I decided it was time for an update in some way or form so this time we’re talking MyBB again along with my recent commits and what else is happening.
We’ve recently taken on a few new team members whose input I greatly appreciate both on the forums and with the development of MyBB. I look forward to working with Michael, Michael and Luke for our future releases and their support on the forums.
Rewritten Javascript
Some know and others don’t. It was decided to rewrite the javascript in MyBB to incorporate a more ‘oop’ approach and further stick to our coding standards (Separate standards now exist for the javascript in MyBB)
It has taken a while, but I can safely say that this is complete and several javascript libraries now exist for different parts of the board:
- General
- Inline moderation
- Code buttons editor
- Posting pages
- Thread view pages
It was also decided that we would adopt some external javascript libraries into MyBB to make our lives easier, but also provide some functionality we would be requiring.
At first, Peter and I had decided that we were going to use script.aculo.us. After further researching, though it provided everything we wanted - including prebuilt auto complete and inline edit capabilities, it put a severe overhead on the pages. (We’re talking over 100 KB here).
A decision needed to be made. We opted for the very tiny moo.fx in which the base library weighs in at 4 KB, contains a stripped down version of prototype (Another javascript library - 7 KB), and the optional effects pack (7 KB). mad4milk also provide a super tiny AJAX library called moo.ajax. We’ll also be making use of this in MyBB.
Then finally there was the complete rewrite of the code buttons editor shown on posting pages. Finally though, no more separate templates for users editing with or without the editor - the toolbars and everything are automatically generated on the fly. Cross browser compatibility was a pain but I think I’ve got it all sorted.
The key thing to remember about MyBB is that all javascript on the client side of the board is completely optional. Those without javascript won’t see functionality they won’t be able to use (such as the quick quote - wait, that’s a new feature! and quick delete buttons)
Searching
Those with big boards would know that the search system in MyBB currently is nothing to be proud about and is fairly non-functional on very large boards. It had to be rewritten.
So now:
- Search results are queried for once in do_search and are then cached in the searchlog table.
- Searching is now AND by default. Users can perform and/or matching by modifying their search terms - ex, “Google or Yahoo”.
- Administrators can specify the minimum search term length.
- Search IDs (sid) are no longer integers. This means users cannot simply increase the sid by one to view another persons search results. They’re a unique md5′d string.
- Provisions have been put in place for fulltext and boolean searching with MySQL. This functionality still has to be written though (I’ll get to that at a later stage).
Installation
I’ve also given the installer a bit of love too. It may contain a few hints of the new Admin CP layout (Due to be released in a later version). Of course, no previews until the release.
And there you have it, a quick update of what is going on with MyBB and where we’re at.
