zenmemes

New post

Forte Board View Step 3 Development Plan

Stage 1 - New /forte route and folder tree

  • Goal: add the standalone /forte route with a stub page rendering the folder tree (All Threads + each tag with its thread count), proving routing and data reuse work before the other panes exist.

  • Dependencies: none.

  • Expected changes: new route ^/forte/?$ in Application.php; new renderForteBoard(): string calling existing fetchThreads() / groupThreadsByTag() unchanged; new partial templates/partials/paned_folder_tree.php; new page template templates/pages/forte_board.php rendered via the existing renderStandalonePage().

  • Verification: manual check — GET /forte returns 200; folder tree's tag names and counts match what /tags/ already shows for the same fixture data.

  • Risks/open questions: none expected; this is read-only reuse of an existing, already-tested function.

  • Touches: Application.php (new route + method), new partial, new page template.

Stage 2 - Flat thread-list pane

  • Goal: render every thread as a flat, newest-first list (subject, author, date, reply count), each row carrying its tag membership as a data attribute for later client-side filtering.

  • Dependencies: Stage 1 (page exists to render into).

  • Expected changes: new partial templates/partials/paned_board_thread_list.php consuming fetchThreads()'s existing return shape; each row gets data-paned-thread-id and data-paned-thread-tags (from the thread's decoded board_tags).

  • Verification: manual check — thread count and order match the existing board page (/) for the same fixture data.

  • Risks/open questions: confirm the exact field name/shape for a thread's tag list coming out of fetchThreads() before wiring the data attribute.

  • Touches: new partial only.

Stage 3 - Board-level content pane

  • Goal: render a preview block per thread (subject, author, date, body preview) plus a link into that thread's existing single-thread Forte reader; no reply rendering at this level.

  • Dependencies: Stage 2 (same thread records available).

  • Expected changes: new partial templates/partials/paned_board_content_pane.php; link href is /threads/{root_post_id}/forte.

  • Verification: manual check — preview fields and the "Open in Forte" link's target are correct for a couple of sample threads.

  • Risks/open questions: none expected; straight field reuse plus one computed href.

  • Touches: new partial only.

Stage 4 - Client-side folder/thread interaction

  • Goal: clicking a folder filters the visible thread rows to that tag (or shows all for "All Threads"); clicking a thread row shows its preview in the content pane. No new backend calls.

  • Dependencies: Stages 1-3 (all panes exist).

  • Expected changes: new script public/assets/paned_board_reader.js, wired into renderForteBoard()'s script paths.

  • Verification: headless-browser interaction check (same approach used for the single-thread Forte reader) — selecting a tag filters rows correctly; selecting a thread shows the correct preview and link.

  • Risks/open questions: tag-string matching between the folder tree and each row's tag list must be normalized consistently (exact match, same casing) to avoid silent filter mismatches.

  • Touches: new script only.

Stage 5 - Chrome polish and Tools page link

  • Goal: apply the existing Forte chrome (title bar with icon, menu bar, toolbar, status bar) to the three-pane layout, and add the Tools page link that motivated this feature.

  • Dependencies: Stages 1-4 complete.

  • Expected changes: finalize templates/pages/forte_board.php with full chrome; new CSS for the three-pane grid and folder-tree pane, extending (not forking) the existing .paned-window/.paned-titlebar/.paned-menubar/.paned-toolbar/.paned-statusbar rules; renderTools() gets one new entry in its existing toolPages array ({label: 'Forte', href: '/forte', description: ...}).

  • Verification: screenshots at two viewport widths; confirm the Tools page renders the new link and it navigates to /forte.

  • Risks/open questions: three-pane layout at narrow widths may need column stacking; resolved pragmatically (matching the single-thread Forte's existing narrow-width tolerance) rather than engineered to a specific breakpoint.

  • Touches: forte_board.php, site.css, renderTools() in Application.php.