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

[birdie]

Not sure what you mean by "custom links"? .. everything I put in the USC slots shows up.

[Kiros72]

Here's a fix for anyone that's having trouble deleting the custom links... The custom content won't delete because of a little bug in Kerry Anne's code.

Within the usc_cp.php file,

Find the first (on line 81):

PHP Code:

'linkid' => TYPE_INT, 


Change to:

PHP Code:

'id' => TYPE_INT, 


Save and then overwrite the original file.

[BlueNinjaGo]

Originally Posted by Kiros72

Here's a fix for anyone that's having trouble deleting the custom links... The custom content won't delete because of a little bug in Kerry Anne's code.

Within the usc_cp.php file,

Find the first (on line 81):

PHP Code:

'linkid' => TYPE_INT, 


Change to:

PHP Code:

'id' => TYPE_INT, 


Save and then overwrite the original file.

THANK YOU! This has been bugging me and stopping me from releasing the custom columns to my users! Thanks again.

[Fungsten]

Originally Posted by birdie

Not sure what you mean by "custom links"? .. everything I put in the USC slots shows up.

You can put in your own links. In your control panel there is a place to put any special links you want.

[birdie]

Originally Posted by Fungsten

You can put in your own links. In your control panel there is a place to put any special links you want.

Thanks. I don't use them - I use OpenX to deliver banner adverts or text link ads and insert the OpenX code via the template edit --- use it on 7 forums (one still 3.6; 3 are 3.7's and 3 are 3.'8) - they all work well.

[Medina]

Hello,

I would like to have the side column as in the next picture;


See the ad-banner with the TELE2 text.


I have inserted the next html code into the header;

<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
$usc_left
<td valign="top" width="100%">

And then i have to inserted the closing code;

</td>
$usc_right
</tr>
</table>

This last code is really a clue for me. I dont know where to place it. Or to be straight i dont know if i have placed the first one on its place.
It doesnt work for me. And im still getting a very ugly forumhome.


So thats why i hope that someone can help me with this. I have placed my header without any modifications from my side.


All help is appreciated.

Medina

<!-- logo -->
<a name="top"></a>
<table border="0" width="$stylevar[outertablewidth]" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" class="border_out">
<tr>
    <td align="center" valign="top">
<div align="center" class="border_in">
<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center" class="header_bg">
<tr>
    <td align="$stylevar[left]" valign="top" height="107">
    <a href="http://www.maroqui.nl/forums/">
    <img title="Maroqui Community" border="0" src="http://www.maroqui.nl/forums/Mq.png"></a></td>
<!-- /logo -->
 <td align="$stylevar[right]" id="header_right_cell">
        <if condition="$ad_location['ad_header_logo']">
        $ad_location[ad_header_logo]<else />&nbsp;</if>
 
    </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="37" colspan="2">
<!-- nav buttons bar -->
    <table  cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
    <tr align="center">
        <if condition="$show['member']">
            <td class="navbar"><a href="usercp.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[user_cp]</a></td>
        </if>
        <if condition="$show['registerbutton']">
            <td class="navbar"><a href="register.php$session[sessionurl_q]" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[register]</a></td>
        </if>
<if condition="$vbulletin->products['vbprojecttools']"><td class="navbar"><a href="project.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[projects]</a></td></if>
<if condition="$vbulletin->products['vbblogs']"><td class="navbar"><a href="blog.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[blogs]</a></td></if>
 $template_hook[navbar_buttons_left]
        <td class="navbar"><a href="faq.php$session[sessionurl_q]" accesskey="5">$vbphrase[faq]</a></td>
        <td class="navbar"><a href="memberlist.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[members_list]</a></td>
        <td class="navbar"><a href="calendar.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[calendar]</a></td>
        <if condition="$show['popups']">        
            <if condition="$show['searchbuttons']">
                <if condition="$show['member']">
                <td class="navbar"><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getnew" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[new_posts_nav]</a></td>
                <else />
                <td class="navbar"><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[todays_posts]</a></td>
                </if>
                <td id="navbar_search" class="navbar"><a href="search.php$session[sessionurl_q]" accesskey="4" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[search]</a> <if condition="$show['quicksearch']"><script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("navbar_search"); </script></if></td>
            </if>
            <if condition="$show['member']">
                <td id="usercptools" class="navbar"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#usercptools">$vbphrase[quick_links]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("usercptools"); </script></td>        
            </if>
        <else />        
            <if condition="$show['searchbuttons']">
                <td class="navbar"><a href="search.php$session[sessionurl_q]" accesskey="4">$vbphrase[search]</a></td>
                <if condition="$show['member']">
                <td class="navbar"><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getnew" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[new_posts_nav]</a></td>
                <else />
                <td class="navbar"><a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily" accesskey="2">$vbphrase[todays_posts]</a></td>
                </if>
            </if>
            <td class="navbar"><a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]do=markread" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[mark_forums_read]</a></td>
            <if condition="$show['member']">            
                <td class="navbar"><a href="#" onclick="window.open('misc.php?$session[sessionurl]do=buddylist&amp;focus=1','buddylist','statusbar=no,menubar=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=250,height=300'); return false;">$vbphrase[open_buddy_list]</a></td>            
            </if>            
        </if>
$template_hook[navbar_buttons_right]
        <if condition="$show['member']">
            <td class="navbar"><a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&amp;logouthash=$bbuserinfo[logouthash]" onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')">$vbphrase[log_out]</a></td>
        </if>
    </tr>
    </table>
<!-- / nav buttons bar -->
</td></tr>
</table>
<!-- /logo -->
 
<!-- content table -->
$spacer_open
 
$_phpinclude_output
 
$ad_location[ad_header_end]

[OCSupertones]

I just finished searching all 50 pages for a way to integrate PHP. I've tried:

PHP Code:

<?php include("MyPage.php");?>

PHP Code:

$my_custom 


Neither work...Anyone have a solution?

[daydie]

this not work for 3.8.2?

[Fungsten]

Originally Posted by daydie

this not work for 3.8.2?

Works on mine except for the Custom Columns.

[EagleNick]

This mod looks very promising and great. But for some reason, none of the content blocks are appearing.

See my screenshots to see what options I have selected and the result it produces.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.