I'm getting started with using your Recent Messages module, and have a few questions (if you can't answer them all, just pick your favorite ):

1. I'd like to apply my template's styling to the module, but that would require setting the "Module Class Suffix". That is normally found on all modules under "Advanced Parameters", but your module doesn't have that section at all. Is there a way I can get at those parameters?
2. Here in Japan dates are written Y/M/D - is there a way I can add that choice of date format? You have many date format choices, but none of them start with the year.
3. Is there a way to use smaller icons on the module than on the component? Each of our messages usually has two files (MP3 and PDF), and those 24x24 icons are space-hogs.
4. Is there a way to flow two data items together, and add punctuation? For example, once I start using numerical dates, I could probably put the date and title together on one line, like 2009/4/12: "He Is Risen" or something like that. I'm imagining codes like {date}: "{title}" or Series: {date}: ({teacher}), so that I can arrange and label the data in a way that is clear and fits in the space. Anything like that hiding in your code? (I suspect the answer is no, but it's worth asking.)

Thanks!

1. class suffix not currently available. It will be added as a feature request
2. Also we'll add the date format into the next version
3. You can actually use any icons you want. The media files tab contains the paths to the images. You can add your own - I think that we also include 16x16 icons in the package so you could just change the 24 to 16. Be sure to change the parameter for image size to 16 as well in the menu item parameters
4. No way to do this currently. We are working on something like that for a future version

Thanks for your answers - too bad that the prevailing answer was "not possible in this version", but I look forward to future improvements.
I know, but that would change them for the component as well. I was wanting to know if I can have smaller icons just for the module (i.e. different ones for the module and component). The size of the icons in the component is fine the way it is.

BTW. It is possible to use the system date format so you can change your date format in the system and choose that as your date format in the module/component.

We have put in a feature request to have smaller icons in the module.

I don't necessarily want the real short numerical date format for the entire system - in most places that have more space, I'm happy with a format that uses words. When words are used, American order is fine for the English, because it's clear which is the day and month. But when I want to use a numerical format it's not as obvious, because Europe does D/M/Y and America does M/D/Y. So I'd rather go with the Japanese order, not only because we are here in Japan (and in Japanese, people will be even more confused to not see the year first), but also because nowhere in the world does Y/D/M, so there would be no confusion as long as I use a 4-digit year.

Can you tell me where your date format choices are stored? I could either change one of the existing choices to suit my needs or add mine to the list. I expected it to be a language file, but there is no language file for the module (or at least I couldn't find one) and the one for the component doesn't have date formats. I normally try to avoid editing code (because the next version upgrade will overwrite my customizations), but from what I can understand, changing the system date format to my liking also involves editing files (en-GB.ini and ja-JP.ini) instead of just changing a parameter, so it would have the same issue.

The code is found between lines 104 and 134 in tmpl/_study.php. Change one of the date formats to your liking, then select that number from the parameters.