Portal Software - WebTemplates 3.7.x: VB Integrated CMS (Content Management System)

(This hack is for vb version 3.7.x & 3.8.x ONLY. For vb 3.6.x, 3.5.x, 3.0.x and 2.x see my profile for relevant threads.)

"WebTemplates" is a vBulletin integrated Content Management System which allows you to create vb integrated "HTML" pages in your vb admin cp very easily. The pages can inherit your vbulletin skin/style, can recognize logged-in user, can be applied permissions per user or usergroup basis, can keep visit logs, hit counts and do many more.

VB4 version Update (9.9.2010): Please find 4.x version of WebTemplates4.x in its own thread.


WEBTEMPLATES 3.7.x BASIC FEATURES:

• Very Easy Installation : Webtemplates can be installed to your board without modifying even a single vbulletin file. It is coded as a vb product and can be imported very easily.
• Apply VB Permissions: You can ban any webtemplate to any user or usergroups easily. So for instance you can design a webtemplate which only members can see while guests can not, or only user A can not see etc.
• Page Counter : Each webtemplate has a built-in counter and you can display page count to your visitors and you can edit it or turn it OFF/ON per webtemplate basis.
• Visitor Logging&Tracking : You can track certain users' (by usergroup or userid) webtemplate visits to see who visited a webtemplate and when. This is configurable per webtemplate basis.
• Site Contributers (Editor) Support : You can grant editing permissions for certain users or usergroups for your webtemplates individually and they will be able to update these webtemplates using their own editor interface. vB's WYSIWYG editor is supported in Editor interface.
• Page Browsers & Who is Online Display: Webtemplates can display who is browsing that webtemplate while visitor is reading them (like default forum browse display of vbulletin). Webtemplate visits can also be monitored in who is online page.
• Header/Footer Inclusion : Webtemplates can automatically use headers/footers (your default vb header/footer or custom ones)
• Help Documents : The script comes with an extensive help document.
• Admin Panel in Webtemplates : Your webtemplates can include an "admin panel" displayed to only admins and by using them you can access many details and stats of your page while you are browsing them.
• SEO friendly URLs: You can make webtemplate URLs seo friendly in vb settings (Requires apache server).
• XML Import/Export : XML Import/Export feature allows you to backup your webtemplates and use other hack users webtemplates in your board.

ADVANCED FEATURES FOR ADVANCED USERS:

• Webquery Feature : With advanced "webquery" feature you can create dynamic webtemplates which include database query results. For instance you can easily add "last 10 threads forum X", "most active users list" etc. to your webtemplates with default webqueries that comes with installation or you can create your custom webqueries with basic SQL knowledge.
• Multi Parsing : Webtemplates can parse PHP or HTML or TEXT (=smilie/img tags/bbcode parsing like vb posts). This means you can design a page just like vb posts (TEXT parsing), standart HTML (HTML parsing) or even in PHP (PHP parsing).
• PHPINCLUDE per webtemplate : Every webtemplate has its own "phpinclude" field which you can run PHP codes before loading the Webtemplate
• Theme Support : Webtemplates support "themes" which are parent webtemplates which include child webtemplates in them. For instance if you have 20 similiar pages which uses the same visual look, you can make a single theme for all of them, then just insert their content into this theme. If you change theme later, all 20 pages' visual will change automatically.
• Conditionals : Webtemplates supports VB3 template conditionals so you can design webtemplates which change their display under different conditions.
• Default variables : You can use/display certain variables in your webtemplates like username of the visitor, visitor email address, last visit time, page creation time, page last edit time, Last visitor name, last visit time etc.

Sample WebTemplates from Sites using this hack:
(Some 3.5 and some are 3.0 versions but WebTemplate look and feel didn't change much so both will give you the idea.)

http://www.worldwideknights.com/view_mission.htm
http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/view.php?pg=aboutus
http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/view_guidelines.htm
http://www.worldwideknights.com/view_info.htm
http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/view_books.htm
http://www.worldwideknights.com/view_spread.htm
http://www3.fertilethoughts.com/forums/view.php?pg=acronyms
http://www.makeuptalk.com/forums/view.php?pg=makeuptalk-newsletter
http://www.bklab.com (entire site is designed with Webtemplates only)
(Actually this hack is one of the most popular vb hacks so it is used by hundreds -if not thousands- of vbulletin sites and you can easily find them if you go to google and search "Logician's WebTemplates" WITH quotation marks)

3.5 version Admin CP screenshot attached to this post. 3.0.x screenshots (here and here) also still applies for this version.

If you use the hack, clicking here will make sure you'll know about updates&bug fixes. It will also help me understand how many people is using the hack so please click the install button if you use it. Thank you..

About this 3.7.xx Version: This 3.7.xx version is same as previous 3.6.x version. 3.6.x version was already working in vbulletin 3.7.x except a few minor bugs and these bugs are fixed in this version to make it dedicated solely to vbulletin 3.7.x. Please see "what's new" in the next post for more details.

Version Updates:
29.July.2008 - > Version 3.7.00
* Hack 3.7.00 is released.

[jacks0_0]

can i add other mods into my pages? EX: topxstats, shoutbox... please show me how I can do it

[Chris11987]

Do the templates have to be in the /forums/ directory, if that's where our forums are?

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Chris11987

Do the templates have to be in the /forums/ directory, if that's where our forums are?

Please read a few posts above (and also FAQ).

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Chris-777

On my end I got it almost working:

http://www.metalguitarist.org/forum/view.php?pg=lesson1

But MAN does the W3 validator go bananas on it.

Well actually most of these syntax errors are inside your data text. What can I do about them?

Anyway don't mind it much. Your page loads fine and according to firefox firebug its syntax is ok.

[MonCher]

Re: vBulletin 3.7.3
CMS Mod

FIXED
I tried to follow steps 1 - 3 of the instructions. I can see "Logiscian's Webtemplates" in the Left hand menu of the Admin CP. But, when I expand it to Export/import, I receive the following message:

Not Found
The requested URL /forums/admincp/wt_export.php was not found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I must have done something wrong in the initial upload via my ftp. I felt like I followed the instructions but I'm really new to this. Where I got confused was when it said to upload all
files under forum directory. I uploaded the complete file there first.

Then, When it said upload to
Forum Root/admincp - I uploaded the entire admincp file for this hack into my admincp file. That concerned me because they are both labeled the same. Then, I loaded the contents of the file into the Admincp. This seemed redundant and now I'm wondering if I caused any damage to the BB,

Does anyone know what I should do at this point? Did I overwrite my Forum Root AdminCP and Forums Root includes files. How should I proceed ( besides very carefully - ouch )!

FIXED: Deleted files and uploaded again. Initial test came out fine
Thanks,

[Rideharder]

I had to say thanks again.. Upgraded to vBulletin® Version 3.7.3 and still works!

[Ohiosweetheart]

Logician, may I make a request for a new feature in a future update?

The ability to to put new content in the left column when you use the 2-column template.

In other words, every time I make a new 2-column template, I'd like to be able to edit content in the left column so that it's different for every 2-column template.

If this is possible now, I've not been able to do it. If it's not, please consider this for future releases.

Thank you!

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Ohiosweetheart

Logician, may I make a request for a new feature in a future update?

The ability to to put new content in the left column when you use the 2-column template.

In other words, every time I make a new 2-column template, I'd like to be able to edit content in the left column so that it's different for every 2-column template.

If this is possible now, I've not been able to do it. If it's not, please consider this for future releases.

Thank you!

You can merge 2 column template with your included webtemplate and post it as one. And then for each webtemplate you create you can change the column as you like.

Wouldn't this work?

[Ohiosweetheart]

Yes it would. How would I do this?

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Ohiosweetheart

Yes it would. How would I do this?

Just edit 2-column template theme, copy its content, change $includedtemplate section with your content and paste it as a new webtemplate (not theme, normal webtemplate) and don't select a theme for it.