3 files changed, 57 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/web/react/utils/markdown.jsx b/web/react/utils/markdown.jsx
index 01cc309b8..ad11a95ac 100644
--- a/web/react/utils/markdown.jsx
+++ b/web/react/utils/markdown.jsx
@@ -121,8 +121,11 @@ export class MattermostMarkdownRenderer extends marked.Renderer {
     paragraph(text) {
         let outText = text;
 
+        // required so markdown does not strip '_' from @user_names
+        outText = TextFormatting.doFormatMentions(text);
+
         if (!('emoticons' in this.options) || this.options.emoticon) {
-            outText = TextFormatting.doFormatEmoticons(text);
+            outText = TextFormatting.doFormatEmoticons(outText);
         }
 
         if (this.formattingOptions.singleline) {
@@ -136,7 +139,7 @@ export class MattermostMarkdownRenderer extends marked.Renderer {
         return `<table class="markdown__table"><thead>${header}</thead><tbody>${body}</tbody></table>`;
     }
 
-    text(text) {
-        return TextFormatting.doFormatText(text, this.formattingOptions);
+    text(txt) {
+        return TextFormatting.doFormatText(txt, this.formattingOptions);
     }
 }
diff --git a/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx b/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx
index 4b6d87254..9f1a5a53f 100644
--- a/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx
+++ b/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ export function doFormatText(text, options) {
     const tokens = new Map();
 
     // replace important words and phrases with tokens
-    output = autolinkUrls(output, tokens);
     output = autolinkAtMentions(output, tokens);
+    output = autolinkUrls(output, tokens);
     output = autolinkHashtags(output, tokens);
 
     if (!('emoticons' in options) || options.emoticon) {
@@ -78,6 +78,13 @@ export function doFormatEmoticons(text) {
     return output;
 }
 
+export function doFormatMentions(text) {
+    const tokens = new Map();
+    let output = autolinkAtMentions(text, tokens);
+    output = replaceTokens(output, tokens);
+    return output;
+}
+
 export function sanitizeHtml(text) {
     let output = text;
 
@@ -188,6 +195,7 @@ function autolinkAtMentions(text, tokens) {
 
     let output = text;
     output = output.replace(/(^|\s)(@([a-z0-9.\-_]*))/gi, replaceAtMentionWithToken);
+
     return output;
 }
 
diff --git a/web/react/utils/utils.jsx b/web/react/utils/utils.jsx
index 7a876d518..fadab27a7 100644
--- a/web/react/utils/utils.jsx
+++ b/web/react/utils/utils.jsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ var PreferenceStore = require('../stores/preference_store.jsx');
 var TeamStore = require('../stores/team_store.jsx');
 var Constants = require('../utils/constants.jsx');
 var ActionTypes = Constants.ActionTypes;
+var Client = require('./client.jsx');
 var AsyncClient = require('./async_client.jsx');
 var client = require('./client.jsx');
 var Autolinker = require('autolinker');
@@ -1009,3 +1010,44 @@ export function windowWidth() {
 export function windowHeight() {
     return $(window).height();
 }
+
+export function openDirectChannelToUser(user, successCb, errorCb) {
+    const channelName = this.getDirectChannelName(UserStore.getCurrentId(), user.id);
+    let channel = ChannelStore.getByName(channelName);
+
+    const preference = PreferenceStore.setPreference(Constants.Preferences.CATEGORY_DIRECT_CHANNEL_SHOW, user.id, 'true');
+    AsyncClient.savePreferences([preference]);
+
+    if (channel) {
+        if ($.isFunction(successCb)) {
+            successCb(channel, true);
+        }
+    } else {
+        channel = {
+            name: channelName,
+            last_post_at: 0,
+            total_msg_count: 0,
+            type: 'D',
+            display_name: user.username,
+            teammate_id: user.id,
+            status: UserStore.getStatus(user.id)
+        };
+
+        Client.createDirectChannel(
+            channel,
+            user.id,
+            (data) => {
+                AsyncClient.getChannel(data.id);
+                if ($.isFunction(successCb)) {
+                    successCb(data, false);
+                }
+            },
+            () => {
+                window.location.href = TeamStore.getCurrentTeamUrl() + '/channels/' + channelName;
+                if ($.isFunction(errorCb)) {
+                    errorCb();
+                }
+            }
+        );
+    }
+}