Mod Settings Blocks

Mod Settings Blocks
Mod Settings Blocks
Summary	Defines HTML forms in the Admin>>Setup>>General Configuration page that manage settings for various mod. Each mod's options are enclosed in a distinctive "Mod Settings Block"
Validation
Mod Updated	7 Jan 2021
	TNG 14.0
	TNG 13.0
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Author(s)	Robin Richmond
Homepage	(this page)
Mod Support	My Mod Support form
Contact Developer	My Mod Support form
Latest Mod	14.0.0.3
Min TNG V	13
Max TNG V	14
Files modified	genlib.php, adminlib.php, admin_genconfig.php, admin_updateconfig.php, css/genstyle.css, cust_text.php English, French, Danish, & Norwegian cust_text.php; ; Installs: rrmodsettingsblocks.php, img/rrmodsettingsblock_wiki.gif, rrshowmodnames_include.php, rrinnermodmenu_lib, rrinnermodmenu_newtab.php, js/fieldbuttonsmod.js
Related Mods
Notes	All of my mods that have mod settings depend on this mod

This mod supports a new way of organizing and editing mod settings. It is required by most of my mods, that is, about 25 mods that have mod settings, plus a very few others that use other features of this mod.

For TNGv14, the Inner Mod Menus, Show Mod Names, and Field Buttons mods have all been incorporated into Mod Settings Blocks, which has new settings that enable and disable the features that were implemented by those mods. (The text in this article does not reflect this change.)
Inner Mod Menus and Field Buttons are enabled by default, and Show Mod Names is disabled by default.
- Robin Richmond, 3 Jan 2022

Purpose of the Mod

Installs the PHP & Javascript code for

'Mod Settings Blocks, a new type of mod settings form their mod options.
Inner Mod Menus, which provides handy links to mod settings and documenttion.
Field Buttons - handy one-character buttons attached to form fields, and
ShowModNames - Lists the mods that affected a displayed page

Almost all of my (Robin Richmond's) mods are dependent on this mod.

Mod Settings Blocks

My mods options are defined (in Mod Settings Blocks) in the Admin>>Setup>>General Settings (admin_genconfig.php), in a new subform titled "Mod Settings Blocks" below the native "Miscellaneous" subform.

This screenshot show the first few of several Mod Settings Blocks in Admin>>Setup>>General Settings (admin_genconfig.php). T Depending on how many of my mods have been installed on a given site, there could be as many as a couple of dozen Mod Settings Blocks here.

The Wiki logo (a stylized W) is a link to the mod's Wiki Article
Each Mod Settings Block has its own "Save" button, which, like the other "Save" buttons in the page, means "Save all options defined in this page, not just the ones that are visible".

"Inner Mod Menus" (a feature installed by this mod) link directly to a mod's Mod Settings Block, and and display that mod's options by themselves so you don't have to search for that mod among numerous Mod Settings Block, like this:

See also the section "Links to Mod Settings Blocks".

Mod Settings Blocks are non-standard in TNG, but have several advantages over conventional options defined by %parameter% tags in Mod Manager.

[See Advantages and Disadvantages]

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Advantages

The distinct advantages that Mod Settings Blocks have over options defined by native Mod Manager %parameter% directives are that the options in Mod Settings Blocks

Can be defined through checkboxes, radio buttons, and selection boxes,
Can be validate at the time they are entered,
Can use Javascript as necessary to do things like disable an option that is not relevant when another option has a certain value,
Can be composite values that are built from more than one form field,
Can have pop-up help text that provides more information than typical mod parameter prompts,
Can be combined with related options into tables and lists, and, notably
Can be applied readily to more than one program, and even be used by programs modified by other mods.

In addition,

Programs that are affected by mod options can have links (visible only to Admins) directly from those programs to the relevant Mod Settings Block. That is, if you see program behavior that is driven by an option, and you want to change that option, you don't necessarily have to close the program, return to the Mod Manger, edit the option there, and then return back to the program that is affected by the option.
The prompts, labels, and descriptions for options in Mod Settings Blocks can be translated into languages other than English. (Well, of course, with classic Mod Manager parameters, a prompt can include text in more than one language, but the language cannot be driven by the TNG language setting. Instead, all of the languages have to be visible at the same time.)

Note that some mods do already define their mod options in Admin>>Setup pages, but those options are relatively hidden among all of the many TNG settings. With Mod Settings Blocks, the options for a mod are clearly distinguished from other mods' options.

Disadvantages

Classic Mod Manager Parameters are more familiar
Every classic Mod Manager Parameter necessarily can be set back to a default value, but only a few settings in Mod Settings Blocks can be reset to a default value. For many options, there's no particular need to reset to a default value, but there could be times when a site administrator wants to revert to a default value and the Mod Settings Block form field doesn't supply a reset option.

[Hide Details]

Mod Settings

This mod's settings enable and disable features that used to be installed by mods listed above that incorporated into the Mod Settings Block mod with TNGv12 This mod has no options. It supports the mod options defined by numerous other mods.

Where to display the Inner Mod Menu
- (1) In the universal "Inner Menu", (2) At the bottom of the page, (3) Nowhere
Inner Mod Menu label:
- Short: "Mods" (which might be translated)
- Long: "Mod information" (which might be translated)
- Other: Specified in a text field and applicable to all languages
Which field buttons are active?
X for "Clear Field", R for "Reload" the form field's initial value, D for "Default Vale", or S for "All Items"

Display the Show Mod Names button? Default - NO. When the button is not displayed, the list of mods is placed in a comment near the bottom of the page.

Compatibility

No known incompatibilities.

Related Mods

This mod is a prerequisite for all of my mods that have mod options, including Admin Branches, Admin Media Search, Admin Places Search, Browsemedia Search Form, Cemetery Burials Table, Headstones Report, Regroup Person Profile, Regroup Person-Date Place, and close to 20 more.
Mods that used to be "Related Mods" but have been incorporated into Mod Settings Blocks. Essentially all documentation of the features that used to be installed by these mods is still in their old wiki articles.
- Inner Mod Menus
- Show Mod Names
- [Field Buttons]] (this wasn't actually a "Related Mod", but it is now part of Mod Settings Blocks.

Installation

{{RobinBoilerplate | text=install]}{{RobinBoilerplate | text=languageandfiles]}

Files Installed

These filenames reveal which mod used to install them.

rrmodsettingsblocks.php - The PHP, Javascript, and CSS that support Mod Settins Blocks
img/rrmodsettingsblock_wiki.gif - An icon that is used within Mod Settings Blocks and Inner Mod Menus to link to a mod's wiki page.
rrinnermodmenu_lib - The PHP and CSS code that support Inner Mod Menus
rrinnermodmenu_newtab.php - The PHP, Javascript, and CSS code that support New Tab Labels
rrshowmodnames_include.php - The PHP, Javascript, and CSS code that supports the Show Mod Names functionality ,
js# js/fieldbuttonsmod.js - Javascript code that supports Field Buttons. (There is no PHP code for Field Buttons) rradminmediasearch_config.php - An Include file containing bulk of the code for this mod's Mod Options Block.
js/rradminmediasearch_config.js - Javascript for this mod's Mod Options Block

[Show Installation Details]

Requirements

A working TNG installation.
An installed current version of the Mod Manager.
You should backup files listed in the panel on the right.

Procedure

Remove and delete previous version of this mod.
Backup the files updated by this mod. They are listed in the panel at the upper right.
Download the .zip file, Extract its .cfg file to the mods folder.
Follow the normal automated installation for Mod Manager, as shown in the example Mod Manager - Installing Config Files.

Problems?

Try using the Mod Manager Remove capability
Contact me through My Mod Support form.

[Hide Details]

Links to Mod Settings Blocks

There are two places in TNG applications where links take you directly to a single Mod Options block (as illustrated in the second screenshot at the beginning of this article).

1. In Mod Manager, where I have contrived the "Edit Options" page to link directly to the mod's options. That is, the Edit Options page for each mod that has a Mod Settings Block looks very much like this:
  File:Mod settings blocks-modmanageroptions.jpg
2. From an Inner Mod Menu].
All Mod Settings Blocks are in the Mod Settings Block subform of the Admin General Settings page