Selective Forum Filter
 

I no longer support my hacks. Please feel free to update them and release new versions elsewhere as long as I get the credit for the original modification.

/*================================================= =====================*\
|| Selective Forum Filter
||
|| Author : Anton Kanevsky
|| Co-Author(s) : Andreas
|| Works on : vBulletin 3.5.x - 3.8.x
|| Released : May 31, 2009
||
|| Time required to install: 30 seconds
|| Difficulty: easy
\*================================================ ======================*/

DESCRIPTION

Ever came across large boards with a huge number of sub forums? Couldn't find your info? Wanted to run away from that huge load of stupid threads? This hack is intended to save your users from having such a horrible experience. It provides them with an opportunity to exclude any number of forums from the forums list (as well as from "get new"/"get daily" searches), which still letting them to access those forums directly and search within them, too.

STATISTICS

Products to Install: 1


INTRODUCTION

To enable "can be excluded" in all forums, run this query:
UPDATE PFXforum SET excludable = 1
To disable "can be excluded" in all forums, run this query:
UPDATE PFXforum SET excludable = 0
In both cases, PFX must be replaced with the actual table prefix that you have defined in config.php.
If you have not defined a prefix, remove PFX from the queries.
After you run either one of these queries, you must then open and save any one forum for the forum cache to be updated.

VERSION HISTORY

1.1.0
[+] The hack is now compatible with vBulletin 3.5.x - 3.8.x.
[+] Eliminated all template edits.

1.0.2
[+] The hack is now compatible with vBulletin 3.6.
[+] Corrected a couple of mistakes in the installation manual.

1.0.1
[+] Added option to set forums as excludable. By default, excludability of all forums is disabled.

1.0.0
First Public Release

The installation manual is contained within the attached file.

IF YOU LIKE MY HACK, PLEASE CLICK INSTALL

You've permission from the original author? https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=91025

will check it out :)

Damn I don't fully understand this:


Do I need to run one of these queries in order to make this work???

You do not. The hack, by default, sets all of the forums as excludable. You only need to run the queries if you want to set everything to "not excludable" or back again.

i guess so buddy if his name is included in the supported slot.

I certainly do. Thanks for asking, though. :)

Ohh ok thanks. :)


I'll probably install this as soon as I have time, nice hack! ;)

This Hack is very nice, but i have a Feature Request:

Usergroup-Permission "Usergroup can exclude forums?"

Thanks in Advance :)

I'd been tossing around this idea in my head for a while now and just happened upon this today. Excellent work, installed and rated!

One thing that I'd like to see is support for VBA on this. The Recent Threads module that I use on my front page still shows all threads that are new (of course). I'd like to make it so that this module also used the settings the users have selected using your mod. Probably not very hard if I pick apart your mod and grab the correct SQL query, but... you probably know how to best go about it. Any chance you'd modify the VBA recent threads module to support this?

Another suggestion. As already mentioned, the usergroup perm allowing someone to exclude forums would be awesome.

At the very least though, a way to edit the forum exclusions the way you have them now. I just edited the database directly right now, but in the future a menu that will quickly allow you to edit which you can exclude or not at once would be awesome.

Do I have to upgrade if using the 3.6.x version (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=132279)? Or are there no major changes?

If everything is working properly, you don't need to upgrade. However, if you want to get rid of template edits, you may still consider it. :)

Thanks for bringing this one back! I've been waiting for this one. :)

While I like the idea of this, would it be possible to make it that only some forums can't be excluded instead of all or nothing?

Edit the database manually is what I did.

Would it be possible to add a checkbox in the user CP for "Do not display forums in forum list"?

Basically, I'd like to still be able to see the forums in the forum list, but only report new posts in the forums I've selected. Would be nice if it was a global setting and then allowed users to change it to what they would like to see for each person.

There is a forum setting to do that.

Thank you for the hack!

A small bug occured: the settings in the user control panel work only in IE and Firefox, in Opera the list of the forums is scrollable but the forums actually don't scroll so the feature is not usable in Opera....

Great mod. Would it be possible to make a small modification so posts and threads dosent pop up in search results at all?

That's weird. Can you please link me to your site so that I can see what is going on?

Are you talking about posts and threads from the hidden forums? The hidden forums are searchable so that users can still access them directly if they want to. However, results from those forums should not appear during a regular search.

Well, if I do a "quick search" in the top of the screen, regular search results for hidden threads and posts do pop up. I am using "Selective Forum Filter v1.1.0 for vBulletin v3.5.x - 3.8.x ".

Anton Kanevsky, hello :)
I respect you as a Coder.

You plan to introduce a SQL query to the option? To not ever manually run queries
===
Russian Version

תודההההה

Sorry, I was not planning on adding such a feature.

Thank you for the Russian translation.

Is there a way to set the forum so that it is pre-filtered depending on the incoming link to the forum? For example, let's say I have a website front page with three hyperlinks labeled 1,2 and 3. The master list of forums are also 1,2 and 3. But when a user clicks on 2 on the website front page for example, vBulletin only shows forum 2 to that user.

Psionic is it possible to add an option in the usercp to check off if they want to exclude the forums or just from new posts and search.

Right now i have this disabled cache_ordered_forums

Thanks for this!

Installed!

This doesn't seem to work with vBSEO. Can anyone confirm this or is it just me?

Is there a limit to how many forums you can exclude?.. I marked alot and when I go back to the forum some are not excluded..

otherwise its a great mod.. thanks... installin

EDIT: Nevermind,, I was marking subforums main forums.. I don't see them now.. its new test board so I don't know about the posts ... Thanks

I would like to know this as well. I only want to use this for "new posts"

@ Robbed... what does this mean you have cache_ordered_forums disabled?

For some reason I cannot get this file to unarchive on my desktop. Is there another way to download it?

I only use WinRAR and just waws able to unarchive it. If you PM me your email address I'll send you the XML and TXT file.

You should try to unpack the file using WinRar or WinZip on Windows, or 7-Zip if you are running linux.

under the pluggins in admincp you can disable this and it will still show the forums but will exclude them from search and new posts.

It would be nice to have the user choose which option they like.

I agree great mod!

I am wondering the same thing about the "Recent Threads" option as well, any way of doing this myself??

What to fix to work with vbadvanced last posts module????

Great mod.

Only thing would be nice to have can be excluded and can not be excluded in the admincp.

In each forum in the forum manager via your admincp there is the option Yes/No for "Can Be Excluded"