vB3 Unanswered Threads Hack v1.3
 

vB3 Unanswered Threads Hack
Version 1.3
(By Boofo and Kirby)

What does this hack do?
This hack will provide you with a link that will pull up all unanswered threads on your forums and also unanswered threads on a forum by forum basis. Unanswered threads are threads that have no replies to them. This is great for forums that do any kind of tech support so you can find the posts that have not been answered and respond to them.

Version information:
Version 1.0 --Initial Release
Version 1.1 --Updated to allow Admins, Super Moderators and Moderators to see the link.
Version 1.2 --Added code for Forum Tools Menu links and Navbar Quick Links.
Version 1.3 --Fixed nasty bug with the semi-colon showing up by itself for unanswered threads. Now "Unanswered Threads --" (sans quotes) will show up in place of the semi-colon if the search is for unanswered threads.

Installation overview:
Files to edit: (1)
--search.php
Templates to edit: (6)
--search_results
--forumdisplay
--forumhome
--forumhome_forumbit_level1_post
--forumhome_forumbit_level2_post
--navbar

Sweet. will install after sleeping.

Ah, good idea Boofo! :)
I may consider installing this at a later date, my forums aren't even open yet.

Thanks for sharing.

rather original one

What original one?

excellent work boofo :)

Now is the option for regular memebers too? Like can memebers other then the Admin, use this to see what post have not been repleid to?

Right now it is set up for Admins, Super Mods and Mods to see the link. But you can add whatever usergroups you want to see it very easily. ;)

Boofo,

Another great hack. Iowa, right? Remind me to call my uncle and tell him to give you one "get out of a speeding ticket free" card ;)

- John

This is the smallest of things, but when clicking the link and the results are displayed on the search category strip, this is shown:


Is there any way to remove the ; that is added?

I noticed vB.org doesn't have any such problem when showing installed hacks, so I figured it could be sorted for this? :nervous:

Thank you. Hopefully I will never need it but it might be nice to have just in case. ;)

What's his name? I might actually know him. ;)

I'm not sure where to fix that at. I can't see how this hack would cause that but it might in some way. Any ideas? ;)

Hint:

My last name is Vilsack ;)

LOL That's your uncle? Yeah, I could definately use some things from him! ;)

You ever get to visit him? You'll have to stop on by. ;)

Technically great uncle :)

I was actually in des moines and mason city for several weekends before the January Caucus. My name does well for fundraising :D

Well, the next time you're up this way, you'll have to stop on by and say 'Hi'. ;)

Looking at the code of search.php, this looks like it's more work than it's actually worth to identify unanswered threads as a search option to replace the redundant ; (I can't quite figure out why this shows anyway) with "Unanswered Threads".

Unless Xenon or anyone else can shed any light on this, we're stuck with ;

I'll work on it and see what I can come up with and, hopefully, in the meantime, someone might be able to help us figure out what to do about the ;. ;)

Can you please post a small screenshot to see how it...show up the links ?

Here's how I have it set up..
Bare in mind though, i've done it for each forum individually. As the instructions mention, you add the code to the template where you want to, I just thought the Forum Tools was a good place for it.

nice hack. i will love to install it :)

thnx :)

Please, don't forget the install button, Sandy. When you install it, that is. ;)

Very nice hack.
*Clicks Install

If you'll send me the code in a pm for adding it to the forum tools, I'll add it to the hack (for yet another option) and give you full credit for the addition. ;)

You've got mail.. :)
I've also given you the code to set up the board-wide link in the navbar via Quick Links.

Great hack Boofo Installed and working perfectly :)

I changed the location of the search button to show in forumhome in the dhtml search box , see screen shot.

Just posting the code here in case other users would like to use it.

Edit the following template: Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates > navbar

look for:


Below that code add:

Done :)

Nice touch. I'll add this to the install file and credit you for it. ;)

what template is that in ?
i want to do the same

Boofo's supposed to be adding it to the instructions, but here it is anyway.. ;)

In forumdisplay, find:

Add below:

thank you that worked great :D

I'm very dumb when it comes to hacking, could you show me an example on how to add other usergroups to the list?

Thanks in advance

Find this:

and add what usergroups you want to the 5,6,7 part of it. ;)

for my forums i removed the if condition because i want people to answer the 0 replies :D and it bumps old threads that should have got a look

Nice hack .. :) .. installed

Just installed and works great. You know what would be nice though? If we could find some way to add this to the "Forum Tools" dropdown for individual forums rather than having to edit a link in somewhere. That'd sure be a nice, convenient place to have it.

[edit]
You know something though? The more I look at it the less I'm finding a viable place to add a link to the forumhome_forumbit_levelx templates. Where is everyone else putting it? I added it to FORUMDISPLAY and everything seems to work fine.
[/edit]

Here's something minor I just noticed: The search results for VB3 have a title bar that reads:

...where [blah] = whatever search words you used. In the case of this hack however, no keywords are used and you see:

...instead. Took me a couple of tries to figure out where that stray semicolon was coming from. Is there any way to insert something before the semicolon when links for this hack are clicked, like "Unanswered Posts" or something? The way it currently renders makes it look like a bug. Obviously nothing major but it is kind of annoying.

I'm not sure why that semi-colon is there, but I have not found a way to get rid of it as yet. That has been there since the beginning of this hack. If you come up with a way to get rid of it, I'm all ears. ;)

The install file tells you where to add the link in these 2 templates:

forumhome_forumbit_level1_post
forumhome_forumbit_level2_post

The semicolon is supposed to be there. The thing about this hack is it feeds no keywords to place before it, so the semicolon just hangs there by itself once the query is run. I'm looking into it.

Sorry bud; nope, it doesn't. What it says is:

My point is, I dont think right after the forum title is appropriate, I'm not using an image, and I don't see anywhere else in these templates to add it as a link. All they do is overview the content and stats for each forum without providing any real additional navigation. FORUMDISPLAY gives a better set of options, and is one template to edit rather than two. I even looked on your board to see where you put it and curiously can't find it anywhere.

Ok, I fixed the semi-colon cosmetic problem. Try the following code and let me know if this works for you.

You won't find it on my board unless you are an Admin or Moderator. I don't have it available to registered users. I use the question_mark image right after the forum title. I had it as a link under the forum description (where Moderated By is now on my site) but I like the image better. I also have a link for Unanswered Threads fior the whole site next to View Forum Leaders and Mark Forum Read links, but again, only for staff.