Dispatch formatting - a potentially breaking change

[[violet]]

Existing dispatches may exhibit a loss of formatting in tables, as I've had to tighten up the parsing of the [ table ] Dispatch NSCode.

In particular, NSCodes that are placed inside a [ table ] but NOT also inside a [ td ] tag are no longer parsed. You can fix this by wrapping them in a [ td ] tag.

Most dispatches aren't affected, because all table content should always be inside a [ td ] tag. But sometimes it's accidentally left out. Previously that content was parsed anyway, but there's been a little rash of incidents where people exploited this in RMB posts to alter page cosmetics. So unfortunately we have to be stricter.

edit: There is a bug affecting tables inside [ spoiler ] tags, which will be fixed soon. edit 2: Now fixed. edit 3: Unfixed. edit 4: Refixed.

[The Unified Missourtama States]

You could also do it permanently by putting a properly formatted dispatch in the WFE.

I'm sad to see it gone though, it brought some color to sometimes often dull places

[Confederation of TESDAI]

I seem to be having some issues, possibly a bug with a few dispatches.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1426200
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1149573

I've seen the same occurence with a few other dispatches as well. These tables all contain [td] formatting so I assume they are still formatted correctly even after this update. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[The Northern Light]

It is unfortunate to see this gone, as it was the only way to:
1) produce a table header that spans all of the table's columns;
2) override the default formatting used for the first/header row of dispatch tables;
3) produce a table without a header row at all.

As a matter of fact, you can see that a lot of the dispatches currently in the "News" page are all broken. This is because a lot of these are end-of-month dispatches handing out awards to several winners listed in tables:

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1455924
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1455156
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1455108
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1455177
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1455380
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1455137

Would it be possible to provide some alternative mechanism for the above-mentioned functionalities? As others said, the current formatting of tables is very restrictive and monotonous, and having some way to override it would go a long way towards enabling creativity in dispatch formatting.

[Destructive Government Economic System]

Would it be possible to provide some alternative mechanism for the above-mentioned functionalities? As others said, the current formatting of tables is very restrictive and monotonous, and having some way to override it would go a long way towards enabling creativity in dispatch formatting.

If possible, I'd also like to see this be implemented.

The former system was frequently used (whether by regions or RPers) to display the artistic aspect a factbook can bring. I can understand why these new changes are in place, but perhaps another potential solution could be used that everyone would be fine with?

(On another note, in this dispatch the very last table in the last spoiler is not working, despite it being correctly formatted under the new system.)

[Khoronzon]

Most dispatches aren't affected, because all table content should always be inside a [ td ] tag.

In that case, I'm wondering what happened to the table in this factbook of mine: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1268069

There isn't anything in the table in the overview section that isn't enclosed in a [td] tag, as you'd see if you were to check the raw code, but the entire thing is broken nonetheless. I thought the [sidebar] could be an issue, but I took those out, then I tried removing [floatleft], but there still wasn't any difference. It's pretty late right now so I'm not in the mood to test every possible option within my code that could be causing problems, but I'd appreciate an evaluation of why it looks completely mangled despite it following the rule you mentioned.

---

Update: It was the spoiler at the beginning of the factbook that was messing it up - which is a pretty annoying problem, because my table was being penalised for something that wasn't in the table, and the header with the spoiler that I had going on was an aesthetic detail that I personally rather liked. I'm supposing this means I just can't put tables within spoilers right now, and I've heard complaints from others saying they can't put spoilers in tables either. Not quite gamebreaking, but an actual fix to this might be in order since this seems to be an unintended side effect of the change that was made.

[Fallen Albali]

If anyone's got a similar issue, apparently tables can't be inside a spoiler tag or they also break
for... some reason?

[Valentine Z]

Unfortunately, a lot of the factbooks have been botched by this change, and the damage is... extreme, to say the least. Not just me, but quite a lot of people as well.

Isn't there a workaround so that the factbooks are no longer parsed on the RMB and only displayed as links? Or a regional setting so that smaller regions can use the factbook parsing to their advantage, but it can deter spam by letting Regional Officers disable factbook parsing?

This just seems out of order to botch everyone else just because of a few rulebreakers and exploits, when a few moderations and asking people to knock it off would have been fine, personally speaking.

[Innovationist Eurasia]

Well, that's unfortunate, it seems Tables can't got in spoilers like Khoronzon said. I liked the effect, but until a fix is out itll do for now.

[Valentine Z]

A degree of silver lining is that now I can do my own custom tables on Excel, screenshot them, and put them into the factbooks. I guess this is a good workaround as I can get!

[Academia de Nocturna]

Well, that's unfortunate, it seems Tables can't got in spoilers like Khoronzon said. I liked the effect, but until a fix is out itll do for now.

If anyone's got a similar issue, apparently tables can't be inside a spoiler tag or they also break
for... some reason?

oof I'm experiencing this, everything seems to be properly formatted and in [ td ] tags in this dispatch

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1386939

but the tables aren't working because they're in spoilers, hopefully it could be fixed soon

[Tahrik]

Ok thats cool but i still don't know how to use the tables

[Merni]

Ok thats cool but i still don't know how to use the tables

See this and this. Click on the "Raw" link at the bottom right to see the code used.

[Wizlandia]

If anyone's got a similar issue, apparently tables can't be inside a spoiler tag or they also break
for... some reason?

Yeah same for me.

[Etoile Arcture]

It is unfortunate to see this gone, as it was the only way to:
1) produce a table header that spans all of the table's columns;
2) override the default formatting used for the first/header row of dispatch tables;
3) produce a table without a header row at all.

It is very unfortunate that the change has borked any Wiki style layouts in dispatches.

Isn't there a workaround so that the factbooks are no longer parsed on the RMB and only displayed as links? Or a regional setting so that smaller regions can use the factbook parsing to their advantage, but it can deter spam by letting Regional Officers disable factbook parsing?

Yes can this be considered as an alternative solution?

[Soleanna]

This change has definitely broken some aspects of my dispatch templates.

Edit - Anyone who use my template(s), I've revised my code to compile with the new ruleset | Aesthetic wise nothing has changed

[Whitemore]

Look at what you did to my boys, you massacred him!

[The Municipalities of Antarctica]

Isn't there a workaround so that the factbooks are no longer parsed on the RMB and only displayed as links? Or a regional setting so that smaller regions can use the factbook parsing to their advantage, but it can deter spam by letting Regional Officers disable factbook parsing?

I'd like this work-around too. Since most of my more well-done files deeply rely on a lot of formatting that was broken by this update. My tables and some of my other formatting were damaged in this change.
It makes it nearly impossible for me to organize things now, and I can't exactly find a workaround in my formatting that won't make me unhappy about it.

[Etoile Arcture]

This change has definitely broken some aspects of my dispatch templates.

Edit - Anyone who use my template(s), I've revised my code to compile with the new ruleset | Aesthetic wise nothing has changed

Thank you, that's a huge help.

[Atheris]

...Uh...

I don't speak BBCode. I just use templates.

Will factbook templates and the like be affected?

[Comfed]

What is wrong with exploiting cosmetics on a region page? It seems like a harmless bug, unless there are less harmless examples.

[[violet]]

Would it be possible to provide some alternative mechanism for the above-mentioned functionalities? As others said, the current formatting of tables is very restrictive and monotonous, and having some way to override it would go a long way towards enabling creativity in dispatch formatting.

Yep, I'm sure we can do something like this. Let me fix the existing issues first (e.g. tables inside spoilers) and then I can add a new tag to provide the old functionality in a safer way.

[[violet]]

What is wrong with exploiting cosmetics on a region page? It seems like a harmless bug, unless there are less harmless examples.

It can be used to break page formatting in a variety of ways, including sending someone a TG that basically leaves them unable to view their telegrams. Previously moderators have dealt with these on a case-by-case basis, but it's become a bit of an epidemic, so I need to fix it properly.

[Refuge Isle]

Hi,

I found discovered a bug that I believe may be as a result of these changes. I'm not sure if it's more appropriate for this to be in this thread or a separate topic, but heyyy.

It looks like when a dispatch has a live-preview inside another dispatch, but that preview is generated under a sidebar, the distance between the dispatch preview and the sidebar will be filled with a large white block if there is not text in between the two. I have created a dispatch that shows what I mean here: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1456440

[[violet]]

It is unfortunate to see this gone, as it was the only way to:
1) produce a table header that spans all of the table's columns;
2) override the default formatting used for the first/header row of dispatch tables;
3) produce a table without a header row at all.

Okay I have something for you to try.

Firstly, just FYI, you can actually produce a table without a header row by setting its type to 'plain', e.g. [table=plain]

Assuming you knew that already but don't want to strip all formatting from your tables, I've added a new type 'noheader', e.g. [table=noheader], which preserves normal table styling everywhere except the first row.

I've also added support for td elements that span columns, e.g. [td=4] to have a cell span 4 columns. If you set this to a large number (e.g. 20), it should span the entire table no matter how many columns it has.

So I think you can achieve the same effect as before by using [table=noheader] and putting your header cell inside a [td=6] (or however many columns you want to span) tag.

Let me know how this goes!