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yii2-comus

Comment Module for Yii2 PHP Framework

Comus is a complete comment module for the Yii 2.0 PHP Framework.

It lets authenticated visitors of a website place comments. The moderator, as well as the administrator of the site can accept or reject comments, either after or before they are submitted. They can also update or delete any comment. Optionally, commenters are allowed to update or delete their own comment.

Comus sports three widgets:

• Comment Displays a comment block with all the comments issued on a certain model (the subject). Intended to be used in a view file.
• CommentCount Displays the count of comments issued on a subject. Might be used in an index file.
• UserComments Displays links to all comments issued by a certain user, on several subjects.

A demonstration of Comus is here.

Prerequisites

Comus relies on Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). Therefore, the authManager application component has to be configured. Comus works with Yii's PhpManager as well as with the DbManager.

Comus assumes that the site uses Bootstrap 4. I suppose that it will work under Bootstrap 3, but it will be a lot less pleasing to the eye.

Comus also assumes that Font Awesome 5.x is available, either the Free or the Pro version. If you're adventurous, you may adapt the icons option of the module to make Comus work with another icon font.

It is strongly advised that the app uses Pretty URLs.

Installation

Install yii2-comus in the usual way with Composer. Add the following to the require section of your composer.json file:

"sjaakp/yii2-comus": "*"

or run:

composer require sjaakp/yii2-comus

You can manually install yii2-comus by downloading the source in ZIP-format.

Module

Comus is a module in the Yii2 framework. It has to be configured in the main configuration file, usually called web.php or main.php in the config directory. Add the following to the configuration array:

   <?= $model->title ?>
   <?= $model->author ?>
   // ... more information about $model ...

   <?= Comment::widget([
        'model' => $model
   ]) ?>

Likewise in the view file for the Movie model.

In the index files we might use the CommentCount widget:

   <?= GridView::widget([
        'dataProvider' => $dataProvider,
        'columns' => [
            'title:text',
            [
                'value' => function ($model, $key, $index, $widget) {
                    return CommentCount::widget([ 'model' => $model ]);
                },
                'format' => 'html'  // CommentCount displays a link
            ],
            // ... more columns ...
        ],
        // ... more options ...
   ]) ?>

The site may also provide in displaying information about registered users. The view file for the User model can use the UserComments widget and may look like this:

   <?= $user->name ?>
   <?= $user->registeredSince ?>
   // ... more information about $user ...

   <?= UserComments::widget([
        'userId' => $user->id
   ]) ?>

Comment levels

A comment directly on a subject is said to be of level 0. A comment on such comment is said to be a reply or a comment of level 1. And so on. The maximum level of a comment is settable in the module configuration. Default is 0, meaning that only direct comments are possible. Don't set the maximum level to high, if only because each level indents somewhat.

Notice that if the moderator deletes a comment, all of its replies are deleted as well.

Comment block as seen by guest user

Comments by moderators are distinguished by a light background color. Guest is not able to issue a comment, she should login first.

Comment block as seen by authenticated user

His own comments have a light cyan background color. Hovering over a comment shows a button to issue a reply on it (if maxLevel > 0).

Comment block as seen by moderator

Content of rejected comments is readable. Hovering over a comment shows several buttons to manage it.

Buttons

From left to right:

• accept/reject comment
• previous/next pending comment
• update comment
• delete comment

• reply to comment

  Which buttons appear on hovering above a comment, depends on the permissions of the user, and on the status of the comment.

Permissions

Comus defines a few Permissions. They are:

One Role is defined: moderator. Associated Permissions are updateComment, deleteComment, and manageComments.

If the site sports a Role admin, the Role moderator is included.

Only moderators are allowed to view the comments overview, on URL:

example.com/comment

From there, they can easily jump to pending records, waiting to be accepted or rejected.

Notice that in the default configuration, Comus allows all authenticated users to create comments, and it's not necessary to explicitly give them permission. The createComment Permission is for scenarios where you want to restrict the allowance to issue comments.

Module options

The Comus module has a range of options. They are set in the application configuration like so:

 <?php
 // ...
 'modules' => [
     'comment' => [
         'class' => 'sjaakp\comus\Module',
         'maxLevel' => 2,
         // ...
         // ... more options ...
     ],
 ],
 // ...

The options (most are optional) are:

• loginUrl string|array Url to the login page of the site in the usual Yii-format. Not optional; must be set.
• profileUrl array|null|false Url of the profile view. Will be extended with 'id' => <user-id>.
  • array Profile is defined elsewhere on the site. Example: ['/profile/view'].
  • null (default) Uses Comus' builtin light weight profile.
  • false User names will never be presented as a link, just as plain text.
• maxLevel int Maximum depth of comment. If 0 (default) comments can only be issued directly on the subject, not on another comment
• orderDescending bool Whether comments are presented in descending order. Default: true.
• showPending bool whether pending comments are visible. Doesn't effect user with 'manageComments' permission; she can always view pending comments. Default: true.
• showRejected bool whether rejected comments are visible. Notice that for ordinary users, a message is displayed and the actual contents of the comment are hidden. Doesn't effect user with 'manageComments' permission; she can always view rejected comments and their content. Default: true.
• showOwn bool Overrides showPending and showRejected for comments created by the user herself. Example: if you want rejected comments to be hidden, except for the user's own comments, set showRejected = false and showOwn = true. Strongly recommended if you set showPending = false; otherwise the user won't see that she has issued a comment and probably try again.
• datetimeFormat string 'standard' | 'relative' | any value yii\i18n\formatter::datetimeFormat can take. Default is 'standard', which yields a combination of 'relative' and 'short'.
  • viewPermission null | string. RBAC-permission needed to view comments. If null (default): all users can view comments, including guests.
  • createPermission null | string. RBAC-permission needed to create comments. If null (default): all authenticated users can create comments.
  • usernameAttr string | callable. Not optional; must be set. Default: 'name'.
  • string: attribute of username (nickname) in identity class.
  • callable: function($identity) returning username.
  • avatarAttr null | string | callable. Default: null.
  • string: attribute of avatar image in identity class.
  • callable: function($identity) returning avatar image.
  • null: no avatar is shown.
• maxLength int Maximum length of comment, in characters. Default: 400.
• truncLength int Maximum length of comment fragment presented in UserComments widget and in the moderator's comment overview, in characters. Default: 80.
• icons array Presets for a number of icons Comus uses. Default: see source.

Comment Options

The Comment widget has three options:

• model ActiveRecord The model the comment block is related to.
• subject string Basically, the relative URL of the view file. Either model or subject must be set, preferably model.
• options array The HTML options for the surrounding div. Default: [].

CommentCount Options

The CommentCount widget has four options:

• model ActiveRecord The model the comment count is related to.
  • subject string Basically, the relative URL of the view file. Either model or subject must be set, preferably model.
• showZero bool Whether the widget should be displayed if there are no comments related to the subject. Default: false.
• template string HTML template for the output. Default: see source.

UserComments Options

The UserComments widget has two options:

• userId int The ID of the user who issued the comments.
• datetimeFormat string 'standard' | 'relative' | any value yii\i18n\formatter::datetimeFormat can take. If not set, it takes the setting of the module. Default is 'short'.

UserComments is derived from Yii's GridView, so it has al the options belonging to that class as well.

Events

Comus doesn't define Events of it's own. However, a Comment is just an ordinary ActiveRecord and you can use it's Events to intercept comment events and inject your own code. Refer to the file 'ComusEvents.php' for a possible approach.

Internationalization

All of Comus' utterances are translatable. The translations are in the 'sjaakp\comus\messages' directory.

You can override Comus' translations by setting the application's message source in the main configuration, like so:

 <?php
 // ...
 'components' => [
     // ... other components ...     
     'i18n' => [
          'translations' => [
               // ... other translations ...
              'comus' => [    // override comus' standard messages
                  'class' => 'yii\i18n\PhpMessageSource',
                  'basePath' => '@app/messages',  // this is a default
                  'sourceLanguage' => 'en-US',    // this as well
              ],
          ],
     ],
     // ... still more components ...
 ]

The translations should be in a file called 'comus.php'.

If you want a single or only a few messages translated and use Comus' translations for the main part, the trick is to set up 'i18n' like above and write your translation file something like:

  <?php
  // app/messages/nl/comus.php

  $comusMessages = Yii::getAlias('@sjaakp/comus/messages/nl/comus.php');

  return array_merge (require($comusMessages), [
     'Empty' => 'Leeg',   // your preferred translation
  ]);

At the moment, the only language implemented is Dutch. Agreed, it's only the world's 52th language, but it happens to be my native tongue. Please, feel invited to translate Comus in other languages. I'll be more than glad to include them into Comus' next release.

Override view-files

Comus' view files can be overridden. Just set the views setting of the module to something like:

 <?php
 // ...
 'modules' => [
     'comment' => [
         'class' => 'sjaakp\comus\Module',
         'views' => [
              'default' => [    // Comus controller id
                  'user' => <view file>    // action => view
              ]
         ],
         // ...
         // ... more options ...
     ],
 ],
 // ...

<view file> can be of any form [yii\web\controller::render()](https://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/2.0/yii-base-controller#render()-detail "Yii2") accepts.

Module ID

By default, the Module ID is 'comment'. It is set in the module configuration. If necessary (for instance if there is a conflict with another module or application component), you may set the Module ID to something different. Important: in that case, the moduleId property of the Comment and CommentCount widgets must be set to this new value as well.

Comus?

Comus is the ancient Greek god of festivity and revelry. He is the son of Dionysus and is associated with anarchy and chaos. That, and the fact that his name starts with 'com', to me makes Comus a good name for a comment module.