Miscellaneous Hacks - Ultimate Side Columns 2.2

Ultimate Side Columns
By Kerry-Anne www.peterska2.co.uk

Welcome to Ultimate Side Columns 2.2 !

USC 2.2 has now been released!!!!

Introduction

Following the success of the left and right side column modifications, and building on their weaknesses, the Ultimate Side Columns system was born.

Ultimate Side Columns (USC) is your one stop shop for all your side columns needs. It is an easy to configure, all in one solution.

USC 2.0 was born through the evolution and bug fixing of USC 1.0 for vBulletin 3.6 and is for vBulletin 3.7.0 RC1 and later only. It is not supported with earlier versions and may not work with them.

Features

USC 2.0 is fully customizable, can use conditions and variables (not available in USC 1.0), has greater flexibility in where it can be omitted from (after requests received), and contains new functionality of both independently collapsible columns and user defined custom links to be displayed on a per user basis in the column location of the administrators choosing.

A maximum of 20 blocks spread over the two columns are available at this time. However, if more are required then an expansion pack will be provided. The blocks can be reordered and moved between the templates with ease through simple template edits.

USC 2.2 Change Log:
Fixed bug with profile.php?do=editattachments
Added All Pages options

USC 2.1 Change Log:
Fixed blank page caused by missing template in the XML
Added compatibility with 3.7.0 Stable/Gold
Manual Template Edit instructions added to package
Enhanced the display page choices to allow exact selection of the pages where USC is to be displayed
Added usergroup permissions in addition to the global options for viewing the left column, viewing the right column, and using the custom contents block.

USC 2.1 has additional files. You need to upload the files first BEFORE importing the product

Upgrading from USC 2.0
Upload the contents of the upload folder, except the admincp directory, then import the XML.

Go to vBOptions > USC Options and set the display pages using the new options
Go to Usergroups > Usergroup Manager and set the permissions for each usergroup as desired. By default no permissions are given to any usergroups.

Upgrading from USC 1.0

USC 2.0 has been rewritten from the ground up and therefore all the blocks have been moved from the settings into the templates. Therefore, a unique upgrade script has been provided which must be run before importing the new product. Importing the new product first will result in the loss of your existing USC contents.

The upgrade script is located in the admincp directory after uploading the USC files and is ran by pointing your browser to admincp/usc_upgrade.php

Full upgrade instructions are included in the upgrade readme file in the zip.

Installation Instructions

Download the zip, unzip it and upload the contents of the upload folder to your forum directory. Import the product, all done.

Full instructions are included in the install readme in the zip.

Support

This modification has limited support only and is therefore flagged as unsupported. Support will be given when possible although it is always preferable when users of USC support each other. This was very successful with USC 1.0 and therefore is continued with USC 2.0

If you have any other combinations of pages that you would like to see available for the column options, please post them in the support thread ensuring that you add the title "USC Page Combination Request" to your post, or use this as the first line of your post ensuring that it is in bold text. This is very specific as due to the limited nature of support and time, the support thread will only be quickly skimmed through and therefore requests may be missed if it is not clear what they are.


The screenshots attached to this post and the next one show a range of pages with a range of column combinations. They are not labeled but they are pretty self explanatory.

Enjoy USC 2.0.

Kerry-Anne


PLEASE NOTE: This modification is unsupported. You may not receive a reply right after posting. Please try and help each other out.



Problems with your side columns not showing?
For your side columns to show, you need to update your usergroup permissions from the usergroup manager for each usergroup

Problems with errors in your vBOptions?
Point your browser to admincp/index.php?do=buildbitfields then try again

[Hendrizius]

Originally Posted by andrewc_11890

Has anyone figured out yet why the 3.71 patch versions will not allow the USC to show up?

Did you set the usergroup options?

[nick-harper]

Whenever I add this the right box appears under my forum rather than to the right

[jwashburn]

I missed something. I guess I should have paid more attention before upgrading. We cant edit our content from within the options anymore?

Do I have to do template edits to add content? Does that mean if I revert a template for an upgrade all content is gone? Before I just had to add the USC_Start and ed into the header and footer and it was

Nevermind

I didnt realize there weere block templates

[ssandgirls]

Does anyone know if this will work with the latest patched versions?

[pauldack]

Yep, it works with 3.7.2.

http://magor.isconnected.net/

[carwash]

Is there any way to modify this so that the columns appear underneath the navbar rather than beside it. I want them to appear to be more a part of the content of my site, rather than right next to it. So, essentially the content would shrink horizontally but the navbar and breadcrumb and header would stretch on top of it.

[TimberFloorAu]

Great MOD.

Is there a way, the side column can be depreciated upon page load, allowing for member to expand on click?

It seems to automatically be set to expand on page load..

Thanks will mark Installed ( now on 3.7.2 )

Ideal spot for our google gadgets

[Juel]

Just installed this on a 3.7.2, but the sidebars wont show up i have enablet them, and typed something in the templates, but nothing comes up

[PoetJA-1975]

Originally Posted by Juel

Just installed this on a 3.7.2, but the sidebars wont show up i have enablet them, and typed something in the templates, but nothing comes up

Same here. Using 3.7.1 PL 1 though

Jacquii.

[DjEddie]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, i've been thru all 21 pages of this topic. I have no problem getting the side columns to show, but have a problem showing correctly as I am using a fixed skin.

I'd like the to show outside the fixed skin on either side, but not sure where to put the manual code.

I did add the code in and all it did was place it inside the fixed skin which then broke the skin. Any advice would be good thanx...

Installed and nominated