Hacking For Dummies Question: Functions.php...

[MarkB]

What exactly does functions.php control?

Obviously, by its name, I infer that it controls certain functions of the board, but are there certain instances where a hack MUST have an addition made to functions.php?

Are there parts of functions.php that can be re-used (ie, referenced by hacks that the original routines weren't written for) to enable certain functions?

What's the difference between this and global.php? (seriously!)

Am I showing how stoopid I am by all these questions?

I think if beginners such as myself can learn what particular files control, then the easier we will find it to make additions around and within them

I thankyou for your patience in helping to bend my learning curve

[Scott MacVicar]

global.php controls the connecting to database, sessions, loads functions.php, sends any headers, prepares default templates, sends a cookie if there is a refer-id in url.

functions.php does alot, it contains functions that are re-used throughout the vBulletin code. BBCode parsing, update forum count, all thos get*info functions and more.

Some hacks are simplier to just modify functions.php than update all the other instances throughout the file. Such as the last title hack that i created, its simplier to update the last title when the updateforumcount function than try and code this into all the files it uses, mod controls, pruning and edit stuff.

[MarkB]

Cool, thanks for that! Being new to this, it's good to know what each file controls before messing about with them.



More questions coming soon, folks, so be prepared with a No 2 pencil, and adequate notepaper!

[Palmer ofShinra]

Global.php runs the show. When you require() that, whatever script you're running has access to everything VB does.

NOTE... there are MULTIPLE DIFFERENT global.php files...

The one in /forum is NOT the same as the one in /forum/mod or /forum/admin

They make direct path references, snd thus need to eb different.

Also, the ones in mod and admin have access to adminfunctions.php, which has a lot of useful stuff.

If your script is outside the forum directory, you need to chdir() tot he right directory before including it.

functions.php controls most everything...

If you want to make a sweeping chage to the board as a whole, and a simple template edit doesn't cut it...
functions.php is the place to go.

I'm tired. more later.