Show Thread Enhancements - Profile Fields in a Postbit Dropdown

If you use this mod please hit INSTALL!


With this mod you can allow profile fields to show up in a dropdown below a user's name and user's title under each post. There are two ways to use this product, and each has its own plugin (and template): Dropdown - Manual (enabled by default), and Dropdown - Automated (disabled by default).

NOTE: The dropdown's title shows up as [username]'s [dropdown_title]. Yes, the 's is hardcoded into the mod. Figured if I didn't hardcode it, someone wouldn't be able to figure out how to add it

To edit the title:

Go to AdminCP -> Languages & Phrases -> Search in Phrases. Search for the phrase's title: [dropdown_title] (no brackets). Edit and save!

The dropdown is dependent on Profile Field 5 being filled. If the user does not have this profile field filled out, then the dropdown will not show. To edit or remove this restriction:

Go to the Dropdown Call Template. Find and edit, or remove these 2 lines of code (so that the dropdown will always show):

<if condition="$post['field5']">
...
</if>

The "Dropdown - Manual" template allows you to manually create the dropdown. Some examples of how to do this are already provided within the template. This template is the default.

To edit it, go to AdminCP -> Styles & Templates -> Style Manager -> [STYLE NAME]
Edit Style: Dropdown Information - Manual

The "Dropdown - Automated" template / plugin combo will automatically create the dropdown for ALL custom fields (it will skip the first 4 default ones).

To use the automated dropdown, DISABLE Plugin "Dropdown - Manual" and ENABLE Plugin "Dropdown - Automated". Simple!


To sum it up:
Plugin: Dropdown - Manual
PRO: You select which fields, what descriptions, and in what order you want the fields to show up.
CON: Lots of typing


Plugin: Dropdown - Automatic
PRO: Automatic!
CON: no real control, Profile fields 5 and up will show up in order. NOTE: if it is a HIDDEN profile field, apparently only the DATA is hidden, not the field name, so the field name will show up as well. To block a profile field from showing up in the Automatic Dropdown, check out this post.


Version History:
3.0.0 - Initial Release
3.0.1 - Added plugin to cache templates, courtesy of ssslippy.
3.1.0 - Updated for 3.8.x, no code changes made.

NOTE: Support will only be given to those who have hit install.

If you use this mod please hit INSTALL!

[Wired1]

Originally Posted by TigerC10

require_once(DIR . '/includes/class_bbcode.php'); 
$parser =& new vB_BbCodeParser($vbulletin, fetch_tag_list());

$post[fieldxx] = $parser->do_parse($post[fieldxx], false, false, true, false, false, true);

Haven't looked at that function yet, but I'd guess those are 2 different fields mentioned?

[TigerC10]

No no, they're the same field. It's replacing the bbcode version of itself with the HTML version of itself.

You would want to repeat it for a second profile field if you want to enable the bbcode for something else.

Ex:

$post[field15] = $parser->do_parse($post[field15], false, false, true, false, false, true);
$post[field18] = $parser->do_parse($post[field18], false, false, true, false, false, true);

[Wired1]

So you're simply talking about turning a field that contains a URL into a clickable link with that URL in the display area. You earlier stated:
[url=http://www.tigerdirect.com/someproduct]My Awesome Computer Part[ /url ]

Where does it get the display text (e.g. "My Awesome Computer Part")? I wouldn't recommend using the profile name, as everyone's profile would just have a bunch of links that say Motherboard, Memory, etc. Not descriptive at all.

Or are you talking about having both the URL and the descriptor in the same post field, e.g.

www.asus.com;Asus P6T Deluxe

and then the parser identifies the semicolon (or whatever separator is used), and then uses the first half for the link and the 2nd half for the descriptor?

Not ideal while viewing someone's profile on the backend, on the other hand, the EPFP page could probably be tweaked to have 2 data entry boxes for each profile. OTOH, this comes back to helping URL spammers. My personal solution would be to not allow end users to enter in URLs, and only allow admins to do so in a way that the user couldn't (e.g. replacement variables).

[TigerC10]

No, the entire profile field entry is:

[url=http://www.tigerdirect.com/someproduct]My Awesome Computer Part[/url]

You would manually insert a bbcode into the value for the profile field. This means they could specify the name of the component at their own disgression... Like

[url=http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3867865&Sku=CP2-AM2-9550]AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad Core Processor[/url]

The parser will change that into a regular link, with the name of the part and then if you click on it, it will take you to the URL for more information. Furthermore, if someone doesn't enter any bbCode to the profile field data, it will just display regular text like it does without the change to the plugin.

So for your example, if the field is named "Motherboard" and someone enters "MSI Media Live DIVA 5.1" for the value then it will display like so

Motherboard: MSI Media Live DIVA 5.1

My change to the plugins lets someone enter "[url=http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4408790&CatId=2838]MSI Media Live DIVA 5.1[/url]" for their value and it will display like so

Motherboard: MSI Media Live DIVA 5.1


It's better than duplicating all of your profile fields to add a URL for a detailed description of each field. Can you dig it?

EDIT:
I've created a customization for this mod and sent it to you via PM, Wired1. It takes out the reliance on "automatic" and "manual" and instead displays all of the profile fields in a profile field category (specified through vboptions). It has the bbCode feature I was talking about too - so you can see how it works.

[Saviour]

Wired...

Is it possible to use a background image for the Dropdown Call? I know this may require some customization...and I'm not sure where one would begin...having already edited the Dropdown Call to "autowidth".

[TigerC10]

That's easy, just change the template like so:

<div style="background-image: url('path/to/image'); position:absolute; width:auto;" id="specs_$post[postid]" class="vbmenu_control">

[Saviour]

Thanks, TigerC10...but that didn't work...it cropped the image length...and didn't turn out the way I had expected.

Reverted back to the old code.

[TigerC10]

Yeah, normally when people do background images like that it's an image that repeats. You'd have to set the div's width to the size of the image if you want it to be a static size. Generally that's not a good idea because the vB username length can change drastically.

[Saviour]

But I'm not using the username...just the title "Computer Specs".

[TigerC10]

Well, then change

width: auto;

to

width: 250px;

Or however wide the picture is.