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Attention: This version of webtemplates is obsolete since new version (2.xx) is released as of 30.June.2003.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

[Khaybel]

I've been working with web templates the past few days now, everything seems to be working well now, I'm still linking everything up on a test site before turning my main site into it.

I'm currently using a combo of Vb255/VbHome (lite)/ and your webtemplates to link other dynamic pages together. I am making a wish list for you then will post here as requested. I'm playing with setting up a web gallery template with your template system to my site, I've been having a lot of fun learning and experimenting. so thank you for your hard work on the project.

I've been working on it most of today, I have a link if you would like to see how it is coming along. The goal is to get my products/development/gallery etc etc linked up to the site with your template system.. if a link doesn't work it's cause i'm still testing. so far the install went beautifully again with my testsite.

http://testsite.orbsydia.com/index.php3

thanks

Rob

[Highlander]

wow its very very good hack...and easy to install..you relly explained it good...
the only thing is to know the queries..the comman wich you put will not show any help file ??!!

[Logician]

Originally posted by Highlander
the comman wich you put will not show any help file ??!!

I really didnt understand the question..

For Webqueries there is a special help page..Please first read that one. Then examining the sample page (whoareyou) and sample webqueries can help you understand the system and if there is anything you still cant understand, please ask away, but more clearly!

Regards,
Logician

[Robert Basil]

Originally posted by Logician
* Small bug fix that gave The Piper some bad time. If you have more than 1 databases in your server, hack refuses to work with WebQueries. This will be fixed.

We would love to use your hack, but we have 6 mySQL databases on our server. So am I correct in assuming that I cannot use this hack with more than one database on our server?

I'm not sure I understand why your hack just does not point to the correct VB database.

Thanks!

[Logician]

Originally posted by Sportbikeworld

We would love to use your hack, but we have 6 mySQL databases on our server. So am I correct in assuming that I cannot use this hack with more than one database on our server?I'm not sure I understand why your hack just does not point to the correct VB database.

In fact we discovered this bug recently and although I've already fixed it, I'm just too lazy to update the script here.

You can use the hack: Just install it and see if you can load "whoareyou" template without any problems. If you get an MYSQL ERROR while loading this template, edit "show.php", find the line:

$cekilen_query=mysql_query("select id,name,query,noresulttext,tablerow from webtemplatequery order by id");

BEFORE THAT add:
--- cut --------------
$servername='localhost';
$dbusername='root'; //MYSQL username
$dbpassword=''; //MYSQL password
$dbname='xxx'; //database name

mysql_connect("$servername", "$dbusername", "$dbpassword") or die("Couldnt find MYSQL!");
mysql_select_db("$dbname") or die ("Couldnt find DB!");
--- cut --------------

Dont forget to edit your db details and you'll be just fine..

Enjoy!
Logician

[Lionel]

I installed successfuly, everything works fine from admin but the query /show.php?pg=whoareyou returns
mySQL error:No Database Selected


in case that makes a difference: Although show.php is in the forum folder, I ran WEBTEMPLATES_INSTALL.PHP from the admin folder

never mind, I did not read post 45.

[irn-bru]

This is indeed one of the best addons I have seen at vbulletin.org

nice work Logician

[DancesWithLysol]

Excellent work, Logician!

Prior to installing this hack I had installed your news hack.

One of the first templates I will attempt is to create a template that will get the news.

[josh929]

just installed it, haven't tried it out yet.

just a couple suggestions (maybe for your next version, if you make one)--purely my opinion:
1) instead of the ~~~~cut~~~~ thing, make something like
*************** or ================ or ---------------

2) make it so that the hack does not even work if they have not yet deleted the install file

thanks for the hack! i'm gonna play around with it tonight or tomorrow

[DancesWithLysol]

After a few headaches, I have concluded that I would need show.php to be able to handle PHP code in the webmaster-defined templates.

Logician - since you would be familiar with both hacks, do you think it would be possible create something similar to the news hack using web templates?