Custom Tag Cloud in vbAdvanced, Forum Home & Related Pages
 

Download the latest version that supports social groups clouds here: 2.5 Version (VB 3.8 required)

Forum VBA Custom Tag Cloud
This mod adds 6 features to VB?s tag cloud:

1. It allows you to display the tag cloud in forum related pages in any location you want. You can display tag clouds in forumhome, forumdisplay, and showthread, and hook it to any $template_hook or HTML comment. Instead of installing 3 different mods to accomplish this, you can install this mod to do all 3. Plus you can specify if you want to not display the tag cloud in certain pages.

2. It allows you to show the tag cloud in your site?s home page in any location you want if you have vbAdvanced installed (optional).

3. When viewing forumdisplay or showthread (pages listing threads or posts), you can specify custom styles for tags that belong to the active forum or thread being viewed so that users will know which tags are relevant to that forum or thread.

4. It allows you to specify preferred tags that you want to have custom styles so that they will be noticed more. For example, if your site just started a forum about cars with tags like ?Lexus? ?Infinity?, you can specify those tags as preferred to draw attention to the new forum.

5. The tag cloud resides in a collapsible box and has a legend for the custom styles.

6. When viewing a thread (in showthread), this mod will move the thread?s tag box below the tag cloud. The tag box and tag cloud are different: the tag box shows tags specific to its thread, whereas the tag cloud shows tags from all threads. Currently, the tag box is shown at the very bottom of the thread, which can be easily ignored by readers. Moving it next to the tag cloud will make the tag box more visible.

Installation
1. Download the product xml file. Go to Manage Products > Add/Import Product, upload that xml file, set ?allow overwrite? to yes, and click Import.

2. Go to VB Options > Forum VBA Tag Clouds to set the locations of the tag cloud (default is below the navbar) and custom tag styles.

3. Optional: to display the tag cloud in vbAdvanced, go to VBA CMPS > Default Settings > Main Options > add to ?Portal Output Global Variables?: .
Update:
Reimport the new product xml file and allow overwrite.
See the 2nd post for a screenshot and template hook selection tips.

Versions: Notes:
1. I read all posts for this mod so feel free to post any comments or suggestions.
2. You will be notified by e-mail for future updates if you click ?Marked as Installed.? If you find this mod useful, remember to click ?Nominate for MOTM.?

Things to notice with the new 2.0 tag cloud:
1. Tag cloud is no longer directly below the navbar (you can move it anywhere you want).
2. Button to collapse the tag cloud at the right corner.
3. Legend for the active & preferred tags at the right corner.
4. “Uploaded” is styled red because it’s set as a preferred tag.
5. “Test” & “xml” are styled aqua because they are active/ present in the thread being viewed (for a forum, all tags in its threads will be custom styled).

Template Hook Selection Tips:
1. You can find and place hooks in adv_portal, FORUMHOME, FORUMDISPLAY, & SHOWTHREAD templates. The hook must be $navbar, $template_hook, or a HTML comment (ie: $template_hook[place] or <!-- comment -->).
2. If you set the hook to a nonexistent $template_hook or HTML comment, then the tag cloud will not show. Also, if you don’t specify a hook location then it will not show.
3. If you set the hook to a nonvalid value (ie: $test, test, <td>, etc.), then the tag cloud will show below the navbar by default.
4. If the hook occurs multiple times within the template, then the tag cloud will also appear multiple times.
5. If you’re familiar with the template, you can add your own $template_hook or HTML comment to place the tag cloud where you want.

6. The tag cloud will not show if you choose a hook located within an <if> condition that evaluates to false.
7. Hooks located in a table must be located within a <td> cell, otherwise the table layout may be messed up. Caution: forumhome’s template hooks are not located in <td> cells.
8. Hooking the tag cloud in the middle of a form can potentially disable the form. For example, in SHOWTHREAD if you use <!-- controls above postbits --> as a hook, then the inline moderation & tag editing will not function!

nice hack, will try it out :D

thanks ;)

Um, all the other mods would let you display the tag cloud wherever you'd want to as well.

But nice job none the less, looks good

2.0.0 New Features: See the 2nd post for a screenshot and template hook selection tips.
Auto templating – allows setting the location of the tag cloud anywhere on the page.
Tag cloud resides in a collapsible box and has a legend for the custom styles.
Tags that belong to the active forum or thread being viewed can have custom styles.
Added option to set preferred tags that will have custom styles to get them noticed more.

This mod does several things that other tag clouds mods don't do:
1. This is the only mod that will move the showthread's tag box next to the tag cloud.
2. This is the only mod that will show the tag cloud in vbAdvanced without requiring template edits or creating vba modules.
3. This is the only mod that will give you the option of showing or not showing the tag cloud on all 3 types of forum pages without requiring template edits.
4. This is the only mod that allows you to custom style active & preferred tags.

Absolutely great! :)

But:

[Bug] Clicking Tabs does not bring you to the Tab related Overview of Topics if you click them at vBadvanced if vBadvanced is not installed in Forumroot. It only makes a refresh of the Portal.

My vBa is installed at / and not at /forum.

Please fix this. ;)

You can see it at http://www.politikstube.de

Just updated to 1.0.1: fixed tag links for sites with vbAdvanced installed in a NON-forum directory (other sites should not be affected). ;)

Hi,

How can I edit the tag to be place at other place besides the top?

Thanks in advance

Works perfect! :)

Hi,

thanks for this mod, I like the flexibility of it. Maybe you could add an option that allows to place a custom marker in one or all of the templates e. g. ###tagcloud###. This would be even more flexible.

all the best,
Sacha

Glad the update works fine :D

Actually, there's already lots of markers (aka template hooks) in VB templates that can be used to implement customized tag cloud placement.

Ujai, before I tell you how, let me wait and see how many people want the tag cloud in a different place besides below the navbar. If there's a significant # of people wanting that feature, then I'll update this mod for auto-customization so you won't have to do custom coding yourself. ;)
Too bad I can't add a poll to this thread - just post a reply if you want this mod to have an auto-customization placement feature. I take it that so far I have 2 votes for this - Ujai & sinucello.

Thank you, if not many people wants it and you decide not to make it auto customize, can you please let me know how to change it?

How many queries does this add?

Actually, I'll probably implement the auto-customization regardless. However, it could be anytime from 2 weeks to 2 months for me to implement it, depending on my priorities. Right now, it's low priority since only 2 users have requested it. I don't want to start posting customization instructions 'cause this can lead to support overload for me considering the # of possible places to hook the tag clouds to.
Just for my info, why don't you want the tag cloud near the navbar?

This mod used VB's tag cloud function for fetching & building the tag cloud. Reviewing the code shows 1 db query and not even that if you have caching enabled (ie: APC or memcache) as recommended by VB.

vbboarder - have vbadvanced cmps, links, dynamics and - soon - vbclassifieds running.

Will this mod fetch tags from all afore mentioned? This would be OUTSTANDING...

Btw: As for location , I too could do with a few pointers.

If you could get back to me on my question, cheers.

Wow, you got everything! :eek: That's cool, but I don't have vba dynamics, vba links, or vb classifieds myself so I can't test it for you.

Anyways, this mod will fetch all tags from VB forums and place them in a cloud box under the navbar (see pics). If the navbar is showing on all those $$$ mods of yours, then it should also show the tag cloud - you just need to output the global variable, tag_cloud, as the instructions say. That's another advantage of having the tag cloud near the navbar.... it can be easily included in other external mods and custom web pages (like those made with the WebTemplates mod with the header/ navbar included).

Sorry, your vote doesn't count since you haven't marked installed. For further support, you need to mark install. ;)

Hehehe......

Got me there - unintentional though!

INSTALLED!!!!

[One Extra Vote....]

Thanks mate!

Is it possible to display the "forum specific tags" rather than the entire forum tags in forum specific pages ?

No, not currently possible with this mod. I decided against this feature because VB caches the tag cloud so there is no DB queries if you have caching enabled. I'll see if there's a way to filter forum specific tags with just 1 query while being able to use VB built-in tag cloud function and caching.

nice Mod but one more option will make it best thats choose the place :D

I'd love to see it be made able to collapse. Other than that, it works great! Thanks

Just Updated to 2.0: ALL feature requests were implemented!
2.0.0 New Features: See the 2nd post for a screenshot and template hook selection tips.
Auto templating – allows setting the location of the tag cloud anywhere on the page.
Tag cloud resides in a collapsible box and has a legend for the custom styles.
Tags that belong to the active forum or thread being viewed can have custom styles.
Added option to set preferred tags that will have custom styles to get them noticed more.

Update:
Reimport the new product xml file and allow overwrite.
Go to VB Options > Forum VBA Tag Clouds to set the locations of the tag cloud (default is below the navbar) and custom tag styles.

Note: if you enable the “Customize Active Tags?” option, then this mod will add 1 query to forumdisplay & showthread pages only. Tag clouds in vbAdvanced and forumhome should still have 0 queries if caching is enabled.

Probably 9/10 already addressed somewhere - but - how do I put this mod into a CMPS Module?

Can someone point me either into the right direction 'by example' here, or to a tut. somewhere posted previously...

Sorry - haven't gotten my head around that one yet so help would be marvellously appreciated.

Cheers.

To display the tag cloud in vbAdvanced, go to VBA CMPS -> Default Settings -> Main Options -> add to “Portal Output Global Variables”:

I've done this and it isn't there. There must be something missing!?!

Can you give us a walk through for VBa CPMS?

IOW, there is no module.php so that a module can be made and put on a page where you want it.

I don't know how else to elaborate than what's quoted above. The tag cloud works fine for myself and other users. Are you using CMPS version 3.0.1 dated 4-24-08?

There is no module.php file - it's unneccessary. If you want custom placement of the tag cloud in CMPS pages, you use template hooking (with $template_hook or HTML comments) in VB Options -> Forum VBA Tag Clouds (read the 2nd post for further instructions), OR add a CMPS template module: go to VBA CMPS > Add Module > Template Module > and add to the Template Content box:
.
Note that if adding "tag_cloud" to the Portal Output Global Variables in CMPS does not work for you, then adding a CMPS template module will also most likely not work for you. In that case, somehow your CMPS installation is messed up.

Just Updated to version 2.0.2 - optimized memory usage of this mod.

Just tested this mod in VB 3.8.0-beta1 with no problems - all features work fine.

Nice hack...

How do I get the tag cloud to display right above the "What's going on" section at the bottom of the FORUMHOME page? For my board having it right under the navbar is not visually appealing.

Thank you!

Nevermind, I figured it out. :)

Transparent

How did you do it? I searched for forumhome and navbar. Still not able to figure it out. Usually these changes are not that hard but I am stumped.

Thanks, Far

For "Template hook for tag cloud in VB forum homepage (forumhome):"

I entered...

<!-- what's going on box -->

Hope that helps :)

Transparent Dude you are so freakin good.

Worked like a charm!!:up:

And vbboarder thanks you so much - looks awesome. Actually reading your notes you said exactly to do this - Duh!! Thanks again.:D

Glad you like this mod :) It's very customizable through its options page in VB Options by using CSS properties to style the forum & preferred tags.

Installed
Nominated
Rated

But not shure how to setup on Vba Dynamics

Some help ?

In VBA CMPS, you need to add "tag_cloud" to the “Portal Output Global Variables" setting. I don't have VBA Dynamics, but I think you would need to do the same for that product. If you can't find the location of the setting, you should post in the vbadvanced.com forums or ask Brian (site owner) what's the equivalent of “Portal Output Global Variables" in VBA Dynamics.

Thanks for advice

After installation I had problem....my blog link from navbar was missing, after I disable this nice mod everything ws back to normal
Any Ideas ?

Thanks

This mod doesn't modify the navbar. However, this mod allows you to hook the tag cloud to any location that you want. Did you change the hook location for any pages in the custom tag cloud settings? If you did, change the hook location back to $navbar for all pages and make sure you read the 2nd post for hook selection tips. I don't have VB Blog so I can't verify your problem.

Installed.
Thank you!