New Forum Portal and Toolbar. Improved Search Function (now with OBEX).

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-09-30 22:27

I've created a new portal for the Parallax Forum that includes a toolbar for searching the forum and for formatting Spin code for submission to the forum. Here's what a typical browser window looks like with the toolbar:

attachment.php?attachmentid=64125

You can access this portal by going here: www.phipi.com/forum. Once you're there, all searches and forum activity will remain within the portal window. Searching is done via specially-formatted queries to search.parallax.com. The code formatter will open a separate window from which the formatted code can be selected and copied to the clipboard.

Give it a try, and let me know if it works for you.

Thanks,
-Phil

Post Edited (Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)) : 10/9/2009 5:02:55 PM GMT

Zoot · 2009-10-01 01:28

The search is great -- any chance of getting the topic's title in the results?

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

1uffakind.com/robots/povBitMapBuilder.php
1uffakind.com/robots/resistorLadder.php

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-10-01 01:34

No. I could do it if Google Search allowed regular expressions in the query line, but it doesn't.

-Phil

sam_sam_sam · 2009-10-01 20:04

Will this work for other· formatting· code for submission to the forum other than Spin code

Also is there a direct link to that site or do first have to open Parallax Forum then go to your site

Look very nice I like it Thanks

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··Thanks for any·

·that you may have and all of your time finding them

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Sam

Post Edited (sam_sam_sam) : 10/1/2009 8:14:23 PM GMT

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-10-01 20:42

Sam,

As of now, the formatter will work with any input, but the keyword boldfacing is only for Spin code. What I need to do is add the keyword lists for the SX and PBASIC and include a decision matrix for incoming code to decide which it is. For the time being, the formatter is also available at www.phipi.com/format.

-Phil

Whit · 2009-10-02 02:50

Thanks Phil!

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Whit+

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-10-04 22:19

I've improved the behavior of the "Search for:" box; and now, if you hit enter in that box, it will properly perform the desired search.

If you use the portal, but can't see all of the toolbar contents because it's not tall enough, please let me know. A partial screenshot would be helpful.

Thanks,
-Phil

Zoot · 2009-10-04 23:43

Too short (Safari) and/or bad alignment (Firefox).

See attached. First screen is Safari; second screen is Firefox. I run all my browsers with default text sizes, etc, so these are fairly indicative.

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

1uffakind.com/robots/povBitMapBuilder.php
1uffakind.com/robots/resistorLadder.php

SRLM · 2009-10-05 01:01

Chrome has a similar cosmetic problem to firefox (the code box is a little bit depressed).

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-10-05 03:04

Thanks for the feedback. Try it now. I've changed the table alignment, forcing everything to "top".

-Phil

Zoot · 2009-10-05 04:43

Better.

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

1uffakind.com/robots/povBitMapBuilder.php
1uffakind.com/robots/resistorLadder.php

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-10-09 17:00

I've added the OBEX to the list of places to Search. If you're already using the toolbar, just do a "reload" to get the added capability.

-Phil

CounterRotatingProps · 2009-10-10 19:55

Thanks Phil - nice improvement!

You might want to test it in FireFox as it tends to be the most adherent to W3 specs. In FireFox 3.0.14 on Win, it does not display the buttons in alignment with the text and dropdown boxes - "TOP" is usually not enough to fix this.

Here's a trick I use alot - float DIV tags where you need the objects inside one big div tag that is just inside the body tag, like this:

<body>
<div id="div_body">

Then place those objects inside their own div tags and ID them (or you could try all of them aligned in one div). These/this tag(s) then float on the page wherever you want them. Avoids all the table formatting headaches.

<div id="div_searchObjects"> Search for: <input type="text" ...> etc etc
</div>

-Parallax forum stuff-

Be sure to close the body div:

</div>
</body>

The trick then is to do this either in a style sheet, or on the page itself (fiddle with the parms - which are arbitrary here - and you'll see how cool this is):

#div_body{
     width:800px;
     margin-left:auto;
     margin-right:auto;
     text-align:left;
     padding-top:10px;
     background-color:#ffffff;
}

#div_searchObjects {
     float: left;
     margin-top:5px;
     margin-right:50px;
     margin-left:2px;
}

You might also have to define one as 'position:absolute' and the other 'position:relative' (or vice versa!) to get it to work ... I'm doing this off the top of my head.

HTH
- Howard

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Post Edited (CounterRotatingProps) : 10/10/2009 8:02:29 PM GMT

doggiedoc · 2009-10-10 23:10

I like it! I sure makes searches easier!

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_{There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't.}

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-10-10 23:20

doggiedoc,

Thanks!

Howard,

Thanks for the Firefox heads-up. I've tracked the issue down to Firefox's not honoring the rows parameter for textarea boxes. I've managed to kludge a solution, wherein everything is now aligned to top, and the bottom half of the format entry box is clipped off in Firefox. I didn't want to use up any more vertical space than I had to, since it intrudes on the forum a bit, as it is. It's not as tidy-looking as I might have liked, but it works.

BTW, I've seen floating elements and understand your comment about them. (At least I think I do, but I'm no web design guru by a long shot!) My reservations about using them are that, in most browsers I've seen, they don't stay put when scrolling, even though they eventually return to the correct positioon when scrolling stops. I just find the delayed reaction a little annoying, and that's why I've resorted to fixed frames.

-Phil

CounterRotatingProps · 2009-10-11 19:46

Phil,

you're welcome. Looks better in Firefox now - as long as the doc's window is wide enough. Still crops the bottom as you noted, in IE too.

FYI, the floating tags *won't* move at all when you scroll if you do the tags the way I mentioned - the div wraping the inside of the body tag gives it a fix reference - that's where the 'absolute' and 'relative' and pixel positioning parms come in. This would also fix the tidyness - and you can pack it in even tighter because you can control the elements right down to the pixel.

Firefox does honor the rows parm - I just checked that - so it might be another element that's throwing it. I'd guess that the frameset row parm needs to be more explicit than '32,*' or the lack of width and heights on the frames themselves might be causing it. (BTW When things start to get messy, I stop using tables outright and switch to DIV tags.)

> I didn't want to use up any more vertical space than I had to, since it intrudes on the forum a bit, as it is

Hey, well that's where scrolling comes in handy! I'd vote for taking up even *more* from that top chunk to buy functionality. It wouldn't surprise me at all if others here thought the same. You've boosted the power of the forum quite a bit with that one line of input boxes and buttons!

- H

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Coley · 2009-10-13 18:32

Phil,

That is really excellent, thank you for sharing it with us all.

Maybe Parallax could adopt a similar philosophy

Regards,

Coley

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PropGFX - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite

ElectricAye · 2009-10-15 03:55

Hey,

this is cool !

Thanks a bunch!

New Forum Portal and Toolbar. Improved Search Function (now with OBEX).

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