[mdevour]

Greetings deathemperor. Thanks for the reply.

Boy, I haven't delved into program code this deep in 20 years, at least.

If I'm reading this right...

The forumhome template uses the variable $forumbits to pull in the complete block of html that constitutes the list of displayed categories and forums.

$forumbits is assigned its value by a function called construct_forum_bit which lives in the file function_forumbits.php ...

forumid is used as an index into the iforumcache array which is filled by the cache_ordered_forums function (which also lives in function_forumbits.php) with a list of values for forumid, I think... but it gets unclear here.

Where is the array $forum defined and given values? Ugh!

Somehow the function construct_forum_bit finishes doing its thing and passes a value to $forumbits, which is finally pulled into the forumhome template which is pulled in at the very end of index.php to display the forum home page... Whew!

Okay, stepping back from the details, I'm tracing the operation of the default index page, through its template, into various php functions that generate bits to fill the template... whose locations I can only know by looking up function names in the API documentation in the vBulletin Member Area...

But there still doesn't seem to be an easy to find listing of where variables are used or declared... For instance, I lose track above because the $forum array comes in from somewhere, but I don't know what it contains or where that comes in from.

If I'm lucky, wherever $forumid is used it always corresponds to the same forum in my list of forums, regardless of permissions, etc... Needless to say, I get a bit boggled! :nervous:

Okay, deathemperor, is that the kind of process I need to be doing here? Or are there some ways to streamline this?!! :cross-eyed:

Thanks for your input, Lucius. I appreciate any help that'll keep me from running down a bunch of blind alleys!

Mike D.