Firefox PHP

Module: User Avatar

Posted by Maurice Makaay 
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 13, 2008 05:20AM
Hi all,

I really need some help. Does this module work when used in conjunction with the 'Store Files on disk" module? If so, could somebody please point me in the right direction as to how to get it to work?

Regards,

Matt
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 13, 2008 09:16AM
nothing needed. the store files on disk modules hooks into the api for file storage, so all files saved in phorum use it.


Thomas Seifert
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 13, 2008 11:06AM
Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the response.

However, I'm still really having troubles and have an army of Jack Russell lovers after me wanting their avatars back!

When I try to implement my avatar, the URL location of the image is: "/file.php?16,file=-" Are you familiar with this error?

Regards,

Matt
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 15, 2008 03:54PM
Just to let you know I have resolved this issue - thank you for your reply
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 15, 2008 05:33PM
So what did you do to resolve the issue?
We are always interested in that for future reference.


Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 15, 2008 06:30PM
Hi Maurice,

I suspect that there was something odd going on with being user id=1 ? To fix it, I hacked the database. I guess it's not what you wanted to hear.

All of the other users were fine apart from mine and I also created test accounts etc. to prove that it is wasn't user error on my behalf.

I hope this helps...

Regards,

Matt
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 21, 2008 09:23AM
Nowadays people want everything simple. It would be nice if people could upload their picture despite the size. It would be script which resizes it for them. I will have to implement that feature unless somebody did that. If yes, let me know. If I do it I'll post my work's results.

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Regards
MeME
Re: Module: User Avatar
April 21, 2008 07:45PM
You can use the Phorum Image API for the resizing part. It's not used by the core, but it's offered as a utility API that tries to implement image scaling for as many systems as possible.

My main reason for not implementing scaling in the module directly, is that I got way too many user complaints on my own website when I did. The big complaint was that animated GIF images would no longer work after uploading and scaling on the server. Therefore, my choice was to let users make sure that their image is small enough for using it as an avatar.

Therefore, if you are going to implement this, please make sure that you have either an admin module option for disabling autoscaling or that you clearly notify the user if the image is being scaled. Otherwise the ease of use might get frustrating for your users (trust me on that one).


Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce
Re: Module: User Avatar
July 01, 2008 01:08PM
Would I be right in thinking that this module is no use to me unless I allow users to upload files?

i.e., there is no facility for allowing the user to specify an external URL for their avatar? (I'd enforce a constant width of say, 100px in the template)

At some point I would like to enable file uploading, but currently I have disk quota concerns :-(

/\dam

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My notable Phorum sites:
Movie Deaths Database - "review comments" system mostly powered by Phorum
Learn Chinese! - integrated forum quiz
Re: Module: User Avatar
July 01, 2008 02:28PM
The module uses its own file type, but yes you'd have to allow them to upload their avatar. It's not enabling attachments or personal file uploads but it's defenitely eating your database storage space. URLs are not (yet) an option, but we might add it in a future release.

One problem with those that has to be handled is that you have to gracefully catch problem that occur when the remote avatar is deleted from the server. You don't want a forum full of broken images. Probably some scheduled job (and/or admin panel) is needed to clean up broken remote avatars.


Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce
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