Seneschal Report

Insert obligatory five-page fiction here

Hello everyone,

It's hard to believe, but we're already using the new site for a month now, so it's time for another Seneschal Report.

HTTPS

First, let me start off by giving a big thank you to Scion for donating a five-year SSL certificate to the Brotherhood, enabling encrypted communication (generally known as 'SSL' or 'HTTPS') between your browser and the Brotherhood's web site. This means it's now possible to log in over the free wifi of your local coffeeshop without having to worry that the guy with the glasses and the macbook at the other table is eavesdropping and recording your login details. I think this is a valuable addition to the site, and I'm very grateful Scion was willing to provide us with it.

Deployed Code Changes

Below is a list of most of the code checkins done to the site in the last month. This isn't an exhaustisve list, and does not contain code changes that haven't been deployed. To summarize, here's the TLDR:

1. Lots of bugfixes, and additions of small features to the site
2. Gaming Portal (see Valhavoc's post below)
3. Lots of Character Sheet features (More on that from Mav soon)

[James] Add walloftext code style for fenced code blocks to be used in news/report
[James] CS: add languages; make feat slots dependent on rank instead of tier, fix custom aspects, various other assorted fixes
[James] Fix 'submit and report another' being broken on PvE submission form
[James] Hide Gaming screenshots until competition is judged
[Arion] link to crusade site on news page
[James] Spelling fixes
[James] Linking up new gaming portal
[James] Schedule automated CF processing
[James] Temporarily lock down Gaming Portal approval stuff to FIST
[James] Don't need a minimum of two members to request a PoB for max level
[James] Small stylesheet fix
[James] Fix gaming activity listing looking horrible on default layout
[James] Make it so gaming things are able to award PoBs (max level, etc.)
[James] Add more hints to gaming portal
[James] Allow customization of 'reason' on automated CF assignment
[James] More GamingCompetition stuff; implement viewing past matches/activities
[James] Fix Events not expanding on iPhones and crackberries
[James] Fix granted feats changing to chosen breaking the sheets
[James] Add NYI warning to automatic cluster-based placement calculation
[James] Implement GamingCompetition
[James] Make gaming award dynamic
[James] Gaming: Implement processing of PvE activity
[James] Reflecting Gaming Portal feedback
[James] Show pending PvE stuff, fix notification disappearing
[James] Gaming: submission and queue view of PvE activity
[James] Ensure migrations run smoothly on dev VM
[James] Add postgresql-contrib to puppetfile
[James] Create dev superuser *after* migrating database
[James] Migrate the database when initializing dev VM
[James] Gaming: allow specifying match date and competition
[James] Fix Oauth throwing server errors
[James] Add Platforms management to admin panel
[James] Add gaming matches counter to admin home
[James] Implement backend part of PvP gaming portal
[James] Auto-trigger Promotheus after editing promotion tasks
[James] Fix Promotheus not mailing summits
[James] Fix HTML being escaped in CS tooltips
[James] Various CS fixes
[James] Add another Dark Pundit to Prommy
[James] Implement frontend view and form for PvP match reporting
[James] Give Hands of Justice more permissions (site logs)
[James] Add Markdown support on skills/feats/aspects
[Arion] only GM/DGM can recommend for titles
[Arion] can see more than just the initial set of news items posted by a member on the activity page
[James] Flavourize feat descriptions
[James] Put backups on a timer
[James] Fix overzealous tang'va detector
[James] Autograding SA courses
[James] Fix pagination links on event listing not being clickable on default layout
[James] Remove some routes that pointed to a nonexistant action
[James] Don't send RecordNotFound and RoutingError exceptions to Squash
[James] Add Howie Site-Breaking counter ;)
[James] Add more indices to events table
[James] Make maintenance tools use rake from Gemfile
[James] Remove memory bloat from News Archive
[James] Fix bug that was introduced by fixing a bug introduced by Howie
[James] Fix Award Breakdown loading all AwardEvents in the database
[James] Prevent iterating over all objects prior to pagination in a couple of places
[James] Refactor species into dropdown; allow granting Feats based on species
[James] Allow Voice Staff to specify where feats show up on CS
[James] Show chosen saber forms/martial arts on frontend
[James] Add fields for entering saber form/martial art to CS wizard
[Arion] better ID line if member has no positions
[Arion] Competition model triggers PrestigeWorker when award is given
[James] Allow requirements to *exactly* require a rank or rank tier; show granted feats on discipline selection screen
[James] Update Promotheus to reflect SA degree change ;)
[James] Change 'name' on join form to 'character name' to avoid confusion :)
[Arion] updated member idline on dossier page to link to units member is a part of
[James] Update permissions for HRLD staff
[Arion] unit show page for subunits has links back to parent units
[Arion] text correction for GMRG promote email
[James] More GMRG automation
[James] Update GMRG rank requirements
[James] Update Journeyman Guidelines to include Journeyman Hall
[James] Add custom aspect description to cs wizard
[James] Make sure CS builder interface doesn't break the rest of the site
[James] Warn people CS builder isn't properly supported on phone
[James] Add Lazy-button to CS wizard allowing saving mid-construction
[James] Make sure Howie doesn't break the site again (allow limiting positions to 1 per unit)
[James] Give MAA staff access to logs
[James] Fix RSS feed borking login screen
[James] Implement RSS news feed
[James] Link to Markdown 101 on news/report form
[James] Only validate member name uniqueness contraint on signup
[James] Fix path for cronjobs
[Arion] add member count to unit show page
[Arion] added some css classes to a table
[Arion] award breakdown page can now be sorted by the table column headers
[James] Skip notification mails for Clusters of Fire
[James] Schedule various tasks to be performed automagically via cron
[James] Possibly fixed news not expanding on iphone/bb - tested on ipad mini
[James] Do not render HTML in exam answers
[James] Fix server error when searching for 'no member'
[James] Add confirmation check when making aspects public
[James] Add helper table for unit ids to NPC admin form
[James] Require at least 85% on GMRG History to get [GMRG:I]
[James] Trigger Promotheus update on competition submission
[James] Set join date on new member creation (signup)
[James] Add fictional year and image-link to join form on news page
[James] Fix summit update always triggering a transfer; give MAA staff limited summit update abilities
[James] Add link to gaming portal to admin screen
[Arion] attempt to fix pagination for request approval pages
[James] Fix test of Lore error
[Arion] voice report image
[Arion] including file needed for last commit
[Arion] can preview news comment before posting
[James] Fix subject on recc append mail
[James] Allow appending to reccs on behalf of someone else; get notified if someone does so on your behalf
[Arion] allow sorting of members on unit roster page by the column header fields
[Arion] another table-striped class
[Arion] added table-striped class to member related partials
[James] Layout tweaks for CF digest; actually send it out
[James] Fix CF digest for people not in a house or clan
[James] Start working on weekly CF digest
[James] Fix typo in canned recc code
[James] Work around ActiveRecord weirdness
[James] Make Promotheus pass correct member ID to task prep method
[James] Fix scoping issue
[James] increase activerecord connection pool size
[James] Make promotheus do something instead of just outputting debug info
[James] Actually save GMRG roster record when adding someone
[James] Allow GMRG entry after passing GMRG History
[James] Fix Promotheus not being able to parse records from the stone-age
[James] List degree requirements fulfilled on degree gain mail
[James] Various Promotheus improvements
[James] View number of pending 'red' notifications on navbar
[James] Add medal to mail subject on approval
[James] Fix forum email validation
[Arion] Added "Dossier Unavailable" page for when a dossier cannot be found with provided ID
[James] Add event id to award event detail box
[James] Fix bug on SA course show page
[James] Fix join form if assigned to a clan without a PCON
[James] Fix loading squash
[James] Add Squash for error reporting
[Arion] provide shortcut to admin activity in member dossier dropdown
[Arion] actually get exam-triggered email to fire properly
[Arion] email sent when exam submitted
[Arion] revert last commit until can be more fully implemented
[Arion] restrict position assignment creation: there should be only 1 position X (CON, PCON, etc) for the given unit
[Arion] get prestige re-calculation to fire when resigning or appointed to a position; superuser permissions allow member to trigger member prestige recalculation (last option in dropdown)
[Arion] do not limit the roster to 20
[Arion] can preview news post before submitting it
[Arion] Fix order members are displayed in on roster page: group them by the order they are in
[Arion] cleaned up fix for news link so that the comment form is not available for news posts where comments have been disabled.
[James] Take rails env into account when deploying
[James] Add deploy controller so SCL staff can deploy site updates
[Arion] Added "read" link to news posts that have comments disabled
[Arion] added [Shadow Academy Course] to subject line for all auto-generated SA emails
[Arion] Display who performed the described action in the email
[Arion] cache prestige on the member; trigger prestige update when events approved
[James] Add a 'almost superuser' permission level for GM/DGM/JST with everything except stuff that can seriously break the site
[Arion] updates to robe-warbanner-lightsaber container so that people with WIDE lightsaber images (coughMuzcough) can get full-size images to display
[Arion] give Justicar superuser permissions
[James] fix lightside roster
[James] Fix robe/saber selectors
[James] Only show award preview when there is an image filename present
[James] Only show black thing if saber, wb or robe is present
[James] chronologically order award events
[James] Move saber to black bit
[James] Add rogueing warning to path change form
[James] Pretend CM is voice staff for permissions for now
[James] Temporarily hide CS stuff from those not in the dev team

Upcoming stuff

We still have a lot on our to-do list - here's a small teaser on what's either planned or being worked on:

• Antei Combat Centre (Arion) Good progress has been made on the ACC by Arion, together with the rest of the ACC Team
• Integrated forms for requesting Warbanners and Custom Sabers (Invictus)
• More nifty Shadow Academy features (e.g. saving an exam halfway and continuing later)
• Manual administration overrides for MAA people
• Possessions

Ask the Seneschal

Q: Malik asks: When is everything done?
A: Soon-ish

Q: Malik asks: Has the change to a completely new site made it easier for you to add stuff like possessions in the future?
A: Definitely. Not only because because the old site getting more and more unstable with every line of code we added, but also because we're now using next-generation development tools that allow us to add new features more quickly as well as work in parallel with multiple coders without breaking eachother's changes.

Q: V'yr Vorsa asks: What happened to the old vendetta sites and where can we find the comics that were on them?*
A: The old server (with all the files that were/are on it) is still up, so the files are not gone. The problem is that it's such a mess there, that it will take considerable time to comb through everything and to find out what to move where. This process of going through everything, and moving stuff over to the new server is planned at a later date. For now, if you're looking for something specific that was on the old server, let me know and I'll dig it up.

Q: V'yr Vorsa asks: What's up with the forum and Wiki templates? They seem to be lacking images from the old version.
A: They can't access the images and styles anymore, as they seem to have been hotlinked to the old site itself. Looking at the wiki's layout is already one of the items on our todo list. For the forums, we first have to decide what to do with them first.

Closing/TLDR

So, lots of updates to the site, and even more to come. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to either e-mail me personally, or have a look at the Forum.

James L. Entar
Seneschal of the Brotherhood