^Oh! Good to know!

Where is this voting on vbulletin.com that they are talking about? There are Template modification systems in vb4, but none as good as this one.

*edit: I found it, and voted for it. Come on... we need this thing people go and vote.

Nice of you to give the link then. :)

After updating to 4.1.2 and seeing most all my edits carried over, I'm wondering if this isn't actually included in vb now? Maybe not, as I don't have any styles that aren't parented to the default style.

Actually it's on the side next to the reported bug, it's been linked to several times on the thread.

Hi i'm using vb3.8.6, i currently have tons of manual template modifications, there's no way i can revert all those templates and then add them to this system, i want to use this system as it will be easier to keep track of the modifications in future, could someone tell me what i need to do to keep ALL my current edits but have them managed by this system so i can revert the templates?

Personally I think this mod is worth it. I even paid to remove the links in the footer.

It will make it so you can upgrade without having to revert, save, etc. modifications you make to the templates as they are made in a "Master Template" that will simply apply the changes you make at upgrade. It makes upgrading simple and quick. As long as you are in the 3.x.x version you will have the easiest upgrades you will ever have. If you have many styles and mods this is the mod for you.

What I would do is take each modified template and copy them into a file (you can export them but then you'd have to open and read them to do this), print them out and apply them in the Master Template which copies all the modifications to all the styles. Once you have it done, you are golden.

So you are saying that i DO have to find every modification i've ever done, save them seperately . revert the templates and then add all those back?? that would be weeks of work as i have made many many changes over the years.

That's exactly what you'd have to do. Don't you essentially do that already when you upgrade?

The other option is to just leave those edits, and use this system going forward...

Yes i have done that previously which is why i know it took a very long time :), but you gave me the answer i was looking for, i can simply use this tool for all future edits or modifications.

One last thing, how about if i export the style, install this mod and then re-import the style, would that work?

That wouldn't help you. You need to use the TMS UI to make template edits. The reason for this, if I remember correctly, is that TMS makes the changes to the default (hidden) base templates.

Or you can wait until you upgrade, then make all the changes you need to reapply through the TMS system (this is what I did back in the day, my board is heavily modded). Once you have it done it is sooooo worth it. You will love any future upgrades. Of course, your next upgrade may be to 4.x.x... If such is the case you will want to wait until the product is migrated to the new platform (after the bug is fixed).

Thanks for the reply......i'm NEVER moving to 4.x it's been so buggy and had so many patches and updates in such a short space of time it proves they haven't thought it through properly and use the pying public as their testing ground, it's ridiculous for what they charge.......anyway that discussion is for another time :), i appreciate the feedback and advice from you guys.

Does anyone have an idea of how the performance would be or what the implications would be if i was to use the find and replace to find the entire contents of a template and replace the entire contents?

This way i wouldn't have to go through the 40 templates i have modified and countless moddifictions in each to try and find which mods i've made but then could revert the original templates as the whole modified templates would be in the TMS!

It would make it slightly more difficult to add any mods. You'd have to copy the entire template into the "find" box, then copy the entire modified one into the other box with the "replace with"...

I wonder if it would cause time delays? I can't see how, we have it replacing stuff all the time...

I have tried it and it does work but not in my scenario, i have 3 styles none of them child styles, using this it sets up a master and the styles are child styles if i revert the template (normally) it doesn't show up in that particular style in the Template Manager so i have to apply the edit to ALL styles that defeats the object or am i missing something?

Lets say that in Default syle nothing is changed, in Style1 i have added a box to the header template and in Style2 i have added a box and coloured it, if inow copy those header templates and then revert the header templates in those styles and go to Templat manager, when i look at Style 1 and Style2 there there is no longer a Header template which means in order to put my template edits in place i have to edit the master style and it is then applied to all styles????

How would i edit on a per style basis if i have reverted the templates?

Because of the way it works, TMS can only apply template changes to the Master template, or templates that have been modified in a child style.

And in answer to your earlier question, you can do 10,000 template edits with TMS and there is ZERO performance impact.

You simply apply it directly in TMS to the style you want to change instead of the Master Template, it would only apply it to that style. Basically, make the change in the Master, then go into each style and revert it in that style only. (At least I think it would work that way, all my changes apply to all my styles.)

Anyway, I upgraded to 4.1.2. I simply disabled the hack, upgraded, then enabled it. It's working for my purposes that way.

So maybe you can tell us. Is this built into 4.1 or not? What are the differences?

I ran my test site without the mod and I saw no "Master Template" option, changes are applied directly to styles in 4.1.x. After an upgrade I would have had to revert and change all my styles all over again.

As for the additional.css template that is empty. I was able to add functions to that area simply by leaving the top box empty and selecting "add below" then adding the stuff I wanted into it. It worked swimmingly. I do not know if you want to try to install it directly into any 4.x version, when I tried that on the test site I got some errors and it didn't appear to work. Somehow it worked when I simply enabled an already installed mod.

No, I wasn't asking if you could carry edits from 3.x to 4.x; obviously that would be impossible. I was just wondering about 4.x upgrades. When I went from 4.08 to 4.1.2 it showed me the templates that it could and couldn't merge code and as I recall that's what this mod was supposed to do, but never really did it very well.

Nah, what this mod does is allow you to create changes to your templates without going into each style and making the changes manually. saving the changes when you upgrade and continuing to apply them. It allows you to test each of the mods you make to the templates to see if they work, and continues to apply them after upgrade without even one change. It does it wonderfully.

I was able to upgrade in 3.x version after version without all the template revert, change. When making changes you simply go to the Master Template this mod adds, you go to the template you are going to change, you add the code it looks for select the "add after" "add before" "delete" "replace" selection and put in the changed code below.

This then goes into all the styles, and makes the changes on the fly without even one iota of speed degradation. This keeps your styles templates clean and unchanged entirely, making upgrades within the same vbulletin platform very easy.

I'm not talking about style migration from 3.x to 4.x. This functionality does not exist in 4.x any more than it has in any previous versions of vbulletin.

This mod is definitely worth it, especially if you add mods often.

Clearly you're wrong there. They've made big changes to upgrades in vb4. This last one told me exactly which templates it merged with my custom code, which were successful merges and which weren't, and gave me the option to edit and compare the files side by side. A huge change from vb3.

All of which may be off topic for this particular thread, except that more than one person has said they don't want to upgrade to vb4 until this functionality is included. From what I saw with the 4.1.2 upgrade, it is included.

If this did what you are saying then it would be included. It doesn't. This simply creates an overlay system that allows the changes to be made without direct changes to templates making merges and comparisons unnecessary.

Believe me, using both 4.1.2 without the mod and with it is miles different (I have done both now, with my test upgrade on a test board). This is better.

1. This allows you to make changes in a Master Template that applies to every style without changing the actual templates.
2. These changes will continue to work unless the template changes so your search string no longer exists. In upgrades there will be no template matches to change, the ones that don't work simply will not apply.
3. Those that do no longer work are easy to find by simply running a test against them, then you can view and find a different search string to apply the "add before" or "add after" etc. to...

While changes to 4.x were large, it certainly did not add the functionality of this mod. I am glad it still worked with my RL upgraded version.

I am not "clearly wrong", you are simply incorrect as to what this mod actually does. However, if you believe that you get the same functionality then I have no dog in this fight. I felt crippled without it on the test site and I'm very glad it is working now. It most definitely wasn't the same thing, nor did it give me the same capabilities with just 4.1.2 without the mod.

Did they fix the bug in the newest release? (Please)...

No, that bug has not been fixed yet. Please vote for it in the tracker:
http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-7378

Or directly by clicking this link (you'll need to login at vb.com):
VOTE!

Is this still usable in 4.1.3 then?

With minor limitations because of the bug I linked: Yes. I used it since vB4 alpha 1 and it's basic functionality is intact. I wouldn't want to modify vB4 without it.

Isn't that bug also in stock vb ? I get it sometimes where it goes to a white page and says something about child nodes when I do something wrong in a template edit (like no ending if statement for instance).

Jap, of course, that's a bug in sstock vB that needs to be fixed. The bug in vB affects TMS and has been reported ages ago. Sadly, 1300+ installations (counting those registered on vBG.org, too) have not been enough to varrant a little fix until now...

So, the bug affecting this mod and the stock bug are the same?

Almost- There's only one bug at all, and it's in the stock software since day 1. TMS has no bug strictly speaking, but suffers from the bug in the stock software, which causes minor issues in TMS (but does not render it unusable).

It shouldn't cause any problems with this mod if the template code is correct in the first place. Looks like I will be installing this after all. Thanks for the heads up, sir. ;)

A pleasure :) I can definitely recommend it.

It is for me... When you upgrade disable it, upgrade, enable it... It acts funny sometimes, but it has been usable for me.

Pleas click on Vote for this bug.

It needs a higher priority, that IB hopefully fixes it in 4.1.4

I don't get it, some bugs with less votes get fixed, this one remains.

Because they don't stand to make anything on fixing it, so it is not a priority.

come on people, we need your help and more votes for this stupid little bug.

What for a pity and shame to IB, this minor ages bug let suffer one of the most helpful mods to get regular updated into vb4 !
Have voted ages ago...
Without this Mod we are not willing to buy any new vb4 Licenses, anyhow now we have to look forward into competing companies with better troubleshooting abilities, can`t wait forever!