ActiveForums Latest Discussions Module
Easily display the 5 latest discussions on any pages.  The Latest Discussion module lists the Subject and Author of the 5 most recent posts.  The subject is displayed as a link directly to the topic. Perfect for getting a visitors attention on your front page.

Regarding the above taken from the features page on this site. The details of how this works are vital to my site structure.

"...link directly to the topic"
I take it topic means thread?
Does that mean that the reader is taken to the start of the topic/thread only and not to the page that the specific post is on; eg the last page of the thread?

"5 latest discussions" or "5 most recent posts"
I take discussions to mean threads and posts to mean posts?
If it display 5 latest threads, are they from a selectable group or simply the 5 latest overall?
If it only displays latest posts, are they from selectable groups, threads, forums as a whole?

"5"
Can this number be increased to say, 6 or 10 or X?


Perhaps it might help if some scenarios were commented on:

On my homepage I want to display the X actual most recent posts to the entire forum and let the viewer go straight to the actual post that is being displayed. Is this possible?

Alternatively, on my homepage I would like to display the X most active topics. Is this possible?

On other pages in my site I want to display the X actual most recent posts within a specific subforum (such as this General Discussion subforum I am posting in right now) and let the viewer go there upon clicking. Is this possible?

I assume this means that one needs RSS feeds available at different levels of the hierarchy. Is this the case and are feeds available at all levels or if not then where are they specifically?

Also, is the entire module able to be syndicated using DNN's own syndication tools? This might get around not having a top level feed if that is the case.

Also, is the amount of decription text displayed adjustable to a certain number of characters?

I've been examining the demo page on the site here, but havn't been able to answer my questions from that so I'm asking in here instead.

Thanks for any advice on this.

Rob

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the questions. Looks like I need to update the description for the Top Posts module .


This has changed. If you have to the TopPosts module set to display the latest post, it will take the user directly to that post within the thread. If you have it set to only display the latests Topic(Thread) then it will take them directly to that topic.


Yes


You can select the forums from which the module will pull the latest Topic/Posts. It will pull the lastet overall from the forums you specify.


They are only selectable from forums. The module options displays a list of all your forums and you just check which ones to include.



Yes, you can make this number whatever you like.


Yes, this is possible.


Yes, but through an additional module that is currently being tested.


RSS feeds are available at each instance of the TopPosts module depending on your settings. The RSS feed will match what is being displayed for the module. RSS feeds are also available at the forum level as part of ActiveForums.


I haven't had anyone request this feature, but I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to add.


Yes, you can customize this setting. Also, the TopPosts module is template driven so you can customize the layout.

I hope I haven't missed anything. Please let me know if you need any more details.

Thanks,
Will

What has never been added?