Arrange Sub-Forums in columns

Better alternatives to this hack:

3.6 plugin version by Cybernetec with more options:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=122996

3.5 plugin version by Atakan KOC: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=118935

CSS/templates version by hpwilhelm:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=91299

Ported from 3.0.x.

What it does
This hack arranges sub-forums on the forum home into 2 columns, makeing large lists of sub-forums more presentable. You can see the before/after in the screenshots attached

Note:
1. You need to enable sub-forum display on the forum home from your vB admin panel
2. This hack is for the forum home page, not forum display.

To enable sub-forums on the forum home page
1. Go to your forum Admin panel
2. Click vBulletin Options
3. Select "Forum Listings Display Options" from the drop down list
4. In "Depth of Sub-Forums" replace 0 with 1

Installation
To install, edit the file includes/functions_forumlist.php

1. Find (there are two slightly different lines, differing by a space, the one in question is around line 552)

PHP Code:

    if (!isset($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"]))
    {
        return $output;
    } 


Place this code below it:

PHP Code:

 $output .= "<table width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"center\" ><tr valign=\"top\"> ";
      $cols = 0; 


2. Find

PHP Code:

            if (!empty($output))
            {
                $subforum = $splitter["$canpost"] . $subforum;
            }
            if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])
            {
                $output .= construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1);
            }
        }
    }

    return $output;

} 


Replace with

PHP Code:

                        //sub-forum hack
            if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])
                        {
                                $cols++;
                                if ($cols==3)
                                        {
                                        $cols = 1;
                                        $output .=  "</tr><tr>";
                                        }

                        $output .= '<td width="50%">' . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . "</td>";
                        }
        }
    }

        if ($cols ==1) $output.="<td>&nbsp;</td></tr></table>";
    else $output.="</tr></table>";

        return $output;

}
//end hack 


Template modification (optional)
As this hack will list the sub-forums in a table, the font used is not effected by the <div> tag for subforums, which will cause the default font to be used instead of smallfont.

To use smallfont for sub-forum names, edit the "forumhome_subforumbit_post"

Change (this is the whole template)

 <img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]">$forum[title]</a>

To:

 <img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]"><span class="smallfont">$forum[title]</span></a>

And for those who want to edit or remove the "Sub-forum" word, just remove (or edit, if you just want to change it) "<strong>$vbphrase[subforums]</strong>:" from the "forumhome_forumbit_level2_post" template.

handling of sub-forums.

[tamarian]

For those who had problems, note that for the first change, there two slightly different lines 277 and 552:

PHP Code:

foreach ($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"] AS $forumid)
foreach($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"] AS $forumid) 


The difference, is only a space after foreach

I've updated the first post to note this.

[NxTek]

That worked great. Thanks for the update.

[bhxtyrant]

Hey guys,I love this idea! looks much better then the default way of displying sub forums in my opinion.But is there a way to set up aplugin to perform this action?I know editing the code is simple and straight foward but i think a plugin would be much better for the new 3.5 not sure if it's possible but worth some thought.

[Gaspanic]

Anybody got any idea's why mines just displaying the first subforum and none of the others?

http://www.bottleofbroon.co.uk/

Cheers.

[Gaspanic]

Nevermind, fixed it

[TheFocusElf]

This is a great mod -- for all perfectionists out there, and those who just demand their forums to look and feel nice; this mod is a must!

-W

[dostborsa]

don't support 3.5.1

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by dostborsa

don't support 3.5.1

Why not? Working fine on my 3.5.1 test forum. I just edited the instructions to make it easier to find the code that needs changing, but it should work fine.

[dostborsa]

Can't find " foreach($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"] AS $forumid) " in the file includes/functions_forumlist.php

this is a first step

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by dostborsa

Can't find " foreach($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"] AS $forumid) " in the file includes/functions_forumlist.php

this is a first step

What do you have in line 552?