Calling functions in other classes

[lastdance]

I've been reading S2 documentation like crazy, and I'm pretty sure the answer is 'no' but I'm going to throw out the question anyway:

Is there any possible way to call functions from a different view than the one you're currently on? For example, the EntryPage class has a function print_comments. But what if I want to print the subjects of the 5 latest comments on the Recent view (maybe in the sidebar)? The RecentPage class doesn't include that function, so I'm assuming there's no way to call it unless the core was rewritten to add it into RecentPage and allow it to take parameters so it knows which comments to pull back. Am I correct in that assumption?

I'll gladly take the question elsewhere if this isn't the right place. Any direction would be so much appreciated.

Comments

[afuna]

No, afraid it's not possible. The problem is that the individual comment data isn't available, unless you are on the entry page. (Completely separate in the backend, so that even if the S2 language syntax were to allow it, there wouldn't be any data to print out).

[lastdance]

That's what I thought, but I was hoping there was a magical workaround. *woe*

Looking at a community like ask_me_anything, they must use an external service and the API to update their sidebar stats (for example, "Popular Posts"). I guess I'll look in that direction next.

[afuna]

Aha. We do have the number of comments available for the current page. My guess is that that's how they're doing the sidebar (based on code for the page summary, but with modified text).

However, that only shows the number of comments made on the entry, not the time the last comment was made, or the actual comment metadata/text.

If my guess is correct, and they're doing it with pure s2, then the more accurate description of the information is "most popular posts on the front page/from the first 20 entries", though "of the past hour" probably works given the popularity of the community.

[lastdance]

It's the most complex comm setup I've seen on LJ, so I'm fascinated by how it works.

The reason I think they're using an external service is because the comment count in the sidebar sometimes lags behind the actual comment count. Also, not all of the popular posts appear on the front page. That makes me think they're scraping the content intermittently somehow and then auto-updating the sidebar.

No idea at this point how that works. Once all the S2 and API documentation is done, will it be clear to me? ;)

[afuna]

Hmm, probably not. If they are using a third-party API, and it's not entirely S2, then no amount of documentation on our end will make it clear, I'm afraid!

[av8rmike]

They're definitely using some kind of off-site tracker in PHP. You can see calls to 0x0 images in the page source (tables and un-validated HTML, ewww).

[adalger]

I'm confused on this. Is it possible to extend class definitions, or define new classes, in a top-level layer?

[afuna]

It's possible to define new classes, but not possible to extend class definitions.

(though you can make a new class that extends an existing class).

But I'm afraid I don't see the connection with my comment, and I'm worried that I'm giving the wrong impression of what is/is not possible, somehow.

[adalger]

Okay. Is there any way to, say, extend the RecentPage class and then have that extended class be used in your layout in place of the pre-defined RecentPage class?

[afuna]

Hmm, yes. But that doesn't solve the original problem, because you don't have the data available, unless you are visiting an actual entry.

[adalger]

So, somewhere back in the coding, something only serves the data that fills the Comment[] array if the page passes the isa EntryPage test?

[afuna]

Yup!

[adalger]

kk. Now I understand. Now all I need is a coolhunter to say "This would be cool to have changed." ;)