I obviously have a new tool that can move topics between boards.  It works well, but it is not the only tool I need.  Another tool is one which pops individual messages between topics.
    Writing this new tool turns out to be a very deep dive.  It would not have to be, but I am integrating new tools into the Diner like my tools are part of the original software.  A guest user going to my new dashboard will not see what a guest is not supposed to see, even though only mods will be able to see the tool page when I bring it online in the first place.  An original file would have this security and be written to that standard, and so will mine.
    Learning how our software works 'under the hood' is mandatory for things to be hooked in right.  That makes this project a deep dive.  I am not just hacking stuff in.  I have to follow the conventions, and style peculiar to this software.

Si tu veux qu'une chose soit bien faite, fais-la toi-même.

Moving the recent post list to the top looks like a simple thing to do.  It turned out to be a tangled snarl of string.



But it is done.  Mostly.

Quote from: K-Dog on Feb 22, 2025, 06:01 PMMy restore system flaw was exposed when our database was scrambled after I restored it when I wiped it out by accident.  I could not restore it quite right with my backup.  I've since fixed my flaw, and our database is restored with all posts now in categories.  Scrambled did not mean destroyed. 

Out of curiosity, how long have you been managing relational databases? Just for comparison, I ran my first corporate system at age 22, it did all the usual stuff, ran payroll, all field production systems, including the pipes, and production accounting to all interest owners once a quarter, all outputs for the board and whatnot, custom work for the head of engineering and reserve evaluation on the side.

The computer crap (as compared to the real work I longed for) was interesting. Came in handy later in terms of science and analysis so I probably shouldn't poo-poo it, always just thought about it as something everyone did if they wanted to do big data.

An interesting question.  Everything about relational databases I taught myself.  Your question is interesting because I used to ask people to explain them to me, and nobody ever could or did.  Then I thought there was more to them than there actually is.  Only by messing around with them does anything really get intuitive.

Nobody ever had the wherewithal to say it's a right join because the key is on the left side, and anything that could be paired with the key is on the right side even if it is from a different table.

Had anyone been able to say that to me bells and whistles would have gone off years before they did.