[NTLDR]

Originally posted by danielhollands
[BI can't work out what i need to do to text before adding it to the database, or what I need to do once I've pulled it out of the databse.[/B]

Nothing needs to be done before adding it to the db, if :abc: is vBcode then you put it into the db as :abc: its when you display it on the page that the vBcode needs to be parsed.

$output=bbcodeparse(a,b,c)

A: is the text with vBcode to be parsed;
B: is the forumid of the post;
C: 1 to allow smilies, 0 to disallow

(at least thats my understanding of the bbcodeparse() function)