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GasBuddyBlues documentation

Written by ScroogeMcPump

Last update Dec 22, 2008

The following is (I hope) a comprehensive list of all the changes that my GasBuddyBlues and GasBuddyBluesOpera scripts make to the GasBuddy family* of Web sites. I keep this list here because it's easier to keep it here than to keep it in the pages for the individual scripts (and keep them coordinated).

* Actually, the script affects any page with a site name ending in "gasprices.com", so it's theoretically possible that it affects some sites it shouldn't.

Legend:

[C] refers to changes made to the site with additional JavaScript code - usually affecting how it works rather than how it looks.
[S] refers to changes made to the site with stylesheet modifications - usually affecting how it looks rather than how it works.
[T] refers to technical changes that only alter the site's internal workings, in order to make other changes possible.
[A] refers to advanced features that shouldn't be messed with unless you know what you're doing, and/or experimental stuff that's not ready for prime time.
[Ø] refers to features that are not available in the Opera version of the script.
[O] refers to features that are only applicable to the Opera version of the script.

Changes that apply to most every page

[S] It changes the standard style for all* clickable links to a less intense shade of blue, without underlining or boldface.
As you might have guessed by the name, this was the original intent of this script; since then, the thing has grown to encompass far more than this simple function - but I decided to keep the name anyway.
* It's possible that some parts of GB still override this with their own style, but that probably means that I'm not aware of it; if you notice any such discrepancies, please let me know and I'll try to fix them.
[S] It changes the standard font for all* sections of GB to Verdana (the font used in the Message Forums), and sets the font size to 8 point for form fields and buttons** and 10 point almost*** everywhere else.
* It's possible that some parts of GB still override this with their own font designation, but that probably means that I'm not aware of it; if you notice any such discrepancies, please let me know and I'll try to fix them.
** The buttons on the MSL station pages are set to 10 point, because the page design allows more space for them there.
*** Some text is set to smaller than 10 point, because otherwise it would overrun its allotted space.
[T] It scans for any link or style tags in the body and moves them to the head where they belong.
This doesn't appear to be necessary any more, but was at one time due to a GB coding error; I left it in as a precaution.
[C] [S] It rewrites the top line of the page to reduce the amount of text used, because otherwise it could overrun its allotted space, and reducing the font size as done elsewhere would be inappropriate here.
[C] [S] It changes the background color of the "Inbox" notices at the top of every page, as well as the one in the "My Activity" section of the home page, to gold whenever the number of messages or buddy requests is greater than zero.
[C] It changes the home page link in the header into an image map, so that clicking on the words "by GasBuddy.com" takes you there instead of to the home page for the site you're on.
[C] It adds a site search field and button to almost* every page, that passes search requests on to Google while limiting the search results to only sites owned by or related to GasBuddy.
* It does not do this on the Price Map or Price Temperature Map pages, because it interferes with the working of the maps.
This is different from the new search added by GasBuddy, in that it searches for text (such as in the forums) rather than prices.
Google has apparently changed its procedure for indexing GasBuddy's sites, because, for some unknown reason, this search method is now less effective than it used to be.
[C] It removes one word from one of the links below the header (in the primary menu area), because otherwise the menu could overrun its allotted space, and reducing the font size as done elsewhere would be inappropriate here.
[S] It reduces the font size for the submenu (if one appears) below the primary menu, because otherwise it could overrun its allotted space, and require a second line.

Changes that apply to the home page and its variants
(including the search results, "Report a Price", and "Thank You" pages)

Changes to the Price Lists

[C] [S] It adds highlighting to any price differentials* it finds in the station address or comments - red for higher prices, and green for lower.
* Without going into excruciating detail, it looks for either a + or - sign, followed by either a number and a cent sign (or c or cent or cents) or a dollar sign and a number; comments that do not follow this format will not get highlighted.
[C] [A] It includes a hidden option that rearranges the information in the price lists, to make it easier to sort the lists using the TableTools extension for Firefox.
This takes a significant amount of extra time, and is still not fully functional, which is why the option to activate it is hidden; you should only activate it if you want to test this, and deactivate it when you're done. To activate it, find the GBPriceTableSortable setting in Firefox's about:config, and change it from false to true - or, if you're using the Opera version, edit the O_TT=false line in the script. (This feature is available in the Opera version, even tho there's no TableTools extension for Opera.)

Changes to the Favorite Station Lists

[C] [Ø] It includes an option to remember the currently selected FSL, so that after you post prices, it redirects the browser to a "Thank You" page that shows this same list, instead of your normal default.
To activate or deactivate this option, select Tools » Greasemonkey » User Script Commands » GB Sticky FSLs from Firefox's menus.
[C] It reorganizes the headings for the FSLs, so that (among other things) if you choose to hide the price entry fields for a particular grade of fuel, the empty column takes up less screen space.
[C] It adds clickable links to most FSL entries* that take you to the corresponding MSL entry for that station.
* Of course, this link won't appear if the entry in question is not linked to the MSL.
[C] It removes the text below the MSL status images in the rightmost column of each FSL entry, again with an eye toward leaving more room on the page for the other columns.
You can still see this text by moving the mouse pointer over the images.

Changes that apply to the FSL editing pages

[C] It changes the Sort Order field from a pick list into a direct text entry field, for added convenience.
The contents of this field must always be a number from 1 to 500 - else you will likely get an error when you move to a different page, even if you were not intending to submit any changes. (I want to add a routine that would check for this, but I haven't yet been able to get it to run on every occasion that it needs to.)

Changes to the Add/Edit Lists page

[C] It changes the destination for the links marked "View stations". The links that GB provides are currently malformed, and end up taking you to the Edit page for your default FSL, no matter which FSL line you clicked on. Since clicking on the name of a list in the table takes you to the same place that these links were apparently intended to take you, the "View stations" links are reworked to instead take you to an abbreviated price entry page showing the corresponding FSL.

Changes that apply to the Price Map and Price Temperature Map pages

[C] It allows you to choose a default set of options for the map position, zoom level, and type and amount of information shown, and redirects the browser to that page whenever you go to the Price Map page* again.
To set these options, first position the map the way you want it, and then click "Link To Map" in the upper left corner. This will cause a small box to appear over the zoom bar, saying "Here is the link to this map". If you are using Firefox, it will also have a link saying, "Set as default"; click that and answer OK to the confirmation box, and your map will be saved. (For Opera users, it's more complicated; you will have to select everything after the ? in the box, copy it to the clipboard, open the script for editing, find the line saying O_LL='', paste the text between the quotes, and save the modified script file.)

Changes that apply to the Master Station List pages

[C] It reveals an internal field listing the site on which a given station is listed; this can sometimes explain why a station's prices are not showing up on the site to which they belong.
[C] [A] It includes a hidden option that allows users to edit the Site field described above, and also opens the State/Province field for editing similarly.
This allows alterations to the MSL record that are not normally allowed or sanctioned by GasBuddy, which is why the option to activate it is hidden. To activate it, find the GBOpenExtraMSLFields setting in Firefox's about:config, and change it from false to true - or, if you're using the Opera version, edit the O_MS=false line in the script.

Changes that apply to the FAQ page

[C] It slightly alters the positioning of the page for URLs which direct you to a specific question, ensuring that the top line of the question is always visible on screen.

Changes that apply to the Message Forum pages

Changes to the Forums Home page

[C] It alters terminology in the existing headings, and adds a new heading line in order to make the distinction between a Forum and a Forum Category clearer.

Changes to the various lists of Topics
(Categories, User Searches, and Favorite Topics Lists)

[C] It adds a toggle for the format of the "Last Post" column. The default setting forces all dates and times to use only a single line; the opposite setting adds a line break between the date and the time, forcing them to use two lines. This causes the dates and times to be interleaved, which you may find harder to follow, but it takes less width on the page, and so leaves more space for the topic names.
To adjust this setting in Firefox, select Tools » Greasemonkey » User Script Commands » GB Topic Lists from Firefox's menus - or, if you're using the Opera version, edit the O_TL=false line in the script.
[C] It adjusts the alignment of the numbers in the "Posts" column, making them easier to read.
[C] It suppresses the display of the "Rating" column, since this feature was never fully developed, and in its present form serves mostly as flamebait.
[C] It adds a "Category" column to those lists composed of Topics from several different Categories, showing links to the specific Category for each Topic listed.
[C] It suppresses the display of the "Started By" column on pages where its contents are redundant, and moves that information into the list header.

Changes to the Forum Message pages,
including the pages for comments on News Articles

[C] [S]It adds a reference to the style sheet used for Forum pages to the News pages (on which it is missing, resulting in nonstandard formatting and some white-on-white text).
[S] It suppresses the display of the "Post New Topic" link, because people tend to click this by mistake when they meant to click "Post a Reply".
The "Post New Topic" link is still availble on the Topic List pages for each category.
[S] It suppresses the display of the "Rate this topic" section, since this feature was never fully developed, and in its present form serves mostly as flamebait.
[S] It suppresses the display of the "Check Spelling" and "Edit" buttons on message posting pages, because this feature is quite buggy; Firefox's built in spell checker does a much better job.
[C] [S] It ensures that regular Message pages always have a "Hide Top Msg" link, and that News pages never do (since News Article excerpts are shown differently and can't be hidden in this way) - and changes it from "Hide Top Msg" to "Show Top Msg" when appropriate.
[S] [O] It forces the info in the author section at the left of each message to the top of its allotted space, so that the display format in Opera matches that in other browsers.
[C] [S] It changes the background color of the author section at the left of each message to gold for all messages written by the currently logged-in user.
[C] It includes options to switch the order in which messages are listed on the page from "newest first" to "oldest first" and back again - either permanently, or temporarily on a per-page basis.
To activate or deactivate this for the current page only, click on the word "toggle" which appears in the "REPLIES" heading just after the message that started the topic. To activate or deactivate it permanently in Firefox, select Tools » Greasemonkey » User Script Commands » GB Message Order from Firefox's menus - or, if you're using the Opera version, edit the O_RV=false line in the script.
[S] It changes the font of the message entry field to match that of the rest of the site, making its appearance while you're writing it more closely match what it'll look like after being posted.
[C] It removes any whitespace characters from the end of the message entry field; this prevents the unintended blank lines that can occur when a message is re-edited after posting.

Changes that apply to the Private Messaging pages

Changes to the main PM page

[S] It alters the height of the lists of users on the left side of the page to increase the number of names visible in the "Pending Buddy Requests" box, and to make all the boxes page up and down more cleanly.
[C] It adds icons to the lists of users that, when clicked, open a new window showing the GB profile for the corresponding user.
Since this was added to the script, GB has modified this page to allow clicking on user names in the "Incoming Buddy Requests" box to accomplish the same thing - but my code adds this feature to the other boxes as well, so I left it in.

Changes to the Conversation frame

[C] It allows members to include links in their messages, using the same [L=] syntax as used in forum messages.
This does not provide an "Insert link" mechanism like the forum pages do; you have to type the [L=] syntax into your messages by hand. It also does not affect how the messages are stored by GasBuddy, so anyone viewing these links from a browser not running this script will still see the raw [L=] syntax.

Changes to the PM editing frame

[S] It suppresses the display of the "Spelling" button on message posting pages, because this feature is quite buggy; Firefox's built in spell checker does a much better job.

Changes that apply to the Profile pages

[C] It adds links to "Topics member started" and "Topics member participated in" below the member's main profile picture.
[C] It adds links to "Send a PM to member" below the profile picture for those members who are on your buddy list.
For Firefox users, this will lead to the full Private Messaging page, with the normal "Inbox" frame replaced with a message entry form preset to the selected user. For Opera users, this will not show the full page, but only the entry form, expanded to the full size of your browser window.
[C] [S] It reformats the list of profile information to make it easier to read, and to make it clearer that the right side data items on your own page can be clicked on for editing (and those on other people's pages can't).

Changes to one's own Profile page

[C] [S] It suppresses lines in the "Points Earning Summary" section that repeat information that was already given in the "Member Profile" section.
[C] It adds a "Become a Member" line to the "Details of Points" section, so that the numbers there add up to your actual point total.

Other features

[C] [Ø] It includes a routine which periodically checks for updates to the script and, if one is found, asks if you want to download and install it.
The first time you run the script, it will ask whether you want to accept the default interval for doing update checks, or modify it. To adjust this at any time after the initial install, select Tools » Greasemonkey » User Script Commands » Set GB Update Interval from Firefox's menus. To make an unscheduled update check at any time, select Check Now for GB Update from the same menu.