Threadify - Modern Simple Extension for Threading & Nesting Replies

SyntaxOutlaw

First draft version is live, you can install with with composer. https://packagist.org/packages/syntaxoutlaw/threadify

Please install at your own risk as we're still in the throws of it, but I haven't had any bad outcomes personally.

Currently one issue created by me, with a workaround.

Would love some initial feedback! Seems to work so far!

(I've not a PHP/laravel dev so I've used cursor to help, so don't judge the code too much, once it's in a happy place I'll lint through and perfect it)

SyntaxOutlaw

P.S This will also threadify any old discussions too, and can be easily toggled on and off woohoo

luceos

The link to the flarum.org extension page

https://flarum.org/extension/syntaxoutlaw/threadify

SyntaxOutlaw

luceos thanks for this!

KBExit

Would be cool if you can get it to mimic what's already in discourse, where you will see the # of replies to a post and when you click it, it opens the thread.

SyntaxOutlaw

KBExit So rather than showing the entire thread depth, just show either none or a few, with a number of replies in a thread and a “Show more” button?

KBExit

SyntaxOutlaw Yes, my proposal for this is for the sake of organization. As the threads grow, I find it could get confusing.
The way I view Threads are a direct reply to that specific message. It won't contribute to the message as a whole, rather just that snippet for clarity etc.
Could be an option for the sake of more customizations or options to the beholder of said forum.

To elaborate, maybe Reddit would be the better option to compare this to.

SyntaxOutlaw

KBExit Yeah totally understand, I’ll consider this and some other settings for the next version.

I’d love if some of you would try it out and give me some feedback on how it feels etc

Cheers!

KBExit

SyntaxOutlaw I'll install a separate instance and check it out either tonight or tomorrow when I have time! Keep up the good work sir!

SyntaxOutlaw

Question for some more seasoned flarum devs:

For Threadify to work, I've added a new API which we use to pull posts in the correct order/format from the threadify_threads table:
(new Extend\Routes('api')) ->get('/discussions/{id}/threads', 'discussions.threads', ListDiscussionThreadsController::class)

This works fine when logged in as admin, but getting 403s when logged in as a normal user or not logged in at all, I'm going to guess this isn't to do with my specific api but how new APIs inherit permissions.

What is the correct way to make new APIs totally open for all to use?

Controller code: SyntaxOutlaw/threadifyblob/main/src/Api/Controller/ListDiscussionThreadsController.php
API definition:
SyntaxOutlaw/threadifyblob/main/extend.php

Any help on this would be great, it's a blocking bug

SyntaxOutlaw

SyntaxOutlaw Sorted this, realised I was checking for actor permissions but it's an open api/resource so absolutely no need - simply removed permission checks!

SyntaxOutlaw

watchmedash It's now finished enough to try, still needs more customisation for users in admin panel etc etc, but it does threadify - check it out!

neon_eddie

I have been playing with the extension. Here is dark-mode and light mode.

SyntaxOutlaw

neon_eddie Love seeing this! Anything you’d change?

Did you test it on an existing forum or a new site?

neon_eddie

SyntaxOutlaw New site! Not sure if I would change anything at this point. I did some CSS modifications and am still testing.

flavour1

SyntaxOutlaw

I'm also excited about this extention! Thank you for working on it!

Since by default all replies are stacked chronologically, rearranging the nested threads can be confusing in certain discussions. Discourse lists the discussions chronologically, but under each post which got direct replies, you see a text "X replies" like "1 reply" or " 3 replies" which when clicked will additionally unfold the replies nested underneath. Also under each reply you have a "Jump to post" link which will exactly do that.

You can check the behaviour for example here: https://www.elektronauts.com/t/buffer-playback-erasing-itself/236061

I'd love to have it work in such way that you can use "show X replies" and "jump to reply" for the corresponding posts. I think it is a thoughtfull and convenient way to deal with the nested replies.

(Unfortunately i cannot test your drafted version yet, as my webhosting does not allow to compile, but I'm looking forward to test a compiled version when published)

neon_eddie

SyntaxOutlaw One thing I can think of to change is to not be utilized on smaller screens (cell phones). It looks great on the PC and my tablet, but the indenting (nesting) does not work well on the small screen.

SyntaxOutlaw

flavour1 Thanks for the encouragement.

I really appreciate you looking into this and all comments and visibility is appreciated!

However, I'm of the opinion that we should either keep discussions flat and chronological OR adopt the nested format. Meaning posts that aren't a reply to something (root posts) are chronological and any replies to a post will appear in a chronological thread under that post.

This I think is just a difference of outlook, maybe a future option would be to configure posts in the manner you've suggests but I think I'll leave it for now as I'm not a fan of it personally haha.

I'd love to hear others opinions on this, I'm happy to be proven wrong if the general consensus agrees with you instead!

(P.S you shouldn't need to "compile" it, should just be able to run composer require syntaxoutlaw/threadify from your server cli and let it composer do the work - let me know if you get it working 😃 )

SyntaxOutlaw

neon_eddie I think you're 100% right there, next update will be only showing the first few comments in a thread (you have to click "View More" to see the entire thread) and condensing the formatting on mobile.

Great suggestion!

flavour1

SyntaxOutlaw

I get your point - combining nested and chronological can also bring its confusion.
I have to admit, I actually like the standard popups which you can use to jump to the replies.
So the only thing I'm really missing is the ability to easily list all replies with one click in an indented chain as an option.

I will further check out how your extension works and feels in my forum.

Once I use the "Danger: Rebuild parent_id and threads" - can I undo this at any future point?

So far the only thing I think would need some finetuning is the spacing at smaller screens, as @neon_eddie mentioned. For example the nested lines seem to be to close: