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

[Fungsten]

Question. The usc_cp.php is uploaded to the forum folder (root), correct?

[dt_truck11]

Originally Posted by Fungsten

Question. The usc_cp.php is uploaded to the forum folder (root), correct?

yes

[|Jordan|]

Is this mod compatible with 3.8.1 ?

[Fungsten]

Originally Posted by |Jordan|

Is this mod compatible with 3.8.1 ?

I can't get the custom columns with mine.

[kylek]

Trying to align the side column with the forums, went through the posts and saw to lower sidebar you add a break but in our case we want to raise the sidebar to match our forums.

Anyone have any ideas?

Attachment 94294

Edited - found the solution, had to remove first <br/> in the left column template, alls good.

[kalleklorin]

I need to add php in a column how is that done ?

[jwashburn]

I did the default install, now I want to create a new style that doesnt use the columns. Does anyone know what templates to edit to turn them off?

[Anne Lise]

When using this mod I get an error in the attachment (contol panel)

[carrlos]

Originally Posted by kylek

Trying to align the side column with the forums, went through the posts and saw to lower sidebar you add a break but in our case we want to raise the sidebar to match our forums.

Anyone have any ideas?

Attachment 94294

Edited - found the solution, had to remove first <br/> in the left column template, alls good.

Same problem. Your solution helped but now I'm slightly higher.

Can anyone help me get this to show on my vBA cmps 3.1.0 page please. Thanks. :up:

[perfphysio]

Hi Kerry-Anne, UI have searched now through these mod threads and have not yet found an answer or directions on how to include an external RSS feed into Ultimate Side Columns 2.2.

Is this possible? If someone has posted the solution could someone or yourself please post the link to that solution. Many thanks.

Also a second question: Are you able to place the Ultimate Side Columns 2.2 under the welcome template area so it aligns with the forum categories etc. The reason for this is so my breadcrumb and login areas don't begin to wrap due to the right column beginning to the right of them

Many thanks