LTV BBCode — Manual

Module: LTVBBC.php · Class: LTVBBCode · Version: 1.9.0 · Date: 01-11-2026 Package id: Egerszegi.ae_and_Claude.ai:LTV-bbcode Authors: Andrew.human (Architect / Project Manager), Claude.ai (Lead Programmer / Debugging), Gemini.ai (Consultant / Theming)

Written for humans and for machines/AIs: section 1 is a plain summary, section 8 is a compact fact sheet.

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1. What it is

[ltv] is an SMF BBCode tag with two jobs:

Form	Job
[ltv=inline]text[/ltv]	Show the text between the tags, in full, in monospace in a themed card. BBCode between the tags ([b], [i], [color], [url], …) is rendered; smileys are off.
[ltv=autodisplay]x[/ltv] / [ltv=noautodisplay]x[/ltv]	Per-post switch that auto-embeds the post's .txt / .text attachments in the same kind of card, via ISE_text_viewer.html, with BBCode rendered (v1.9.0; needs the Collaborative v6.5+ viewer).

The tag name [ltv] was used by an older, retired "Lightweight Text Viewer" mod (v1.0–v2.7.1, archived as "LemonLib"). This is a different mechanism that reuses the name.

2. Requirements

• SMF 2.0.x (the 2.0.19 fork) or SMF 2.1.x.
• CollabCore v2.0+ (provides MsgTracker) and CollabCore RedBox >= 1.3. ltv_check_collabcore.php checks both at install time and stops the install with a message if they are missing.
• Sources/CollabCore/ISE_text_viewer.html present (same place listatt_bbcode and lmv_bbcode expect it). Needed for autodisplay only; inline does not use it.
• [ltv=inline] itself needs no message ID and no CollabMsgTracker.

3. Using [ltv=inline]

[ltv=inline]
anything you type here
    keeps its indentation and line breaks
[/ltv]

Behaviour:

• Shows everything. No height cap and no scrolling box (the difference from [code]).
• BBCode is rendered (v1.8.1): [b], [i], [u], [color], [url] and so on work. Smileys are off, so :) stays text. To show a tag literally, wrap it: [nobbc][b][/nobbc].
• Implementation: renderInline() runs the escaped text through parse_bbc($text, false), then turns the resulting <br /> and   back into 
 / spaces so the section 7 rules still hold.
• Monospace, line breaks and runs of spaces preserved.
• Long lines wrap (white-space: pre-wrap) rather than forcing a sideways scrollbar. To change this, edit the white-space / overflow-wrap part of the style attribute built in renderInline().
• Themed card with header ("Inline text"), version banner (v1.7.0) and the theme switcher. The theme choice is shared with autodisplay cards (localStorage key ise_ltv_theme).
• One blank line directly after [ltv=inline] and one directly before [/ltv] are treated as layout, not content. Any further blank lines are kept.
• Empty or whitespace-only content produces no output.
• The value after = is case-insensitive and trimmed.
• If the ltv tag is disabled in the forum's BBC settings, the content is dropped (existing behaviour for every [ltv] form).

4. Using the autodisplay toggles

[ltv=autodisplay]x[/ltv]      turn on auto-embed of this post's .txt/.text attachments (default is off)
[ltv=noautodisplay]x[/ltv]    turn it off (same as the default)

• The text between the tags ("x") is discarded; the tag shows nothing itself.
• Only the exact values autodisplay and noautodisplay do anything. Any other =value is ignored.
• Needs a message ID. If CollabMsgTracker::current() returns 0 the tag shows a RedBox where it was typed (RedBoxBBCode::noMessageId()).
• Attachments are found by a direct query on {db_prefix}attachments (approved only, extensions txt and text, case-insensitive). Each is shown in a 500px-high iframe pointing at ISE_text_viewer.html?file=<dlattach url>&name=<filename>.
• Manual click-through viewing of .txt attachments is separate and unaffected (ListAttBBC.php routes it to the same viewer).

5. Install and uninstall

Install through the SMF Package Manager with ltv_bbcode_v<version>.zip.

Branch	What the install does
2.0.x	ltv_check_collabcore.php; copy LTVBBC.php to $sourcedir; ltv_register.php (registers LTVBBCode::integrate on integrate_bbc_codes and adds LTVBBC.php to integrate_pre_include); ltv_display_install_template.php (inserts the autodisplay call into Display.template.php).
2.1.x	Same check and file copy; <hook> entries for integrate_bbc_codes and integrate_pre_parsebbc; same Display.template.php step.

Uninstall reverses each step (ltv_unregister.php / hook reverse, ltv_display_uninstall_template.php, remove LTVBBC.php). The Display.template.php step uses targeted matching so it removes only LTV's own block even if other mods inserted theirs at the same anchor.

ltv_display_patch.xml is a legacy reference and is not used by the install steps.

LTV_manual.md and CHANGELOG.md are reference files in the zip; the installer does not copy them to the forum.

6. Files in the package

File	Purpose
LTVBBC.php	The module: tag definition, inline renderer, autodisplay logic, card and theme code.
package-info.xml	Package definition for 2.0.x and 2.1.x.
readme.txt	Shown by the installer.
ltv_check_collabcore.php	Install-time dependency check (CollabCore, RedBox).
ltv_register.php / ltv_unregister.php	2.0.x hook registration / removal.
ltv_display_install_template.php / ltv_display_uninstall_template.php	Add / remove LTV's block in Display.template.php.
ltv_display_patch.xml	Legacy, not referenced.
LTV_manual.md, CHANGELOG.md	Documentation.

7. How inline works, and why (read before changing it)

The tag is registered as type unparsed_equals_content. SMF hands the validate callback $data[0] (the text between the tags) and $data[1] (the value after =); whatever is left in $data[0] is the output.

What arrives in $data[0]: the stored post body — already entity-escaped (<, &, …), with newlines as <br> (<br /> on 2.0.x) and possibly   for space runs.

What happens to the output afterwards (checked against SMF 2.1's parse_bbc(); 2.0.x source could not be fetched, so 2.0.x is assumed to match): the output is wrapped in newline markers, smileys are applied to the chunks between those markers, and a final "Cleanup whitespace" pass turns every "\n" into <br>, every double space into "  ", and every 
 back into a real "\n". Consequences for anything this tag returns:

1. No raw "\n" — it would become <br> inside the card's CSS and JavaScript (breaking both) and would shift the smiley chunking so smileys fire inside the text. Line breaks are therefore written as 
.
2. No two spaces in a row — they would become   inside the JavaScript (a syntax error). Card markup is collapsed to single spaces (flatten()); runs of spaces in the user's text are written as  , which the browser shows as an ordinary space.
3. The user's text goes in after the card is flattened (a placeholder token, INLINE_TOKEN, is swapped for it), because flatten() collapses whitespace.
4. Raw < and > are escaped as a safety net, although SMF already escapes the body before it is stored.
5. Each block carries its own CSS and JavaScript. parse_bbc() caches slow messages, so a cached post can appear in a different position on a different page; a block relying on another block's assets could end up with none. Cost: roughly the card's CSS/JS size per block (a few KB).

wrapCard() is shared with autodisplay and is deliberately untouched. Autodisplay is echoed by Display.template.php, not by parse_bbc(), so rules 1–5 apply only to inline.

8. Fact sheet (for machines)

tag:              ltv
parser type:      unparsed_equals_content   (not 'parameters' — fails to populate value on this fork)
values:           inline | autodisplay | noautodisplay   (case-insensitive, trimmed)
inline output:    div.ltv-card > header + pre.ltv-inline ; BBC rendered via parse_bbc($text,false), smileys off ; no message id needed
inline limits:    none on length ; lines wrap ; one leading + one trailing newline dropped
autodisplay:      per message ; default off ; needs CollabMsgTracker::current() > 0
theme storage:    localStorage "ise_ltv_theme" ; default theme "indigo"
version const:    LTVBBCode::VERSION
version shown:    banner "v<version>" in every card header
requires:         CollabCore >= 2.0 (MsgTracker >= 1.0), RedBox >= 1.3
hooks 2.0.x:      integrate_bbc_codes (+ integrate_pre_include for LTVBBC.php)
hooks 2.1.x:      integrate_bbc_codes, integrate_pre_parsebbc
template patch:   Display.template.php, anchor "if ($attachment['is_image']"

9. Known limits and unverified points

• Smileys are off inside inline.
• Autodisplay and BBCode (v1.9.0): viewerUrl() adds &bbc=1. The viewer (v1.2+) then starts with its "Render BBCode" box ticked; the reader can untick it. Only b i u s sub sup color size url code nobbc are converted; anything else, and any tag that is unmatched or has a bad argument, shows as typed. An older viewer ignores &bbc=1 and shows raw text.
• inline calls parse_bbc() from inside a parse_bbc() tag callback. Believed safe (SMF does the same for some tags) but not run against a live forum here; test on Dev first.
• Tabs: how SMF stores a typed tab was not confirmed. If it converts tabs to spaces on save, tabs cannot be recovered; indentation will show as spaces.
• SMF 2.0.x: the parse_bbc() behaviour in section 7 was verified against 2.1 source only. Test on a 2.0.19 install before relying on it.
• Extra line break: the tag is not marked block-level, so a line break may follow the card.
• No scroll or find options for inline in this version.
• Duplicated assets: several inline blocks in one post each repeat the card CSS/JS (see section 7, rule 5).

10. Test checklist for a new install

In a test post, using [ltv=inline]:

1. Several lines with indentation and a blank line in the middle — all preserved.
2. A line containing [b]bold[/b] — shows bold; [nobbc][b][/nobbc] shows literally.
3. A URL becomes a link; :) and 8) stay text (no smiley image).
4. <b>, & and quotes — shown as typed.
5. A very long line — wraps.
6. Two inline blocks in one post — both render and the theme switcher works on both.
7. Autodisplay on a post with a .txt attachment containing [b]bold[/b]: opens rendered (bold), the "Render BBCode" box is ticked, unticking shows the raw text, search still finds text in both modes.

11. Version history

See CHANGELOG.md. Current: 1.9.0 (01-11-2026) — [ltv=autodisplay] renders BBCode via the viewer.