link to a specific post in a thread

Tracy Allen

This is an extension to the message Paul posted OT to a question by Bruce on how to link to a specific message in a specific thread in a specific forum.

Here is the link to the specific message, if all works as planned:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=554245

How to snipe this? Find the message you want to target. Pretend that you are going to respond to it, by clicking the ! icon,and you will get a URL like the following:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=554245

Write down the message number, 92323 in this case. Then CANCEL the response.

Now go back to the forum topics menu. Since you have read messages in the tread, there will be an icon in the "last seen" column, and when you click on it it will give you a URL in the bar for the last message in the thread at the time you visited, something like this....

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=555146

Edit that string, and replace the number after the g= and also after the final #m= with your target message number. That is the URL above, that will link to the specific message.

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Tracy Allen
www.emesystems.com

Tracy Allen

Actually, I should have posed it as a question. Does anyone know an easier way to do this, as yada yada yada seems awfully round about.

Another way to link to a specific post inside a thread is the way that the email does it, with page number and no g=xxxxx:

http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=13&p=1&m=91906#m92323

This has
&p=1, which has to be the correct page number
&m=91906, which is the starting messge of the thread, on page 1
#m92323, which is the target message number

What is the significance of
g=xxxxx
?

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Tracy Allen
www.emesystems.com

PJAllen

I open Notepad and another Explorer window (to the page of the related forum/subject/thread.)· I copy the address of the "target" forum and then paste that in Notepad.· Then I go back to the original window/thread, re-copy the desired address from the Notepad window and then paste that, as the reference like, in the post.

That's my "work-around", because, and I don't know why, I can't seem to copy the address of one thread in one window and paste it directly into a post/reply of a different thread in a different window.

Does that make sense?

Paul Baker

The way I do it is while Im in the post entry form, I spawn a new window in IE via Cntrl-N, hit the back button or search button, find the reference post click once in the address bar, Cntrl-C, return to original window, Cntrl-V. If I can get at the referenced post quickly, it takes all of 10 seconds. If Im not feeling lazy, and I want a better looking link like this one, I do the same thing, but when I return to the original window, I highlight the·words to become the link,·click on the hyperlink button, Cntrl-V into that, press OK, click underline, then make it green. Using the hyperlink button erases text formatting, so it must be done before applying the underline and color.

My original post was concerning what to do when you have a saved copy of threads on your local computer, and cannot use the method above. Im not sure what the g field is for.

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·1+1=10

Post Edited (Paul Baker) : 11/2/2005 7:11:15 PM GMT

Tracy Allen

The following formats link to the top of the thread. Message number 93862 is the originating message in the thread, and 94429 is your last response, which is the one I really want to link to. But the second format still links not to your message but to the origin of the thread.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=555755
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=556307


Either of the following two formats link the way I want, directly to your post within the thread:
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=556307
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=556307

These formats require both the origin message number and the target message number, and the second format also requires the page number. All of that information comes through in the emails, but I guess there is no way around it. It takes extra steps to extract the numbers from the online forum display.

Given that reference to specific prior posts is a valuable tool, I'd like to suggest to dotNetBB that they streamline the process of creating the link. Maybe button on each message that links to that specific message. So all you have to do is press on the button and select "copy link location".

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Tracy Allen
www.emesystems.com

PAR

Tracy Allen said...
What is the significance of
g=xxxxx
?

Maybe "g" refers to the grouping into which "forums" can be organized by the forums administrator?

The dotNetBB HELP states, "Category Listing : Forums can be grouped into common categories so that they can be better organized". (You'd think the parameter name would be called "c"ategory, then, not "g"?)

Dunno if the Parallax forums have been "grouped" into Categories.

Any, it's my quick guess about "g", and I may be totally wrong.

EDIT (by PAR): Oh, I see that "c" is the "category" parameter --makes sense after all!). E.g.. "c=1" is the "Public Forums" category, and "c=2" is the "Announcements" category. So, Parallax has set up at least two "c"ategories (maybe "private" forums are in some other "c"ategory(s)? Anyway, it seems that "g" is still up for grabs

PAR

Post Edited (PAR) : 11/4/2005 10:08:33 PM GMT