UBB.Developers Forums UBB.threads 7 Development How Do I? Allow Members to Add Countdown Timers to Posts/Signatures?

I originally posted this at Infopop, and Josh suggested I post it over here instead:

In ubb.classic, my members could add to their signatures countdown timers showing the amount of time left until their vacations. Since the move to ubb.threads, they cannot -- I think it has to do with the "unsecure" characters in their old countdown timer URLs. Has anyone figured out how to allow countdown timers to ubb.threads posts and signatures, without also allowing HTML? Could it be done with Javascript in the generic header and a non-HTML call to that in a post? Could a modification be written to do this? Any ideas are much appreciated!

Jennifer Watson
http://www.passporterboards.com

Can you post an example countdown timer.

Yeah, what's the image link look like - is it like a .php script that peopel are trying to include?

Here are links to posts in other message boards that are able to display countdown timers so you can see what I'm talking about:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=bee030ad489430f4feb674508a8d11b2&threadid=381216

http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=1363

Thanks,
Jennifer Watson
http://www.passporterboards.com

OK - I see - this is basically creating some "UBBCode" which imbeds the javascript into the signature.

This could probably be done and I have some ideas on how it could be implimented.

I've got alot of projects on my plate right now, but if I can find some time, I'll noodle with this.

Jennifer if this was a custom ubbcode you could attach the REGEX here and I am sure someone here could look and give it a whirl.

I have some ideas just like Josh but it would be nice to see the regex that was being used. This is the actual addin UBBCODE insert for the code you inserted to have the code.

This is it - the top part needs to be in the header - the bottom part is what goes in the post. I *think*

Thanks, but I need to do this without allowing HTML in the posts or signatures. Unless I'm mistaken, the attached scripts would need HTML enabled. I'd like to just do it with UBBcode. Is that possible? This was never a custom ubbcode -- previously our members were linking to another site that provided graphical countdown counters. That site is going offline and the URLs don't work in UBB.threads anyway.

Actually yeah, that's why we need a UBB Code that would add the HTML - so that users can't directly add HTML.

How does one make a custom UBB code? Is there something I can do/provide?

Jennifer Watson
http://www.passporterboards.com

That's the part I gotta figure out. It's not a simple solution. Just got your email and will respond shortly. I think I can do this.

OK - I thought about taking the UBBCode route with this, and it was pretty complex. Not the creation of it, but the editing of it etc. And I hated to "open up" any direct javascript doors.

Plus in reading some of the boards you sent me too, alot of people had trouble getting the exact date/time syntax of the timer right and got frustrated. I wanted this to be user friendly.

So I took a different route. I created a new field in the database (U_Timer) and users can create their timer, which will display below their signature, when they edit their profile, easily selecting dates and times from pull down menus. So there's no confusion with "how" to create the timer.

Users who turn off their ability to see other signatures in their display prefs will not see the timers. So if the javascript annoys anyone, they can turn them off with the sigs.

I've written this up for UBB.Threads 6.3 although I suspect the instructions will be very similar for 6.4 (I'll be testing myself soon) and I've posted the mod here:

https://www.ubbdev.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=98973

I have a similar, but slighlty different dilema.

I'd like to put a java count down clock in my generic footer.
The countdown.class works fine on any page, except the footer. I tried placing the files in the main www, ubbthreads, includes directory's, with no go

Any ideas how I can get 1 clock into my footer ?

which footer you trying?

If the java you need has a header insert code then maybe the problem is that it is in the wrong footer file. Try appending the code to the bottom of ubbt_footer.php instead of footer.php.

Worked like a charm! Thanks !


sorry it took me so long to reply