I would like to add a custom BBCode to my board that is similar to a QUOTE in that you can add a name parameter. I am not looking to to add any buttons or retrieve any text or message from a thread.

I will call it the [EXCERPT] tag and it will allow me to wrap the tag around a group of text that is quoted from an article or interview found anywhere. An image can describe it much better than I can:

http://www.thefloorpro.com/images/su...rpt_bbcode.gif

I already know that I will have to add 2 phrases, "Excerpt:" and "Authored by <strong>{1}</strong>" and a template:

What I need help with is turning this into a custom BBCode that will work. Can anyone help me do this?

Thank you for any assistance.

Jim

Well you can't use a conditional but you can use this code: Then if you go into the ACP and add custom bbcode paste that in there with the tag excerpt and then you can use: [EXCERPT=Author Name]Excerpt goes here.[/EXCERPT]

Thank you for that information. Why can't a conditional be used? I am assuming the conditional fixes an IE display issue and most of my members use IE.

Best R'gards,

Jim

It's to stop things like sql/html/js injections. I left it in the ie fix.

Thank you for the help with this. The <if condition="$show['iewidthfix']">width: 100%;</if> was apparently for an IE display glitch because the box over-flowed it's right side boundary until I reduced the width to less than 100% (I selected 95% because it looked best). There was also a problem with crowding the text area -- $stylevar[cellpadding] didn't seem to do its job. I changed that value to 6px. Below is the code I finally settled on.
Thank you again for your assistance with this.

Jim

Ah yeah, sorry, no variables will work apart from {option} and {param}

I see no difference between this and the standard quote, except for the phrase...

...after all, you're still quoting.

Yes, you're right, it is still a quote -- a quote of an article or interview. Quoting part of an article or interview is called "excerpting" and that is what I want my members to understand when they see it. When they see a standard quote box, it is usually assumed that another member said it someplace either in the same thread or at least someplace on the same forum. But the excerpts I will be using will often times be from someone who is not a member and maybe not even on the Net.

My first use of this new feature was for a small portion of a magazine article that is not anywhere on the Internet yet. It is a matter of semantics and I hope the author will appreciate it enough to allow me to use the feature 9 more times in a series of discussions concerning the whole article and the industry (floor covering) most of my members are a part of.

Never underestimate the power of a word (or phrase).

Thank you,

Jim

When you use this feature you might want to have it add the phrase "Author holds original copyright" or similar. You would legally need to do this because an excerpt is not just a quote of an article, it is a sample of a larger piece of work, and this larger piece of work is still copyrighted by the original author when you republish excerpts from it

Your comment, "an excerpt is not just a quote", contradicts your original reply to this thread. I wrote an article on copyright (posted on TheAdminZone.com) and understand what must be done to comply with International law and to satisfy ethics as best I can. I always include copyright information, including a link to the copyright holder and the author (not always the same entity) whenever possible. The feature, however, is as it is. It indicates the content of the box and it gives credit to the author by title and name. All other content associated with the excerpt should include any additional information. No need to clutter the excerpt box.

There is actually no such thing as "original copyright". You either hold the copyright, or you don't. Many times the author of a piece releases the copyright to a publishing organization. You might be able to retain reprint rights. I had a contract with Sandhills Publishing (CPU Magazine and others) that would not allow me to reprint my copy or my photographs for a period of 1 year. I wrote an article about removing scratches from acrylic for one of my websites and allowed selected websites to publish it, but not to redistribute it -- they only had limited reprint rights, not the copyright. Unless the author keeps the work for themself, copyright is a negotiable contract and can contain all kinds of clauses. An author does not always equal copyright holder, so having that info you suggested in the excerpt box would not always be factual.

R'gards,

Jim