vBGlossary

I must pay homage to user/moderator wluke for this idea. I must also thank him for allowing me to run with it, and release it publicly. Thanks Wayne!

What's it do?
Simple: creates a glossary of terms. They're sorted alphabetically much in the same way the Memberlist is. I find this is extremely useful for most forums, which surely have a lot of their own lingo. For my site, it's a few acronyms and goofy phrases. My members get a kick out of referring newbies to the glossary to learn about the phrases. It's really helped the whole place seem less like a clique...because others can catch up easily with a reference like this.

Here's a live demo


What's it take?
This hack involves a MySQL command, the uploading of two files, the modification of one, and the creation of five templates. It also requires the modification of a second file, and of two templates, if you want to display a random glossary term on the New Reply/New Thread pages. It'll require a bit more still if you want to add the Glossary to your forum jump menu.

First off, run the following query in MySQL. This is the table that will store the glossary data.

CREATE TABLE `glossary` (
  `glossaryid` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `text` text NOT NULL,
  `description` text NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`glossaryid`)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

Attched to the post right after this one is an archive: files.zip. This archive contains two files: glossary.php and admin_glossary.php. The first goes in your main forums directory. The second should be uploaded into your /admin/ directory.

Next, you'll need to create five templates. I've attached a text file containing all five to this post. Should be pretty straightforward. Mess with the formatting as you see fit, of course.

After that, you'll probably want to open (back it up!!!) your /admin/index.php file. Find the code below (around line 340):

makenavselect("Templates");
// ***

Right after that, add this:

makenavoption("Add", "admin_glossary.php?action=add", "|");
makenavoption("Edit", "admin_glossary.php?action=edit", "|");
makenavoption("Delete", "admin_glossary.php?action=delete");
makenavselect("Glossary", "<hr><br>");

There, it should work now! Now, on to the extras (well worth installing, in my opinion):

Display a random glossary term on new thread/new reply pages
Open newreply.php and find the following code (around line 468...it should be right near the end of the file):

getforumrules($foruminfo,$permissions);

Right after it, add this:

  $rand_term = $DB_site->query_first("SELECT text AS term_text, description AS term_description FROM glossary ORDER BY RAND()");
  extract($rand_term);
  $term_description = str_replace("'", "\\'", htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($term_description)));

Yeah, that last line is a little messy -- I like saving space, though.

Save and upload. Next, open newthread.php and find the same bit of code (duplicated below) around line 368 or so:

getforumrules($foruminfo,$permissions);

After that, add the same bit of code above.

Next: the templates. Find the below in both templates...

$vbcode_smilies</td>

...and in both templates, replace it with this:

	$vbcode_smilies<br><center><smallfont><b>Random Term: <a href="#" onclick="alert('$term_description'); return false;">$term_text</a></b></smallfont><br>

	<smallfont><a href="$bburl/glossary.php" target="_blank">More Glossary Terms!</a></smallfont><br></td>

There, you're done!


Add vBGlossary to the forum jump menu
Open forumdisplay.php in your main forums directory. Find this, near the top of the file (line 13 or so):

	case 'cp': $goto = 'usercp'; break;

Right after it, add this:

	case 'gl': $goto = 'glossary'; break;

Next (and last) step: open the forumjump template and add this bit of code somewhere amongst the other options...where you put it depends on where you want it in the menu.

		<option value="gl" $frmjmpsel[glossary]>The Glossary</option>

That's it! All done. Enjoy.

I hope you all enjoy this hack. It didn't take nearly as much time/effort as I thought it would...I really love it, though.

[Lucky]

Thanks Lionel,

I used the 2nd one and all is good now.

Great hack!

This will really come in handy!

On another note I would hope that this will be incorporated in 2.2.2

[Lionel]

you are welcome Lucky.

Now I placed this on top of glossary.php

error_reporting(7);
require("./global.php");
if ($bbuserinfo[userid]==0)
show_nopermission();

and since I want to place a link out for glossary, it is protected. Only members can see it.

I love that vbulletin. I am beginning to understand it more and more.

For example, I placed that code above (with the proper path) in many other php and they are all protected.

[Lucky]

Originally posted by Lionel
Installed on 2.21. Works great. Now we have to poulate it. Who is going to be nice and give us some texts startup boost? :supwink:

Would be nice.

[Lesane]

Great hack, gonna install this one later. Thanks.

[TWTCommish]

Whew, I'm back! Sorry guys, I'm on EST, so I just woke up. I've re-uploaded admin_glossary.php to post #6 of this thread and fixed the doformheader() values. My bad! Wasn't paying attention. I've also fixed the problems with the first post...re-uploaded files.zip and fixed the instructions. My apologies for the problems, guys.

I am flattered, though, that so many people are interested in this.

Now when ever I add the above it get warning errors.

I don't know that anyone else is having problems with that code. Are you running PHP on a Windows box, or are you running an older version of PHP, by any chance? Don't forget everyone: upload admin_glossary.php to your /admin/ directory, too.

but you should fix your instructions in newthread and newreply templates. You should not replace the smilies code, but add next to it or you disappear smilies.... Great!

I've fixed this in the original post. How could I have missed that? D'oh!

On another note I would hope that this will be incorporated in 2.2.2

That'd be beyond cool.

Who is going to be nice and give us some texts startup boost?

Here's a few all-purpose ones that should apply to most boards:

• Avatar - The small image that some posters have underneath their username on each of their posts. This is available to all members with at least a certain number of posts.
• bbCode - See "vBCode."
• BTW - An acronym for "by the way."
• BRB - An acronym for "be right back."
• IMO - An ancronym for "in my opinion."
• IMHO - An acronym for "in my humble opinion."
• IRL - An acronym for "in real life."
• Lurker - Someone, registered or not, who visits fairly regularly, but does not post.
• LOL - An acronym for "laugh out loud."
• Mod - See "Moderator."
• Moderator - A forum member who has certain administrative powers, such as the power to open/close threads, move them to other forums, delete threads, edit posts, and other similar things.
• PM - Short for "Private Message," a popular feature that allows forum members to send, well, private messages to each other.
• ROFL - An acronym for "rolling on the floor, laughing."
• Semi-Lurker - Someone who posts, yet chooses to remain "invisible" to other members viewing their Buddy Lists, or the "Who's Online?" page.
• Smilie - A small image representing some emotion in the form of a little face.
• Thread - Has the same basic meaning as "topic." A thread is a string of (hopefully) related posts placed in a forum. Any registered member can create new threads.
• vBCode - A term describing the HTML-esque codes that people can use while posting on the forums to format text, quote others, create links, and do other such things.

There ya go -- that'll get ya started.

[Lionel]

Originally posted by TWTCommish

Here's a few all-purpose ones that should apply to most boards:

There ya go -- that'll get ya started. [/B]

thanks

[Lionel]

I added it to my index.php and it shows for the registered users

[TWTCommish]

Originally posted by Lionel
I added it to my index.php and it shows for the registered users

Yeah, I saw that...registered and it looks great on your site. Thanks for installing it. I just decided to have it "officially" on the reply/thread pages, though, since it makes sense to have it there while someone's posting, and the forum home page is so crowded already. D

[xware]

thanks.
but where is the five templates?I can't see it.

[TWTCommish]

D'oh. Sorry. Ok, now the templates.txt file is attached to the original post, and the updated files.zip to the second. Sorry about that. I'm a bonehead today.