here's part 2 of the explanation, it was too long to fit in one post!
4.Alright, that's all for the code, now we need to adjust the templates, you can copy the code and after that make adjustments to it yourself.
first the 'newsform' template, go to 'styles & templates> all template options' and select 'new template' name the template 'newsform'.
The name 'newsform' is important, because this links back to the php code part!
this will provide the look of the submit form, here's the entire code:
Code:
$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
$headinclude
<title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - $formtitle</title>
</head>
<body>
$header
$navbar
<!-- main -->
<if condition="$preview">
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="tcat">
Preview
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2">
$preview
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</if>
<br />
<form name="vbform" action="newthread.php" method="post"<if condition="!is_browser('webtv')"> onsubmit="return vB_Editor['$editorid'].prepare_submit(0, $vboptions[postminchars])"</if>>
<input type="hidden" value="$formname" name="do" />
<input type="hidden" value="submit" name="action" />
<input type="hidden" name="posthash" value="$posthash" />
<input type="hidden" name="poststarttime" value="$poststarttime" />
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="tcat" colspan="3">
$vboptions[bbtitle] - $formtitle
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="panelsurround" align="center" colspan="3">
<table class="panel" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[formspacer]" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td align="$stylevar[left]">
<fieldset class="fieldset" style="margin:0px">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[formspacer]" border="0">
<tr>
<td>
$formpurpose
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</fieldset>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" colspan="3">
<b>$normalquestion1</b>
<input type="text" size="30" value="$normalanswer1" name="normalanswer1" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>Username</b>:<br />
Your Username.</td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
<b>$bbuserinfo[username]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question1</b>:<br />
$explain1</td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
<input type="text" size="30" value="$answer1" name="answer1" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="3">
<b>$vbtextquestion</b><br />
$vbtextexplain
<div align="center">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
<td>
$messagearea
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<if condition="$attachmentoption">
<tr>
<td class="alt1" colspan="3" align="center">
<div style="width:$stylevar[formwidth]" align="$stylevar[left]">$attachmentoption</div>
</td>
</tr>
</if>
<tr>
<td valign="top" colspan="3">
<p align="center">
<input type="submit" value="Submit" name="submit" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt" class="button" />
<input type="submit" value="Preview" name="submit" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt" class="button" />
<input type="reset" value="Reset" name="reset" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt" class="button" />
</p></td></tr>
</table>
</form>
$footer
</body>
</html>
it's pretty much the same as the original template, i've only deleted the bits we didn't need for submitting news.
5.Now the final template called 'newsformanswers' (again, the name is important, it's linked to the PHP code part!) use the same procedure as with the other template but now use this simple code instead:
yes, that's really all there is to it!!! the $vbtextanswer is the text filled out and is the main description of the news, the $answer1 variable is the actual link to the news taken from the submitted form, i've used the BB code URL tag and named the text inbetween 'link', of course you can change that to anything you want, for example: "more", "source" , "view news here".
Alright, i know this explanation is quite simple but if you use the exact same code it should work fine, i hope you found this usefull, if you have any questions don't hesitate.
I've taken this a bit further myself by using vbadvanced CMPS, it's free and quite good for what i need, the submitted news goes into a forum, and the CMPS then takes that data from the forum and posts it in a news layout on a different page.
One thing i would like to implement is a sort of browse button to directly add attachments, any idea if that's possible?
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