Thread Category / Prefix Hack

Thread Category / Prefix Hack

Version: 1.3.7
vBulletin Version: 3.0.7
Developer: Mystics (www.vbulletin-germany.com)
Hack-Language: English & German & French (thanks to ReadWrite)
Install-difficulty: Medium
File-edits: 19
Template-edits: 16


Brief Description of the Hack

With this hack it is possible to assign a category/prefix to a thread. To do this you are able to select an appropriate category from a list beside the title while posting a new thread - for example 'Help', 'Problem', 'Search' etc.

The categories displayed in this list may be defined by a moderator for each of his moderated forums (Forum Tools -> Manage Categories); of course an administrator is allowed to do this for every forum.


Features

• Moderators are able to create own categories for each of their moderated forums
  (Forum -> Forum Tools -> Manage Categories -> threadcategory.php)
• Display of the categories on forum display, search results, subscribed threads and within the thread itself
• It is possible to change the category with editing the first post of a thread or with the thread tools available for moderators at any time

Settings in the Admin CP

• Maximum categories per forum
• Thread Category required: Users have to select a thread category for their threads
• Default Thread Categories: You may set default categories which will either be shown only in forums without own categories or be shown in addition to existing categories
• Show Thread Categories in extra column or in front of the thread title in the same column
• Alignment of the categories (if 'Show in extra column' is enabled): Align left, align right, center
• Show Category in 'Last Post' column
• Category HTML Markup: Specify an HTML tag with which to display the categories (bold, italic, red etc.)
• Allow Thread Category search: If enabled, the categories of all forums the user has access to will be grouped in a list and displayed in the search engine.
• Per Forum: Allow categories in this forum.

Screenshots

See attachments.


Version-History

1.3.7 (02-22-2005 - 09:00 pm)

• Modified instructions for vBulletin 3.0.7
  (3 more changes within the search_results template)

1.3.6 (01-15-2005 - 06:10 pm)

• Modified instructions for vBulletin 3.0.5
  (only the third modification of the template FORUMDISPLAY has changed)

1.3.5 (11-02-2004 - 11:00 pm)

• Bugfix: File: newthread.php
  Preview error with categories containing "&" fixed

1.3.4 (09-25-2004 - 04:00 pm)

• Update: Template SUBSCRIBE (colspan have to be increased since vB 3.0.2)
• Bugfix: File: includes/functions_forumlist.php
  Include category length in length of the shown last thread title

1.3.3 (04-08-2004 - 08:55 pm)

• Bugfix: File: forumdisplay.php
  Selected category got lost when browsing through forum pages

1.3.2 (03-27-2004 - 05:45 pm)

• Bugfix: File: clientscript/vbulletin_quickreply.js
  Javascript error when using Quick Reply
• New: Added modification for postbit_legacy template (same as postbit modification)
• Modified instructions for vBulletin 3.0.0 'Gold' (only the first modification of postings.php has changed)

1.3.1 (03-06-2004 - 00:20 am)

• Bugfix: Template: threadbit_deleted
  Incorrect display of category column in this template

1.3 (02-23-2004 - 08:40 pm)

• Bugfix: Don't display a category in a thread if categories are not allowed in the forum
• Bugfix: Critical bug in threadcategory.php related to the option 'Update existing threads with changed categories' fixed

Upload the new threadcategory.php as soon as possible!

1.2.1 (02-14-2004 - 02:15 pm)

• Bugfix: Template: forumdisplay_announcement
  Wrong 'colspan' value used, if categories are displayed in an extra
  column and forum contains announements in addition

1.2 (02-11-2004 - 11:30 pm)

• New: Display category in notify mail next to the thread title
• Bugfix: Improved display of the categories in "Who's Online"

1.1 (02-10-2004 - 11:55 pm)

• New: Display of last category in the 'Last Post' column (may be disabled in the admin cp)
• New: Display of hack version in the admin cp at the vBulletin options (for example 'Thread-Category Hack v1.1')
• Bugfix: Show link to 'Manage Categories, if DHTML menus are disabled
• Bugfix: Don't show categories from forums where categories are not (longer) allowed
• Bugfix: Convert HTML code within categories

1.0.1 (02-08-2004 - 11:30 pm)

• Bugfix: Correct display in "Who's Online" while managing categories

1.0.0 (02-08-2004 - 4:49 pm)

• First version

Installation

1. Upload the files categoryinstall.php and categoryinstall_text.php to the admincp directory of your forum
2. Open this file with your browser:
   http://www.yourdomain.de/forum/admin...oryinstall.php
3. Log in and follow the instructions
4. You may delete the two files after the installation of the hack

Time needed for installation: approx. 30-60 min.
Tested for version: 3.0.0 RC 3 (and above).

Note: If you have already used the vBulletin 2 version of this hack (only available in german) and the categories are still stored in the vB3 database, you may convert them for the vB3 version. You will see a note to that in step 2 of the hack installation.


Update hack

1. Upload the files categoryinstall.php and categoryinstall_text.php to the admincp directory of your forum
2. Open this file with your browser:
   http://www.yourdomain.de/forum/admin...oryinstall.php
3. Log in, select the version you want to update from (at Step 2 -> 'Update Hack') and follow the instructions

Short overview of the needed modifications

1. Files that need to be edited:

• editpost.php
• forumdisplay.php
• moderator.php
• newthread.php
• postings.php
• search.php
• showthread.php
• subscription.php
• admincp/forum.php
• clientscript/vbulletin_global.js
• clientscript/vbulletin_quickreply.js
• clientscript/vbulletin_stdedit.js
• clientscript/vbulletin_wysiwyg.js
• includes/functions.php
• includes/functions_databuild.php
• includes/functions_forumlist.php
• includes/functions_newpost.php
• includes/functions_online.php
• includes/functions_search.php

2. New files:

• threadcategory.php

3. Templates that need to be edited:

• editor_clientscript
• editpost
• FORUMDISPLAY
• forumdisplay_announcement
• forumhome_lastpostby
• newthread
• postbit
• postbit_legacy
• search_forums
• search_results
• search_results_postbit
• SHOWTHREAD
• SUBSCRIBE
• threadadmin_editthread
• threadbit
• threadbit_deleted

4. New templates:

• threadcategory_listbit
• threadcategory_modify

5. New phrases:

• Too many to list them all - they will be created automatically by the install script

Final words

If the hack doesn't work correct after installation, please verify all modifications you have made within the files and the templates. Be sure you have uploaded all edited and new files.

The hack was tested extensive and will function properly if installed correct.

Thanks to ReadWrite for his french translation.

Have fun with the hack.

Please click Install if you have installed it

[sypher_again]

very good hack , thx very much

[Mystics]

Originally Posted by Kaffeerappel

Also, is there a way to force the user to pick a category?

Sure. This is an admin cp option
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/attachmen...chmentid=16702

Originally Posted by Alien

Oh I noticed this hack does not yet include or have an add-on for allowing mini images, would it be possible to get this support in the future?

Hm, is this not possible with the vBulletin Post Icons?

I don't have planned to add something like this in the future, sorry.

[Alien]

Darn. It would be an amazing solution for us..

If you did it with post icons, it would throw the neatness of the post icons table off.. I'd want to use like little bars with "Political", or "Strange" on them and that would ruin the look of the post icons section completely. Also, if I just used reguler sized icons people would have to put their mouse over them to read the category since there's no way a 15x15 icon is gonna have readable text. When users are choosing a category they can also see all the different graphical buttons in a pulldown menu as well (in the same place, just like you do with your text version right now). I think this would be an excellent option, but understand if you have no desire to pursue it.. I guess I can always hire out the modifications if it came down to it.

Thanks for this either way, it really IS excellent!

-Jason

[Dean C]

Beautifully done Mystics - good to see you releasing mods again

[Logikos]

VERY VERY NICE JOB Mystics! Can't thank you enough.

/me clicks install!

[Logikos]

Hey, i can't belive how sweet the install went. No problems at all. I can see how hard you worked on this. i love the way you set up your install script, wish everyone did it like that.

One very minor template error, unless i missed something. Check attachment and you will see.

[Mystics]

Originally Posted by []\[]emesis

One very minor template error. Check attachment and you will see.

Thank you for discovering this, I really missed that

To fix it, open forumdisplay.php and find:

 // ### THREAD CATEGORY HACK START ###
// get categories
$threadcategories = fetch_thread_categories($foruminfo, urldecode($_REQUEST['threadcategory']), 0, $vbphrase['all_categories']);
$show['threadcategories'] = 0;
if (!empty($threadcategories) AND $foruminfo['allowcategories'])
{
if (!empty($_REQUEST['threadcategory']))
{
$sorturl .= '&threadcategory=' . urlencode($_REQUEST['threadcategory']);
}
$show['threadcategories'] = 1;
$categorymarkup = array();
$categorymarkup = explode('{1}', $vboptions['categorymarkup']);
if ($vboptions['showcategoryalign'] > 0)
{
$show['threadcategories'] = 2;
switch($vboptions['showcategoryalign'])
{
	case 1:
	 $categoryalign = 'left';
	 break;
	case 2:
	 $categoryalign = 'right';
	 break;
	case 3:
	 $categoryalign = 'center';
	 break;
	default:
	 $categoryalign = 'left';
}
}
} 
// ### THREAD CATEGORY HACK END ###

Move that bunch of code above this code:

 // get announcements

Now find (still in forumdisplay.php):

 $sorturl = "forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forumid&daysprune=$daysprune";

And replace it with:

 $sorturl = "forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forumid&daysprune=$daysprune" . $sorturl;

Now edit the template forumdisplay_announcement and find:

<if condition="$show['threadicons']">5<else />4</if>">

Replace it with:

<if condition="$show['threadicons']"><if condition="$show['threadcategories'] == 2">6<else />5</if><else /><if condition="$show['threadcategories'] == 2">5<else />4</if></if>">

I will update the hack to v1.2.1 later.

[Kaffeerappel]

Originally Posted by Mystics

Hm, is this not possible with the vBulletin Post Icons?

Yes, and no. If you use the post icons insead of the prefix, you can set a default post icon, however it will appear in every single post in the thread. I would prefer having it within forced only for the thread starter.

[Mystics]

Originally Posted by Kaffeerappel

Yes, and no. If you use the post icons insead of the prefix, you can set a default post icon, however it will appear in every single post in the thread. I would prefer having it within forced only for the thread starter.

Hm, sorry, but I don't understand what you mean.

The thread starter is forced to select a thread category (if you enabled this in your vBulletin options) - see my answer to your posting above.

But this has nothing to do with the post icons. That was an answer for Alien.

[Kaffeerappel]

Originally Posted by Mystics

But this has nothing to do with the post icons. That was an answer for Alien.

I was aware of that. I was trying to explain that you cannot use the post icons in the same way as you can use the prefixes with your hack. I think that's why Alien and myself would love to see your hack with images.