[Spinball]

I have used my hack to display banners above and below threads.
Edit showthread.php and find
*********************************************
// ################################################## ###########################
// output page
eval('print_output("' . fetch_template('SHOWTHREAD') . '");');
*********************************************
and add this code before it:
*********************************************
$headerbanner = "<P ALIGN=\"CENTER\" CLASS=\"smallfont\">" . file_get_contents("http://www.url_of_your_script.php?forumid=$forumid&type=h eader") . "</P>";
$footerbanner = "<P ALIGN=\"CENTER\" CLASS=\"smallfont\">" . file_get_contents("http://www.url_of_your_script.php?forumid=$forumid&type=f ooter") . "</P>";
*********************************************
Then in the SHOWTHREAD template, find
*********************************************
$navbar
*********************************************
and after it, put
*********************************************
<if condition="$headerbanner">$headerbanner</if>
*********************************************
and find
*********************************************
<if condition="$bbuserinfo[field11] == 'Yes'">$quickreply</if>
*********************************************
and above it add
*********************************************
<if condition="$footerbanner">$footerbanner</if>
*********************************************

Then write your php script to output banners depending on what forumid is passed and whether it's the header or footer:

PHP Code:

$forumid = $_REQUEST['forumid'];
$type = $_REQUEST['type'];

switch ($forumid) {
 case 36:                                 // for your forum number 36 only...
   if ($type == "header") {
      $banners = array (
      "banner_1.gif|banner_1.pl|The alt text|0|468|60",
      "banner_2.gif|banner_2.pl|The alt text|0|468|60"
      );
   } elseif ($type == "footer") {
      $banners = array (
      "banner_3.gif|banner_3.pl|The alt text|0|468|60",
      "banner_4.gif|banner_4.pl|The alt text|0|468|60"
      );
   }
   break;
 case 37:                                 // for your forum number 37 only...
   if ($type == "header") {
      $banners = array (
      "banner_5.gif|banner_5.pl|The alt text|0|468|60",
      "banner_6.gif|banner_6.pl|The alt text|0|468|60"
      );
   } elseif ($type == "footer") {
      $banners = array (
      "banner_7.gif|banner_7.pl|The alt text|0|468|60",
      "banner_8.gif|banner_8.pl|The alt text|0|468|60"
      );
   }
   break;
}
$banner = $banners[mt_rand(0,sizeof($banners) - 1)];
list($imgsrc,$myurl,$alttext,$border,$width,$height) = explode ('|',$banner);
echo ("<A HREF='http://www.your_domain.com/cgi-bin/$myurl' TARGET='_blank'><IMG src='http://www.your_domain/path_to_your/banners/$imgsrc?" . mt_rand(1,9999) . "' border='$border' width='$width' height='$height' alt='$alttext'></A>"); 


I'm actually working on a complete vBulletin banner solution which enables you to display (rotating) banners above the forum list and also above and below every thread (and anywhere else you want). But it's work-in-progress.

Re your specific code request, I recommend you learn some PHP.

PHP Code:

if ($forumid==76 or $forumid==78 or $forumid==81) 


or if you have lots of forums, use the 'switch' command as per my example above.

Re displaying banners for whole categories, you might be able to do it, but I don't have time to look into it this year