Extending the characters in signature?

[Owol]

Currently, only 500 characters are allotted to the signature. With the way my site works, at least twice that amount of characters would be needed in the signature. Is there any way to extend the limit? 

[®i©hie]

Dec 20, 2015 11:56:36 GMT -8 Owol said:

Currently, only 500 characters are allotted to the signature. With the way my site works, at least twice that amount of characters would be needed in the signature. Is there any way to extend the limit? 

would this idea work for you:

Aug 27, 2014 19:45:56 GMT -8 ₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪ said:

You could remove the default signature, make a custom profile field with a very high character limit named "signature," and then replace the coding in the layout templates so that putting anything into this new custom profile field shows up exactly where/how the default signature does. Members wouldn't notice a difference and it'd behave exactly the same except that the character limit increases a lot.

[Sammiie]

®i©hie would you or anyone else be able to provide a detailed rundown of how that process would work?

[₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪]

Well, since I'm the one who suggested that option, I'll write some instructions. Please note this may not be the cleanest or easiest way to do this. There might be a much simpler solution or a solution that allows even bigger signatures. Unfortunately, this is all that I know how to do. Please, if someone knows better, feel free to pitch in, you won't hurt my feelings for pointing out a better solution.

This will only affect their posts. So if you want it to affect their profile as well, if you have signatures showing in your profile, I can additionally walk you through how to change it in your profile.

This will only affect 1 theme at a time. You will have to alter each theme's layout templates this way if you decide to pursue this and you have multiple themes.

There are a lot of steps but they are short and simple steps. It shouldn't be a long process.

1. Go to "Admin" > "Members" > "Custom Profile Fields"

---

2. Add a new field with whatever name you want. I would suggest the name "Signature Box" or something similar. I do not advise using "Signature" on its own because the final step in my instructions will not work properly then.

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3. For "Type," select "Text Area." For "Options," select "Light-BBCode Parsed." For "Character Limit," put the max "1024" (this will be how many characters you are allowed to use, so it's a bit over double the default signature. I'll let you decide if that amount is worth the effort or not)

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4. Go to "Admin" > "Themes" > "Layout Templates" > "Thread" > "Post List" (post list is a tab)

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5. Now this step is assuming you have not altered the default layout template. If you have, this may not be identical to what your code looks like. In that case, please let me know and I will try to help you. If you haven't changed the code a lot and are able to follow this step successfully, then awesome!
Find this:
{if $[post.created_by.signature]}
<div class="signature">$[post.created_by.signature]</div>
{/if}
It should be on line 37.

---

6. Next, replace that entire excerpt with this. Replace ONLY that part.
{foreach $[post.created_by.custom_field]}
{if $[post.created_by.custom_field.name] == "Signature Box"}
$[post.created_by.custom_field.value]
{/if}
{/foreach}
Where it says "Signature Box," change it to whatever you have named your custom profile field (assuming you chose a different name). Be sure to type it EXACTLY how you entered it into your custom profile fields and surround it with the quotes.

---

7. Assuming you have custom profile fields showing in your mini-profile, we need to tweak that. Otherwise the new "Signature Box" field will show in every mini-profile and profile, which is not what we want. We only want it to show at the bottom of the posts. So next, let's go to "Admin" > "Themes" > "Layout Templates" > "Mini-Profile."

---

8. Find the following code. It should be on line 25. Again, if you have altered your mini-profile layout template, this may not be identical. Let me know.
{foreach $[user.mini_custom_field]}
<br /><span class="$[user.mini_custom_field.content_class]">$[user.mini_custom_field.name]: $[user.mini_custom_field.value]</span>
{/foreach}

---

9. As before, we are going to replace ONLY that section with this:
{foreach $[user.mini_custom_field]}
{if $[user.mini_custom_field.name] == "Signature Box"}
{else}
<br /><span class="$[user.mini_custom_field.content_class]">$[user.mini_custom_field.name]: $[user.mini_custom_field.value]</span>
{/if}
{/foreach}
(if you did not name it "Signature Box," type in the name you gave it where it currently says "Signature Box")

---

10. To remove it from profiles, we will repeat similar steps. Go to "Admin" > "Themes" > "Layout Templates" > "User Profile" > "Summary" (summary is a tab).

---

11. Find this code on line 86, again yours may be different if you altered it:
{foreach $[user.custom_field]}
<tr class="$[user.custom_field.content_class]">
<td class="headings">
$[user.custom_field.name]:
</td>
<td>
$[user.custom_field.value]
</td>
</tr>
{/foreach}

---

12. Replace ONLY that section with this:
{foreach $[user.custom_field]}
{if $[user.custom_field.name] == "Signature Box"}
{else}
<tr class="$[user.custom_field.content_class]">
<td class="headings">
$[user.custom_field.name]:
</td>
<td>
$[user.custom_field.value]
</td>
</tr>
{/if}
{/foreach}
(if you did not name it "Signature Box," type in the name you gave it where it currently says "Signature Box")

---

13. Lastly, to avoid confusion we'll remove the default signature area. Now this is a rough way I learned how to do it from reading other threads. There might be a prettier way to do it. I wouldn't know, though.
Go to "Admin" > "Themes" > "Layout Templates" > "Edit User Profile"

---

14. At the very top of the code, enter this:
<script type="text/javascript">
   $(document).ready(function(){
      if(pb.data('route').name.match(/edit_user/)){
           $("label:contains('Signature')").css('display','none');
           $("label:contains('Signature')").next().css('display','none');
           $("label:contains('Signature')").next().next().css('display','none');
           $("label:contains('Signature')").next().next().next().css('display','none');
       }
   });
</script>
This is going to remove the default signature so the users don't get confused that there are 2 signature areas when editing their profile under the "Personal" tab. Please note, if you decided to name your custom profile field only "Signature," then it will also be removed by this code. That is why I suggest naming it something else besides just "Signature."

[Todge]

There's a plugin for this too...

[₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪]

Hah or that - gonna be way simpler than my method xD

[Sammiie]

₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪ thank you for taking the time to spell it out for me! I'm gonna try both your method and the plugin because sometimes plugins are wonky, it's always good to have something to fall back on

Thanks again!

[₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪]

Oh no worries, my feelings aren't hurt at all if you use the plugin :) It'll definitely be a lot simpler, that's for sure! I'm happy to have tried to help. :heart: Best of luck and you're very welcome!

[Sammiie]

Your way might actually work better for me, given the plugin requires a Super Key and I don't have anymore free

[Sammiie]

₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪ heya! So, I'm attempting your way, but I do have an edited layout, so #8 is giving me a little grief. I have a custom mini-profile thing, so I can't find that line in there anywhere. Please let me know if you need me to provide you with anything!

[₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪]

Can you PM me your mini-profile layout template? I'll take a look for how the custom profiles are incorporated in your layout. It'd be great if you could include your forum link in your PM, too, so I can have a visual reference for the mini-profile (assuming the guest-visible default theme is the same as the theme code you're gonna be sending me)

[₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪]

Sammiie
after looking at your mini-profile code, you can actually skip #8 entirely. Your mini-profile doesn't include that default section of coding, so there is no need to code an exception into it.

If interested in why:
Basically, in a default mini-profile layout template, there is a section of coding that automatically generates every custom profile field your site has. #8 was making sure your signature field did not appear in that list - since it is technically a custom profile field, that default coding would display it in your mini-profile along with the rest. My code, if converted into a sentence explaining what the code is "saying," said: "If the custom profile field is not named Signature Box, then display it in this list," thus making an exception. {if} statements are fantastic in this way, letting you make conditional coding so that whatever you code inside the {if} statement only activates under certain conditions. In this case, the certain condition was whether or not the custom profile field was named "Signature Box."

However, your customized layout template does not generate a compiled list of every single custom profile field, but rather it only uses them one-by-one specifically calling them by name using {if} statements, so it won't have any issue trying to display the signature because it only shows the exact custom fields it wants to when it wants to.

If that didn't make sense, no worries - just skip #8 and carry on your merry way ;D (or ask questions if you are interested and have any)