

I actually didn't touch the DB at all, so you should be able to upgrade without a hitch. Although... there was a bug with one of the updates that was put into the install file before me. Essentially, setting the values for the PM variables fails when the script makes entries for the module in the variable table in your database. You can adjust the values manually, though, to make sure they're set to the last IDs. (I can't remember exactly which ones they are... not near the code right now.) If you're running the latest 1.x of PM, this will work fine. Otherwise there may be some pre-me hitches and I'd recommend a backup either way. Eye-wink

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Wed, 06/20/2007 - 14:13
Cross_and_Flame@drupal.org
Posts: 2
Joined: 05/07/2007

It's ALIIIIIIVE! Thanks, I wanted to check with you before I tried it. Spent waaay too much time importing the phpbb2drupal script that I didn't want to try it again.

Works perfectly. Thanks!

:: edited to add :: Incidentally, how *did* you integrate the PM button...?

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Wed, 06/20/2007 - 14:22
Ryan
Posts: 1685
Joined: 09/26/2006

I think I wrote about it in the PM button in the readme file. It's just an added bit to our Flatforum template file. It checks to see if the node/comment was posted by a logged in user and if so adds an image link to the PM page. I just worked up that icon in Fireworks... could use some help, but you're welcome to use it as is. Smiling

Guest (not verified)

Any idea when this will become an official release on the Drupal projects page?

Posts: 7
Joined: 10/24/2007

I wrote a french .po file for the module. Where can I send it?

Posts: 3227
Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

I uploaded this and supposedly the new maintainer took it and used it for the latest development work... but I'm just not sure. I tried installing the official release once and it wouldn't work. Sticking out tongue

@Blackguard: If you want, I can include your French translation in my zip here if it's for the Uber-PM module.

Posts: 7
Joined: 10/24/2007
Posts: 5
Joined: 12/22/2007

Great mod! I need a PM module where you can send to multiple recipients.

It seems to work great for all users except UID1. When I visit http://www.mydomain.com/privatemsg/new I get the following error:

warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argumented is expected to be a valid callback, 'privatemsg_new' was given in /mypath/mydomain.com/includes/form.inc on line 218.

I am able to reply to existing PMs, but not create new ones (ie, no buttons for list, compose, contacts or manage folders). However, everything seems to work for other users. Maybe this mod isn't meant to work for UID1?

Posts: 5
Joined: 12/22/2007

Disregard my previous post... the mod is working as it should for UID1.

Thanks again for this FANTASTIC mod! Will it be updated for Drupal 6?

Posts: 84
Joined: 02/06/2008

I'm fairly new to drupal and ubercart is a great integration. Great work !

I'm a little confused. What is the difference between ubercart's private message module and the privatemsg mod on drupal ?

Posts: 3227
Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

Basically, when I rewrote the module there was no one maintaining it and I could never get in touch with the author. I revamped it for our use but couldn't get it into the core module, and I believe eventually chx took over maintenance of the module for his company's use. Last I tried, I couldn't get the module from there to work, but that was a while ago and I haven't had reason to try again since the version I produced works great and included some UI improvements that I don't think made it into the current version. I'll defer to anyone else's actual experience on this, though.

Posts: 84
Joined: 02/06/2008

thanks for the info. So I need to uninstall drupal's privatemsg mod and which folder should I ftp this mod to ?

Posts: 3227
Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

Unless they've altered the db, you can just copy this right over and go on. I'd backup first, though, as I'm not really sure how it's progressed in the last 6 months or more.

Posts: 84
Joined: 02/06/2008

hokay, so i would ftp your mod into the drupal/modules directory and not to a ubercart directory, right ? Thanks for the support

Posts: 3227
Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

Yep. Smiling Although it doesn't really matter to Drupal where it is, just as long as you don't have a module named privatemsg in multiple locations.

Posts: 1
Joined: 02/08/2008

I need some more feature in private message module.

Drafts - list of messages which user has been saved while composing a new message.

Thanks for ur help!!

Regards,
Prakash