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

[UaECasher]

any one know how can i add Ads in the a block

[Big Kahuna]

Great Addon -- needing only a few items to be perfect. Most dealing with the Custom Contents.

1. In the User CP -- if you add a title with an ', you will get a database error. IE: Dave's We Site

2. There is no edit to correct an error in a link

3. No way to add a secure link -- as you assume http:// -- not allowing for https://

4. The Delete doesn't work -- and the work around to remove a cutom link from displaying is to set the order to 0

I would think that these would be easy items to address. Because too many of my members are as dumb as a sack of hammers when it comes to the Internet -- they won't know ho to deal with any of the above.

[Budget101]

Thank you very much for your help Kerry-Anne (and your mod), I really appreciate your work.

[Big Kahuna]

another thing on the custom links -- it would be nice to have a _blank option so that my visitors don't run away.

[MOGmartin]

I am trying to get the calendar upcoming events working in box one on my right column.

I am editing the templates and adding this code:

<td class="alt2"><a href="calendar.php$session[sessionurl_q]"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/calendar.gif" alt="$vbphrase[calendar]" border="0" /></a></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%"><div class="smallfont">$upcomingevents</div></td>

however I am just getting the image for the calendar link, not the actual upcoming events show up.

Could anyone let me know what I might be doing wrong?

thanks!

MOG

[dfe]

Hi all

OK I still hav'nt come right, I have upgraded now to the latest patch level, 3.7.2 pl1, reimported the USC, reuploaded all the files, still no luck!

Anything missing?

I uploaded the files, added the product, do I have to rather do manual edits?

[dreck]

Nice... *Install*

What do I need to do to make it work with CMPS? Or should it work without edits?

I tried adding to the adv_portal:

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

and to the adv_portal_footer

<!-- USC -->
</td>
$usc_right
</tr>
</table>
<!-- /USC -->

But, that didn't seem to work?

[psylenced]

I found a bug in this product. There is a certain situation which causes the template not to draw correctly and the right column to draw in its own table.

To reproduce this:

1 - Right column "on"
2 - Display pages in right column "search"
3 - Starting point - "below navbar and below notices"
4 - Click "new posts" when there are no posts to display.

This works correctly if there are posts, just not if there "no posts found' box shows up.

I have attached an image showing this.

If i choose "below header and above navbar" it works fine.
If there are posts showing in "new posts" it works fine.

Cheers.

[Zimbru]

any 3.7.2 compatible soon?

[dreck]

I am running 3.7.2, works fine exempt CMPS for me!