Extra caution is recommended when installing recently uploaded/updated scripts (read more)
Be sure you trust any scripts you install

vBulletin - Show full links

Reveals truncated (...) links in vBulletin-forums. Works on other sites too, but be careful: i don't recommend to include "*"!

The script checks url and link description. If both parts of description (splitted by "...") are part of the url, the truncated description will be replaced by the url.

Examples

Visit this thread in official vBulletin forum and have a look at link after "More information might be posted at vBulletin.com:". Without this script the following link will be truncated and shown as:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...28#post1399028
With this script the full url is visible:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1399028#post1399028
Other sites (you have to append appropriate @include-rules) where this script could change link descriptions:

Tested with

  • Firefox 2.0 and above
  • Opera 9 and above





Apr 23, 2008
jxh2154 User

"But is this problem really critical? You can find these infos in hybrid mode and thread title is shown in title bar."
I don't like hybrid mode, and it has the same link truncation problem anyway.

The reply tree is indeed critical in threaded and hybrid, because that's how you access posts. Thread title and individual post subject line are not the same thing. Are you on a VB forum where the option to change your own individual reply's subject line is turned off? That might explain why it doesn't seem important. I was appalled to find that that was the default setting on VB (no individual subject lines). On that forum, however, it's quite important.

Say there's a discussion thread on a show, where people post every time a new episode airs. The overall thread title might be "Now and Then, Here and There discussion thread".

The replies to it will have subject lines that change with each episode: "Now and Then, Here and There Episode 1", "Now and Then, Here and There Episode 2", etcetera. If you come into the thread in threaded mode the reply tree will look something like "Now and Then, Here..." going allllll the way down.

if I want to only read posts about episode 4, but other people have posted up to episode 9, I just cannot tell which episode the post is about because VB truncates those subject lines for absolutely no good reason. Clicking on posts randomly trying to find episode 4 is frustrating and tedious, and may mean I wind up clicking on post 7 and getting spoiled for what happens later.

Now, you can just hope people use really short subject lines ("NTHT Ep 1", for example) that be short enough to always show in full, but that's unfortunately not something you can take for granted.

At any rate, if those links aren't anything your script was meant to handle, I understand. I just wanted to explain why they are, in fact, very important. I've been unable to find a script that deals with them.

 
Apr 23, 2008
Mithrandir Script's author

Ah, i understand your problem now.

No, the script can't change these links - it's goal is (copied from description above):

If both parts of description (splitted by "...") are part of the url, the truncated description will be replaced by the url.
- so mainly links in postings will be changed.

I don't know how to change these links, because there is no dependency between text and url. But is this problem really critical? You can find these infos in hybrid mode and thread title is shown in title bar.

 
Apr 23, 2008
jxh2154 User

First off, you probably caught my typo in my original comment - I typed "reply three" when I meant "reply tree". Oops.

For an example, this should be accessible to you without a registered account: http://www.animeondvd.com/aodvb/showthread.php?...

If you view that thread in threaded mode, you'll see the box up top that includes the reply tree (the top post, then three replies) - sorry if I'm using incorrect terminology, I'm not sure what else to call it. The thing threaded users use to see the available posts and access them.

The title of the thread is:
"How do I hook up my Logitech Z-5500 speakers to my TV?"

But in the reply tree/hierarchy, you can see that the title is severely truncated. It becomes:
"How do I hook up my Logitech..."

And replies to it become:
"Re: How do I hook up my..."

If this were a thread where subject lines changed often and useful information were included beyond that "..." (for example, if "Logitech Z-5500 speakers" changed with "SomeOtherBrand X-1000 speakers" in a later reply, for someone else having a different problem) it would be impossible to tell in threaded mode with how it truncates the links.

I don't know that this is anything your script was meant to handle, but if so it would be a wonderful thing! Thanks very much for looking into it.

 
Apr 21, 2008
Mithrandir Script's author

Hi jxh2154,

in "my" forum i cannot find a thread with long and truncated title. Do you have a link for me?

 
Apr 16, 2008
jxh2154 User

Is there any way this can be modified to show longer (or full) subject lines in the reply three in threaded mode? The first 'x' number of characters show, and then it just truncates it. This is a pain with long subject lines that have distinguishing information at the end!

You could comment on this script if you were logged in.