Miscellaneous Hacks - Ultimate Side Columns 2.2

Ultimate Side Columns
By Kerry-Anne www.peterska2.co.uk

Welcome to Ultimate Side Columns 2.2 !

USC 2.2 has now been released!!!!

Introduction

Following the success of the left and right side column modifications, and building on their weaknesses, the Ultimate Side Columns system was born.

Ultimate Side Columns (USC) is your one stop shop for all your side columns needs. It is an easy to configure, all in one solution.

USC 2.0 was born through the evolution and bug fixing of USC 1.0 for vBulletin 3.6 and is for vBulletin 3.7.0 RC1 and later only. It is not supported with earlier versions and may not work with them.

Features

USC 2.0 is fully customizable, can use conditions and variables (not available in USC 1.0), has greater flexibility in where it can be omitted from (after requests received), and contains new functionality of both independently collapsible columns and user defined custom links to be displayed on a per user basis in the column location of the administrators choosing.

A maximum of 20 blocks spread over the two columns are available at this time. However, if more are required then an expansion pack will be provided. The blocks can be reordered and moved between the templates with ease through simple template edits.

USC 2.2 Change Log:
Fixed bug with profile.php?do=editattachments
Added All Pages options

USC 2.1 Change Log:
Fixed blank page caused by missing template in the XML
Added compatibility with 3.7.0 Stable/Gold
Manual Template Edit instructions added to package
Enhanced the display page choices to allow exact selection of the pages where USC is to be displayed
Added usergroup permissions in addition to the global options for viewing the left column, viewing the right column, and using the custom contents block.

USC 2.1 has additional files. You need to upload the files first BEFORE importing the product

Upgrading from USC 2.0
Upload the contents of the upload folder, except the admincp directory, then import the XML.

Go to vBOptions > USC Options and set the display pages using the new options
Go to Usergroups > Usergroup Manager and set the permissions for each usergroup as desired. By default no permissions are given to any usergroups.

Upgrading from USC 1.0

USC 2.0 has been rewritten from the ground up and therefore all the blocks have been moved from the settings into the templates. Therefore, a unique upgrade script has been provided which must be run before importing the new product. Importing the new product first will result in the loss of your existing USC contents.

The upgrade script is located in the admincp directory after uploading the USC files and is ran by pointing your browser to admincp/usc_upgrade.php

Full upgrade instructions are included in the upgrade readme file in the zip.

Installation Instructions

Download the zip, unzip it and upload the contents of the upload folder to your forum directory. Import the product, all done.

Full instructions are included in the install readme in the zip.

Support

This modification has limited support only and is therefore flagged as unsupported. Support will be given when possible although it is always preferable when users of USC support each other. This was very successful with USC 1.0 and therefore is continued with USC 2.0

If you have any other combinations of pages that you would like to see available for the column options, please post them in the support thread ensuring that you add the title "USC Page Combination Request" to your post, or use this as the first line of your post ensuring that it is in bold text. This is very specific as due to the limited nature of support and time, the support thread will only be quickly skimmed through and therefore requests may be missed if it is not clear what they are.


The screenshots attached to this post and the next one show a range of pages with a range of column combinations. They are not labeled but they are pretty self explanatory.

Enjoy USC 2.0.

Kerry-Anne


PLEASE NOTE: This modification is unsupported. You may not receive a reply right after posting. Please try and help each other out.



Problems with your side columns not showing?
For your side columns to show, you need to update your usergroup permissions from the usergroup manager for each usergroup

Problems with errors in your vBOptions?
Point your browser to admincp/index.php?do=buildbitfields then try again

[kinggori]

Kerry-Anne, the custom links (content) delete option is not working. So after I added a new link, when I tried deleting it nothing happens.

[xnewman]

Hi everybody,
I am using this mod and I have found that I have to make variables global when I want to use them in the left/right column. I tried to use plugin manager and I did short code there with global start - I am not pretty sure it is right way.

Therefore - please, is anyone able to show me how (for example) to make available information on total number of threads, last registered user and so on?

Thanks a lot!

[yunie_]

sry but i dont quite understand how to seperate the blocks even after reading readme.. can anyone show me?

[Adam H]

Hi im using this mod, it was all working ok on 3.7 ive just upgraded to 3.7.1 and now the coloum sits under the forum instead of the right hand side, its fine on all the other pages but the home page it just isnt working correctly please can some one help. Thanks

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by dilbert

Hi Kerry-Anne,
Something to consider for the next release.

I am using vBadvanced Links Directory. It does not work correctly. The strange thing is that I use all of their products, and the Links directory is the only one with an issue.

Brian provided a solution.
Product: USC Alignment Fix

Add the items in red.

if (VBA_SCRIPT != 'links_directory')
{

$vbulletin->templatecache['header'] = $vbulletin->templatecache['header'] . '";$spacer_open="';
$vbulletin->templatecache['footer'] = $vbulletin->templatecache['footer'] . '";$spacer_close="';

}

Thankyou. Now this has been reported along with a solution I will add this by default into the next release (2.3)

Originally Posted by Veronica Vain

I am getting that error in Display Pages For Left Column and Display Pages For Right Column and I do not know where to go to enter the content i want on my sidebars

Make sure you have uploaded the files. When you have done so, reimport the product selecting Allow Overwrite - Yes

Originally Posted by pushedx

Is it possible to have this product work independently in different forums. I.e. let's say you have Forum Section A, Forum Section B, and Forum Section C. The Side Column in A would list quick links to content in Section A. The Side Column in B would list quick links to content in Section B, and so on for C.

Is this possible with this product?

Thanks

Yes, use template conditionals in your blocks to do this.

Originally Posted by kinggori

Kerry-Anne, the custom links (content) delete option is not working. So after I added a new link, when I tried deleting it nothing happens.

I know It's fixed on localhost in 2.3

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by riverwire

Hi im using this mod, it was all working ok on 3.7 ive just upgraded to 3.7.1 and now the coloum sits under the forum instead of the right hand side, its fine on all the other pages but the home page it just isnt working correctly please can some one help. Thanks

This is a template issue, either with reverted templates and manual template edits, or with custom styles, or with the block contents. Check that all opening tags have closing tags.

Originally Posted by yunie_

sry but i dont quite understand how to seperate the blocks even after reading readme.. can anyone show me?

Start a new table in the block, then end it at the end of the block and put a <br /> or two to add a gap.

Originally Posted by xnewman

Hi everybody,
I am using this mod and I have found that I have to make variables global when I want to use them in the left/right column. I tried to use plugin manager and I did short code there with global start - I am not pretty sure it is right way.

Therefore - please, is anyone able to show me how (for example) to make available information on total number of threads, last registered user and so on?

Thanks a lot!

Yes, adding code to global start is the correct way to make the code global. You should always use a new plugin for each code that you add then you can manage it easily.

Adding the stats that you are requesting is something that is already coded into 3.0 which is in development (albeit slow development because of other commitments)

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by burlesque

Could somebody please post the default code for the 'usc_sidecolumn_left' template. I overwrote it by mistake!

Revert the template like you would with any other template. It will return it to the original state.

Originally Posted by Shana

Hi, for some reason the navbar is too close to my forum; how can I fix this?

Add an extra <br /> or two to the end of your navbar template or use a different automatic template edit location.

[Adam H]

Ok i think you are right, however what template would the issue be in ?

[yunie_]

sry the problem is im noob enough not to know how to start a table..

i've tried <table> and </table> doesnt work

[xnewman]

Kerry-Anne:
thanks for you reply. I am trying to make working at least one test variable in usc and I still cannot do that. It is pitty

I have created plugin with global start, where is (for example) this line:
$my_test = 1;

It had no effect if i had chosen vbulletin or usc product


When I try to use it in some usc_block then it does not work at all. Use it = just write $my_test in the template. Am I doing something wrong?