Integrating Living Avatars with vBulletin

[PGAmerica]

For those of you who have installed the Living Avatars mod and have faced the problems I have this tutorial is for you. I have found that although LA works with vBulletin, v1.1x it makes no effort at all to use a point system other than its own (resolved in v2.x) or match the look and feel of your forums. This tutorial will will make the Living Avatars (v1.1x and 2.x) mod fit within the look and feel of your forums and in step 1, you will find how to make LA work with vbCredits.

This is not so much a modification or hack as it is a tutorial.

Requirements:
The Living Avatar mod (found at www.livingavatars.com (http://www.livingavatars.com)) (Works with v1.1.x and 2.xx)
1 file edit
2 file uploads
1 template edit

Credits: The Living Avatars mod can be found at www.livingavatars.com (http://www.livingavatars.com) and is free for all. I used the
instructions by Gary King entitled "How to create your own vBulletin-powered page! (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=62164)" alongside a
script at the Dynamic Drive site (http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex17/iframessi2.htm) to make this work. Thanks goes to Digital Jedi (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/member.php?u=164758) for sending me the links for this.
------------------------------
NOTES:
This document assumes that you have installed the "Living Avatars" mod. If you have not, please go to www.livingavatars.com (http://www.livingavatars.com), download it and get it running on your site. Once that is done, go to Step 1 in this document.

Note: If you are installing v2.x of Living Avatars, skip step 1 of these instructions

Demo (http://www.christianfunforums.com/forums/LivingAvatars_vb.php) - You will need an account to see it. If you don't want to register, just look at the screencap attached to this post.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Go to this post at www.living avatars.com (http://www.livingavatars.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6786&postcount=4) and follow the instructions to merge LA with the vbCredits (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=151924) mod.

Step 2: Make a new template named "LivingAvatars" and put the contents of the
"LivingAvatars-template.txt" file in it.

Step 3: Edit the included "cpnav_livingavatars.xml" file to refer to your forum
directory. Currently, it is set to "/forums/".

Step 4: Upload the "LivingAvatars_vb.php" file to your forum root folder.

Step 5: Upload the "cpnav_livingavatars.xml" file to your "/forum root/includes/xml" folder.

Step 6: Modify the "modifyavatar" template
Look for 2 references to
living_avatars/index.php and replace it with LivingAvatars_vb.phpThat's it

Note: The Living Avatars mod can be found at livingavatars.com (http://www.livingavatars.com) or in this post at vbulletin.org (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=146200). Thanks goes to Ideal Web Tech for pointing this out.

Note: This works with vBulletin 3.8 as well.

[iogames]

First!

[AcidX]

First!Lame.

[FleaBag]

Agreed. I would have though after being around for nearly 1000 posts, he would have realised that by now.

[iogames]

I'm a big kid! you may have been realized by now :p

(\__/) (\_(\
(='.'=) (=' :')
(")_(") ( (')(')

[Q-v-n-s-Q]

saw this since on 3.5.x, but haven't try it out!!

[SEOvB]

Second!

Nice mod, i'll have to chekc all this out and see if i can modify it for some of my uses

[TimberFloorAu]

Shame living avatars site, says registration is now disabled :(

[Diana Notacat]

Thank you very much for this!

[FRANKTHETANK 2]

now what type of avatars can we get with this. Is there any page that we can see that has all the avatars on it?

[PGAmerica]

Shame living avatars site, says registration is now disabled :(

I posted a message on their site about this. I will keep you up to date with their responses

[TimberFloorAu]

I posted a message on their site about this. I will keep you up to date with their responses


Cheers mate :up:

[dreads]

very nice i will isntall this tommorw :P

[Captain Tycoon]

Installed and Marked! I think Ziad has stopped giving support for this mod and stopped the development since there are no glitches/bugs with it. I really hope he comes back to add new features :(

[Ideal Web Tech]

BTW for everybody who wants the mod but cant get it because the registration is disabled the mod has been maintained on here as well as the authors site.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=146200

That will get you the exact same version you will get from their site.

Enjoy

[PGAmerica]

BTW for everybody who wants the mod but cant get it because the registration is disabled the mod has been maintained on here as well as the authors site.
Thanks for this info. I have updated the first post to state this as well.

[Ideal Web Tech]

Thanks for this info. I have updated the first post to state this as well.
Your welcome. :)

[Digital Jedi]

Thanks goes to Digital Jedi (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/member.php?u=164758) for sending me the links for this.

No problem. I never thought of releasing this as a mod.

I'm interested in why you call your page LivingAvatars_vb.php. I went with livingavatars.php. Of course, I did mine just a hair different then you did, I believe. I haven't looked it over completely.

Here's another screen shot if people are interested in how smoothly you can make the skin integration. I have a peculiar skin. Click to enlarge:

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/4695/lapreviewrn5.png

[PGAmerica]

No problem. I never thought of releasing this as a mod.
As I said earlier, I consider this more of a tutorial than a mod.

I'm interested in why you call your page LivingAvatars_vb.php. I went with livingavatars.php.
Donno, just the name I chose.

Of course, I did mine just a hair different then you did, I believe. I haven't looked it over completely.
I curious. What did you do that was different? It looks the same in your screencap. Except that you left the LA links.

[Digital Jedi]

I only had a chance to look it over briefly (out of town at the moment), but I didn't make any changes to my XML file. I made a handful of changes to a couple of the Living Avatars PHP files. I think it was livingavatars/index.php and one other. Can't check because I'm on a hotel computer, but it was just a few changes to where the internal links went to. I put target="_top" in a few and replaced one of the images.

[tokenyank]

Nice release... I did this last year (with exception of integration with vBcredits) and never thought of putting it here either. Very nice indeed.

First!
Hey! When did vB.org turn into perezhilton? ;)

Installed and Marked! I think Ziad has stopped giving support for this mod and stopped the development
Sounds like LA is getting the same treatment as Subdreamer! :p

[Soliloquy]

The good news is that the Living Avatars forum is accepting registrations again, and has apparently been updated to vB 3.7.2, which means they still care about it.
Using this tutorial/mod, is there any way to restrict access to certain usergroups? I've been needing that option (http://www.livingavatars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=841) but couldn't get the conditional to work on the modifyavatar page.

[Digital Jedi]

Search the Gary King tutorial linked in the first post, and you'll find a couple of ways to make those pages usergroup permission based.

[Toupsx]

Nevermind, found the issue!

[TimberFloorAu]

In ModifyAvatar I cannot find the edits you say are needed.


Step 6: Modify the "modifyavatar" template
Look for 2 references to
Code:

living_avatars/index.php

and replace it with
Code:

LivingAvatars_vb.php



Have the files changed?

Added this the modifyavatar template


<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function check_yes(objid)
{
yes = fetch_object(objid);
if (yes)
{
yes.checked = true;
}
}

<if condition="$show['categories']">
function switch_avatar_category()
{
selobj = fetch_object("avatar_category_select");
window.location = "profile.php?$session[sessionurl_js]do=editavatar&categoryid=" + selobj.options[selobj.selectedIndex].value;
}
</if>
//-->
</script>

<form enctype="multipart/form-data" action="profile.php?do=updateavatar" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="s" value="$session[sessionhash]" />
<input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />
<input type="hidden" name="do" value="updateavatar" />

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="tcat">$vbphrase[edit_avatar]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="panelsurround" align="center">
<div class="panel">
<div style="width:$stylevar[formwidth_usercp]" align="$stylevar[left]">

<fieldset class="fieldset">
<legend>$vbphrase[your_current_avatar]</legend>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[formspacer]" border="0">
<tr valign="top">
$currentavatar
<td class="smallfont">
<div style="margin-bottom:$stylevar[formspacer]px">$vbphrase[avatars_small_graphics_short]</div>
<div style="margin-bottom:$stylevar[formspacer]px"><label for="rb_avatarid_no"><input type="radio" name="avatarid" value="-1" id="rb_avatarid_no" $nouseavatarchecked />$vbphrase[do_not_use_an_avatar]</label></div>
<div>$vbphrase[note_have_custom_avatar_delete]</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</fieldset>

<if condition="$show['forumavatars']">
<fieldset class="fieldset">
<legend><phrase 1="$categoryname">$vbphrase[predefined_x]</phrase></legend>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[formspacer]" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td colspan="$cols">
<if condition="$show['categories']">
$vbphrase[avatar_category]:<br />
<select name="categoryid" id="avatar_category_select" onchange="switch_avatar_category()">$categorybits</select>
<input type="button" value="$vbphrase[go]" class="button" onclick="switch_avatar_category()" />
</if>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="$cols">$vbphrase[may_select_predefined_as_avatar]</td>
</tr>
$avatarlist
<if condition="$show['pagenav']">
<tr valign="bottom">
<td colspan="$cols">
$pagenav
</td>
</tr>
</if>
</table>
</fieldset>
</if>

<if condition="$show['customavatar']">
<fieldset class="fieldset">
<legend>$vbphrase[custom_avatar]</legend>

<div style="padding:$stylevar[formspacer]px">
<div class="fieldset">

$vbphrase[have_custom_avatar_want_as_is]<br /><br />

<label for="avatar_yes"><input type="radio" name="avatarid" value="0" id="avatar_yes" $avatarchecked[0] />$vbphrase[use_custom_avatar]</label><br /><br />

$vbphrase[may_upload_custom_image_controls]<br /><br />

<if condition="$show['customavatar_url']">
$vbphrase[enter_url_to_image]

<div style="padding:$stylevar[formspacer]px">
<input type="text" class="bginput" name="avatarurl" value="http://www." onchange="check_yes('avatar_yes')" size="45" dir="ltr" />
<input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="$inimaxattach" />
</div>
</if>

<if condition="$show['customavatar_url']">$vbphrase[option_2_upload_image_from_computer]<else />$vbphrase[upload_image_from_computer]</if>
<div style="padding:$stylevar[formspacer]px">
<input type="file" class="bginput" name="upload" onchange="check_yes('avatar_yes')" size="45" />
</div>

<if condition="$show['maxnote']">
$maxnote
</if>

</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
</if>

</div>
</div>

<div style="margin-top:$stylevar[cellpadding]px">
<input type="submit" class="button" value="$vbphrase[save_changes]" accesskey="s" />
<input type="reset" class="button" value="$vbphrase[reset_fields]" accesskey="r" />
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

</form>

[Digital Jedi]

That probably won't be in there until you activate the Integration link in your Living Avatar's Admin CP.

[TimberFloorAu]

Cheers DJ.

That did the trick.

Do you know where we can directly get rid of that Hideous turquoise blue?

STRIKE that found the CSS is Settings

[RvG2]

works perfectly with 3.7.2! :)

thank you so much guys.

[Saint_ago]

Didn't worked on Opera 9.52 (and in MSIE 6.0 also):

What can i do?

[ArchangelX]

Great work!

[DarkGizmo]

Can we have normal avatars as well as our "living avatars"? meaning can we use both standard/normal vB avatars as well as the Living Avatars at the same time? :)

[akoj]

No at least not that I have ever seen work

[Saviour]

Regarding your optional edits,

I can't find the code you're referring to within the "living_avatars/includes/functions.php" file.

Thanks for any assistance...

[hambil]

Regarding your optional edits,

I can't find the code you're referring to within the "living_avatars/includes/functions.php" file.

Thanks for any assistance...

Yeah, Living Avatars has changed a fair bit since this was put out. The optional edits are not going to work. You'll either have to dig through the Living avatar code yourself, or do what I did and just ignore it. Who cares if the admin options are in duplicate places? :p

[Saviour]

No problem...Thanks!

[vidan]

dont forget opera didnt work with this. anyone tried with opera?