WebTemplates 3.x: VB Integrated Content Management System

After a long wait, here is the new 3.x version of Webtemplates for vB 3.x boards. First a short introduction for users who are not familiar with the old version:

This hack is a vBulletin integrated content management system. Term "Webtemplates" stands for dynamic webpages that reside in your MYSQL database and administered inside your vbulletin admin control panel. But they are more than regular site pages because they can automatically inherit visual design of your forum, can apply permissions according to your vb usergroup settings, can keep track of page counts, last visitorname/visit time, display page browsers in the page itself and in your whoisonline page etc. So basically webtemplates are dynamic web pages of your site which are powered by vbulletin. Or more simply putting, with this hack you can create regular HTML pages in your vB admin cp and these pages will be integrated into your vbulletin database about permissions, styles etc.


WEBTEMPLATES 3.x FEATURES:

• Easy Installation : Webtemplates can be installed to your board without modifying even a single vbulletin file, nor does it modify any vbulletin database table! It is coded as an add-on, not a hack.
• Apply VB Permissions: You can ban any webtemplate to any user or usergroup according to their userids or usergroupids. So for instance you can design a webtemplate which only members can see while guests can not, or only user A can not see etc.
• Private Webtemplates : With 1 click you can make a webtemplate "private" and it will be displayed to only certain usergroups.
• Draft Webtemplates : You can put webtemplates in "draft" mode which makes them invisible to all but admins.
• Page Counter : Each webtemplate has a built-in counter and you can display page count to your visitors and you can edit it or turn it OFF or ON per webtemplate basis.
• Visitor Logging&Tracking : You can track certain users' (by usergroup or userid) webtemplates visits to see who visited a webtemplate and when. This is configurable per webtemplate basis. Webtemplates have visits logs which admins can see.
• Site Contributers (Editor) Support : You can grant editing permissions for certain users or usergroups for your webtemplates individually and they will be able to update these webtemplates using their own editor interface. vB's WYSIWYG editor is supported in Editor interface!
• Page Browsers Display : Webtemplates can display who is browsing that webtemplate while people is reading them (like default forum browse display of vbulletin)
• Who is Online Display : Webtemplates can display page visitors in who is online (This is Optional and require a simple hacking in file /functions_online.php). You can create private webtemplates which are hidden in who is online too.
• Header/Footer Inclusion : Webtemplates can automatically use headers/footers (your default vb header/footer or custom ones)
• Help Documents : The script comes with built-in & detailed help documents (they are webtemplates too).
• Admin Panel in Webtemplates : Your webtemplates can include an "admin panel" displayed to only admins and by using them you can access many details and stats of your page while you are browsing them.
• Good Performance : Webtemplates 3.x structured so that it performs well even under heavy load conditions and high traffic servers. (See Performance issues below)
• Easy Back up: Simply back up your database (inside vbulletin or externally) and all your webtemplate structure is also backed up automatically.

ADVANCED FEATURES FOR ADVANCED USERS:

• Webquery Feature : With advanced "webquery" feature you can now add create dynamic webtemplates which include database query results. For instance you can easily add "last 10 threads forum X", "most active users list" etc. to your webtemplates with default webqueries that comes with installation or you can create your custom webqueries with basic SQL knowledge.
• Multi Parsing : Webtemplates can parse PHP or HTML or TEXT (=smilie/img tags/bbcode parsing like vb posts). This means you can design a page just like vb posts (TEXT parsing), standart HTML (HTML parsing) or even in PHP (PHP parsing).
• PHPINCLUDE per webtemplate : Every webtemplate has its own "phpinclude" field which you can run PHP codes before loading the Webtemplate
• Theme Support : Webtemplates support "themes" which are parent webtemplates which include child webtemplates in them. For instance if you have 20 similiar pages which uses the same visual look, you can make a single theme for all of them, then just insert their content into this theme. If you change theme later, all 20 pages' visual will change automatically.
• Conditionals : Webtemplates has built-in support for Logician's advanced templates conditionals so you can design webtemplates which change their display under different conditions. (Even if you don't have that hack installed)
• Default variables : You can use/display certain variables in your webtemplates like username of the visitor, visitor email address, last visit time, page creation time, page last edit time, Last visitor name, last visit time etc.
• Archieve to Text File : Webtemplates/Webqueries can be downloaded to a text file with one click for archiving purposes. You can also easily share these text files with other hack users.
• Outside Variables : Advanced users can now use outside variables in webtemplates, then webtemplates will accept/use/process user sent variables via HTTP_GET and HTTP_POST methods (eg. a HTML form can post to a webtemplate with this feature)

For screenshots, FAQ, performance issues, migration from old version to new version, see below.

If you use the hack, clicking here will make sure you'll know about updates&bug fixes. It will also help me understand how many people is using the hack so please click the install button if you use it. Thank you..


Version Updates:
16.Feb.2005 - > Version 3.01

* Hack released.




3.5 Version :
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=103076

[Logician]

Pre-Installation & Post-Installation FAQs:

Webtemplate Pre-Installation FAQ:

1) I still didn't understand what webtemplate is. Can you clarify more?
Webtemplate is a HTML (or php) page. It is different than your other HTML pages in that you can create them in your vbulletin admin cp and you can integrate them with your vbulletin like applying them vb permissions, styles etc.

2) Uh! this hack looks too complicated! I'm a newbie; can I use it?
This hack has powerful features. But it does not mean you have to learn and use all the features. If you are a newbie, you can be pretty happy with its primary feature: administering your webpages in your vb admin cp and apply vb permissions on them. For this you need no knowledge on anything. Simple copy / paste HTML code of your page, give it a name, enter user/usergroup ID who are banned from this page, click save and you have a webtemplate ready and published automatically.

3) Is installation easy?
Yes, I believe so. Webtemplates is NOT an hack so you don't need to modify any vbulletin files to install webtemplates. So installation is easy.

However there is a long list of SQL queries to run and you will need PHPMYADMIN in your server to run them. Since query list is long, other SQL tools (like vb3 default SQL query tool) might have hard time to run them so PHPMYADMIN is needed. It probably already exists in your server so check your site cpanel (if you have any), check with your hosting company or if server is yours, you can get the script here for free.


4) I'm afraid to run SQL queries in my database to install this hack. What do you say?

Good call. However please note that Webtemplates installation does NOT modify or touch any vbulletin tables in your database so it is safe. SQL queries needed to create seperate webtemplate database tables and to insert default values in them (like default webtemplates) so that the script can work without bothering your vbulletin tables.

5) Is Webtemplates a portal system?

Umm, no, not exactly! I would define a portal system as a content management system for especially targeting your site home page. I didn't hear a portal which does not replace your site home page. Webtemplates has similiar features like a portal, however it is not designed to replace your site home page. Webtemplates are your "other" site pages but site home.

6) Can I use other portal/vbulletin integrated home page hacks with webtemplates?

Yes you can. Webtemplates neither substite/replace any of them, nor touch them. It is designed as a add-on application and can be installed to your system without your changing even a single vbulletin file so there is no possibility that it will clash with an other hack including a portal/vb home page hack. Besides as webtemplates is not designed to be your site home page, you are welcomed to use any other site home page script while you use webtemplates.

7) Can I use a webtemplate as my site home page?
It is not designed to act as a site home page. I don't use it as my site home page in my site either. However since the prior version, some hack users always insisted to use this hack as their site home page and they managed to do it too. Basically you can do it in 2 ways:
a) you can create a file named index.php and use this line in it:
<?php include ("http://www.yourdomain.com/forum/view.php?pg=your_template"); ?>
When you upload this file in your site home directory, your site home page will be a webtemplate.

b)You can edit your .htaccess file and make a redirection so that whenever your main page (=index.htm or index.html) is called, server opens your webtemplate. A sample redirection line is that:

Redirect /index.html http://www.yoururl.com/forum/view.php?pg=your_template

Please search keywords ".htaccess+redirect" in google for more info about .htaccess redirection

Although both methods are safe and effective, I neither encourage, nor support site main page webtemplates as the system is not designed this way in the first place.

8) Does it work in all 3.x.x?
Yes, I would say. It will work any vb version > 3.0.3 and there is a good possibility that it will work in the old 3.x versions as well.

9) How is the hack performance? Does it affect server load? Does it have a lot of queries?

Webtemplates is coded to perform "very well" even under heavy load. A webtemplate has an average of 12-18 queries per page. How many queries you have, depends on which features you enabled for that webtemplate and how many webqueries you use in it.

However always bear in mind that webtemplates, vbulletin itself, or any other dynamic PHP pages which make connection to MYSQL database can never be as "performance friendly" as static HTML pages. Static HTML pages is not dynamic (so does not change according to different conditions etc.) but much less server intensive. So especially in heavy loaded servers and for heavy traffic pages, you may want to use default static .html pages especially if you are not after having a dynamic content in them.

But if you are ready to use a dynamic script/structure/software/solution then webtemplates is NOT a performance killer, you can enjoy this hack. Its performance and affect on the server load is very similiar to a regular vbulletin page, like vb forum home page.

If you use it under heavy traffic conditions, there are many performance tips included in the help document webtemplate, I advice you to check it out.

Webtemplates is also 100% compatible with Teck's Microstats hack so you can monitor webtemplate page creation time, thus performance if you are using Microstats hack in your board. Just add {ms} into your footer webtemplates to display them in your all webtemplates.

10) Do you support this hack?
This hack is 100% free although it can be good match to many commercial CMS. Besides IMO it is one of the best vb integrated CMS you can find in the internet. I share the hack here without any commercial intentions just like many other of my hacks but please understand that I can not commit my entire life to support this free hack. If there is any general bugs, problems or security issues in the hack, I'll do my best to fix them ASAP and release new versions in this thread. You are also very welcomed to ask any hack related questions or future requests here in this thread but please excuse me if I can not find time to answer all. I also don't have plans to enhance the hacks in the near future so new feature requests are welcomed but should not be expected to be coded very soon. I also have many other hacks released here that requires my attention and time so webtemplates is not the only project I devote my time. Thanks for understanding.

11) I have an old version of PHP. Does this hack work in my server?
If your PHP version is older than 4.1.0, you should change and replace all instances of "array_key_exists" to "key_exists" in the view.php file. Other than that, you should be fine.



Webtemplate Post-Installation FAQ:
1) I have installed the webtemplates but I guess it does not work ok?
Double check you've installed each step correctly. For instance make sure you have created the hack templates in ALL templates sets available, the hack files loaded to the correct locations etc.

If you are sure you installed it correctly, then check the thread to see if someone posted a similiar problem and get an answer. If no, post your problem into the thread but please give details! It does not help me to read "the hack does not work!", I need details like what exactly happens when you visit admin cp, default webtemplates etc., what error messages/screens you get etc.

2) Can webtemplates parse PHP code?
Yes, it can. Besides you are given 2 grounds to run PHP:
a) You can make a webtemplate's marking as PHP and it will be treated as a PHP script.
b) Even if your parsing is HTML or TEXT, you can still have php incode in phpinclude section of the webtemplate which will run before webtemplate is displayed

3) Can I put view.php in a different directory?
This requires too many modifications in the hack code so I don't suggest or support it. Do it by your own risk.

4) Can webtemplates include other webtemplates in it?
a) Webtemplates can include header / footer webtemplates in them. So if you need to include webtemplate A, in webtemplate B, you can make A a header or footer.
b) New version supports "themes" which are webtemplates that includes other webtemplates in them. So you can make webtemplate B a theme to include webtemplate A in it.
c) Webtemplates can include regular vb templates in them.
d) Other than that webtemplates can NOT include other webtemplates in them, nor nests loops: (eg A includes B, B includes C etc.)

5) I want display login box if visitor is a guest and log off link if visitor is a member, can I do it?
Yes, use variable $WT_Login in your webtemplate

6) You say Webtemplates inherits visual look (colors/fonts) of our forum. This is good but I want to create a webtemplate with a different design, say red background color. Can I do it?
Yes. Simply create your HTML Code and paste it into webtemplate field and you have your red backgrounded page.

Your Webtemplates inherits your visual design when you use vbulletin HTML tags in your webtemplates. (like default vbulletin templates uses). For instance if you use
<div class=normaltext>Hello</div>
in your webtemplates your text "Hello" will be displayed in the default font (color, size, font name etc.) of your board. But if you use:
<font face="Times New Roman" color="#FF0000" size="4">Hello</font>
your webtemplates will display "Hello" in Times New Roman, RED color and size 4.

7) I want to post smilies/bbcode/IMG tags to my webtemplate, can I?
Yes. Simply change your webtemplate parse method as TEXT. In TEXT parsing, webtemplates will display your bbcodes/smilies etc.

After that, if you want to have a page creation enviroment like thread posting (bbcode/smilie boxes are displayed in formation page), design your webtebtemplate in editor interface instead of admin interface.

8) How do I backup my webtemplates?
1- While backing up your database in your admin cp, vbulletin will back up your webtemplate tables too.
2- You can download your webtemplates/webqueries in text files and save it for further use. You are welcomed to share them here with other hack users.

9) I have more than 1 database. Can webqueries query my other databases?
No. They only query the database your vbulletin resides.

10) Can webtemplates be searched in Vbulletin search?
No.

11) Do Webtemplates have search engine friendly URLs?
No. However see here for a tip:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?postid=386256#post386256

12) How can I create a webquery that does X?
You are welcomed to ask these questions and I'm hoping that someone will help you with creating custom webtemplates/webqueries but please understand that I can not take time to answer all "how can I create such webquery" questions as there are infinite SQL queries that can be requested. Thanks for understanding.

13) Can I add a vb poll into a webtemplate?
Manually yes.. Simply copy paste its HTML code. Automatically no.

14) Can I use this as a news page by retriving last X posts from forum Y?
This was impossible in the old version of the hack but with the 3.x version it is now possible. As a matter of fact I've included a sample webquery to do that into the installation and you can check it in the test2 webtemplate. So the answer is yes.

15) How can I enable Microstats hack stats in webtemplates?

If you already have the hack installed, add its tag {ms} to your webtemplates (preferrably your footer templates).

16) Do Webtemplates support vb Phrases?

Mostly. Webtemplate recognizes and parses the vb phrases that are in GLOBAL group and in some other groups which are specified in the begining of "view.php" starting with this line: $phrasegroups = array('

You can edit this line to add more phrase groups to webtemplates pages. Though only basic phrases in these groups are supported, not the advanced ones that includes {1} {2} in it.

17) How can I use "Editors" feature effectively?

You can assign Editors to your webtemplates who can edit them by using their own editor interface.

If your editors know HTML, that is ok, then you can assign them to any webtemplate you like even the ones with HTML parsing.

However in most cases your site helpers will not know HTML to customize your HTML templates. If this is the case, you can follow this strategy:
1- Create a theme (with HTML parsing) and design it yourself with HTML.
2- Create child webtemplates that uses this theme. Make sure child webtemplates has TEXT parsing (not HTML).
3- Assign your editors to these child webtemplates. Since they are in TEXT parsing, your editors interface will now include smilie box, BBCode box and will look like exactly thread posting interface. They can then design the webtemplate with BBCode, smilies, IMG tags just like they are posting a new thread and without any need to use HTML commands.

18) Can link a certain section (paragraph, line etc.) in a webtemplate?
Yes you can:
a) Insert an HTML anchor to the location you want to link (eg. to the very begining of the paragraph) like this : <a name="anchor1"></a>
b) Then you can link this section like this:
http://www.yoururl.com/forum/view.php?pg=your_template#anchor1


18) Can I use vb's WYSIWYG Editor to design Webtemplates?
Yes. However not in your admin interface, but in the editor interface. So create a webtemplate page, then visit it and click "Edit This Page" link you see in stats line which will take you to the editor interface. You'll have WYSIWYG editor in that interface provided that:
a) That is your set bbcode interface in your usercp
b) The webtemplate is a "TEXT" parsed webtemplate.


19) Can Webtemplates run FLASH code in it?
Webtemplates can do anything regular HTML pages can do, so yes, they allow flash too. Just create your flash snippet and add it to your webtemplate just like you are adding in a regular .html page. Make sure your webtemplate's parsing is set as "HTML".

[Logician]

MIGRATION FROM OLD vB2.x VERSIONS AND vb2.x/vb3.x ISSUES:

If you were a webtemplate ver 2.x user in vb.2.x times and you still keep your webtemplates in your database, these instructions will help you to upgrade your webtemplates into version 3.x

[Logician]

[reserved for future use] .......

[vprp]

I understand this isn't supposed to be a portal but just to clarify, is this sort of like the "Make your own vB powered page?" I have pages like:

http://www.golfrewind.com/teamgr.php?
http://www.golfrewind.com/fantasygolf.php?

Is this an easier way to create those pages?

[Logician]

Originally Posted by vprp

I understand this isn't supposed to be a portal but just to clarify, is this sort of like the "Make your own vB powered page?" I have pages like:

http://www.golfrewind.com/teamgr.php?
http://www.golfrewind.com/fantasygolf.php?

Is this an easier way to create those pages?

Yes.. Exactly.

[Blam Forumz]

This looks very promising , I get an error when I run this query:

[sql]
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `wt2_queries`;
CREATE TABLE `wt2_queries` (
`qid` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
`qname` varchar(200) NOT NULL default '',
`qdescription` varchar(250) NOT NULL default '',
`query` mediumtext NOT NULL,
`affixcode` mediumtext NOT NULL,
`prefixcode` mediumtext NOT NULL,
`resultrow` mediumtext NOT NULL,
`noresultrow` mediumtext NOT NULL,
`qbbcodeparse` varchar(250) NOT NULL default '',
`qdateparse` varchar(250) NOT NULL default '',
`qtype` tinyint(2) unsigned NOT NULL default '1',
`qnumberparse` varchar(250) NOT NULL default '',
`qphpinclude` mediumtext NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`qid`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=10 ;
[/sql]



i get this error :

#1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax.  Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=10' at line 16

[Guy G]

Cool addon you made there.. sounds usefull.
great job

[Logician]

i get this error :

I've updated the installation file above. Please redownload and run the new SQL query file you'll find attached. (Only that file changed).

The problem was because your MYSQL server version was older than my servers' and the new SQL queries should be compatible with older versions as well.

[kall]

Warning: main(../wt_options.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /admincp/webtemplate.php on line 30

Fatal error: main(): Failed opening required '../wt_options.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home3/nzboards/public_html/forums/admincp/webtemplate.php on line 30

Changing the path on line 30 to './wt_options.php' a couple of times fixed it.

This hack is incredible.