Layout on a Page
By Danny Dawson on Friday, 20 July 2018
Posted in Technical Issues
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Hi

I am wanting to do a simple 2-column layout of a page, where EasyDiscuss is on the right and a pgn chess board, playing through games on the left. My idea was to get chess members to post their games and they discuss via EasyDiscuss.

Here is the problem - the PGN (EmbedChessboard) Plugin embeds a javascript chessboard in joomla articles for replaying chess games. I've tried using a module but it doesn't work. I tried going through RocketTheme with no joy. I tried doing an Articles anywhere plugin, with no joy. So, when I setup EasyDiscuss on same page, I can't because the chess board is using the articles container. And I don't think I can use a module to setup the main EasyDiscuss from when I am creating a menu.

So, my question is, is it possible at all to get the chessboard and EasyDiscuss on the same page? Failing this I will just have to put EasyDiscuss on one page and the chess board on another.

Thanks
Danny
Hi Danny,

Regarding your inquiry, in what I can see the possible way is by the capabilities of a certain template itself if it can render 2 component in a page, and yes, for your 2nd paragraph is the way to achieve this, but not sure why it not working though.
If the above is not working, i'm afraid to said that it could be not possible
Muhammad Fadhli
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Friday, 20 July 2018 12:53
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Hi Fadhli

Many thanks for your reply. Regarding the template, I use RocketTheme templates, and in this case, Antares. I can achieve 2 columns very easily, but the chess board can only use the article place holder. It cannot be inserted into a module - I tried this and it doesn't function. And if I am right, EasyDiscuss can only be inserted with the article place holder too.

Thanks
Danny
Danny Dawson
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Friday, 20 July 2018 20:54
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Hey Danny,

EasyDiscuss is rendered in the "component area" and it does not require an article place holder. The issue that you are having is most likely your chess board plugin, requires you to insert some tags in the article and render the article on the page.

Unfortunately there is no way to render 2 components on a single page in Joomla (because Joomla needs to know which extension is rendered based on the url) and the only way to place something on the sidebar (left or right) is via a module.

Your best bet is to probably create an iframe in your module, which links to an article page that renders the chess board
Mark
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Saturday, 21 July 2018 14:07
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Hi Mark

Many thanks for the information, much appreciated. When you said iframes, I thought, yes, this is going to work. Unfortunately the chess board is not showing. I have done all sorts of methods relating to using iframe, none seem to work. It seems the chess board doesn't like modules at all. I think I was doing it correctly with iframes - is this just creating a custom module and then putting [pgn] [/pgn] inside <iframe> </iframe> ?

I was wondering - is it possible to insert a pgn chess board within EasyDiscuss ? On chess.com discussion forum I have seen people inserting a pgn chess board within a discussion thread. The only chess plugin I can find to use for Joomla is EmbedChessboard. I have tried quickly linking a chess game from an external website called PGN Editor, Caissa's Web but this seems too awkward to do.

Thanks
Danny
Danny Dawson
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Saturday, 21 July 2018 16:19
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Hi Danny,

Perhaps, you can follow this documentation to render the chess in the module : https://sourceforge.net/p/pgn4web/wiki/BoardWidget_instructions/
Muhammad Fadhli
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Monday, 23 July 2018 10:41
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Hi Fadhli

Many thanks for taking time to help me. I have looked at what you said and tried this. Yes I have managed to generate the board next to EasyDiscuss. This is all well and good, but, how would users insert their own game at the front end login? I tried it and it doesn't work. Users would have to login to back end, and find the module I have created. Bit awkward.

My ideal world is if EasyDiscuss simply had a button users could click, generate the pgn game and insert into their comment thread. This is achieved on Chess.com forum.

Many thanks for your help
Danny
Danny Dawson
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Monday, 23 July 2018 16:08
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In EasyDiscuss, perhaps you can use codemirror editor to and use the iframe: http://take.ms/t1Ntk
Muhammad Fadhli
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Monday, 23 July 2018 16:58
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