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

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by Kihon Kata

Ok, installed and clicked install.

Great mod, but I have a suggestion and one complaint. Kerry-Anne, as a vB.org staff member, why have you NOT updated the installation instructions(.txt file) to include 'ok, now, for your side columns to show, you need to update your usergroup permissions from the usergroup manager for each usergroup' and left that part up to all your installers to figure out and complain about? Come on! I spent over an hour trying to figure that out. Why would someone take so much time putting such a greak hack together and not take the time to update that?

Suggestion: Instead of template edits for the usc_block templates, you should incorporate those blocks into the ACP-vBulletin Options->Ultimate Side Columns Options. An option like that, would make this TRUELY the "Ultimate Side Columns" mod.

At anyrate, this mod works well if you are a mid level vB hacker and I personally take the time to "Thank you" for it.

I'm not a vB.org staff member

I will update the release post, but the docs won't be updated just for a small change to the instructions.

And the block codes was originally in the vBOptions but was moved to the templates as the use of the vBOptions severely limits the functionality available in the blocks. Simple things like basic variables are not available via contents through the vBOptions. It doesn't mean that I don't think about a better solution for it for 3.0 when I start writing that (I'll get to it eventually).

[Thug]

hi.....basicly in photoplog addon the column comes up at the bottom..how can i sort this out

[segwayon]

I can't seem to unzip your 2.2 file - it converts the folders to 0 size files. Also, there's a lot of ".DS_Store" files from Mac which comes through, too. Can you recompile?

[Update: Ah, I got it, Kerry-Anne. Cool mod!]

[Skyrider]

I'm afraid this doesn't work for me. I can only see the left/right colums when I activate it, but I don't see any links. My usergroup can view it and I can even smaller the columns, but I just don't see any links while I activated some and all of them through the Ultimate Side Columns options. I tried all of my 4 themes, including the vbulletin default. No go for me. Any reason?

[Netunt]

Installed and works perfectly. Anyone know code I would have to put in to get some statistics up?

[intospain]

Much better mod than the last couple of versions, nice to see on going mods improved time and time again

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by Thug

hi.....basicly in photoplog addon the column comes up at the bottom..how can i sort this out

Use manual template edits instead of automatic edits.

Originally Posted by FF|Skyrider

I'm afraid this doesn't work for me. I can only see the left/right colums when I activate it, but I don't see any links. My usergroup can view it and I can even smaller the columns, but I just don't see any links while I activated some and all of them through the Ultimate Side Columns options. I tried all of my 4 themes, including the vbulletin default. No go for me. Any reason?

There is no content by default. You need to add your content to the templates as per the instructions.

Originally Posted by intospain

Much better mod than the last couple of versions, nice to see on going mods improved time and time again

Thanks

[Sawa Dee SohL]

Is there a way to have two left columns?

For example: Column 1 will show on Pages X , X , X , X

Column 2 will show on pages O , O , O , O

But still on the left side - so two left columns, with different things?

[peterska2]

If you just want two left and no right, use the manual tempate edits but instead of putting the right variable in the footer edit, put it right after the left variable in the header edit. Then treat your left column and right column as separate left column instances

[myandy99]

Hi Kerry-Anne,

I need to close my left column and display my right column. But my right column just won't show up. Could shed some lights what might have gone wrong? I am on vB 3.6.8.
Thanks