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

[andy2295]

Just downloaded and installed. Works a treat.

[orlycst]

Hello,
I installed the 2.2 USC and is not working at all, which folder am I suppose to upload considering I didn't use any previous versions, but now I decide to add some columns?

Orlando.

[intence]

you upload everything inside 'upload' to the root forum directory

[orlycst]

Hey guys!
there is a screenshot could someone tell me what did I do wrong?

[SNATCH3R]

Installed and works like charm......

orlycst, maybe u have some conflicting mods or hacks ....which is causing this error

[kako_paidi]

Originally Posted by orlycst

Hey guys!
there is a screenshot could someone tell me what did I do wrong?

you didnt upload the bitfield_usc.xml file to the includes/xml dir

i did the same mistake there too
anyhow, this hack doent work with 3.7.2 pl2
i installed all as i was supposed to but it doesnt work.

i saw that at the generated page there is no $usc_left and $usc_right as it should be

<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>

<td valign="top" width="100%">
<br />

its just missing.

has anyone installed it to the 3.7.2 pl2?

[orlycst]

Thanks! I've been staying up late trying to figure this out, my wife is going to bite my head off. I will put the file to the right place to see what happens.

Thanks again,
Orlando.

[Adam21]

Works fine on 3.72PL1 here

[4ntz]

Originally Posted by orlycst

Hello,
I installed the 2.2 USC and is not working at all, which folder am I suppose to upload considering I didn't use any previous versions, but now I decide to add some columns?

Orlando.

Check the usergroup permissions:
ADMINCP > Usergroups > Usergroup manager > Ultimate Side Columns Permissions

[kako_paidi]

Originally Posted by 4ntz

Check the usergroup permissions:
ADMINCP > Usergroups > Usergroup manager > Ultimate Side Columns Permissions

that was my problem
3 days now im searching all admincp, trying to edit manualy the templates and lots of other things but i missed this......

thanks 4ntz