WebTemplates v.0.1 (Old Version)

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Attention: This version of webtemplates is obsolete since new version (2.xx) is released as of 30.June.2003.

If you are new user, please visit new hack's thread and install that one, not this version.

This thread is active for discussing migration issues and will be closed in the future.
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Introduction:
Basically this hack allows you create vbulletin powered non-vb pages within vb admin CP and administer them just like vb templates.

Your "webtemplates" reside inside MYSQL and have the same structure as regular vbulletin templates and you edit/modify/delete them inside your Admin CP. You can create as many as you like and display them like:
http://yoursite URL/yourboard URL/show.php?pg=YOUR_WEBTEMPLATE_NAME.

Features of Your WebTemplates:
* You can easily edit/update your non-vb pages from your vb control panel just like vb templates. No need to FTP or smt.
* Simply backup your vbulletin and your entire site (including your webtemplates) is backed up too.
* You can use some vbulletin variables in your non-vb pages, so eg. address your members with their member names in your entire site.
* Your entire web site can mimic your forum's visual interface. All your fonts/colors etc. are kept in your non-vb. pages too. Besides users' style sets apply for your web templates either. So for instance if you have 2 styles, every user will see your webtemplates in the style and colors they are using in the board.
* This hack allows you to specify usergroups/usernames which can or cannot see the page you designed. So your non-vb pages can inherit vb. access permissions. Every webtemplate can have different display permissions for different users/usergroups.
* You can have counters in your pages and show/trace page visits individually for all your pages. Every webtemplate has its own counter.
* You can have "last visitor's name and visit time" in all your pages.
* You can insert fixed header/footer for all your pages.
* The "conditionals" you can set, allow you to design advanced and dynamic web pages, which change themselves according to the conditions you set. For example you can set different texts/page designs IN THE SAME PAGE for different users and every user will only see the text that is addressed to him.

Webtemplates are very easy to create. Just copy paste the HTML code of your page into the webtemplate box, give it a name, click submit and voila, your webtemplate is up and running! By using this method, you can convert your existing non-vb pages into webtemplates with ease too. It is just a matter of copy/paste its HMTML code. Installation of the hack is easy too and the hack will work any version of vbulletin I know.

For Advanced Users: If you want your webtemplates to get data from your database and display it, you have an advanced feature named "webqueries". WebQueries feature allows you to run SQL queries in your MYSQL database and automatically create sorted tables for you which you can add in any WebTemplates. So your non-vb pages can be dynamic and you can have any kind of SQL results (related with vb or not) in any page you want. Webqueries are optional to use and appeals to people with basic SQL knowledge. You can still create webtemplates very easily without using webqueries if you don't know SQL or don't need to query your database in your webtemplate. If you want to play with webqueries, please read and follow instructions CAREFULLY. This hack gives you advanced tools to create powerful and dynamic web pages, so give yourself sometime and learn how to create these pages. I wrote help pages which you can find in your webtemplates section after installation, so please read them carefully and examine sample page's code before pelting me with questions!

If you installed this hack, share your webquery samples in this thread


Fixes and Add-ons:
* If you have than 1 MYSQL databases, webquery section might not work properly. If you encounter any problems related to that issue, apply the small fix in this post.[/COLOR]
* If you want to display your webtemplates in who is online, apply this small hack .
Also there is a small bug with "conditionals" feature of the hack, if you use more than 1 conditional in 1 webtemplate. I guess very few people use this feature but anyway I fixed it in the new release that is in progress..
* If you want your webtemplates search engine friendly and indexed in google or other search engines, read this tip by Piper.

Current version (BETA v.0.1) is NOT actually a beta anymore, it's proven to be working very well in many people's boards and is stable.

I plan to develop this hack. However to enhance it more, I need to change its algortihm which requires rewriting and I wait for VB3 so that the hack will will be competible with VB3 too. That's why development is pending at the moment.


If you install the hack please click install, thank you.

Regards,
Logician //=^))

[FASherman]

Thanks, that did it. Is there a comprehensive list of variables somewhere? Sure would help!

Here's how one instance in how I use this to give others an idea. I use it in my privacy statement. I show users what information we have collected, then explain what other users can see based on various setting like invisibility and such. Then they have a clear idea who can see what information, who can PM them or email them.

Basically it is a privacy statement tailored to the individual user and one that will change as they change their settings to either gain more privacy or more visibility to the on-line community.

How's that for a good use of this utility (not really a hack)?

[ryancooper]

I get a error when I try to do anything with the show.php

atal error: Call to undefined function: logiciangettemplate() in /home/talkdis/public_html/forums/show.php on line 25

What am i missing?

[Logician]

Originally posted by ryancooper
I get a error when I try to do anything with the show.php

atal error: Call to undefined function: logiciangettemplate() in /home/talkdis/public_html/forums/show.php on line 25

What am i missing?

You probably applied instruction step 3 incorrectly. Have you added the code to your admin/functions.php? (and have you uploaded it to your server?)

[Logician]

Originally posted by FASherman
Thanks, that did it. Is there a comprehensive list of variables somewhere? Sure would help!

I dont know a list but it's not hard to compile one by yourself for $bbuserinfo variables. Just check database table "user" via PHPmyAdmin or any other db tool and note field names in user table. These are exactly same in $bbuserinfo[fieldname]

[FASherman]

That was more in reference to the other $bb variables. I've noticed that more than just the $bbuser variables get parsed and replaced.

[irn-bru]

did I reply to say this is a great hack? cant remember
well anyway it is..

[Limpkinw]

When i click the link on webtemplates_install.php i just get
http://www.limpkinw.com/webtemplates_install.php?p=1

and it keeps kicking me back to that.

Any suggestions?

[Limpkinw]

Ok I was able to get around the problem above by modifying the php file a bit but on step 4 i get this...

Inserting the default templates to the table and finishing the installation..


Notice: Undefined variable: pagetitle in D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\www.limpkinw.com\forum\webtemplates_install.php on line 309



Congratulations! The relevant tables are created and default templates are installed successfully.
Before proceeding with hack installation, please DO NOT FORGET to DELETE this file (webtemplates_install.php) from your server!


that line is


<head><title>$pagetitle</title>


surrounded by

$template=addslashes($template);
mysql_query ("insert into webtemplates (templateid, title, template, count) values (null, '$title', '$template', '0')");
echo mysql_error();

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// notfound
$title = "notfound";
$template=<<<HASH51
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head><title>$pagetitle</title>
\$headinclude
\$headinsert
</head>



Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Logician]

Originally posted by Limpkinw

Notice: Undefined variable: pagetitle in D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\www.limpkinw.com\forum\webtemplates_install.php on line 309

that line is

<head><title>$pagetitle</title>

Change the line as:

<head><title>\$pagetitle</title>

then you should be fine.. If you are going to run the installation script from the begining I suggest deleting tables "webtemplates" and "webtemplatequery" first, then run the script. Or another chice will be inserting the "notfound" webtemplate manually via Admin CP/Add Webtemplate

[Grendel]

Great hack, works fine here: www.short-stories.de
Thats exactly what I was looking for for my starting page - I have a literature-page and wanted to show the newest story of each forum. Further feedback from me as soon as I installed lot of queries