Shoutbox questions/help

[weedfanatic]

Edit: I just realized I missed the help with your board category somehow.. Sorry I posted it in the wrong place.

Hello, I'm new here, and in the proboards community in general. I was hoping I would be able to get a few answers about a couple things I would like to do for my website. Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, I wasn't positive where it should go.

I was wondering if it's possible to have custom buttons in the shoutbox, and also if you can have a button to insert an image into shoutbox posts. Probably not possible, but I thought I would ask.

I was also wondering if it is possible to display the members gold value (Monetary System gold amount) in the shoutbox, through the individual posts template. I've done it with other things like posts/online status/rank ect, and the last thing I'd like in my shoutbox there, is to display the gold amount!

The last thing I was wondering, was where is the best place to find proboards variables/codes/guides so I can learn all the possibilities with proboards customization? I've looked through tons of sites hoping to find more advanced codes/guides to help me learn more, but haven't really found much either than the plugins that have been released, and less advanced codes/guides. I really want to learn what is possible with proboards, fully customize my site to my liking, and eventually be able to create and release my own plugins, and help the community out if I get to that point!

Sorry for all the questions! I've tried to learn and do as much as possible myself, but I do get stuck every once in a while. =/
Thanks in advance, if anyone can answer any of my questions!

Here is my site below, if you want to understand why I'd really like these things added. The shoutbox is the area I mean, at the bottom of the page. I like to customize things as much as possible!

eobud.boards.net

[Wormopolis]

Welcome!

I dont think it is beyond reason to insert an image, but it would likely have to be stored as text since the shoutbox stores only text values. so what it would have to store is BBC code for an image that gets converted later. I have never written anything for the shoutbox myself, so Im not sure yet what actions are required. Im guessing there is an action associated with inserting content so you would have to piggyback on that action to convert BBC code or face a refresh. It would take some experimenting.

the question about gold would depend on how you are storing it. if its a custom profile variable, it MIGHT be accessible through the templates, but if its a plugin it wont be. you would have to tap into what was stored in the plugin key to get the data, and since key data is only loaded to the page on a refresh, it would only be available to names that were already there when the page loaded. if someone came along later and posted to the shoutbox, their key data wouldnt be accessible.

In terms of guides, I dont think anyone really has written anything other then what is available on support because frankly everyone has just been busy actually just writing plugins (or in my case going back and adding new features or fixing bugs). It boils down to practice really. try something small like adding content to a page or using a key to store and retrieve data, and learn as you go how to overcome obstacles. I dont know all there is to it either. I dont think anyone does because they are constantly adding in new API stuff that we find out about later. Some of the things I used in the chess plugin I didnt know about until I was actually writing the plugin and stumbled upon them. I also use stack overflow site to answer my own questions and the jQuery API listing itself to try new things. proboards API: www.proboards.com/developer/js is also a good source to see what they have given in terms of access, and they expand on that occasionally when we request it and they feel its appropriate to fill.

and dont worry about getting stuck, I dont know a single coder (except maybe Eton) that hasnt asked how to do something on support. If another coder doesnt know, one of the developers like Tim Camara can usually answer. Im still trying myself to get buttons in the posting area to work correctly, something that todge and eton already figured out. but I want to accomplish that one without asking. but if I get to the end of the rope, I will look through some of their posts about it, and see what they did. you can also always look at the source code of a plugin to see what someone has done, as long as you dont just blatantly copy their coding. if you NEED to use someone else's coding, its always better to ask them first. they might not have a problem with it, but always give them some credit in the comments.

Im always available to answer questions as well if you get stuck.

[weedfanatic]

Thank you very much for the help, and quick reply! That's exactly what I needed to know! I somehow wasn't even aware you could look at a plugins source!.. I would never copy anyones hard work, so there is no worries. Viewing plugins source code would definitely give me a better understanding of how things work, and help me learn a lot faster! Again, thank you very much for the answers, and advice!