Announce Tag
The Forum ☛ Components ☛ Announce Tag administration is where you can customize how one of the template tags function. Namely, this is for the announce template tag. All the other template tags accept arguments when you call them to control their functionality – except for the announce template tag.
Announce Template Tag
The ‘Announce template tag is a special tag that can be used outside of the forum (i.e., in a sidebar). It is capable of using remote calls to update itself without requiring a page refresh. The tag displays the most recent posts, showing the current user those they have not yet read. As well as the tag code being placed in your blog theme, it must also be enabled here.
Display as Unordered List
By default, the tag content displays in a small HTML table. By checking this option it displays as an HTML unordered list
Tag Display Heading
Defines the main heading that will appear above the ‘announce’ list. You can use any appropriate HTML tags for styling.
Text format of Tag Post Link
You may determine the layout and content of each post entry in the ‘announce’ tag list. You may use any appropriate HTML tags for styling and the following placeholders are available which must be used exactly as shown:
- %FORUMNAME% – The full name of the forum.
- %TOPICNAME% – The full name of the topic.
- %POSTER% – The name of the author of the post being linked to.
- %DATETIME% – The date and time the post was made.
Note that by default a small icon is displayed beside each post entry (in table view). These can show whether the post has been read or not by the current user. The icons are contained in the forum skin you are using.
Announce Auto Refresh
It is possible to have the ‘Announce’ tag auto refresh itself which means new posts will appear in the list as they are created. It is recommended to only use this feature if really required as it does require the system to make a regular call to the server and the database. The time between refreshes can also be set. Be cautious with this. If it is set too frequently (i.e., 15 seconds) a slow or busy server my be unable to handle the request before the next one arrives! It is best to set the refresh for a longer period, especially on a busy server.
