KM-CODEX

A few years back I added Yahoo Maps to my Koolmoves and Flex based forums (myBBS and FlexBBS) and users could pick their location on earth at registration and it was also used for the “who is online” panel to show who was online at any given time. It was a Yahoo Staff Pick back then and hugely popular with my users but I removed it from later forums builds and versions because the Yahoo Map API was AS2 based and I was migrating to AS3 and figured I would revisit the ability once the API’s went AS3. I always wanted to use a Google map instead of Yahoo but at the time the Google Map API was not as useful to me (in the context of what I was doing) as Yahoo’s was. This is no longer the case and the Google Map AS3 API is pretty slick and has my gears already spinning to add the maps back to my KM-CODEX Desktop app. Long story short, expect to see this added to the next build of “Power Windows”.

Some people are confusing registering to download as meaning register here at my WordPress blog. To download you have to register in my Desktop forum after you install it using the install link in my sidebar. Once you install it you are immediately logged in as a “Guest” and the downloads will be hidden.

Here is a screenshot of the lower right of the forum where the “Refresh Forum” button is. The download button would be to the left of that if you log in as a registered member of the forum. As a “Guest” it is hidden.

To register, click the “User Account” button in the lower left of the forum like so:

This will open up the User Account panel where users can register, login, email their password, change their password or log out of the forum. When users log out they are logged back in as “Guests”. You want to register so in the upper left section of the User Account panel is the “Register” section shown below:

Fill in the required fields and click the “Register New” button. The board will attempt to register you. IF you choose a username already in use the board will inform you so you can try again. If the registration was successful it will email you a password and inform you in the forum like so:

Check your email for the message it sends you. Copy the password from your email and login to the board using the login section on the upper right of the “User Account” panel.

After you log in with your registered account the board will enable all things available as a member (especially the download button) and set your permission level to member so you can post and reply to threads. If you don’t like your assigned password you can change it in “User Accounts” now as well. Now that you are logged in as a member the download button is visible (little arrow icon):

Click that little arrow and the File Download panel slides in. All files have download button next to them and icon indicators to tell you what platform(s) were used to make them. Click the screenshot below to see the download panel picture larger.

Hope that clears up any confusion on registering. Have fun, drop me a post now and then and enjoy the downloads!

Today I’m submitting both the standalone ABCms system (which saves posts to disk or sqlite database) and also the new KM-CODEX Desktop Forum that integrates the platform tied to PHP/MySQL.

All existing forum posts have been converted over to the platform. Users of the older version boards will have to download and install a new digitally signed version.

The downloads are now part of the desktop forum. All registered members have access to the downloads right inside the desktop forum system now. Look for the little arrow icon to access them.

The Forum is now at Version .3 and all existing boards will update themselves accordingly.

See the Desktop Forum Change log thread to see details.

Above: Load screen

Above: Log Viewer Sliding In

Above: Log Viewer, Timer Halted, Scrolling Through List (IP’s hidden for screenshot)

Above: Screenshot of various admin controls

I’m getting questions about how the Desktop Forum is administered. The board is controlled with a dedicated administrator version that has all the features of the user version as well as things like:

1. Global Editing

Unlike the user version that only allows you to edit your own posts, the administrator version can edit any post at any time.

2. User Banning

Users can be banned inline at the touch of a button. Banned users are not able to load their boards as the user version locks them out. This control is reserved for cases of extreme misuse and usually an admin will simply edit any mildly offensive language and warn.

3. Thread Deletion

Threads can be deleted in place. The board will update all user post counts, forum thread counts and any other ancillary database entries affected by the deletion. If the thread is the only one in any forum, the last user name for that forum is cleared in the forum list and reset to “No Posts Yet”.

4. Post Deletion

Posts can be deleted in place. The board will update all affected user post counts and thread list post counts. If the post is the only one in a thread, the entire thread is deleted.

5. Thread Title Editing

All titles can be globally edited inline.

6. Maintenance Mode Switching

The admin can switch the board into maintenance mode on the fly. User versions will detect this flag and temporarily disable themselves until the status is changed to allow entry (maintenance turned off) again.

7. Admin Entry Awareness

Only users with admin status can enter the admin module. If the user is detected as a guest or a user without admin security access, the administrator version disables itself. This is coded for cases where a user might try to obtain a version from server meant to be an update version for an existing admin. Should they try to use it, they will find it useless and decompiling to get around the fact just as useless.

8. Slide In User Log Viewer

This slide in panel tells the admin who is online, their IP, last action taken and time of action. Timer based, this module can have it’s timer halted in real time to allow administrators to scroll through the returned list at their leisure. This is done to avoid timer resets which loads the list in real time and might force the admin to scroll down again since new data was sent to the Flex list. By being able to halt the timer they can simply halt…scroll to the position they want…for as long as they want, and re-enable the timer again when they are done to start auto-loading the list again. When the log panel is slid out of view, the timer automatically disables itself to save on database load. The amount of results can be adjusted on the fly from 20 – 1000 last actions viewable.

9. User Log Clearing

Administrators can reset the user log table (zero it) at any time they wish.

10. Admin Fail-safe’s

For user bans, thread deletions, post deletions and title edits the board asks if the admin is sure they want to perform these actions before taking any action. This is coded in case an admin accidentally hits a button they did not mean to.

User logs can be cleared (zeroed) at any time an admin chooses.