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]

When I downloaded the Mod the only files I got were USC_22 and __MACOSX. Nothing else. Any ideas? TIA.

[lstintxs100]

There are two directories. usc_22 contains the product and files to upload.

[RrCoX22]

think it clearly states that 2.1 needs to be downloaded first...

anyone have any word on this expansion pack? I would like to have 20+ blocks on one side!

[xtremesystems]

*** Update ***
I got this to work, I was not going into "vBulletin Options" and then "Ultimate Side Column Options" to edit the settings. Now it works like a charm. I'll leave this message here just in case anyone else has this problem.
*** /Update ***

I am having a problem getting the right col to show up. I have installed version 2.2, and went into usergroups and made all of my groups able to see the right col. I refresh my view of the forum, even log out and back in again and still no right column.

I put a table into block 11 (first block on right side) with just some simple text in it (test col) and this does not show up. See code below:

usc_block_11
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>Test Col</td>
</tr>
</table>

The only variable that is in my configuration that may be a problem is that I have the vBadvanced Dynamics addon installed. Not sure if this would cause this not to show up though since vBadvanced doesn't mess with col's in the forum to my knowledge.

Anyone have any ideas or a place I could go to troubleshoot further?

[RrCoX22]

oh wow this is a truely amazing mod... i didn't even realize that 10 blocks on each side is plenty enough for what I need to do.

INSTALLED!

[Fungsten]

Originally Posted by lstintxs100

There are two directories. usc_22 contains the product and files to upload.

It says that is a 0 byte file.

[lstintxs100]

Originally Posted by Fungsten

It says that is a 0 byte file.

Try again or right click and save as. I just downloaded it again to test and the files were there in internet explorer.

[ecoReef]

Hi All,

I am stuck. I uploaded the files from [UPLOAD]... and deleted the usc_upgrade.php from the AdminCP directory...

but when I try to import bitfield_usc.xml ... I get an error "Invalid File Specified"

I know I'm missing something.... but I can't figure it out and I already spend 1hr on it.

Please help!

Cheers

[Fungsten]

Originally Posted by lstintxs100

Try again or right click and save as. I just downloaded it again to test and the files were there in internet explorer.

Still not there.

[RrCoX22]

tell me if I'm wrong but is there more that I have to do besides this?

First Step...

Open FTP - > Open USC_22 Folder -> Open Upload Folder - > Open Includes Folder -> Open XML Folder -> Upload the bitfield_usc xml file to root/forums/includes/xml

Next step...

Open vBulletin Admincp -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Click "Add/Import Product" -> Under "Import Product" Box -> Click Browse -> Open "product-ka_ultimate_sidecolumn_2-2 XML Document in the USC_22 folder -> Click Import

And your done!

If this is all that needs to be done I hope that helped some people who are having trouble.

Don't forget to go to VB Options and Styles & Templates to edit the mod configurations to your likings