Forum Home Enhancements - [AJAX] Tab Menu For Forum Home

Okay so this is my first contribution to Vbulletin fans. I'm not a coder but I know a little bit about PHP and Javascripts.

After installing the Tabbed Forum Home by bobster65 here (well done, bobster65!) I decided to make a similar mode using Ajax because I want to reduce the initial load of the forum.

So basically this mod will apprear almost exactly the same as bobster65's mod but the way it works is totally different.

Since this is the beta version which I spent around 2 hours to code and test, please don't expect too much Because I don't know much about coding, I will not be able to make this mod become a product. Probably someone else better than me can do this.

Update:

25/06/08 - Version 1.3: Fix problem with category's description and category ID on tabs_forumbits template. Remember to update tabs_forumbits template and replace old tabs.php by new tabs.php.

09/06/2008 - Version 1.2: Fix problem with loading default tab initially when member access index.php. Now can load as many categories as you want. 01 new template is created. For whom is using older version, when upgrading to 1.2, please update all new template contents as below.

07/06/2008 - Version 1.1: I found problem with restricted forum so I updated the code to fix this problem. Please make sure you have latest version.

07/06/2008 - Version 1.0: I have revised the code on the tab menu to make it simple to config the tab. I added some codes to set the selected tab.

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LET'S START
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1/ Upload the tabs.js to folder clientscript (i.e: www.yourdomain.com/forum/clientscript/tabs.js)

2/ Upload the tabs.css and 2 gif images to folder clientscript/vbulletin_css/ (i.e: http://www.yourdomain.com/forum/clie...n_css/tabs.css)

3/ Upload tabs.php to your forum root (i.e: www.yourdomain.com/forum/tabs.php)

4/ Go to your Admin CP and create a new child style from your current style.

5/ On the new style your have just created, from the Template Options, choose "Add New Template" and name it tabs_forumhome.

Copy the below code and paste to the Template section and submit:

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<thead>
	<tr align="center">
	  <td class="thead">&nbsp;</td>
	  <td class="thead" width="100%" align="$stylevar[left]">$vbphrase[forum]</td>
	  <td class="thead" width="175">$vbphrase[last_post]</td>
	  <td class="thead">$vbphrase[threads]</td>
	  <td class="thead">$vbphrase[posts]</td>
	  <if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">
	  <td class="thead">$vbphrase[moderator]</td>
	  </if>
	</tr>
</thead>
$forumbits
<tbody>
	<tr>
		<td class="tfoot" align="center" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>"><div class="smallfont"><strong>
			<a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]do=markread" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[mark_forums_read]</a>
			<if condition="$vboptions['forumleaders']">&nbsp; &nbsp;
			<a href="showgroups.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[view_forum_leaders]</a></if>
		</strong></div></td>
	</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
$forumhome_markread_script

6/ Do step 5 again and name it tabs_forumbits copy and paste the following code into Template section:

<tbody>
	<tr>
		<td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>"><a style="float:right" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumbit_$tabs[id]')"><img id="collapseimg_forumbit_$tabs[id]" src="images/buttons/collapse_tcat.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="forumdisplay.php?f=$tabs[id]">$tabs[title]</a></td><tr>
<td class="smallfont" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>">$tabs[description]</td>
	</tr>
</tbody>

<tbody id="collapseobj_forumbit_$tabs[id]" style="">$tabs[forumbits]</tbody>

7/ Now you need to create a new template for login required forum. Do step 5 again and name it tabs_loginrequired and paste the below code into Template section:

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="70%" align="center">
<tr>
	<td class="tcat">$vbphrase[vbulletin_message]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td class="panelsurround" align="center">
	<div class="panel">
		<div align="$stylevar[left]">

			<script type="text/javascript" src="clientscript/vbulletin_md5.js?v=$vboptions[simpleversion]"></script>
			<form action="login.php?do=login" method="post" onsubmit="md5hash(vb_login_password, vb_login_md5password, vb_login_md5password_utf, $show[nopasswordempty])">
			<input type="hidden" name="do" value="login" />
			<input type="hidden" name="url" value="$scriptpath" />
			<input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password" />
			<input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password_utf" />
			$postvars

			<input type="hidden" name="s" value="$session[sessionhash]" />
			<input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />

			<blockquote>
$vbphrase[not_logged_no_permission]<br /> <br />
1. $vbphrase[not_logged_in_fill_in_form]<br />
2. $vbphrase[may_not_have_sufficient_privileges]<br />
3. $vbphrase[administrator_may_disabled_account]<br />
</blockquote>

			<fieldset class="fieldset">
				<legend>$vbphrase[log_in]</legend>
				<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[formspacer]" border="0" align="center">
				<tr>
					<td>$vbphrase[username]:<br /><input type="text" class="bginput" name="vb_login_username" size="50" accesskey="u" tabindex="1" /></td>
				</tr>
				<tr>
					<td>$vbphrase[password]:<br /><input type="password" class="bginput" name="vb_login_password" size="50" tabindex="1" /></td>
				</tr>
				<tr>
					<td>
						<span style="float:$stylevar[right]"><a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=lostpw">$vbphrase[forgotten_your_password]</a></span>
						<label for="cb_cookieuser"><input type="checkbox" name="cookieuser" value="1" id="cb_cookieuser" tabindex="1" />$vbphrase[remember_me]</label>
					</td>
				</tr>
				<tr>
					<td align="$stylevar[right]">
						<input type="submit" class="button" value="$vbphrase[log_in]" accesskey="s" tabindex="1" />
						<input type="reset" class="button" value="$vbphrase[reset_fields]" accesskey="r" tabindex="1" />
					</td>
				</tr>
				</table>
			</fieldset>

			<if condition="$show['register_message']">
				<div class="smallfont"><phrase 1="register.php?$session[sessionurl]do=signup">$vbphrase[admin_required_register]</phrase></div>
			</if>
			</form>

		</div>
	</div>
	</td>
</tr>
</table>

8/ Ok, now you need to modify the FORUMHOME template as following:

Add this code between <head> and </head>

<script type="text/javascript" src="clientscript/tabs.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="clientscript/vbulletin_css/tabs.css" />

Now replace all codes between <!-- main --> and <!-- /main --> by this code:

New code update 07/06/2008

<!-- Tab menu by NsT @ RCHobby365 -->
<!-- Default tab ID to load initially -->
<input type="hidden" value="1" id="defaulttab">
<table border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr><td>
<div id="tabsF">
<ul>
<li><a href="#1" id="a1"><span id="s1">Category 1</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#2" id="a2"><span id="s2">Category 2</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#3|4" id="a3|4"><span id="s3|4">Category 4</span></a></li>
</ul> 
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td id="forumbits">
	
</td></tr></table>
<!-- End tab menu -->

On the <body> tag, add this code:

onLoad="startLoad();"

So the body tag should be like this:

<body onLoad="startLoad();">

Now the mod is almost done. It's time for you to config the tabs. The update on 07/06/2008 basically remove the onClick event to make the tab simpler.

Note: You MUST define a specific tab you want to load initially (this will load a specific tab when user access default url such as: forum/index.php). To do this, you need to enter the value (ID) of the hidden input:

<input type="hidden" value="1" id="defaulttab">

Now the value="1" so it will load category ID=1 if member go to your index.php page. If you want to load several categories, you need to add the category ID into a string seperate by |.

For example: value="1|3" and this will load category 1 and 3. You MUST also have a tab that loads category 1 and 3 or the mod wont work and you will receive an Javascript error.

Exampe: <li><a href="#1|3" id="a1|3"><span id="s1|3">Category 1</span></a></li>

<li><a href="#1" id="a1"><span id="s1">Category 1</span></a></li>

If you want a tab to list a single category with its sub-forums, on the href you just need to enter the category ID after the #:

For example: href="#1" will list Category ID=1 and its sub-forums.

If you want a tab to list multiple category with their sub-forums, you need to enter a string of categories ID.

For example: href="#3|4" will list Category ID=3 and ID=4 with their sub-forums.

You can list as many categories as you want, just add their ID into the string, seperate by "|" and this string must be after the #.

The ID of <a> and <span> tag is used to define the selected tab. The ID is given by the ID of a single category or multiple category with "|". ID of <a> tag starts with "a" and ID of <span> tag starts with "s".

To load all category like normal, you can use this tab:

<li><a href="#all" id="aall"><span id="sall">View All</span> </a></li>

And that's it

Hope you will like it and work together to make it better.

Credits:
- Vbulletin functions
- bobster65 for his idea about the tabbed forum.
- Css tab menu by www.exploding-boy.com/images/cssmenus/menus.html

[rapidphim]

I am not able to view the demo at the demo site.

[NsT]

Sorry my site just got DDoS attacked so demo will be available tomorrow

[rapidphim]

Sorry, just read few threads back. Didn't know you got DDos (only script kiddies do such thing). Anyway, I heard that BBob is working on an Ajax version for his Tab. It'd be nice if you two work together. I'd wait for the final product either from you, or him, or both.

It'd also so nice that if one of you can intergrate the new ajax mod to upgrade the current hack automatically. Otherwise, we might have to uninstall/revert the modified template, reinstall the style and install the ajax hack...

[Lea Verou]

You need to check location.hash every half a second or so for it to work in IE. I have stumbled upon the same problem some while ago (not in a vbulletin project) and I can guarantee you that this is the only solution, sadly.

Btw why do you use your own tabs.js file and not vB_TabCtrl.js? vBulletin has a built-in tabs system at the moment, that nobody seems to be aware of or use, I don't know why

[NsT]

09/06/2008: Released ver 1.2. Fix problem with default tab to load initially when member access index.php. This enable you to load multiple categories initially.

@GamerGirl27 & Mokonzi: Now you can load as many categories as you want

@ rapidphim: The demo is available to view now Well, for me to make this mod become a product to install/uninstall automatically is almost imposible because I didn't know much about PHP, especially Vbb installing codes.

This is the reason why I marked this mod as "Re-usable" so that someone else better than me can improve it if they wish to.

@ Michelle: Oh if you check my tabs.js file, you will see I set an interval to check the URL, but the problem is IE doesn't store link after # into its history so at this moment you can use Back/ Forward buttons. However, you still can use Bookmark and send link to your friends. I'll try to fix Back/ Forward button asap.

Believe me I'm newbie in coding so I don't even know that VBB has a vB_TabCtrl.js file but anyway, it will be easier for me to code my own file

[NsT]

Oh sorry that I forgot to add the View All tab. This tab will load the whole forum like normal:

<li><a href="#all" id="aall"><span id="sall">Tất Cả</span> </a></li>

[SpankMe]

Since installing this I have been getting a number of membrs complaining that they are getting logged out when using the tabs or clicking on mark forums read.

[NsT]

Thanks for your feedback. I checked and you are right. However, I found that if you check the "Remember Me" box when logging in, it seems to work fine.

I'll try to fix this problem asap.

[mokonzi]

Thanks for the updates so far NsT. I'll have a look at updating it on my test style later.

[Magnumutz]

I'm getting this error:

Warning: Division by zero in [path]/tabs.php(258) : eval()'d code on line 132