Advanced Templates: Dynamic Templates Changing according to different conditions

This hack allows you to design dynamic vb templates which change themselves according to different conditions. Thus you can customize your board very powerfully with "intelligent/interactive" templates. It uses the same "conditional concept" just like my Webtemplates and Dynamic Forum Announcements Hack. With conditionals you can program your templates to:

• be displayed differently to different users.
• hide/display some part/texts/html codes/even the entire template for some users
• include extra text/HTML codes/secret messages inside which will be displayed if page visitor matches your pre-configured criterias
• Have multi-templates inside 1 template and each of them will be parsed and displayed only if their set condition applies.

You can program your templates according to many different criteria, such as:

• user's userid
• user's usergroup
• user's profile fields' input
• user's post number
• user's last visit time
• user's seniority (register date)
• today's date, day, month, week, year, hour, second, if today is user's birthday
• user's is visibility status
• style id user's using
• user's cookie status
• user's time settings
• (in forumdisplay templates) forum id
• (in showthread templates) thread id
• etc.

Some practical examples about what you can do with this hack:

• You can have different postbit templates for different users/usergroups.
• Display your board differently to the user if it's his birthday, if he is X, if he age <Y, if he didnt visit your board since Z etc.
• Display Admin Only Profile fields/or any profile fields in postbit if X condition applies
• You can hide Admin only links in your templates such as "Show IP".
• Disable Email/Pm User links in postbit or userprofile screen if reader is from usergroup X etc.
• Send different email text to different users according to different criteria. Add hidden email texts if X condition applies
• Hide "register" link if user is not a guest, add access to pm if user is not a guest
• Ban some templates if X condition applies such as dont display profile screens if user's X profile field = Y
• Disable some forums if today is X day or hour is Y
• Dont display thread view/user count/last reply date if user's usergroup is X
• Hide threads according to different criteria in showthread templates

Well there are literally millions of possibilities you can apply, so please use your imagination for more examples..

The Hack's Features:

• Installation is VERY easy: Actually 2 steps in 1 file will take less than 1 minute..You will be surprised how such a small modification will make such a big difference in your board.
• It's compatible with ALL vb versions I know
• The hack covers all the templates in your database: ie. custom templates, ALL vbulletin templates including even emails and error messages etc.
• It's fully compatible with all your installed hacks and their custom templates too.
• It makes many small hacks obsolete because you can now modify your templates to achieve the same result instead of hacking your board (=changing .php files)

Vbulletin v.3 has been announced to have "conditional" concept in templates, however my hack wasn't inspired by it at all, because I'm using the conditionals in my Webtemplates hack since March 2002 so in fact vb developers might be inspired by me. My Dynamic Forum Announcements hack uses the same concept for forum home announcements too.. (Wait for my other hacks depending on conditionals cause I really like them, they are really powerful and customizable)

Performance Issues
The hack does NOT add any MYSQL connections. It just process your already retrieved templates in a function to parse the hack conditionals. Thus the performance is IMO quite bearable. However please notice that if a template has a conditional in it, the hack have to parse it before displaying it and technically this parsing is done with PHP's preg_match command which is known as a powerful but slow command. So does it cause any performance problems? In most cases no. But if the conditionals are applied in a very frequently used and/or long template and/or you used too many conditionals in one template AND your traffic or server load is high, this MAY increase your PHP processing time whenever this template is displayed as the hack has to deal with the conditionals everytime this template is called. I suggest applying Teck's Microstat's hack and observe the PHP running time with that hack after you applied a conditional especially in a frequently used template (eg. postbit). If it slows down the display, simply reduce your conditional count in that template or delete the conditional or remove the hack altogether. Personally I dont have any performance problems in my own board related to this hack but just wanted to give my 2 cents anyway especially for high-traffic boards..

If you liked the hack (I guess you will), I strongly suggest checking out my Webtemplates hack which provides exactly the same feature for your NON-VB pages.

Also please click INSTALL if you use the hack, thank you..

09.Sep.2002 Bug Fix: If you installed the hack before 09.Sep.2002 please download the instructions again and reapply step 2, since I made an update for a small bug fix. There was a variable name collision which causes a problem with email validation screen which uses the same variable so I changed my variable's name. If you are downloading the hack now, go ahead.. The code you download is already fixed..
07.Oct.2002 UPDATE: I updated the hack code, so that people who have enabled template debugging in their Admin CP/vb Settings can also use the hack. Also small modification applied to increase template parsing time. If you installed the hack before my update, you may choose to reinstall (not necessary). If you are a new hack user, the instructions you download is already new version's.

Enjoy!
Logician \\=^))

[Logician]

Screenshot?

umm what kind of screenshot I can provide you is not clear to me Still reserved in case someone has an idea though.. lol

[Logician]

After you installed the hack, you can apply some of these template modifications which you may enjoy. Please share your useful template modifications with other hack users in the thread and if you get the concept please help me out answering questions regarding conditionals here. Thank you!

BTW. Some examples may seem irrelevant to you but please notice that my intention is also to give you conditional samples so that you get the grips.

Hide attachments in the thread from viewer if his registration date is newer than 2 weeks:
edit template postbit_attachment and just in the begining add: [[($bbuserinfo[joindate]>strtotime(-2 weeks)]] and at the end add its closing tag: [[/($bbuserinfo[joindate]>strtotime(-2 weeks)]]

Displays poster profile field 1 in postbit to Admins: (So you can access Admin only fields of user in postbit)
Edit postbit template add

PHP Code:

[[(bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==6)]]<smallfont>Admin Only info: $post[field1]</smallfont>[[/(bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==6)]] 


Hides User's Username in postbit if viewer is a guest
Edit postbit template replace $post[username] as

PHP Code:

[[(bbuserinfo[usergroupid]>1)]]$post[username][[/(bbuserinfo[usergroupid]>1)]] 


Hide thread X in showthread if user id is Y add [[($threadid!=X AND userid!=Y)]] in the begining of showthread template add its closing tag in the end: [[/($threadid!=X AND userid!=Y)]]

Send entire message text with notification mail if forumid is Y
edit email_notify add: [[($foruminfo[forumid]==Y)]]$message[[/($foruminfo[forumid]==Y)]]

[Logician]

Conditionals Help

If you are using my WebTemplates Hack or Dynamic Announcements: Programmable Forum Home Announcement/Message with conditionals Hack, this hack's conditionals are exactly same with these hacks'.

Here is the conditional syntax: (it's strict in syntax so please apply correctly!)
[[(your conditional)]]
HTML code posted in template if condition applies
[[/(your conditional)]]

Conditional Rules:

* Conditionals are covered inside [[ ]] tags
* Conditional (both opening and closing) itself is in paranthesis ( )
* HTML codes are written in between the conditional tags and they are displayed in the template if condition applies
* Opening and closing conditional are exactly same except closing conditional has a / right before (
* If you are trying to check if X equals to Y, use DOUBLE equation mark not single. eg. Correct: X==Y Incorrect:X=Y
* You can design as many conditional as you like. If more than 1 condition applies at the same time, ALL applying conditionals HTML codes are parsed and all not-applied conditionals and their HTML code is automatically deleted when template is displayed.

Some examples will help you understand the rules better. Here are some conditionals and their instruction texts which explains what that conditional do: (Consider HTML codes is in between instead of instruction texts and they are parsed if condition applies)

* [[($bbuserinfo[userid]==32)]] Display this HTML code if page visitor's user id is 32 [[/($bbuserinfo[userid]==32)]]

* [[($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==5)]] Display this HTML code if page visitor's usergroupid is 5 (=if he is a Super Mod) [[/($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==5)]]

* [[($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==1)]] Display this HTML code if page visitor is a guest [[/($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==1)]]

* [[($bbuserinfo[userid]>1)]] Display this HTML code if page visitor is NOT a guest [[/($bbuserinfo[userid]>1)]]

* [[($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==5 OR $bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==6 OR $bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==7)]] Display this HTML code if page visitor's a Super Mod OR a Mod OR an Admin [[/($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==5 OR $bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==6 OR $bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==7)]]

* [[($bbuserinfo[posts]<10)]] Display this HTML code if page visitor has less than 10 posts [[/($bbuserinfo[posts]<10)]]

* [[($bbuserinfo[lastvisit] and $bbuserinfo[lastvisit]<strtotime("-30 days"))]]Display this HTML code if page visitor has not visited your board for 30 days[[/($bbuserinfo[lastvisit] and $bbuserinfo[lastvisit]<strtotime("-30 days"))]]

* [[($bbuserinfo[joindate]>strtotime("-2 weeks") AND $bbuserinfo[joindate]<strtotime("-4 weeks"))]]Display this HTML code if page visitor registered in a date between 2 weeks to 4 weeks from now[[/($bbuserinfo[joindate]>strtotime("-2 weeks") AND $bbuserinfo[joindate]<strtotime("-4 weeks"))]]

You can use conditionals together too. Here is an example:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[[($bbuserinfo[userid]==32)]] HTML Codes 1[[/($bbuserinfo[userid]==32)]]
[[($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==3)]] HTML Codes 2 [[/($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==3)]]
HTML Codes 3
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
When this template is called the hack will :
Display HTML Codes 1, if user's userid = 32
Display HTML Codes 2, if user's usergroupid = 3 (=email confirmation waiting members)
and always display HTML Codes 3 (it's out of conditionals)

What if user 32 is also from user groupid 3? He will be BOTH displayed HTML Code 1 AND 2 because both conditionals are parsed if they applies.

Another example of how you can design a multi-template:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[[($bbuserinfo[posts]<30)]]

<Your Templates default HTML Code here >

[[/($bbuserinfo[posts]<30)]]
[[(!($bbuserinfo[posts]<30))]]

You dont have permission to access this page!

[[/(!($bbuserinfo[posts]<30))]]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
When you use this code in any of your template, if page visitor's post number is less than 30, he will be displayed "You dont have permission to access this page!" but any other users will see the template.

My Support for this hack: Just like all my other hacks I support this hack for any installation problems, bugs etc. (very unlikely there will be any) but as you would hopefully understand it's impossible for me to support the hack about forming your "conditionals". I give you detailed how-to instructions and samples and but there can be thousands of conditional designs people might ask for and it's not possible for me to answer all the time one by one. I dont discourage you to ask them away here in this thread so be my guest if you need help, but please forgive me if I cant personally answer you about these requests and I hope that other hack users will help out in the thread for these requests.. (While asking it can help if you give your failed samples).. Thanks for understanding..

[Chris M]

Very cool

*installs*

Satan

[assassingod]

Aww man, this is Ace! Brilliant work! Gonna instal this!!

[Tim Wheatley]

Fantastic, absolutely bloody fantastic.

[Bison]

I just installed this hack and now my index.php page won't load!

[Chris M]

Did you make sure you did the modifications to :

admin/functions.php

Satan

[Logician]

Originally posted by Rolodex
I just installed this hack and now my index.php page won't load!

1- Make sure you applied the hack correctly.
2- Make sure you understand how to apply a conditional to your templates before taking actions. If you inserted a wrong conditional simply delete it from your template and you'll be just fine again. I strongly suggest you to work on how-to post and understand the conditional syntax before playing with your templates.

Hack code is tested and working ok. But this is a powerful so a little bit tricky hack especially in usage (in fact this makes it powerful) so please take your time first to understand the basic concepts so that you wouldnt have any problems..