Major gain in efficiency for the latest news block and better styles

Still working on more improvements here

blocks/news_items/block_news_items.php

@@ -21,19 +21,89 @@ class block_news_items extends block_base {
             return $this->content;
         }
 
-        require_once($CFG->dirroot.'/course/lib.php');
-        require_once($CFG->dirroot.'/mod/forum/lib.php');
 
         $course = get_record('course', 'id', $this->instance->pageid);
 
-        if ($course->newsitems) {
+        if ($course->newsitems) {   // Create a nice listing of recent postings
-            $news = forum_get_course_forum($this->instance->pageid, 'news');
+
-            // Slightly hacky way to do it but...
+            require_once($CFG->dirroot.'/mod/forum/lib.php');   // We'll need this
-            ob_start();
+           
-            forum_print_latest_discussions($news->id, $course->newsitems, 'minimal', '', get_current_group($this->instance->pageid));
+            $text = '';
-            $this->content->text = ob_get_contents();
+
-            ob_end_clean();
+            if (!$forum = forum_get_course_forum($course->id, 'news')) {
+                return $this->content;
+            }
+
+        /// First work out whether we can post to this group and if so, include a link
+
+            if (isteacheredit($course->id)) {     /// Teachers can always post
+                $visiblegroups = -1; 
+
+                $text .= '<div align="center" class="newlink"><a href="'.$CFG->wwwroot.'/mod/forum/post.php?forum='.$forum->id.'">'.
+                          get_string('addanewtopic', 'forum').'</a>...</div>';
+
+            } else {                              /// Check the group situation
+                $currentgroup = get_current_group($course->id);
+
+                if (forum_user_can_post_discussion($forum, $currentgroup)) {
+                    $text .= '<div align="center" class="newlink"><a href="'.$CFG->wwwroot.'/mod/forum/post.php?forum='.$forum->id.'">'.
+                              get_string('addanewtopic', 'forum').'</a>...</div>';
+                }
+
+                if (!$cm = get_coursemodule_from_instance('forum', $forum->id, $course->id)) {
+                    $this->content->text = $text;
+                    return $this->content;
+                }
+    
+                $groupmode = groupmode($course, $cm);
+    
+                /// Decides if current user is allowed to see ALL the current discussions or not
+    
+                if (!$currentgroup and ($groupmode != SEPARATEGROUPS) ) {
+                    $visiblegroups = -1;
+                } else {
+                    $visiblegroups = $currentgroup;
+                }
+            }
+
+        /// Get all the recent discussions we're allowed to see
+
+            if (! $discussions = forum_get_discussions($forum->id, 'p.modified DESC', 0, false, 
+                                                       $visiblegroups, $course->newsitems) ) {
+                $text .= '('.get_string('nonews', 'forum').')';
+                $this->content->text = $text;
+                return $this->content;
+            }
+
+        /// Actually create the listing now
+
+            $strftimerecent = get_string('strftimerecent');
+            $strmore = get_string('more', 'forum');
+
+            foreach ($discussions as $discussion) {
+
+                $discussion->subject = $discussion->name;
+
+                if (!empty($CFG->filterall)) {
+                    $discussion->subject = filter_text($discussion->subject, $forum->course);
+                }
+
+                $text .= '<p class="post">'.
+                         '<span class="head">'.userdate($discussion->modified, $strftimerecent).'<br />'.
+                                               fullname($discussion).'</span><br />'.
+                         '<span class="info">'.$discussion->subject.' '.
+                         '<a href="'.$CFG->wwwroot.'/mod/forum/discuss.php?d='.$discussion->discussion.'">'.
+                         $strmore.'...</a></span>'.
+                         '</p>';
+            }
+
+            $this->content->text = $text;
+
+            $this->content->footer = '<a href="'.$CFG->wwwroot.'/mod/forum/view.php?f='.$forum->id.'">'.
+                                      get_string('oldertopics', 'forum').'</a> ...';
+
         }
+
         return $this->content;
     }
 }

mod/forum/lib.php

@@ -1214,7 +1214,7 @@ function forum_count_unrated_posts($discussionid, $userid) {
 }
 
 function forum_get_discussions($forum="0", $forumsort="d.timemodified DESC",
-                               $user=0, $fullpost=true, $visiblegroups=-1) {
+                               $user=0, $fullpost=true, $visiblegroups=-1, $limit=0) {
 /// Get all discussions in a forum
     global $CFG;
 
@@ -1224,6 +1224,11 @@ function forum_get_discussions($forum="0", $forumsort="d.timemodified DESC",
         $userselect = "";
     }
 
+    if ($limit) {
+        $limit = " LIMIT $limit ";
+    } else {
+        $limit = "";
+    }
 
     if ($visiblegroups == -1) {
         $groupselect = "";
@@ -1252,7 +1257,7 @@ function forum_get_discussions($forum="0", $forumsort="d.timemodified DESC",
                                AND p.parent = 0
                                AND p.userid = u.id $groupselect $userselect
                                AND (d.usermodified = um.id OR d.usermodified = 0)
-                          ORDER BY $forumsort");
+                          ORDER BY $forumsort $limit");
 }
 
 

theme/standard/styles_color.css

@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ th {
     color:#990000;
 }
 
-.forumheadminimal {
+.sideblock .post .head {
     color:#555555;
 }
 

theme/standard/styles_fonts.css

@@ -207,32 +207,16 @@ table.formtable tbody th {
 }
 
 .forumaddnew,
-.forumaddnewminimal,
 .forumnodiscuss,
-.forumnodiscussminimal,
-.forumolddiscussminimal,
 .noticeboxcontent {
     text-align:center;
 }
 
 .forumnodiscuss,
-.forumnodiscussminimal {
     font-weight:bold;
 }
 
-.forumpostheadername,
-.forumpostheaderreplies,
-.forumpostheaderdate {
-    font-size:small;
-}
 
-.forumaddnewminimal, 
-.forumnodiscussminimal,
-.forumheadminimal, 
-.foruminfominimal,
-.forumolddiscussminimal {
-    font-size:x-small;
-}
 
 .forumpost .topic .subject {
     font-weight: bold;
@@ -408,6 +392,12 @@ table.calendar-controls .next {
     text-align:center;
 }
 
+.sideblock .head,
+.sideblock .info {
+    font-size: 0.85em;
+}
+
+
 /* block_rss_client.php */
 .rssclientlink {
     font-size:x-small;

theme/standard/styles_layout.css

@@ -409,10 +409,6 @@ body#mod-forum-search .introcontent {
     font-weight:bold;
 }
 
-.forumolddiscussminimal {
-    text-align: center;
-}
-
 .forumolddiscuss {
     text-align: right;
 }