[HOW TO - vB4] Create your own vBulletin page

[MacroPhotoPro]

Adding a Comments Box to the Page

Once again, this is a great piece to add to my site, and a great tutorial.

I am using this basic page to display photographs, but I want to add a "Comments Box" to each generated page (like the default Blog and Articles pages have).

How would I go about doing this?

Can I just copy/paste the appropriate material from the blog.php or article.php, or do I have to use customization?

Thanks again!

Jack

[Lynne]

You would need to create a form in the template to do something with the comments and then you will need to write the php code to process any comment made. You will probably be able to copy alot of it from the blog/article page, but it will be different since you will be storing the data in a different table in the database.

[MacroPhotoPro]

Thank you.

[smirkley]

Just a statement,.. I will be posting my code, I just am covered up at the moment at home.

[smirkley]

Originally Posted by smirkley

I love the way this mod works, and am building a functionality for my forum with it.

I have played with many variations of what I can do, but I found myself stuck in using my example.php page file to fill a variable array from a list in a custom database, and then get it to printout the list of database contents on the template form.

I will admit I havent read every page here (still workin on that lol), but I so far have not been able to figure this one out.

If anyone has sucessfully done something like this with this mod, throw me a clue of what I am not able to figure out. Thanks big time.

Ok, I am available now to address my intended integration of this tutorial into a custom product. (every time I tell my wife I want to do some coding, she always says "fine", but I always end up repainting a bedroom or remodeling a bathroom instead. I havent figured out how that works yet. lol)


This is what I have so far....

1 - I created a product xml that creates a database and supporting template very similar to the one posted by Lynne. The template has several if ($_REQUEST['do'] =='s installed for different page renderings depending on function desired. IE: home,list,add,edit,delete of database entries. So far, works perfectly.

Now I am working on the list part of the database. I have entered several rows of test data into the database manually through phpmyadmin. As I ventured into using if ($_REQUEST['do'] == 'history') in the php file I know that I have to build an array to send to the template (sorted by date).

Database structure: date field, data1, data2, data3, data4, data5, data6

I tried to build a loop to fill a variable array and it seemed that it was working, but I couldnt figure out how to list that array in the template. I am unsure if I have to register the variable, it is only used on this feature I am making.

When I tried to output the array in the template, it would print out one row of data (correctly), not the whole database, and it would be on the very top of my page above the header.

I am going to have to reconstruct it again to get to that point, I seemed to have trashed the experimental code in frustration of not getting it to work, and having to start the bedroom remodel.

[Lynne]

You can't use echo or it will end up on the top of the page. You need to take your data and output it to a variable:

$myvar = '';
start of loop
$myvar .= "html here";
end of loop
make sure to register $myvar for use in your template

and in the template, put
{vb:raw myvar}

[smirkley]

Thanks, will give that a try.

(I suppose you saw my error in stating that the multiple "do" functions were put in the template, I meant they were put in the php file, each one with a different template used.)

--------------- Added [DATE]1381803115[/DATE] at [TIME]1381803115[/TIME] ---------------

Ok, there is a reason I dont release mods here. Cous I seem to struggle with the obvious lol.

I have registered the variable,...
$templater->register('history', $history);

I thought I would just start simple and just have 1 row in my database. From there I will expand on it once I can get a simple read done.

This is my php query. (kinda found it while searching the forums and modified it to my purpose)

$result = $db->query_read("SELECT * FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "history");
  
while ($l_history = $vbulletin->db->fetch_row($result)){
    $history[] = $l_history[1];
}

But using {vb:raw history} in my template produces a blank whereas there is actual data in the database fields.

[Lynne]

I would use fetch_array in case you to later have multiple rows and you should specify the field you want. Assuming you want history.field, then:

PHP Code:

$result = $db->query_read("SELECT * FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "history");
 
$l_history['field'] = '';
while ($l_history = $db->fetch_array($result)){
    $history['field'] .= $l_history['field'];
} 


and then in the template:

{vb:raw history.field}

[FBRN_Andrew]

Originally Posted by Zoul

Hello FBRN_Andrew

if I'm not mistaken, and I understand the question in the template created, you just add this before the tag

</head>

<style type="text/css">
#navbar_notice_1 {
display: none;
} 
</style>

thanks for the reply
Greetings I added the lines you included, the page looks much better, but still seems to be in a "not logged in" mode.

I'm not much of a PHP coder so I don't really know what code I should paste in to explain.

--------------- Added [DATE]1381881251[/DATE] at [TIME]1381881251[/TIME] ---------------

Also since the 4.2.2 patch I removed the tabs hack and changed to navigation manager, using "member" as the group to see most tabs. so when I go to the new page the menu(tabs) also switch to logged out mode. however clicking the home link, or back puts you back to logged in status.

[smirkley]

Originally Posted by Lynne

I would use fetch_array in case you to later have multiple rows and you should specify the field you want. Assuming you want history.field, then:

PHP Code:

$result = $db->query_read("SELECT * FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "history");
 
$l_history['field'] = '';
while ($l_history = $db->fetch_array($result)){
    $history['field'] .= $l_history['field'];
} 


and then in the template:

{vb:raw history.field}

Lynne, I do appreciate your valued input.
I tried to make it work but I produced db errors in the process.

Info: I have one row now, but I anticipate in the future many rows, each one containing 7 columns. And in this routine I wish to list on my page all the rows.

So this is what I did with your suggestion....

$result = $db->query_read("SELECT * FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "history");
 
$l_history['field'] = '';
while ($l_history = $db->fetch_array($result)){
    $history['datefield','field1','field2','field3','field4','field5','field6'] .= $l_history['datefield','field1','field2','field3','field4','field5','field6'];
}

with the variable registered as stated.


But this doesnt work nicely with sql.

My apologies for being not so sql inclined, and I dont wish to burdon you with 'teaching' me how to make this work, but I am not so skilled at database manipulation.
(I am hoping to learn how to make this work so I wont be such a bother in the future)

--------------- Added [DATE]1381977398[/DATE] at [TIME]1381977398[/TIME] ---------------

I have decided I am going to do a crash course on sql. I need to be able to do more than hope someone here can hold my hand making something that would otherwise add several pages in this thread. The above responces have indeed helped me, but what I am trying to create is going to be propietary to my website, and I am stumped on just the first section of it out of several. It is my responsibility to educate myself so my questions remain more attached to the subject.

Lynne, you have been a great help especially with this tutorial.
This is in fact an amazing addition to anyone that wishes to do custom pages using templates, php, etc, on a forum setup.

Thanks again.