vb.org Archive - Add PHP to your Templates (Trick)

First of all, let's make clear something. Yes, (unfortunatelly) vBulletin does not allows PHP in templates. But don't stuck on this. Extend your imagination. "If you can't go left, go right. Just don't stand" :)

The solution for this problem is much more easier than you can think. "If you can't add PHP in the templates, add templates to PHP" :) You just need a "echo" command in your PHP file. Yes it's so simple, the result will be exactly what you want, and most important, you can use vboptions, vbphrases, datamanager and everything you want.

1.- Create a template for Header:

HTML Code:

<template name="php_header" templatetype="template" date="" username="" version="">

<![CDATA[

{vb:stylevar htmldoctype}

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="{vb:stylevar textdirection}" lang="{vb:stylevar languagecode}" id="vbulletin_html">

<head>

    <title>Your Title</title>

    {vb:raw headinclude}

     <vb:if condition="$vboptions['storecssasfile']">

        {vb:cssfile forumhome.css, options.css, vbcms.css, widgets.css, sidebar.css, forumhome-rollup.css, usercp.css, additional.css}

    <vb:else />

        {vb:cssfile forumhome.css, options.css, vbcms.css, widgets.css, sidebar.css, forumhome-rollup.css, usercp.css, additional.css}

    </vb:if>    

</head>

<body>

{vb:raw header}

{vb:raw navbar}

<div class="blockbody">

]]></template>

Remark: If you want to make use of vB sidebar in your page, you must add within head section:

HTML Code:

    <script type="text/javascript">

    <!--

        document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src="' + yuipath + '/animation/animation-min.js?v={vb:raw vboptions.simpleversion}"></script>');

        var sidebar_align = 'right';

        var content_container_margin = parseInt('{vb:math {vb:stylevar forum_sidebar_width}+{vb:math {vb:stylevar padding}*2}}');

        var sidebar_width = parseInt('{vb:stylevar forum_sidebar_width}');

    //-->

    </script>    

    <script type="text/javascript" src="{vb:raw vboptions.bburl}/clientscript/vbulletin-sidebar.js?v={vb:raw vboptions.simpleversion}"></script>

2.- Create a template for Footer:

HTML Code:

<template name="php_footer" templatetype="template" date="" username="" version="">

<![CDATA[

</div>

{vb:raw footer}

</body>

</html>

]]></template>

3.- In your PHP file (assuming that is a file which loads all vB functions that you need), add (again is an example):

Code:

// Header Block

$templater = vB_Template::create('php_header');

$templater->register_page_templates();

$navbits = construct_navbits(array("my_php_file.php?" . $vbulletin->session->vars['sessionurl'] . ""=> "My Page"));

$navbar = render_navbar_template($navbits);

$templater->register('navbar', $navbar);

$header_block = $templater->render();

echo $header_block;

............Here you can add any PHP code that you like..............

Code:

// Footer Block

$templater = vB_Template::create(php_footer');

$templater->register_page_templates();

$footer_block = $templater->render();

echo $footer_block;

As you can see you can use ANY vB template in the PHP file. Just assign it to a variable and then use echo to show it in the screen.

Hope that this short tutorial will be useful to those who have stuck with this vB limitation. I love to use the Smarty template engine with PHP.

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.01093 seconds Memory Usage 1,727KB Queries Executed 10 (?)
More Information
Template Usage: (1)ad_footer_end (1)ad_footer_start (1)ad_header_end (1)ad_header_logo (1)ad_navbar_below (2)bbcode_code_printable (3)bbcode_html_printable (1)bbcode_quote_printable (1)footer (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (6)option (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (1)printthread (4)printthreadbit (1)spacer_close (1)spacer_open Phrase Groups Available: global postbit showthread	Included Files: ./printthread.php ./global.php ./includes/init.php ./includes/class_core.php ./includes/config.php ./includes/functions.php ./includes/class_hook.php ./includes/modsystem_functions.php ./includes/class_bbcode_alt.php ./includes/class_bbcode.php ./includes/functions_bigthree.php Hooks Called: init_startup init_startup_session_setup_start init_startup_session_setup_complete cache_permissions fetch_threadinfo_query fetch_threadinfo fetch_foruminfo style_fetch cache_templates global_start parse_templates global_setup_complete printthread_start bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete printthread_post printthread_complete
Messages: