suggestion feature polls

[VGR]

I would like to see the "expires on" date displayed in the  Experts Round Table Forum Index -> Ballot Box category.

is this feasible ?

[nicholassolutions]

yes - it should just take some editing of the template and/or some simple addition to the phpBB code...unfortunately that code is a mess so it can be hard to find where you need to insert things...but it can get done relatively soon and I see no reason not to.

[Huntress]

I think it's a very good idea for reminding users to vote.

[nicholassolutions]

Agreed. After looking through the code, I must confirm what a mess it really *is*.  :sad3: I don't have time right now to pick through it much more, so I'll put some notes here, either to help myself, or the next person to come to this:

The modification needs to be done on viewforum.php, though I am not certain exactly where..I think around line 597, one needs to add a query on table phpbb_vote_desc

Code:

SELECT vote_start, vote_length FROM phpbb_vote_desc WHERE topic_id = $topic_id

vote_start in a unix timestamp, and vote length appears to also be in seconds, so you need something like,

Code:

$i_expires_in = $i_vote_start + $i_vote_length - mktime();

and then divide that appropriately to find days, hours, min. Alternatively, you could just use date() on

Code:

$i_end_time = $i_vote_start + $i_vote_length

to show the end time. However you choose to show this information (time left or end date), it seems that it should be appended to

Code:

$topic_type .= $lang['Topic_Poll'] . ' ';

[VGR]

it seems worse than "messy" :D :D :D

so the end_date is not even stored simply as a DATETIME/TIMESTAMP ? It has to be deduced from the duration + start_date ? what a monster :D

I'm sorry if a simple request turns into a monstruous hair-pulling task, but really I thought it was probably very simple to do ;-)

[nicholassolutions]

"c'est phpBB"  :D It's a good suggestion; eventually one of us will work up the courage to face the beast again and set it up....it certainly *seems* like you shouldn't have to change more than a line or two of code  :D

[coral1]

I suppose I could put something in the post.
Compared to deciphering the Poll from the Discussion :sad3: , that would be easy.

[nicholassolutions]

darnit coral, stop thinking of simple non-technical solutions will you? I'm trying to make this as complicated as possible.

[coral1]

Not a problem. I am naturally lazy, anyway.  
Less typing =  :thumbup:

[Srirangan]

Coral's right. Just mention the date in the poll and lock polling after that date. Remember the aim to to get it working, not finding the utopian solution. :D

[nicholassolutions]

yes, that's what I meant -- at least until someone finds the time to monkey with the code, that's definitely the solution

[VGR]

du travail de cochon :D

monkey business ;-)

[coral1]

Well... don't wait too long. I REALLY hate typing.  :sad3:

[COBOLdinosaur]

The polling interface is a candidate for a full re-write as we move to the newer format, so I would not spend a lot of effort on this.  The interface is going to seperated from the target so we hve several dedicated pages to voter information and balloting.  The discussion topic will run right off of it with cross-linking between the votes, the discussion topic, related topics and any discussion that the Governing councils has related to it.

Sort of a one stop location for the government side of ERT.  That will make it easier to manage permissions, and make voting results more secure and easy to verify.

If the request can be satisfied by addit it to the topic text that may be the best short-term solution.  

Cd&

[coral1]

Locking in a couple of days unless yelled at.   :glasses7: