Threaded Forum Views

Threaded Forum Views (Version 1.8)

Threaded Forum Views will allow the user to display an individual forum or search results in a fully threaded manner. To enable this support the user selects Enable from the new Threaded Forum Views section within Edit Options in the User CP. In addition to the Enable/Disable setting the user may also select Compact or Expanded modes as well as the number of characters to be displayed in the thread/post titles.

A minor oversight/bug is corrected by release of 1.1. A class="inlineimg" has been added to the <img> tags in order to make sure the line spacing is proper. The prior releases relied on the fact that the <img> tag was automatically assigned vertical alignment in the main CSS.

A bug involving unregistered users has been fixed with the release of version 1.2.

Version 1.3 corrects a template error.

Version 1.4 is verified to work with RC3 and corrects template name errors.

Version 1.5 is verified to work with RC4 and has some minor cleanup.

Version 1.6 corrects an error when announcements are used. This version also includes updated graphics that perform well with either light or dark backgrounds.

Version 1.7 limits the number of posts displayed in a thread in the Forum Display based on the Thread Age Cutoff. This is of value for active boards where threads can get very long over an extended period of time. No filtering is done on search results at this time. Also included as part of the graphics is an updated "new post" image to match vb3 Gold.

Version 1.7.1 fixes a minor template error dealing with the display of the date & time of the post. The only change from the prior release is to the 'threadedbit' template.

NEW: Version 1.8 supports limiting the number of posts in both Forum Display and in Search Results. Additionally, the code has been modified so that the number of places that depend on the new field names has been reduced. This should help reduce installation errors.

Features:
Functionality controlled via the Users CP.
Supports 2 display modes. Single line or Dual line.
Supports variable title lengths.
Works with the display of forums and search results.
Indicates which posts have been read and which are new.
Indicates which posts have attachments.
Handles Sticky posts - limits the thread to the opening post.
Displayed results may be sorted using the existing tools provided by forumdisplay.php
Tested with vBulletin 3.0.0 GOLD.

Caveats:
Some of the Administrator functions (such as thread maintenance on deleted threads) are not available while in this mode. While doing administrative tasks the Admin should disable Threaded Forum Views.

Feedback & Support:
If you have any problems or questions please post them on vb.org. I will be happy to help in any way I can - though I am definitely no expert at PHP.

Miscellaneous:
This is currently running on my live board.

To update existing users it is necessary to manually run an UPDATE query. I used

UPDATE userfield SET field5='Enable',field6='Compact',field7='30' where field5='';

to set the default values.

Also, a new field has been added to the search parameters. Because of this it is neccessary to erase the existing cached searches. This can be done using the following query

delete from search;

It is also possible to turn Threaded Forum Views on for guest users by setting the appropriate values into the $bbuserinfo fields in sessions.php.

Screen shots and directions for making the necessary modifications to the files and templates are attached as are the 5 new graphics in the ZIP file.

[tgmorris]

Here's the "final" version. All control is now accomplished via the Edit Options section of the User CP. Each user can turn on Threaded Forum Views or not as they desire. Nor is coupled to the Thread Display Mode. This wouund up being so straightforwad that it sure would be nice if VB would incorporate something like this in a 3.x release.

[gmarik]

Morris, you gotta fight for it - because it's good, and I know what I'm talking about!

Thanks man, what else are you planning to code for vb2? Maybe we should work together?

[tgmorris]

Release of version 1.2 corrects a bug involving unregistered users. The fix is contained in the zip file included with the first post and involves a slight modification to sessions.php. This is now running live on my site with RC2.

[HiDeo]

Thansk tgmorris really good

[Tigerdude]

First of all, thank you very much to Tom for developing this hack. This is something that should have been included as a basic functionality in VB3.

A couple of questions:
Would it be difficult to modify it a litle bit so that the member's name appears after the title instead of in front?

Would it be feasible to display unread links in bold and read links in normal font?

Is is possible to be able to integrate an option in the "quick links" menu to be able to toggle the view on and off in addition to seetting the default view in the user CP?

Thanks again for creating this Tom. Great job.

[tgmorris]

Originally Posted by Tigerdude

First of all, thank you very much to Tom for developing this hack. This is something that should have been included as a basic functionality in VB3.

A couple of questions:
Would it be difficult to modify it a litle bit so that the member's name appears after the title instead of in front?

Would it be feasible to display unread links in bold and read links in normal font?

Is is possible to be able to integrate an option in the "quick links" menu to be able to toggle the view on and off in addition to seetting the default view in the user CP?

Thanks again for creating this Tom. Great job.

#1 is just a simple template mod.

#2 is a fairly minor code change.

#3 can be done but would be different than how all the other User CP stuff works.

[tgmorris]

Version 1.4 of Threaded Forum Views has been released for vb3 RC3.

[gmarik]

Thanks. It's getting better and better.
You should propose to include it in the 3.1 version ...

[tgmorris]

Originally Posted by gmarik

Thanks. It's getting better and better.
You should propose to include it in the 3.1 version ...

Thanks for the compliment. I've contacted the staff on that possibility. Whether it will ever happen or not is almost anybody's guess.

[Martin CX]

Originally Posted by tgmorris

Thanks for the compliment. I've contacted the staff on that possibility. Whether it will ever happen or not is almost anybody's guess.

Yes, congratulations! I made my own hack, but yours is better. Still I have a few problems. 1) I couldn't decipher this bit in the instructions: "Find the call to "fetch_trimmed_title" in 2 places and add ", $bbuserinfo['field7']" to the argument list." What do you mean exactly? 2) There are some odd vertical spaces between some of the posts when in "Compact" mode?!?

EDIT: Oh yeah, it would be nice if you could switch between the two modes from the forumdisplay (like you can when you are reading a thread). Perhaps an idea for 1.5