Mahz's Dev Journal

[Rare]

Since you have to go back to work soon, are you going to give another mod the same abilities you have (so we don't have to wait from you to fix bugs and you don't have to get on here, while at work)?

[BBeast]

With lists, I'd like them to preserve line breaks between items. When you have lists containing a paragraph per bullet point, it becomes a wall of text pretty quickly. Walls of text are not the point of lists.

[Captain Jordan]

Since you have to go back to work soon, are you going to give another mod the same abilities you have (so we don't have to wait from you to fix bugs and you don't have to get on here, while at work)?

Rare

Well, his Github is public. Anyone with the code knowledge can submit a pull request with a bug patch for Mahz. I don't think it's too much to ask to let Mahz decide which pull requests to accept, and whether to use that code on a live server (sometimes bug fixes just make more bugs, or wind up being slower/less efficient than the buggy version).

[Hank]

Do we even have code-savvy community members who can help Mahz in this regard?

[Ellri]

We do, Hank. We're not sure on names though. (we're hopeless with names)

Do we even have code-savvy community members who can help Mahz in this regard?

Hank

We do, Hank. We're not sure on names though. (we're hopeless with names)

Ellri

I would be one of them, although I have been wrestling with the code a lot so far and getting more bugs than anything, but I guess it is to be expected when a game dev suddenly starts doing web as well (not to mention that the guild is a fairly large site to serve as my first real web experience lol). Currently working on a user search page, I just need to track down one pesky bug first that is preventing the page from loading. EDIT: Also, multiple people have submitted bug fixes, but unfortunately they have done so anonymously so Mahz can't really credit them.

[Hank]

That's great to hear.

[HeySeuss]

EDIT: Also, multiple people have submitted bug fixes, but unfortunately they have done so anonymously so Mahz can't really credit them.

TheMaster99

That's a shame, because one of the ideas we had for the RPGN was to recognize people that submit that stuff in there, at least until we have a better method of doing so down the road. But hey, whoever the anonymous benefactors are, thank you from the bottom of my (and others', I assume) heart(s). This is a crucial job that only certain people are skilled to do.

[Ellri]

We can't do the coding ourselves... But at least we can do the questioning of the victims of bugs... Or answering of some of those questions. (up to a point) Now where'd we stick that comfy chair. Someone's due for being subjected to it...

[Mahz]

Web developers are rare and roleplayers are rare. Roleplaying web developers are super rare. I'm not expecting a lot of help, but I've gone out of my way to make the guild easy to hack on for anyone with even a modicum of webdev experience. It's just SQL and Javascript and RESTful routes. Three bits of tech you can't possibly avoid if you get into webdev. But there are more benefits to having open-source code than just contributors. For example, you can see the actual work being done on the guild: https://github.com/danneu/guild/commits/master.

With lists, I'd like them to preserve line breaks between items. When you have lists containing a paragraph per bullet point, it becomes a wall of text pretty quickly. Walls of text are not the point of lists.

BBeast

Thanks. https://github.com/danneu/guild/issues/20

[Commander]

Is it possible to have the ability to edit older posts? For example in a PM role play I'm in (less than 30 days old) I wanted to go in and copy some IMG code but I have no ability to edit that post, and thus get in to get the code. I always thought we had the ability to edit older posts. Thank you.

[yoshua171]

Mahz, I tried to edit a post today and it won't let me. It says it's saving and then never actually finishes editing the post. Also, what is the current character count for a given post?

[LegendBegins]

Do we even have code-savvy community members who can help Mahz in this regard?

Hank

I'm not familiar with JavaScript specifically, but I'm capable of learning code quickly. If I could make time, I'd be willing to assist Mahz with the GuildCode if it would be of help. I'm more of a programmer than a web developer (which is why JS has escaped my view thus far), but I'd be more than willing to pick it up if it means an improvement, and a lighter load on Mahz.

[Alamantus]

I have background in web development. My biggest problem is jumping into an already-huge project and my newness at Github and pull requests... I don't even know where to start or how to really help effectively. Plus, I don't really have a way to test the database stuff myself, so that makes it harder, too... But I'll probably dip my toe into the code and maybe eventually I'll feel comfortable enough to help with some of the bugs/features.

I have background in web development. My biggest problem is jumping into an already-huge project and my newness at Github and pull requests... I don't even know where to start or how to really help effectively. Plus, I don't really have a way to test the database stuff myself, so that makes it harder, too... But I'll probably dip my toe into the code and maybe eventually I'll feel comfortable enough to help with some of the bugs/features.

Alamantus

You'll have to install PostgreSQL during the setup for a local dev environment, and it has a gui tool that can be used to test queries/etc. During the setup of the site on your computer, a sample db is written, with some posts, users, etc.

Do we even have code-savvy community members who can help Mahz in this regard?

Hank

I'm not familiar with JavaScript specifically, but I'm capable of learning code quickly. If I could make time, I'd be willing to assist Mahz with the GuildCode if it would be of help. I'm more of a programmer than a web developer (which is why JS has escaped my view thus far), but I'd be more than willing to pick it up if it means an improvement, and a lighter load on Mahz.

LegendBegins

Yeah, I'm not a web developer either, but it really isn't bad. Other than the lack of helpful error messages/stack traces (at least from what I've seen), the current setup seems easy to work on.

[Alamantus]

I have background in web development. My biggest problem is jumping into an already-huge project and my newness at Github and pull requests... I don't even know where to start or how to really help effectively. Plus, I don't really have a way to test the database stuff myself, so that makes it harder, too... But I'll probably dip my toe into the code and maybe eventually I'll feel comfortable enough to help with some of the bugs/features.

Alamantus

You'll have to install PostgreSQL during the setup for a local dev environment, and it has a gui tool that can be used to test queries/etc. During the setup of the site on your computer, a sample db is written, with some posts, users, etc.

TheMaster99

That's great to know. Thanks!

[Mahz]

Is it possible to have the ability to edit older posts? For example in a PM role play I'm in (less than 30 days old) I wanted to go in and copy some IMG code but I have no ability to edit that post, and thus get in to get the code. I always thought we had the ability to edit older posts. Thank you.

Commander

Can't you "View Raw" on old posts to at least see the old QQCode? At the very least, you can right-click images and select "Copy image URL" or something.

Mahz, I tried to edit a post today and it won't let me. It says it's saving and then never actually finishes editing the post. Also, what is the current character count for a given post?

yoshua171

Hmm, thought I had edit-legacy-posts working as a feature. Maybe it's a permissions error that I didn't realize since I'm usually an admin while testing. I'll revisit the code. I work during the week so I generally don't have energy to work on code til the weekends though. Post/PM max character length is currently 65,536 chars (2¹⁶). I need to add a counter to the editor to express this. Added an issue: https://github.com/danneu/guild/issues/23 - Thanks.

I have background in web development. My biggest problem is jumping into an already-huge project and my newness at Github and pull requests... I don't even know where to start or how to really help effectively. Plus, I don't really have a way to test the database stuff myself, so that makes it harder, too... But I'll probably dip my toe into the code and maybe eventually I'll feel comfortable enough to help with some of the bugs/features.

Alamantus

Yeah, I need to write a quick-start overview to the codebase. I also need to update the README with better instructions on getting it setup. Anyone can add me on Skype via "dan_neu" if they need help getting up and running. When you add me as a contact, just let me know you're from the guild and what your username is since I get a lot of bot spam. - All the server routes/URLs are defined in one massive file: server/index.js. I think the best way to figure out how the guild works is to look at the URL in the browser and see which route it matches in that file. From there you'll see which database query is being executed and which view is being rendered. - All the HTML templates are in the views directory. - All the SQL queries are in server/db.js. I will begin writing top-level comments in the files to describe what they're for. That's pretty much the basis of how things work. All the other files offer supporting functionality.

[Alamantus]

- All the server routes/URLs are defined in one massive file: server/index.js. I think the best way to figure out how the guild works is to look at the URL in the browser and see which route it matches in that file. From there you'll see which database query is being executed and which view is being rendered. - All the HTML templates are in the views directory. - All the SQL queries are in server/db.js. I will begin writing top-level comments in the files to describe what they're for. That's pretty much the basis of how things work. All the other files offer supporting functionality.

Mahz

That's helpful, thanks! I found a lot of the stuff in the views directory and server/db.js, but knowing that the routes are in server/index.js is helpful. I'll read through that and go from there to see if I can figure out some of the stuff in the issue tracker! :)

[LegendBegins]

I have background in web development. My biggest problem is jumping into an already-huge project and my newness at Github and pull requests... I don't even know where to start or how to really help effectively. Plus, I don't really have a way to test the database stuff myself, so that makes it harder, too... But I'll probably dip my toe into the code and maybe eventually I'll feel comfortable enough to help with some of the bugs/features.

Alamantus

You'll have to install PostgreSQL during the setup for a local dev environment, and it has a gui tool that can be used to test queries/etc. During the setup of the site on your computer, a sample db is written, with some posts, users, etc.

Do we even have code-savvy community members who can help Mahz in this regard?

Hank

I'm not familiar with JavaScript specifically, but I'm capable of learning code quickly. If I could make time, I'd be willing to assist Mahz with the GuildCode if it would be of help. I'm more of a programmer than a web developer (which is why JS has escaped my view thus far), but I'd be more than willing to pick it up if it means an improvement, and a lighter load on Mahz.

LegendBegins

Yeah, I'm not a web developer either, but it really isn't bad. Other than the lack of helpful error messages/stack traces (at least from what I've seen), the current setup seems easy to work on.

TheMaster99

From what I've noticed skimming through the code, and it doesn't seem overtly difficult, as a language, and it seems to be written concisely. If I can actually make time in my schedule, I may be able to pick JS up and begin developing.

[Shienvien]

I am a "hard" programmer (primarily dealing with fairly low-level optimization), but I have worked with websites before, if not professionally. I'd probably be willing to take a look at the code should I find some free time (until then, I am stuck with pointing out the flaws I see and making suggestions).