Please note the information in this entry is now superceded
For the second of my notes on Textpattern conversion, I’m going to cover just one subject : hacking the txp comment system.
Purpose of this hack:
Change the recorded comments to display as <div>’s rather than <li>’s, with alternating background colours and sequential numbering. Change the comment form to allow live previews to be used.
What you need to know first:
Upgrading Textpattern is a simple process, you simply upload all the new files (apart from the config.php file) and load _update.php in your browser to make sure all your database tables are updated. Its so quick. What I’m doing here is hacking the /textpattern/publish/comments.php file - a lot. This means that when you update, you’ll have your work cut out for you.
Still want to do it? Make a backup of that comments.php first, and then read on.
Background:
Textpattern, handles commenting a little differently to systems like Movable Type. A lot of the work is carried out behind the scenes, away from the page templates and forms, making personalisation harder. The comment form is laid out in presentation>forms>comment form, the display of comments is found in presentation>forms>comments. Then, as long as you have the <txp:comments_invite /> tag inside your article form (presentation>forms>default), Textpattern will add these elements together, along with the preview and remember details functions.