Some neat things

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As my work project advances I create new things that are useful for the wuggawoo codebase so I develop them on Wuggawoo first and then port them over. The problem with this is that its easy to over-ride some custom code that is specifically coded for my project.

To combat this I made an extension folder in the Class, controller and template directories. However, this is unorganised and the team who are going to be helping soon will find it overly complex and rightly so. Therefore, I made an extensions folder in the root with its own class/controller/template directories.

The template class now checks if a file exists in the root template folder, then the extension template folder and then the theme folder. The main configuration folder lets the server manager to change the section and action so that the default page doesnt have to be the forum anymore.

Also worthy of note is how "Projects" can now become "extensions". Currently my major project is a PHP My Admin rip off, except light weight and more specific. I shall post pictures soon.

[b][u]Other Notable Changes[/u][/b]
The user URL was "user/username-userid" it has now become "user/username/userid-page" this will allow future use of comments being paged and it looks neater in my eyes.

Another big change that I'm kinda split on, is now Groups can be assigned to threads aswell as the forum id. This means threads can have two sets of meta data attached to them, really honing how specific it is. It also gives the user control to essentially create there own custom forum! This is great for users and the websites owners as it delivers more keywords, more accessibility an more user enjoyment and creativity.

It was achieved by adding group_id next to forum_id on the thread row. The reason I'm unhappy about this is because my master trainer would have insisted that it be

Table: Thread
Table: Thread_Group
Table: Thread_Forum

Which would mean a thread could in essence be tied to many groups and many forums. A one-to-many relationship. HOWEVER I opted against this as it meant a MAJOR overhaul of how threads work AND means users could overload a theads worse. The amount of headaches and query rewrites to accomplish it would have probably slowed down the site aswell.

[b][u]Current Problems[/u][/b]
I suck at Mysql. I've never been great and essentially I ride the wave of standard compliance with lack of proper indexes and slow queries on many joins. I should know how to set up proper indexes but I just don't. Reading would never teach me. I know no-one good at MYSQL with the patients to teach me. Its definetly the one area Wuggawoo falls really weak on. In essences its a huge crutch to, the main pillars of PHP development are

MYSQL
PHP Code
Javascript
Directory Strucuture

In my eyes atleast and currently the top pillar is being weakly done. For that I'm sorry.

Another problem is Javascript. I'm using the MooTools framework, alot of my javascript is weak as it is, but now theres a new version out that would require more rewriting and right now I'm comtemplating switching to jQuery when the mood takes me. However I don't want to even type about it, javascript and me don't get along.

- Aaron Out.