RE: Feedback/Suggestions/Bugs+Changelog
08-09-2018, 09:38 PM
It'd probably not be easier to migrate to a new system, no. That'd break at least as many features, and may change a lot of things we won't be able to fix to be like they used to be.
If it helps, I have a good idea what causes these formatting tag problems; when the forum backend turns your BBcode into HTML, there are a few different phases of text-parsing done that sometimes conflict, and which sometimes create unexpected effects. For one example, the raw text of a post is changed by the built-in MyBB parser, which sometimes adds line breaks, and even permanently changes the text of tags you type when a post is submitted, which can be seen when editing a post with such a tag; a [center] tag becomes [align=center] for instance.
MyBB doesn't make it terribly easy to recode their built-in text parser; it's hidden unless you have back-end access, and changes may be overwritten by updates. The stuff Admins are intended to use is strapped on top in an Admin-created Custom BBCode Tag system in the Admin control panel. These tags are easy to code, but less powerful (they just turn certain BBCode Tags text into HTML tags, but can't do more complicated scripting stuff). Any BBCode Tags we create using their built-in system also can't be nested the way built-in tags can be, among other weird idiosyncrasies. This is how most content plugins (video embedding, some alignment tags, etc.) work.
Forum Admins also have access to more complex-to-create but more powerful Javascript Plugins. These aren't subject to the same restrictions since their functionality is all made from scratch, but it's also considerably more work to code and implement 'em. For example, this is how Spoilers work, and why they can be nested.
Anyway, I still need to investigate the backend stuff to see what I can do to change it; unfortunately, it would probably need to be recoded, or at least manually copied over, any time we update the forum backend. But I think it's entirely fixable, once I understand the system better. Still gotta figure out the best way to do that though.
If it helps, I have a good idea what causes these formatting tag problems; when the forum backend turns your BBcode into HTML, there are a few different phases of text-parsing done that sometimes conflict, and which sometimes create unexpected effects. For one example, the raw text of a post is changed by the built-in MyBB parser, which sometimes adds line breaks, and even permanently changes the text of tags you type when a post is submitted, which can be seen when editing a post with such a tag; a [center] tag becomes [align=center] for instance.
MyBB doesn't make it terribly easy to recode their built-in text parser; it's hidden unless you have back-end access, and changes may be overwritten by updates. The stuff Admins are intended to use is strapped on top in an Admin-created Custom BBCode Tag system in the Admin control panel. These tags are easy to code, but less powerful (they just turn certain BBCode Tags text into HTML tags, but can't do more complicated scripting stuff). Any BBCode Tags we create using their built-in system also can't be nested the way built-in tags can be, among other weird idiosyncrasies. This is how most content plugins (video embedding, some alignment tags, etc.) work.
Forum Admins also have access to more complex-to-create but more powerful Javascript Plugins. These aren't subject to the same restrictions since their functionality is all made from scratch, but it's also considerably more work to code and implement 'em. For example, this is how Spoilers work, and why they can be nested.
Anyway, I still need to investigate the backend stuff to see what I can do to change it; unfortunately, it would probably need to be recoded, or at least manually copied over, any time we update the forum backend. But I think it's entirely fixable, once I understand the system better. Still gotta figure out the best way to do that though.