Miscellaneous Hacks - DJ's Dynamic Tab Content for Postbit_Legacy

**As with most template edits, this modification is not version specific and will work on any vBulletin for vB3. You can find the vB4 version here.**

Ever felt your postbit_legacy template was just too long? Or maybe you'd like to add more content to your postbit_legacy, but you don't like the cluttered look or extended length of the post, especially when most posts are only a handful of sentences? Almost every decent modification here on vB.org has the option to add a link or a display to your postbit templates, and you've likely struggled, as I have, to come up with just the info you want to display, likely excluding things you thought would look real nice, but just couldn't justify the room for.

Now I've seen several good modifications that address this problem, and all of them are pretty nice. I've seen everything from a drop-down menu that displays the content, to a box that can be opened and closed just underneath the avatar. All of them are practical in their own way, and here's one more way that I worked out using a script from Dynamic Drive's website called Tab Content Script. This cleaned up my postbit_legacy just the way I wanted, and let me add even more content then I would have originally intended. It also allowed me to organize content in whatever manner I wished. I love it and I think you will too.

Screenshots

Live Demo
Click any of the grey dots beneath the user's avatars.

Difficulty: Intermediate
A few things you should know before moving forward. The instructions for this mod are not your standard template modification instructions. It's going to presume that you've edited your postbit_legacy template before and that you're somewhat familiar with its content, with HTML and how to wrap <if condition=""> conditionals. So it's not going to be a "look for this line of code, add this under it" kind of traditional tutorial. What I'm going to do is show you the basic code, how to implement it and then let you do with it what you want. That is, after all, the reason I came up with mod in first place, and I know everyone wont have the same postbit content and/or will want to set theirs up differently.

With that said, knowledge of how to modify your templates and basic HTML coding is something every vBulletin administrator should have. I'm not a coder. I'm a complete hack. But I know enough to take some of the wealth of code snippets available on the web and attempt to use them in new and inventive ways. Administrating a vB forum is that much more satisfying as a result.


Installation
To add this to your forum requires you to upload some files, make one edit to your headinclude template and one to your postbit_legacy template. If you don't know what postbit_legacy does, it's the template that controls the look of your posts when you've chosen to have avatars and user information appear to the left hand side of your posts. If you don't use that look for your forum, but instead use the one where avatars appear above your posts, then that means you use the postbit template, and this modification wasn't designed to look right on that template. (Though we have had a few users give it a try.)

Step 1.
First things first. After downloading the Dynamic Tab Content for Postbit_Legacy.zip file, extract the contents and upload the postbit_tabs folder in your forum's root directory (Your forum root is the folder you have physically installed vBulletin in, which means that for some folks, this isn't the same thing as your site root.)

Step 2.
Right click and download this JavaScript file from the Dynamic Drive website: tabcontent.js (You can also download it from this page.) Upload it to the postbit_tabs folder you just added to your website.

Step 3.
Now to edit your headinclude template. Go to Admin CP >>> Styles & Templates >>> Style Manager >>> <<>> >>> headinclude.

Add the following block of code to the very bottom. Remember to keep the copyright intact for legal use.

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="$vboptions[bburl]/postbit_tabs/tabcontent.css" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="$vboptions[bburl]/postbit_tabs/tabcontent.js">
/***********************************************
* Tab Content script v2.2- ? Dynamic Drive DHTML code library (www.dynamicdrive.com)
* This notice MUST stay intact for legal use
* Visit Dynamic Drive at http://www.dynamicdrive.com/ for full source code
***********************************************/
</script>

Step 4.
Now to access your postbit_legacy template, go to Admin CP >>> Styles & Templates >>> Style Manager >>> <<>> >>> Postbit Templates >>> postbit_legacy.

From here, your going to add a basic set of code from which you can then customize it. You can pretty much add it anywhere in the template, but most likely your going to want to add it just below the avatar. If that's the case, your avatar code is most likely going to look something like this:

PHP Code:

<if condition="$show['avatar']">
    <div class="smallfont">
     &nbsp;<br /><a href="member.php?$session[sessionurl]u=$post[userid]"><img src="$post[avatarurl]" $post[avwidth] $post[avheight] alt="<phrase 1="$post[username]">$vbphrase[xs_avatar]</phrase>" border="0" /></a>
    </div>
   </if> 


Below that add this basic set of code. This block of code will be your physical tab content.

PHP Code:

<!-- BEGIN POSTBIT TABS -->
<div id="postbittabs$post[postid]" class="djdot">
 
<ul>
<li><span title="View Tab 1"><a href="#" rel="tab1$post[postid]" id="selected$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 2"><a href="#" rel="tab2$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 3"><a href="#" rel="tab3$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 4"><a href="#" rel="tab4$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 5"><a href="#" rel="tab5$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
</ul>
 
<br style="clear: left" />
 
</div>
 
<div class="smallfont">
 
<!--TAB 1 CONTENT -->
<div id="tab1$post[postid]" class="tabcontent">
 
<div class="info">Tab 1 Content:Block A</div>
<div class="info">Tab 1 Content:Block B</div>
<div class="info">Tab 1 Content:Block C</div>
 
</div>
 
<!-- TAB 2 CONTENT -->
<div id="tab2$post[postid]" class="tabcontent">
 
<div class="info">Tab 2 Content:Block A</div>
<div class="info">Tab 2 Content:Block B</div>
<div class="info">Tab 2 Content:Block C</div>
<div class="info">Tab 2 Content:Block D</div>
 
</div>
 
<!-- TAB 3 CONTENT -->
<div id="tab3$post[postid]" class="tabcontent">
 
<div class="info">Tab 3 Content:Block A</div>
<div class="info">Tab 3 Content:Block B</div>
<div class="info">Tab 3 Content:Block C</div>
<div class="info">Tab 3 Content:Block D</div>
<div class="info">Tab 3 Content:Block E</div>
<div class="info">Tab 3 Content:Block F</div>
 
</div>
 
<!-- TAB 4 CONTENT -->
<div id="tab4$post[postid]" class="tabcontent">
 
<div class="info">Tab 4 Content:Block A</div>
<div class="info">Tab 4 Content:Block B</div>
<div class="info">Tab 4 Content:Block C</div>
 
</div>
 
<!-- TAB 5 CONTENT -->
<div id="tab5$post[postid]" class="tabcontent">
 
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block A</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block B</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block C</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block D</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block E</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block F</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block G</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block H</div>
<div class="info">Tab 5 Content:Block I</div>
 
</div>
 
</div>
 
 
<script type="text/javascript">
var mytabs=new ddtabcontent("postbittabs$post[postid]")
mytabs.setpersist(false)
mytabs.setselectedClassTarget("link")
mytabs.init()
</script>
 
<!-- END POSTBIT TABS --> 


Now go to your forum and see if your tabs are displaying properly and your not getting any errors. You should have five dot tabs that display five different sets of information when clicked.

Final Steps
Now comes the hard part. Now you have to decide what you want to put in those places called Tab 1 Content:Block A, etc. This is where knowledge of your postbit_legacy template comes into play. Your now going to move whatever content you want in the respective tabs from their current location into the tabs. This is entirely up to you, but you can use my forum as a starting point. The following posts also have some tips to help you along the way.

Post 2 has a Basic Breakdown of what the tabs do, a tutorial on how to add more tabs, default snippets of code that you can move into the tabs containers as well some snippets from common hacks.

Post 3 has some links to other sites that have implemented this hack to give you an idea of what can be done with it. And it has some additional images to use in place of the default dots.

Post 5 has Frequently Asked Questions for most problems you would encounter.




Known Bugs
There is one minor issue with the tabs that only occurs when using the AJAX quick reply and inline editing. Actually it's two issues, but I've only seen one or the other on my live site vs. my demo board. In one instance, the entire content of all your tabs displays all at once when posting/editing using AJAX. This is not a huge deal, as the only person who sees it do that is the person doing the posting/editing. And it will return to normal anytime he reloads or refreshes the page. The other instance is when after posting/editing through AJAX, no tab content appears, except the dot tabs. This is also not a huge deal as the same thing will happen here too; only the poster sees it and it will look normal anytime he returns or reloads the page. I think it's a minor trade off for the sleek look it gives your forum the rest of the time.

Upgrade Instructions
For those using the 1.00 version of this modification, please see this post for upgrade instructions.

[jkun666]

Ah, I think something else is causing the problem.

I've followed the steps from the original post exactly but when I click the buttons nothing happens

Edit: It appears when I try to right-click > save the .js from OP it gives me a permissions error and I had to go to the link directly.

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by jkun666

Ah, I think something else is causing the problem.

I've followed the steps from the original post exactly but when I click the buttons nothing happens

Edit: It appears when I try to right-click > save the .js from OP it gives me a permissions error and I had to go to the link directly.

So your good to go now?

[jkun666]

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

So your good to go now?

Still can't get the align to work

I'll keep trying!

is this correct?

PHP Code:

<div align="center">
<div id="postbittabs$post[postid]" class="djdot">
 
<ul>
<li><span title="View Tab 1"><a href="#" rel="tab1$post[postid]" id="selected$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 2"><a href="#" rel="tab2$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 3"><a href="#" rel="tab3$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 4"><a href="#" rel="tab4$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
<li><span title="View Tab 5"><a href="#" rel="tab5$post[postid]">&nbsp;</a></span></li>
</ul>

<br style="clear: left" />
</div>
</div> 


[tipoboy]

just installed again, trying to get the center align to work will post back on results...

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by tipoboy

just installed again, trying to get the center align to work will post back on results...

DUH Guys duh... I forgot that I modified my .css file with this so open it up and look for anything dealing with alignment then change it to center instead of left or right etc.

Sorry I sent some of you in circles... I know laugh @ me not with me this time ok?

Mike

[tipoboy]

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

DUH Guys duh... I forgot that I modified my .css file with this so open it up and look for anything dealing with alignment then change it to center instead of left or right etc.

Sorry I sent some of you in circles... I know laugh @ me not with me this time ok?

Mike

i've already tried that and its still left aligned...

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by tipoboy

i've already tried that and its still left aligned...

Default or custom style?

[tipoboy]

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

Default or custom style?

custom style but anyways i got it centered, here's how:

firstly as has been said before you cant just change all the alignments to center in the .CSS file because float: center; isnt a valid CSS attribute.

so to center it you have to add 2 lines off CSS, which are:

 margin-right: auto;
 margin-left: auto;

add those to the: .djdot { css code like so:

instead of:

.djdot{
font: bold 13px Arial;
width: 100%; /*leave this value as is in most cases*/
}

it looks like:

 
.djdot{
font: bold 13px Arial;
width: 100%; /*leave this value as is in most cases*/
margin-right: auto;
margin-left: auto;
}

tested in IE ut wont center for FF will continue working on it later on....

[Digital Jedi]

I believe, earlier in the thread, we had the same discussion, and if I remember correctly, you had to adjust a higher level element. Something in vB default postbit, if I'm not mistaken.

[tipoboy]

Originally Posted by Digital Jedi

I believe, earlier in the thread, we had the same discussion, and if I remember correctly, you had to adjust a higher level element. Something in vB default postbit, if I'm not mistaken.

DJ everything in my postbit_legacy is centered apart from the dots. I've tried several methods of trying to get it to align correctly including all the example's here.

The code i posted centers the dots in IE but when viewing in FF the dots are still left aligned.

Any suggestions?

TIA dave