NPC Profiles

[Brian]

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Description

Allows you to post under an alternate NPC alias and change any posts on your forum by any user to NPC character account posts at any given time. Great for roleplay forums where two or more members of the forum's staff need access to a single non-player character.

Uses 1 Post Key.


Features

- Replaces display names on board and thread list with NPC names wherever applicable
- NPC selection dropdown in post controls in thread and posting page
- NPC dropdown categorization
- NPC auto-select button in the PBN bar
- NPC tagging (replaces display name in a regular tag with NPC name)
- Member list for NPCs
- Customizable base mini-profile for NPCs
- Customizable view profile page for NPCs


How to Use

Setup

First, go to the plugin's settings page and view the Permissions tab. Choose which groups on your forum will have permission to use the plugin. You can change the settings in the rest of the sections in this tab and in the Appearance and Profile HTML tabs, but they're completely optional.

Next, go to the NPC List tab. Add an NPC by providing it a Display Name, a unique Username, and specifying which groups have access to it. All other fields are optional and filling them out is entirely up to you. You can add as many NPCs as you like during this step.

The most highly recommended way to set up your NPC permissions is to create hidden groups in Members > Member Groups for each of your NPCs, then to add those groups to the plugin. The Plugin Keys section should have its dropdown set to Custom and all of your NPC groups should be added to the And members in the groups section. Then in the NPC List tab you'd add each NPC's group to the Who can use this NPC? column for each respective NPC.


Using it on your forum

Once you've set up your NPCs and permissions you should be able to click on the sword icon on the posting page to choose which NPC to post with. You can also assign NPCs to existing posts the same way. The sword icon in the PBN bar on the bottom right of the forum will allow you to automatically select an NPC when posting so you don't have to select it from the dropdown each time.


Preview




Expansions

If you reach the byte size limit in the plugin settings feel free to add any new NPCs to the NPC Profiles (Expansion) plugin below. Note that this plugin must be located above the NPC Profiles plugin on the list in Plugins > Manage in order to work.

NPC Profiles Expansion 110.pbp (1.43 KB)


Unique mini-profiles for each NPC were removed as of 1.1.0. If you still need this functionality you can bring it back by using the NPC Mini-Profiles expansion plugin below. This plugin must also be placed above the NPC Profiles plugin in order to work.

NPC MiniProfiles.pbp (732 B)


Adding More Fields

As of 1.2.0 you no longer have to edit the source code of the plugin to add new fields. Just go to Plugins > Build > NPC Profiles, click on the User Interface tab, then go to the NPC List tab and add as many fields as you like to the Auto Form section there. This also works for the expansion plugin.

The name of the template variable produced by the field is determined by the variable ID you give the field. For example, if the field's variable ID is occupation the variable you'd use to produce that field's value in the mini-profile's HTML is $[user.occupation].


Updating the plugin without losing new fields

If you've added new fields in a previous version of the plugin you'll end up losing them after updating the plugin. To avoid this you'll need to import the plugin on another forum and follow a few steps.

1. From a different forum's admin area go to Plugins > Plugin Library and install the NPC Profiles plugin (or if you're editing an expansion import the expansion plugin instead).

2. Once installed, follow the steps in the Adding More Fields section above to add your fields again. You must give these fields the exact same variable IDs as the fields you added to the previous version of the plugin.

3. Save your changes to the plugin, then go to the Export tab and export the plugin to your computer. Ensure that it's editable or you won't be able to access the Build tab when you import it.

4. On the forum that still has the older version, go to Plugins > Manage and click on the Import Plugin button. Browse your computer for the plugin file you exported in the previous step, then follow the steps to import your settings from the previous version and you're done!

[Brian]

Variable Definitions

Use these in your mini-profile and full profile HTML to output specific information pertaining to your NPC.

$[user]	Outputs a colored display name link to the NPC's profile. Outputs a colored display name in their full profile with no link.
$[user.name]	Outputs the NPC's display name in plain text with no formatting.
$[user.username]	Outputs the NPC's unique username in plain text with no formatting.
$[user.avatar]	Outputs the NPC's avatar in a fully formatted div at the forum's default avatar size.
$[user.avatar.src]	Outputs the URL to the NPC's avatar if one was specified in the NPC list.
$[user.color]	Outputs the hex color of the NPC's display name if specified.
$[user.group]	Outputs the NPC's group name if one was specified in the NPC list.
$[user.stars]	Outputs the NPC's star images if both a URL and count were specified in the NPC list.
$[user.birthday]	Outputs the NPC's birthday if one was specified in the NPC list.
$[user.gender]	Outputs the NPC's gender if one was specified in the NPC list.
$[user.location]	Outputs the NPC's location if one was specified in the NPC list.

Data Attributes (an alternative to if statements)

Since the plugin has no way to use {if} statements in its HTML sections an alternative has been built in to check for the existence of a variable. You can add a data-item attribute to an element and use a variable name as its value to check for the existence of that variable. If the variable doesn't exist the HTML element using that variable as its data-item attribute will not render in your profile HTML.

As an example, if you only want to render an avatar for NPCs that have one you'd first find the variable that outputs one, which is $[user.avatar]. The word after user in the variable is avatar, so we'd use that in our data-item attribute.

<div data-item="avatar">
    $[user.avatar]
</div>

In the example above, the NPC has no avatar which means the entirety of the HTML in the above quote will not show up in its profile HTML. This same concept applies to any of the NPC variables on the list, giving an easy method of building a profile or mini-profile that supports NPCs both with and without every field filled out in the NPC list. Note that unlike if statements you can't use these in the middle of an HTML tag. The plugin is merely checking for the existence of an HTML tag that contains a specific data-item attribute.

As of 1.2.0 you can also do the opposite of this: add an element that shows up in an NPC's mini-profile when they do not have a specific field filled out. Using data-default as the element's attribute will tell the plugin to render this element's HTML if the field you specify has no value.

<div data-default="avatar">
    <div class="avatar-wrapper avatar_size_default">
        <img src="DEFAULT AVATAR URL">
    </div>
</div>

To summarize, if a field is filled out the data-item element will render in their profile but the data-default element won't render at all.

If a field isn't filled out the data-default element will render in their profile and the data-item element won't render at all.

[Brian]

Template Modifications

Many themes available in the Theme Library will inevitably have completely redone board and thread lists. In an attempt to combat the conflict this will cause in the plugin I've added functionality to the plugin that looks for special elements on the page containing specific information pertaining to the thread displaying. You can add these in place of the standard variables on the page to ensure the theme uses the NPC names wherever applicable in most cases.

Give these a try if NPC names don't show in place of the poster's name in the sections below!


Board/Thread/Post List

Themes > Layout Templates > Board > Board List
- Find and replace $[board.last_thread.last_post.created_by], or add as an entirely new line wherever applicable.

<span data-item="latest" data-value="$[board.last_thread.last_post.id]">$[board.last_thread.last_post.created_by]</span>

Themes > Layout Templates > Board > Thread List
- Find and replace $[thread.created_by], or add as an entirely new line wherever applicable.

<span data-item="created-by">$[thread.created_by]</span>

Themes > Layout Templates > Board > Thread List
- Find and replace $[thread.last_post.created_by], or add as an entirely new line wherever applicable.

<span data-item="latest">$[thread.last_post.created_by]</span>

Themes > Layout Templates > Thread > Post List
- Add this wherever you'd like the NPC selection button to be.

<div class="o-npc-controls"></div>

Forum Information & Statistics

Themes > Layout Templates > Home
- Find and replace $[last_updated_thread.last_post.created_by], or add as an entirely new line wherever applicable.

<span data-item="last-updated" data-value="$[last_updated_thread.last_post.id]">$[last_updated_thread.last_post.created_by]</span>

Avatars

If you use avatars in any of the above templates and need them replaced with NPC avatars whenever applicable change created_by to created_by.avatar_small in any of the above examples. Using one of the changes in the Thread List template as an example:

<div data-item="created-by">$[thread.created_by.avatar_small]</div>

[Former Member]

This is so cooool! Any chance you could incorporate per-board permissions? Like the NPC -blank- can only be posted/used on -this- board type of thing?

[Wormopolis]

Feb 11, 2014 21:32:52 GMT -8 Brian said:

Another feature of the plugin is NPC auto-selection via the sword icon in the PBN bar on the bottom right of the forum. Clicking this icon will bring up a window containing a list of all of your available NPCs. Selecting an NPC from this window will display its micro-profile in the corner of your screen indicating that you're using it. While the micro-profile is active all posts you create on the forum will automatically use the NPC you selected, saving you time in the long run having to select the NPC you want to use on each post. You can click and drag the micro-profile to anywhere in your browser window. When you're done using the NPC you can click on its avatar to stop using it.

cool feature!

[Brian]

Feb 11, 2014 22:39:01 GMT -8 ₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪ said:

This is so cooool! Any chance you could incorporate per-board permissions? Like the NPC -blank- can only be posted/used on -this- board type of thing?

The plugin has a board blacklist to prevent all NPCs from being used on specific boards, but I don't currently have any plans to do it on a per NPC basis. For the most part I'm trying to prevent any more clutter on the NPC List tab. Having both the group search and the board search would be super gross.

[Boy_Wonder]

I just wanted to let you know I love this plugin and I'm using it on SHIELD, I was just curious if there was a way to remove the 'posted by Alpha' line at the bottom

shieldrp.com/thread/1574/tensions-flare-russia-georgia?page=1&scrollTo=8980

Also is there a way of making it show as the NPC name in the infocenter or not?

[Thomasss]

This is to awesome.

Now if only plugins worked on mobile. =(

[Brian]

Feb 12, 2014 2:05:38 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

I just wanted to let you know I love this plugin and I'm using it on SHIELD, I was just curious if there was a way to remove the 'posted by Alpha' line at the bottom

shieldrp.com/thread/1574/tensions-flare-russia-georgia?page=1&scrollTo=8980

Also is there a way of making it show as the NPC name in the infocenter or not?

I added the "Posted By" line in place of the signature because users can see who made the post on the mobile version of the site. That and it's not hard to figure out who posted something despite the plugin covering it up.

Regardless, adding this to the style sheet hides it.

.user-rpg-sig { display: none; }

I imagine it could show an NPC online in the info center, but it would require rewriting the plugin to use yet another plugin key (which I'm wary of stuffing a plugin full of since you have a limited amount) and it would only show the NPC within a certain time frame after they've posted, as you're forbidden to automatically set plugin keys without user interaction.

[Boy_Wonder]

I'm not asking to show them online, I'm more asking if there's any way for it to show the 'last post' being by the NPC not the admin account

So it says Last Post By [NPC] in the infocenter as well

[Brian]

Feb 12, 2014 9:09:38 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

I'm not asking to show them online, I'm more asking if there's any way for it to show the 'last post' being by the NPC not the admin account

So it says Last Post By [NPC] in the infocenter as well

Oh, I get you now. Yeah, you can do that!

Go to Themes > Layout Templates > Home and find this variable in the info center's HTML.

$[last_updated_thread.last_post.created_by]

Replace it with this.

<span class="npc-user p-$[last_updated_thread.last_post.id]">$[last_updated_thread.last_post.created_by]</span>

[Boy_Wonder]

Ty ^_^ I'm really loving this on SHIELD and that was the only minor thing bugging me xD

[Brian]

Man, y'all didn't tell me that I forgot the Recent Threads page completely.

I submitted 1.0.1 to the library to fix that. Should show up tomorrow or the next day.

[Boy_Wonder]

xD I didn't check that lol that's why

[Brian]

Should be on the library now, Boy_Wonder.