Apparently my license is NOT expired. Please help me modify my site!

[EtaiWix]

I'm trying to create the following unsuccessfully. I've spent hours upon hours, and have searched ALL the threads in the forums both here and on vbulleting.com:

I'm running VB 3.8.2

Category 1
Cat 2
Cat 3
Cat 4

etc...

Where each one has it's child forums.

This far, I'm good. I can get them all to display on the main page or not display on the main page as I wish. However, here's when I run into problems:

I want it to look as I outlined above, so that when someone clicks on Cat 1 (or any other), they are directed to a page which shows them all the child forums within that category. I do NOT want all the 'sub forums' to one of the cat's to show on the main page- It creates too many forums in a list and is just a big mess.

I played with all of the forum list display options over and over again.

Scenario 1:

Cat 1
-forumt 1a
-forum 1b
-forum 1c
Cat 2
-forum 2a
-forum 2b
etc..

creates a long list. Then, if you click on 'Cat 1' or 'Cat 2', it basically uses that as an 'anchor' and just goes to that area on the page.

Scenario 2:
Cat 1
Cat 2
etc.. where you see all the forums by clicking on one of the cat's- NOT WORKING.

This is what I want.

Currently, the only way to do this is to allow the categories to act as a forum... which defeats the whole purpose of them being categories.

If you click on one of the Cat's now, it does the same as above- it uses that category as an 'anchor' and just goes to that area on the page.

I do hope I was clear enough. There must be a simple way to do this- perhaps a mod, or editing a template- but the way it's currently set up, it's simply not working. If you have it set to show the child forums, then you can see them, if not, then you can never access them because you can't click the category to get to them...
If you allow it to act as a forum you can see the sub forums when you click on it, but then it looks very different and also has the thread area showing- even if I lock the whole forum.

Can one of you please help me or PM me?

I would greatly appreciate it.

If I didn't explain this well enough, then please let me know and I'll try to show some screenshots of what I want it to look like... cutting and pasting the good old way!

[Brandon Sheley]

Have you messed with the "forum display options" in your vboptions?

[ChopSuey]

FYI your settings should be

2
2
1

;)

[EtaiWix]

I have tried all the forum display options, including:

2,2,1 | 2,1,1 | 3,2,2 | 3,1,1 | 3,3,3 | 1,1,1 | 1,2,1 | 2,2,2

etc....

I really sat for hours with these display settings, and for some reason it's not possible.

Try this to understand what I need:

Create a parent forum, but mark it as YES to act as a forum.

Now have the settings set so they are not showing the child forums on the main thread

View the forum- you can click on the parent forum, and it will lead you to where you can see the child forums. The problem is, that you can post there (if I lock it, then it still has a thread section, it's just empty), and that on the main page it looks like a forum- not a category.

I want it to look like a category, with no child forums, and so that when you click on it you will be lead to the page with the child forums inside of it.

Make sense?

This should be a basic function, and if it's not possible and there's no hack for it, then that's pretty unexpected to me...

Pretty much like splitting up the forums into sections...

[merk_aus]

You can do that, display settings 221 act. Set up your categories and sub forums and add the mod to make category titles as links so when people click on Cat 1 it opens the forums (sub forums you currently have).

Very basic and very simple.

[EtaiWix]

and add the mod to make category titles as links

See, this is what I'm missing.

Can you help me out here?

Which mod do I need? I am able to set up the categories as links, and I've tried that- but there is no page that I can lead it to with those settings that will show it...

I'll make some screenshots and put them up soon, to explain better.

--------------- Added 1276869170 at 1276869170 ---------------

Here' how I want it to look like on the main forum page (I think I made it 1-2-1, I don't remember):
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/2176/211forum.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/i/211forum.jpg/)

Then, when you click on the category, I want you to be led to this page, but without any 'thread' section shown- see below:
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1417/whatiwantafter.jpg (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/whatiwantafter.jpg/)

The only way to get the above to happen is by setting the forum to ACT AS A FORUM- which means it won't look like a category:
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/119/whatiwantbefore.jpg

(I want it to look like a category, not a forum, and link to a page with the child forums listed, without any thread area. Just the forums listed)

When I did it above, I locked the ability to post threads, but it didn't matter- it just stops 'new posts' and doesn't erase the whole thread section. In any event, it doesn't matter, because that's when it's acting as a forum, not a category.

Here's what happens when I set it to 2-2-1, and act as a category:
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/623/221forum.jpg (http://img822.imageshack.us/i/221forum.jpg/)

Firstly, it shows the child forums on the home page- which is not what I want, as described above.

Secondly, look in the address bar: see the #editor? Thats what you get when you click on the category- it acts as an 'anchor'.
That happens even in 1-2-1 or 1-3-1 or 1-2-2 or 2-2-2 or any setting you can think of.

So when I have it look like the first screenshot posted, it still acts as an anchor and won't link to a page which shows it.

So I made it act as a forum, and took that link and then made it act as a category again, uses 1-2-1 (for first screenshot) and then had it act as a link to that page... but, it will still act as an anchor, because if you do that then the page doesn't exist (the forumdisplay.php?f=49)


Can you please help me out? What mod/hack do I need? Is it simple?

Does the vb 4.0 have this type of capability easily accessible- and if it does, will I still be able to use this skin and create that effect (I believe the skin is meant for 3.8.5) ?

Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated... I wish I knew CSS better but I'm still a noob there, you guys are the experts... thanks!

[Lynne]

Can you provide links to larger images? I can't see a thing in those pictures (and if you click on them you just get the same small image).

There is a mod that removes the 'thread' area when you have an empty forum. (Can't remember the name since I don't use it.)

[EtaiWix]

Can you provide links to larger images? I can't see a thing in those pictures (and if you click on them you just get the same small image).

There is a mod that removes the 'thread' area when you have an empty forum. (Can't remember the name since I don't use it.)


Ah sorry, when I posted it I remember checking it out and it linking to the large image, but for some reason it didn't do that now...

Anyway, I edited the post.

A mod that removes the thread area for the empty forum is not optimal- it would make the category look like a forum on the main display- although, then I could make the forum, make it invisible on the main page, and make a category act as a link and link to it...

I guess that would work, but it's a ton more work..

Either way, thanks for the help and let me know.

[Lynne]

First off, 4.x works the same as 3.x. There weren't any changes there.

I just set my test site to 1-1-0 and have what your's looks like. My index page only lists the Main Categories. If you click on one of the Categories, you get taken to a forumdisplay page which lists the forums in that Category. No New Thread button is present. I only have about 10 test forums on my test site though, so I'm not sure if that will do what you want on your site.

[EtaiWix]

First off, 4.x works the same as 3.x. There weren't any changes there.

I just set my test site to 1-1-0 and have what your's looks like. My index page only lists the Main Categories. If you click on one of the Categories, you get taken to a forumdisplay page which lists the forums in that Category. No New Thread button is present. I only have about 10 test forums on my test site though, so I'm not sure if that will do what you want on your site.

Lynne, I just tried 1-1-0 and it didn't work.

It just did the same thing as above: Categories with no sub forums displaying, but the category acting as an 'anchor' when linked.

If forum is not acting as a category (meaning act as forum), the new threads area is there...

It didn't work and I was trying with only 2 categories and 2-3 sub forums under each (although I plan to have much more later).

Same result as SS shown above...


Perhaps you have some sort of mod/hack that allows for this? Maybe try to use the hook feature and then see if you still get the same result?

I'm really at a loss here and I am desperate to get this fixed...

This seems like such an intuitive way to design a forum!

Any more ideas? :confused::confused::confused:

Thanks for the help so far guys.. I know what it's like, I also work support (and I'm working on the weekends to, as we speak).

Keep it up :):up:

[Lynne]

If the Category is acting as an anchor, then there is something wrong with your templates. It definitely doesn't do that on my test site.

I don't know what else to suggest for you. I set mine to how they are right now and like it so I've never really bothered to try to get it any other way.

[EtaiWix]

Can you give me the CSS code for your templates so I can try it out on mine?

EDIT:

I used the hook system to disable plugins and and 1-1-0 worked fine.

The only templates that have been edited are header, footer, and the following under "forum home" templates:
Forum home, forumhome_forumbit_level1_nopost, and forumhome_forumbit_level2_post
I will post the codes here:
Forum home:
$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
<!-- no cache headers -->
<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />
<meta http-equiv="Expires" content="-1" />
<meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache" />
<!-- end no cache headers -->
$headinclude
<title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title>
</head>
<body>
$header
$navbar

<if condition="$show['guest']">
<!-- guest welcome message -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="tcat"><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[welcome_to_the_x]</phrase></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1">
<phrase 1="faq.php$session[sessionurl_q]" 2="register.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[first_visit_message]</phrase>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- / guest welcome message -->
<br />
</if>

<!-- main -->

$forumbits

$forumhome_markread_script
<!-- /main -->
<br />
$ad_location[ad_forumhome_afterforums]
<br />
<div class="catbar"><div class="cat">
<img src="{IF}/misc/cat_right.gif" class="fright" alt="" />
<img src="{IF}/misc/cat_left.gif" class="inlineimg" alt="" />
$vbphrase[whats_going_on]
</div></div>
<!-- what's going on box -->
<table cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos1]
<if condition="$show['loggedinusers']">
<!-- logged-in users -->
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_activeusers')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_activeusers" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_activeusers].gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<a href="online.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[currently_active_users]</a>: $totalonline (<phrase 1="$numberregistered" 2="$numberguest">$vbphrase[x_members_and_y_guests]</phrase>)
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_activeusers" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_activeusers]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><a href="online.php$session[sessionurl_q]"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/whos_online.gif" alt="$vbphrase[view_whos_online]" border="0" /></a></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%">
<div class="smallfont">
<div style="white-space: nowrap"><phrase 1="$recordusers" 2="$recorddate" 3="$recordtime">$vbphrase[most_users_ever_online_was_x_y_at_z]</phrase></div>
<div>$activeusers</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<!-- end logged-in users -->
</if>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos2]
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_stats')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_stats" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_stats].gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_statistics]</phrase>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_stats" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_stats]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/stats.gif" alt="<phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_statistics]</phrase>" border="0" /></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%">
<div class="smallfont">
<div>
$vbphrase[threads]: $totalthreads,
$vbphrase[posts]: $totalposts,
$vbphrase[members]: $numbermembers<if condition="$show['activemembers']">,
<span title="<phrase 1="$vboptions[activememberdays]">$vbphrase[within_the_last_x_days]</phrase>">$vbphrase[active_members]: $activemembers</span>
</if>
</div>
<div><phrase 1="member.php?$session[sessionurl]u=$newuserid" 2="$newusername">$vbphrase[welcome_to_our_newest_member_x]</phrase></div>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_stats]
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos3]
<if condition="$show['birthdays']">
<!-- today's birthdays -->
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_birthdays')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_birthdays" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_birthdays].gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
$vbphrase[todays_birthdays]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_birthdays" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_birthdays]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><a href="calendar.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getday&amp;day=$today&amp;sb=1"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/birthday.gif" alt="$vbphrase[view_birthdays]" border="0" /></a></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%"><div class="smallfont">$birthdays</div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<!-- end today's birthdays -->
</if>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos4]
<if condition="$show['upcomingevents']">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_events')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_events" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_events].gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<if condition="$show['todaysevents']">$vbphrase[todays_events]<else /><phrase 1="$vboptions[showevents]">$vbphrase[upcoming_events_for_the_next_x_days]</phrase></if>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_events" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_events]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><a href="calendar.php$session[sessionurl_q]"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/calendar.gif" alt="$vbphrase[calendar]" border="0" /></a></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%"><div class="smallfont">$upcomingevents</div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</if>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos5]
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="tfoot" align="center" colspan="2"><div class="smallfont"><strong>
<a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]do=markread&amp;markreadhash=$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[mark_forums_read]</a>
<if condition="$vboptions['forumleaders']">&nbsp; &nbsp;
<a href="showgroups.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[view_forum_leaders]</a></if><if condition="!$show['guest']">&nbsp; &nbsp;
<a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&amp;logouthash=$bbuserinfo[logouthash]" onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')"><phrase 1="$bbuserinfo[username]">$vbphrase[log_out_x]</phrase></a></if>
</strong></div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<!-- end what's going on box -->

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tr align="center">
<td class="alt1"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/forum_new.gif" alt="$vbphrase[contains_new_posts]" border="0" /></td>
<td class="alt1 smallfont">&nbsp; $vbphrase[forum_contains_new_posts]</td>
<td class="alt1"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/forum_old.gif" alt="$vbphrase[contains_no_new_posts]" border="0" /></td>
<td class="alt1 smallfont">&nbsp; $vbphrase[forum_contains_no_new_posts]</td>
<if condition="$vboptions['showlocks']">
<td class="alt1"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/forum_old_lock.gif" alt="$vbphrase[a_closed_forum]" border="0" /></td>
<td class="alt1 smallfont">&nbsp; $vbphrase[forum_is_closed_for_posting]</td>
</tr>
</if>
</table>

$footer
</body>
</html>

Next, the forumhome_forumbit_level1_nopost: <div class="catbar"><div class="cat">
<img src="{IF}/misc/cat_right.gif" class="fright" alt="" />
<img src="{IF}/misc/cat_left.gif" class="inlineimg" alt="" />
<if condition="$childforumbits">
<a href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumbit_$forumid')"><img id="collapseimg_forumbit_$forumid" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_tcat{$collapseimg_forumid}.gif" class="inlineimg" alt="" border="0" /></a></if>
<a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]">$forum[title]</a>
<if condition="$show['forumdescription']">: <span class="smallfont">$forum[description]</span></if>
</div></div>
<table width="100%" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center">
<tbody>
<tr align="center">
<td class="thead">&nbsp;</td>
<td class="thead" width="100%" align="$stylevar[left]">$vbphrase[forum]</td>
<td class="thead" width="175" nowrap="nowrap">$vbphrase[last_post]</td>
<td class="thead" nowrap="nowrap">$vbphrase[threads] / $vbphrase[posts]</td>
<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">
<td class="thead">$vbphrase[moderator]</td>
</if>
</tr>
</tbody>
<if condition="$childforumbits">
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumbit_$forumid" style="{$collapseobj_forumid}">
$childforumbits
</tbody>
</if>
</table>
<br />

and finally the forumhome_forumbit_level2_post: <tr align="center">
<td class="alt2"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/$forum[imageprefix]forum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" border="0" id="forum_statusicon_$forum[forumid]" /></td>
<td class="alt1Active" align="$stylevar[left]" id="f$forum[forumid]">
<div>
<a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]"><strong>$forum[title]</strong></a>
<if condition="$show['browsers']"><span class="smallfont">(<phrase 1="$forum[browsers]">$vbphrase[x_viewing]</phrase>)</span></if>
</div>
<if condition="$show['forumdescription']"><div class="smallfont">$forum[description]</div></if>
<if condition="$show['forumsubscription']"><div class="smallfont"><strong><a href="subscription.php?$session[sessionurl]do=removesubscription&amp;f=$forum[forumid]" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[unsubscribe_from_this_forum]</a></strong></div></if>
<if condition="$show['subforums']"><div class="smallfont" style="margin-top:$stylevar[cellpadding]px"><strong>$vbphrase[subforums]</strong>: $forum[subforums]</div></if>
</td>
<td class="alt2" nowrap="nowrap">$forum[lastpostinfo]</td>
<td class="alt1 darkgr" nowrap="nowrap">$vbphrase[threads]: $forum[threadcount]<br />$vbphrase[posts]: $forum[replycount]</td>
<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">
<td class="alt1"><div class="smallfont">$forum[moderators]&nbsp;</div></td>
</if>
</tr>
$childforumbits


Thanks for helping me locate the problem, now I just need to find out exactly where the problem is and to fix it.

Thanks a million!

--------------- Added 1276982461 at 1276982461 ---------------

Do you guys have any idea what it could be?

--------------- Added 1276982744 at 1276982744 ---------------

I see that #top shows up 5 times throughout the various codes, and assume thats what I need to remove/edit...

Which ones do I remove/edit and where? I know nothing about css....

[EtaiWix]

bump... help appreciated..

I'm assuming to remove the #top but do i remove the whole link code, or only part of it- or am i supposed to replace it with something (i.e. link variable for forum)

Any help you can provide is appreciated...

[ChopSuey]

As i already said, its to remove the collapse image for each category.

[EtaiWix]

Yes, but that doesn't solve it for me... I still don't know what to remove/modify and what not to.

[Speysider]

Is this for a custom style you got from vBulletin.org or somewhere else? You'd get better support in the style thread or on the style makers forums.

[EtaiWix]

The code is in the templates, not the styles. I'm figuring out how to modify the styles, slowly.

The template was changed, either because of the style or because of someone who ran the forum before me..