vb.org Archive - Arrange Sub-Forums in columns

There's also a vB 3.5 version here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=82845

What it does
This hack arranges sub-forums on the forum home into 2 (or more) columns, makeing large lists of sub-forums more presentable. You can see it in action on my forums here:

Demo
http://forum.lowcarber.org

Note:
1. You need to enable sub-forum display on the forum home from your vB admin panel
2. This hack is for the forum home page, not forum display.

To enable sub-forums on the forum home page
1. Go to your forum Admin panel
2. Click vBulletin Options
3. Select "Forum Listings Display Options" from the drop down list
4. In "Depth of Sub-Forums" replace 0 with 1

Installation
To install, edit the file functions_forumlist.php (in the includes directory)

1. Find

PHP Code:


		
			
      foreach($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"] AS $forumid)

Place this code above it:

PHP Code:


		
			
$output .= "<table width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"center\" ><tr valign=\"top\"> ";

      $cols = 0;

2. Find

PHP Code:


		
			
            eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";');

            if (!empty($output))

            {

                $subforum = $splitter["$canpost"] . $subforum;

            }

            if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])

            {

                $output .= construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1);

            }

        }

    }



    return $output;



}

Replace with

PHP Code:


		
			
            eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";');

                    if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])

                        {

                                $cols++;

                                if ($cols==3)

                                        {

                                        $cols = 1;

                                        $output .=  "</tr><tr>";

                                        }



                        $output .= '<td width="50%">' . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . "</td>";

                        }

        }

    }



        if ($cols ==1) $output.="<td>&nbsp;</td></tr></table>";

    else $output.="</tr></table>";



        return $output;



}

To put them in 3 columns, instead of t2, just edit this line "if ($cols==3)" to "if ($cols==4)" and change this line:

PHP Code:


		
			
                  $output .= "<td width=\"50%\">" . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . "";

To this:

PHP Code:


		
			
                  $output .= "<td width=\"33%\">" . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . "";

Template modification (optional)
As this hack will list the sub-forums in a table, the font used is not effected by the <div> tag for subforums, which will cause the default font to be used instead of smallfont.

To use smallfont for sub-forum names, edit the "forumhome_subforumbit_post"

Change (this is the whole template)

Code:

<img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]">$forum[title]</a>

To:

Code:

<img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]"><span class="smallfont">$forum[title]</span></a>

And for those who want to edit or remove the "Sub-forum" word, just remove (or edit, if you just want to change it) "<strong>$vbphrase[subforums]</strong>:" from the "forumhome_forumbit_level2_post" template

Screen shots, before/after

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.01316 seconds Memory Usage 1,770KB 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 (6)bbcode_php_printable (3)bbcode_quote_printable (1)footer (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (6)option (1)pagenav (1)pagenav_curpage (2)pagenav_pagelink (1)pagenav_pagelinkrel (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (1)printthread (10)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 pagenav_page pagenav_complete bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete printthread_post printthread_complete
Messages: