squirrelmail-plugins

[SM-PLUGINS] "Yellow Sticker" Plugin -- any demand?

[Juergen N. <jue...@fu...>]

Today I implemented a "yellow sticker" functionality for SquirrelMail in
a plugin -- show some eye-catching text as a "yellow sticker" above the
folder list *if* a certain file is present, using the text (HTML,
actually) from that file.

We have been using functionality like this for a while, mainly to notify
our users of planned service outages and the like. The main idea is to
make it easy to use by just putting a file with a text somewhere, and
the contents is displayed; remove the file and the yellow sticker is
gone. Automation via at(1) can make it appear and disappear without
human intervention, if necessary.

I had implemented a previous version by hacking the code directly into
the SquirrelMail proper, but in between I have learned more about
plugins and what you can do with them, so I put that code into a plugin
I have written for some local things.

Now I wonder -- do other people feel the need for such a functionality?
I could extract the "yellow sticker" code to a separate, independent
plugin, which then could be distributed or even put on the SquirrelMail
website, if there is sufficient demand. If not, I wouldn't bother.

See the attached screenshot for an example how this could look.

Regards, Juergen.

-- 
<Jue...@fu...> Tel. +49.30.838-50740
Zentraleinrichtung fuer Datenverarbeitung, Central Systems (Unix)
Freie Universitaet Berlin, Fabeckstrasse 32, 14195 Berlin, DE

Re: [SM-PLUGINS] "Yellow Sticker" Plugin -- any demand?

[Bob M. <bo...@co...>]

Juergen:

> Now I wonder -- do other people feel the need for such a functionality?
> I could extract the "yellow sticker" code to a separate, independent
> plugin, which then could be distributed or even put on the SquirrelMail
> website, if there is sufficient demand. If not, I wouldn't bother.


I am not a fan of changing production systems without a dire need, so I
wouldnt' jump up and immediately put this on all the squirrelmail
implementations I run.  However, I would definitely install this plugin
on any future builds or upgrades if it is available.  I think this is an
excellent idea, and I hope you get a lot of positive response... 

Re: [SM-PLUGINS] "Yellow Sticker" Plugin -- any demand?

[David S. <se...@uc...>]

On 1/17/2013 8:48 AM, Juergen Nickelsen wrote:
> Now I wonder -- do other people feel the need for such a functionality?
> I could extract the "yellow sticker" code to a separate, independent
> plugin, which then could be distributed or even put on the SquirrelMail
> website, if there is sufficient demand. If not, I wouldn't bother.
>
> See the attached screenshot for an example how this could look.
>
> Regards, Juergen.
>
I think this is a very nice idea for a plugin and see a use for it where 
I work. No one seems to read downtime notices and this is rather in your 
face, hard to deny you saw it presentation, which I like. I'd love to 
try it out myself.

thanks,
David

-- 
David Severance
Enterprise Unix Services
Office of Information Technology
(949) 824-7552
se...@uc...

Re: [SM-PLUGINS] "Yellow Sticker" Plugin -- any demand?

[Paul L. <pa...@sq...>]

On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 2:42 PM, David Severance <se...@uc...> wrote:
> On 1/17/2013 8:48 AM, Juergen Nickelsen wrote:
>> Now I wonder -- do other people feel the need for such a functionality?
>> I could extract the "yellow sticker" code to a separate, independent
>> plugin, which then could be distributed or even put on the SquirrelMail
>> website, if there is sufficient demand. If not, I wouldn't bother.
>>
>> See the attached screenshot for an example how this could look.
>>
>> Regards, Juergen.
>>
> I think this is a very nice idea for a plugin and see a use for it where
> I work. No one seems to read downtime notices and this is rather in your
> face, hard to deny you saw it presentation, which I like. I'd love to
> try it out myself.

This is supported in SquirrelMail natively via $motd in the
configuration file or option 7 in the configuration tool.  You may use
any HTML you desire (for background color, blinking whirling text,
whatever).  Other plugins can also control it - see the Check Quota
plugin for an example.  If you want to control it using a file instead
of a setting, a plugin can do that or it might be worthwhile to
consider submitting a patch for the core.

Cheers,

  Paul

-- 
Paul Lesniewski
SquirrelMail Team
Please support Open Source Software by donating to SquirrelMail!
http://squirrelmail.org/donate_paul_lesniewski.php

Re: [SM-PLUGINS] "Yellow Sticker" Plugin -- any demand?

[Juergen N. <jue...@fu...>]

On 19.01.2013 04:08, Paul Lesniewski wrote:

>>> Now I wonder -- do other people feel the need for such a functionality?
[...]
> This is supported in SquirrelMail natively via $motd in the
> configuration file or option 7 in the configuration tool.  You may use
> any HTML you desire (for background color, blinking whirling text,
> whatever).  Other plugins can also control it - see the Check Quota
> plugin for an example.  If you want to control it using a file instead
> of a setting, a plugin can do that or it might be worthwhile to
> consider submitting a patch for the core.

In my eyes controlling that message display through a file has
significant benefits:

(a) It is easier to use for people who are not familiar with
SquirrelMail. I can document it easily with "put a file here with this
name" for others to use, but I (and they) might not be comfortable with
them fiddling with the configuration.

(b) It is easier to control by external automated means, for instance by
an at(1) job.

And then there is one thing -- I just tried it, and while it is
certainly a good thing, it is only shown, like the comment string says,
"immediately after a user logs in."

This is not quite what I want. We have lots of users with long-running
SquirrelMail sessions, and we need to notify those, too. With the
automatic reload of the folder frame, the message even shows up
automatically when the file is placed there, and it disappears
automatically when the file is removed. I like that a lot.

This is not to say that the motd is a bad idea, only that *I* have the
need for something else. As there has been some interest for my
solution, I do intend to separate it into an own plugin soonish.

Regards, Juergen.

-- 
<Jue...@fu...> Tel. +49.30.838-50740
Zentraleinrichtung fuer Datenverarbeitung, Central Systems (Unix)
Freie Universitaet Berlin, Fabeckstrasse 32, 14195 Berlin, DE

Re: [SM-PLUGINS] "Yellow Sticker" Plugin -- any demand?

[Wm M. <mus...@cs...>]

On Mon, January 21, 2013 03:59, Juergen Nickelsen wrote:
> On 19.01.2013 04:08, Paul Lesniewski wrote:
>
>>>> Now I wonder -- do other people feel the need for such a
>>>> functionality?
> [...]
>> This is supported in SquirrelMail natively via $motd in the
>> configuration file or option 7 in the configuration tool.  You may use
>> any HTML you desire (for background color, blinking whirling text,
>> whatever).  Other plugins can also control it - see the Check Quota
>> plugin for an example.  If you want to control it using a file instead
>> of a setting, a plugin can do that or it might be worthwhile to
>> consider submitting a patch for the core.
>
> In my eyes controlling that message display through a file has
> significant benefits:
>
> (a) It is easier to use for people who are not familiar with
> SquirrelMail. I can document it easily with "put a file here with this
> name" for others to use, but I (and they) might not be comfortable with
> them fiddling with the configuration.
>
> (b) It is easier to control by external automated means, for instance by
> an at(1) job.
>
> And then there is one thing -- I just tried it, and while it is
> certainly a good thing, it is only shown, like the comment string says,
> "immediately after a user logs in."
>
> This is not quite what I want. We have lots of users with long-running
> SquirrelMail sessions, and we need to notify those, too. With the
> automatic reload of the folder frame, the message even shows up
> automatically when the file is placed there, and it disappears
> automatically when the file is removed. I like that a lot.
>
> This is not to say that the motd is a bad idea, only that *I* have the
> need for something else. As there has been some interest for my
> solution, I do intend to separate it into an own plugin soonish.
>
> Regards, Juergen.
>
I thought of motd as well, but I agree that it only helps if you don't
need to notify people of events which will happen a couple of days in the
future.  Not RIGHT NOW!!  I was going to recommend that you still look at
putting it in via config.pl, but I though better of it.  I can see where a
user would access the file but you wouldn't want them anywhere near
config.pl or the files in modifies.  I wonder if giving a designated user
the ability to modify it via SM Options might make sense.



-------

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http://www.csz.com
Ph. 909-920-9154 ext 101
Direct: 909-962-8547
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Re: [SM-PLUGINS] "Yellow Sticker" Plugin -- any demand?

[Juergen N. <Jue...@fu...>]

On 2013-01-22 19:30, Wm Mussatto wrote:

> I thought of motd as well, but I agree that it only helps if you don't
> need to notify people of events which will happen a couple of days in the
> future.

That is one thing. The other is, our users are largely academic people
who are paid for their research and teaching work, and not for
remembering at what time the webmail system might be unavailable in the
week after next. (We have a notification area prominently placed on the
first page of our website, but I think people rarely look at that
*before* something does not work.)

So I think it is much more effective to have a -- small, though --
display at a place where they cannot overlook it for the relevant time.

> I was going to recommend that you still look at
> putting it in via config.pl, but I though better of it.  I can see where a
> user would access the file but you wouldn't want them anywhere near
> config.pl or the files in modifies.

In my case they are not users in that sense, but my co-workers. They
have demonstrated the ability to put a file in a decumented place :-)
[1], but fiddling with the configuration of a system that you are not
familiar with is not everybody's idea of fun -- certainly not mine, for
instance.

[1] One of them follows this list, so I have to be careful what I say. ;-)

And sure, it doesn't have to be ops people doing that. If you can give
*someone* a spot in the file system with the permissions to place such a
file, they could do it without being involved in the system's operations
at all. This is not the case with our systems, as they run on servers
without user access to any of their file systems, but I could certainly
imagine such a scenario.

Now it could be interesting to combine this functionality with motd
somehow. I decided against doing that, because I wanted to make a
minimal plugin, for the sake of Doing One Thing Well and follow the KISS
principle as well as for keeping the effort quite low.

Combining the thing with motd would mean a bigger effort in
implementation and in maintenance. If someone wants to have such a
thing, I'll be happy with them re-using my code (the little there is --
it is really tiny).

BTW, a bit more polishing and I should be done with it; maybe I'll get
to it even today.

Regards, Juergen.

-- 
<Jue...@fu...> Tel. +49.30.838-50740
Zentraleinrichtung fuer Datenverarbeitung, Central Systems (Unix)
Freie Universitaet Berlin, Fabeckstrasse 32, 14195 Berlin