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Sextant Tag Documentation

1. <SextantDiscussionTemplate> </SextantDiscussionTemplate>: This tag identifies the file as an appropriate template for our system. It should be wrapped around the entire file.
   

2. <DateTimeFormat> <none>: This tag is special, in that it doesn't return any output at all. It is a command to the template interpreter that tells it how to format the <PostDate> and <PostTime> tags. You can leave it out and just get the defaults.

   See our date formatting documentation for details on how to format the date and time.

   This tag will be deprecated as soon as we stop dry-heaving over a tag that doesn't even return any output. Then, you will format your dates and times right in the <PostDate> and <PostTime> tags. Sorry people.
   

   • Attributes:
     • date_format (default: Mon ddth, YYYY)
     • time_format (default: HH:MI AM)

3. <ThisToLink> <none>: Returns the title of the linked to page as a link. We get the title by looking at the contents of the <title> </title> tags of the linked to page.
   

4. <ThisFromLink> <none>: Returns the title of the referring page as a link. We get the title by actually getting the page and parsing it the same way as <ThisToLink>.
   

5. <ThisNumberComments> <none>: Returns the number of comments this target page has recieved from the referring page.
   

6. <ThisClickthrus> <none>: Returns the number of times someone has clicked from the referring page to the target page.
   You may limit the interval measured by specifying time: time="day|week|month|all". A number of hours may also be specified. (e.g. time=2 would count the clickthrus in the past two hours.)
   
   • Attributes:
     • time (default: all)

7. <ThisUserLink> <none>: Returns the name of the currently logged in user as a link to their user info page.
   

8. <LogInOutLink> <none>: Returns a link that one clicks on to either log in or log out. If your forum doesn't allow anonymous postings, you'll need to include this!
   
   • Attributes:
     • login_text (default: login)
     • logout_text (default: logout)

9. <NewAccountLink> <none>: Returns a link to the user account creation page. The text attribute may be specified.
   
   • Attributes:
     • text (default: create new account)

10. <Anon> </Anon>: Everything between these tags will only be shown to a user that has not logged in. That is, in the eyes of the system, they are anonymous. Anything can go between them, including both regular HTML and more Sextant tags.
    

11. <LoggedIn> </LoggedIn>: This tag works just like <Anon>, except in reverse. Someone has to be logged in to see the code between these tags.
    

12. <CommentList> </CommentList>: This tag generates the comments section of the discussion forum. The block of code between <CommentList> and </CommentList> is crunched through and output for each comment. As for just which bits of comment information are displayed and how, that all depends on which of the Child Tags you use and what attributes you give them.

    The "order" attribute tells us whether to put the newest comment at the bottom (down) or at the top (up).
    

    • Attributes:
      • order (default: down)
      • no_comments_text (default: No comments)
    • Child Tags:
      • <CommentSubject>
      • <CommentBody>
      • <ExpandLink>
      • <CommentAuthorLink>
      • <PostDate>
      • <PostTime>
      • <Normal>
      • <Highlighted>
      • <Squelched>
      • <HighlightLink>
      • <SquelchLink>

13. <CommentSubject> <none>: Returns the comment subject line. If you don't want to use subjects just leave this out. Setting the length attribute will truncate long subjects. Max subject length is 200.
    
    • Attributes:
      • length (default: 100)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>, <PreviewBox>
      

14. <CommentBody> <none>: Returns the comment body, optionally truncated to the length attribute.
    
    • Attributes:
      • length (default: 1000)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>, <PreviewBox>
      

15. <ExpandLink> <none>: This link expands a comment if it has been truncated and moves it to the top of the browser screen. If it's been truncated, then the expand_text is displayed. If it's been expanded, then the truncate_text us displayed. If it's too short to be truncated, then the normal_text is always displayed.
    
    • Attributes:
      • expand_text (default: More)
      • normal_text (default: Perma-link)
      • truncate_text (default: Shrink)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>
      

16. <CommentAuthorLink> <none>: Writes out the name of the comment author as a link to their user info page.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>, <PreviewBox>
      

17. <PostDate> <none>: Writes the date of the posting. See <DateTimeFormat> for instructions on formatting it. When the <DateTimeFormat> tag gets deprecated, you'll format the date right here in an attribute.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>, <PreviewBox>
      

18. <PostTime> <none>: Writes the time of day of the posting. See <DateTimeFormat> for instructions on formatting it. When the <DateTimeFormat> tag gets deprecated, you'll format the date right here in an attribute.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>, <PreviewBox>
      

19. <Normal> </Normal>:

    The whole point of the <Normal>, <Highlighted> and <Squelched> tags, along with their respecive functional links <HighlightLink> and <SquelchLink>, is to let a user have comments from his favorite and least-favorite authors displayed differently on screen. Think of a highlighted author as a reader's favorite, and a squelched author as an obnoxious poster.

    Contents enclosed in the <Normal> tag will only appear if the user has not highlighted or squelched this comment's author.
    

    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>
      

20. <Highlighted> </Highlighted>: Contents enclosed in this tag will only appear if the reader has highlighted this comment's author.

    (For instance, you could have a highlighted comment appear in a larger font, or in a more noticiable color.)
    

    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>
      

21. <Squelched> </Squelched>: Works just like <Highlighted> but for squelched authors.

    (For instance, you could put a squelched comment in a smaller font, or not even display the body at all.)
    

    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>
      

22. <HighlightLink> <none>: Makes a link that the user can click on to highlight this comment's author from now on. This is also where he clicks to de-highlight that author if he changed his mind.
    
    • Attributes:
      • on_text (default: highlight)
      • off_text (default: de-highlight)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>
      

23. <SquelchLink> <none>: Just like <HighlightLink> but for squelching.
    
    • Attributes:
      • on_text (default: squelch)
      • off_text (default: de-squelch)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentList>
      

24. <CommentInputForm> </CommentInputForm>: This set of tags creates the HTML form for submitting a new comment for posting or preview. It takes care of the <form> declarations and everything and enables the Child Tags listed below.

    <CommentInputForm> doesn't write out any visible HTML at all. For each of the input fields and buttons you have to use the Child Tags, which only work in this context.

    By setting the hide_existing_posts_on_preview attribute to "no", you can turn off the display of comments when someone is previewing a comment. (See the <PreviewBox> below.)
    

    • Attributes:
      • hide_existing_posts_on_preview (default: no)
    • Child Tags:
      • <SubjectInput>
      • <BodyInput>
      • <TextRadio>
      • <HtmlRadio>
      • <AnonCheckbox>
      • <SubmitButton>
      • <PreviewButton>

25. <SubjectInput> <none>: Makes the one-line text input box for the comment's subject line. The size attribute sets how large the box appears on-screen. (The actual entered subject can be much longer.)
    
    • Attributes:
      • size (default: 50)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentInputForm>
      

26. <BodyInput> <none>: Make the multi-line, auto-wrapping text intput box for the comment body. The rows and cols attributes set how large it appears on-screen.
    
    • Attributes:
      • rows (default: 10)
      • cols (default: 40)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentInputForm>
      

27. <TextRadio> <none>:
    If a poster is happy to restrict the formatting of his comment to carriage-returns, tabs and spaces, he can go with the default setting of the <TextRadio> / <HtmlRadio> pair, which is text. However, if he wants to use bold, italics, etc., he can instead tell Sextant that his comment is formatted HTML.

    So the point is that Sextant accepts comments as either text (formatted with spaces, tabs, and carriage-returns) or as HTML, but it can't tell one from another: A poster needs to tell Sextant that a comment is formatted one way or the other by choosing the right Text or HTML radio button. The default is always Text.

    The <TextRadio> tag makes the radio button that one uses to tell Sextant a comment is formatted as text. It is always selected by default.

    If you don't want people to use HTML formatting at all, then just don't include either <TextRadio> or <HtmlRadio>. The default, text, will be assumed. As it stands now, you can't make HTML the default--you have to include the HTML radio button and let the user click on it. (Sorry.)
    

    • Allowed Inside: <CommentInputForm>
      

28. <HtmlRadio> <none>: The HTML counterpart to <TextRadio>.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentInputForm>
      

29. <AnonCheckbox> <none>: If a user is logged in, but for some reason wants to post anonymously, he can toggle this checkbox (default off), and he will post anonymously, for just this comment. If the user is anonymous and this tag is displayed, it is instead defaulted to "on" and cannot be changed.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentInputForm>
      

30. <SubmitButton> <none>: This button submits the comment, as it appears in the text boxes, without previewing. If you want to force people to preview a comment before posting it (something we like), include this tag only in the <PreviewBox>.
    
    • Attributes:
      • text (default: Post)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentInputForm>, <PreviewBox>
      

31. <PreviewButton> <none>: This button puts the new comment into the preview box (see below), instead of submitting it right into database. If you don't want to mess with previewing, then don't include this tag. (We strongly reccomend previewing, especially if you are supporting HTML formatting in posts.)
    
    • Attributes:
      • text (default: Preview)
    • Allowed Inside: <CommentInputForm>
      

32. <PreviewBox> </PreviewBox>: The code between these tags only appears when the user is previewing a comment before posting. This allows people to see how the text parser worked and/or if their HTML is correct.

    Most of the Child Tags from <CommentList> work here as well. Take note, though, that if the comment is longer than the normal truncation length, you won't be able to tell here because truncation is turned off in the preview box.
    

    • Child Tags:
      • <CommentSubject>
      • <CommentBody>
      • <CommentAuthorLink>
      • <PostDate>
      • <PostTime>
      • <SubmitButton>

33. <FromUrlStatisticsList> </FromUrlStatisticsList>: These tags denote a block of code that is run through many times, just like <CommentList>. This block is iterated once for every other page out there that uses Sextant to collect clickthrus and/or comments on this target page.

    The Child Tags let you show the titles and urls of the other pages linking to this same target page, along with their respective comment and clickthru counts.

    The big idea here is that this information will let your readers more easily discover what other weblogs and pages link to pages they find interesting. Conversely, it will also let them find you.
    

    • Child Tags:
      • <FromUrlTitleLink>
      • <FromUrlTitle>
      • <FromUrlLink>
      • <FromUrl>
      • <FromUrlClickthrus>
      • <NumberComments>
      • <CommentPageLink>

34. <FromUrlTitleLink> <none>: This prints out the title of the other referring page as a link. (preferred to <FromUrlTitle>)
    
    • Allowed Inside: <FromUrlStatisticsList>
      

35. <FromUrlTitle> <none>: Just like <FromUrlTitleLink>, except it's just text, not a link.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <FromUrlStatisticsList>
      

36. <FromUrlLink> <none>: This prints out the url of the other referring page as a link. (strongly preferrered to <FromUrl>)
    
    • Allowed Inside: <FromUrlStatisticsList>
      

37. <FromUrl> <none>: Just like <FromUrlLink>, except it's just text, not a link.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <FromUrlStatisticsList>
      

38. <FromUrlClickthrus> <none>: This tag works just like <ThisClickthrus> but for clickthroughs from the other referring page.
    
    • Attributes:
      • time (default: all)
    • Allowed Inside: <FromUrlStatisticsList>
      

39. <NumberComments> <none>: This will give the number of comments given by people coming to the same target page but from the other url.
    
    • Allowed Inside: <FromUrlStatisticsList>
      

40. <CommentPageLink> <none>: This inserts a link to the comments about this page from the other referring page. This tag has not been activated yet!
    
    • Attributes:
      • text (default: go to discussion)
    • Allowed Inside: <FromUrlStatisticsList>