WebTemplates 3.5.x: VB Integrated CMS (Content Management System)

(This hack is for vb version 3.5.x AND 3.6.x. For vb 3.0.x and 2.x see my profile for relevant threads.)

(For vb 3.7 version, please go to this thread)

"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.






WEBTEMPLATES 3.5.x BASIC FEATURES:

• Very Easy Installation : Webtemplates can be installed to your board without modifying even a single vbulletin file. It is coded as an pluggin and supports phrase system for user interfaces.
• 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.leatherneck.com/forums/view_aboutus.htm
http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/view_funding.htm
http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/view.php?pg=aboutus
http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/view_guidelines.htm
http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/view_books.htm
http://www3.fertilethoughts.com/foru...hp?pg=acronyms
http://www.makeuptalk.com/forums/vie...alk-newsletter
http://www.bklab.com (entire site is designed with Webtemplates only!)

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..

Note in 6.August. 2006 : I've tested Webtemplates with vbulletin 3.6.0 gold version and they are compatible. So this hack released here is both for vb 3.5.x AND 3.6.x

Note for vb 3.7.x : (29.July.2008): For vb 3.7.x, I released a new version here:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=186644


Version Updates:
16.Dec.2005 - > Version 3.5.01
* Hack released.
16.Dec.2005 - > Version 3.5.02
* A webquery bug fix for boards which use table_prefix. To upgrade just overwrite hack .php files.
17.Dec.2005 - > Version 3.5.03
* A minor bug in WOL page fixed. To upgrade overwrite hack .php files + reinstall product XML
17.Dec.2005 - > Version 3.5.04
* A bug fix for edit webtemplate page not remembering webtemplate's showbrowsers setting.To upgrade overwrite hack .php files
16.Jan.2006 - > Version 3.5.05
* A bug fix for boards which has too many usergroups. To upgrade overwrite hack .php files + uninstall product, then reinstall (your existing webtemplates will be intact)
20.Aug.2006 - > Version 3.6.00
* A bug fix that can cause a MYSQL warning in a few servers in WT admin cp. A minor and unusual problem that happens in certain servers and you don't need to upgrade if you don't see such a message. To upgrade overwrite /includes/wt_include.php and /admincp/wt_wt.php files.
1.Oct.2006 - > Version 3.6.01
* A minor bug fix for showing user avatar and ipaddress in webtemplates. To upgrade overwrite /includes/wt_include.php and view.php files.
2.May.2007 - > Version 3.6.02
* IMPORTANT SECURITY UPDATE! A security problem has been fixed in this version. To upgrade overwrite /includes/wt_include.php and view.php files which is attached to this post.
21.June.2008 - > Version 3.6.03
* Two minor bugs (1 & 2) fixed.
29.July.2008 - > Version 3.7.00
* A new version for vbulletin 3.7.x is released in a seperate thread here:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=186644

[Kihon Kata]

Logician, Thanks for featuring one of my sites up on your release.

Hey, why would my CSS not working properly with this?
It calls the CSS from a:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="CSS URL HERE">

Here is my page I'm trying to get the css to work with

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Kihon Kata

Hey, why would my CSS not working properly with this?
It calls the CSS from a:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="CSS URL HERE">

Here is my page I'm trying to get the css to work with

Because you removed vbulletin style itself while using this custom stylesheet so some vb HTML tags are now orphaned. For instance webtemplate footer has "thead" class which is part of default vbulletin style but your stylesheet does not define it properly.

[Kihon Kata]

But, shouldn't my custom stylesheet work in lue of the vB one? It works fine on other pages (non CMS)

Originally Posted by Logician

Because you removed vbulletin style itself while using this custom stylesheet so some vb HTML tags are now orphaned. For instance webtemplate footer has "thead" class which is part of default vbulletin style but your stylesheet does not define it properly.

[jeffj]

since no one has ever responded to my prior post asking a question about this mod, I'll make the following observation and someone can dispute it if they like.

it appears to me as though you have to generate custom links in vb to get any of this code to work (if you want to display a page using the web templates mod)

I asked if templates created with this mod could be used in certain forums (as the forum template) and no one responded.

Since then I have download and installed this mod and found out that the answer is NO - you cannot use this mod to create custom templates for certain fourms.

To be honest - without generating custom links inside VB I'm sure what what use this mod is.. I see the benefit for custom pages on your site, but you have to generate custom links inside your html/menuing system or vbcode to display these templates.

I exported my default style and changed the name - then re-imported the style and applied that style to my new forum on my website. I will simply change the templates that need to be changed inside that style to accomplish what I need.

Unless someone can tell me an easy way to use the templates in this mod and apply those templates to one of my forums I will be removing this mod since it does not need my needs without hacking other code.

This is a very nice mod if you have need for it... very straight forward, well thought out and very comprehensive...

- jeff

[Kihon Kata]

I agree on some parts of your complaints. This templates system is for users with advanced/semi-advanced experience with php/html/vB, unless of course you are just using the prebuilt ones that Logician has included herein. Logician usually is good at responding to questions, but it seems as if sometimes he forgets that novice users may be implementing this and trying to use it. Nevertheless, I appreciate his work here. I can tell you that MANY hours were eaten up building this system and he should be complimented for that. Luckily I had someone asisst me in building something that I could use with this system. Now I just plug in info and it works. I, for one, love the permissions implemented for use with this.

Originally Posted by jeffj

since no one has ever responded to my prior post asking a question about this mod, I'll make the following observation and someone can dispute it if they like.

it appears to me as though you have to generate custom links in vb to get any of this code to work (if you want to display a page using the web templates mod)

I asked if templates created with this mod could be used in certain forums (as the forum template) and no one responded.

Since then I have download and installed this mod and found out that the answer is NO - you cannot use this mod to create custom templates for certain fourms.

To be honest - without generating custom links inside VB I'm sure what what use this mod is.. I see the benefit for custom pages on your site, but you have to generate custom links inside your html/menuing system or vbcode to display these templates.

I exported my default style and changed the name - then re-imported the style and applied that style to my new forum on my website. I will simply change the templates that need to be changed inside that style to accomplish what I need.

Unless someone can tell me an easy way to use the templates in this mod and apply those templates to one of my forums I will be removing this mod since it does not need my needs without hacking other code.

This is a very nice mod if you have need for it... very straight forward, well thought out and very comprehensive...

- jeff

[jeffj]

Originally Posted by Kihon Kata

I agree on some parts of your complaints. This templates system is for users with advanced/semi-advanced experience with php/html/vB, unless of course you are just using the prebuilt ones that Logician has included herein. Logician usually is good at responding to questions, but it seems as if sometimes he forgets that novice users may be implementing this and trying to use it. Nevertheless, I appreciate his work here. I can tell you that MANY hours were eaten up building this system and he should be complimented for that. Luckily I had someone asisst me in building something that I could use with this system. Now I just plug in info and it works. I, for one, love the permissions implemented for use with this.

First - my opinion was not a complaint
Second - I am not a novice user have written and contributed numerous mods myself.

Finally - my post was merely an observation based on a lack of response.

[Kihon Kata]

Originally Posted by jeffj

First - my opinion was not a complaint

My bad!
Complaint was a bad choice of words, sorry.

Second - I am not a novice user have written and contributed numerous mods myself.

Then you should have no problem implementing changes then.

[Logician]

Finally - my post was merely an observation based on a lack of response.

Thanks for sharing your observations and sorry for the inconvience with the lack of response. I just want to tell my part of the story so that I can be excused for this in the future too:

I used to be VERY active in vb.org a few years ago. I had a lot of hacks (I used to be second hacker with most hack releases) and I provided hundreds (literally) of hacks in vb2 hack requests forum for requests of other people. If I released all in these forums, believe me my hack count will be around 300-400.

However my business schedule does not allow me to spend more time in vb.org anymore even though I enjoy sharing hacks and helping others. So I stopped releasing new hack threads and attending to hack requests forum. I focussed supporting my existing hacks which are popular (like Webtemplates) since many people are dependant on it. But even this can be very time consuming and tiresome when your hack count is high, hacks are complicated and you get a lot of support questions via thread, email and PM system.

I have many other ready hacks which I use in my own board that can be popular if released here but I am afraid to release anymore (even if the are already coded) because I don't think I can spend time to give support to new hacks. Even if this is just answering questions.

Even the answer questions can sometimes be a problem. I give very detailed instructions, manuals, FAQs about my hacks to reduce number of help requests but this does not help much. Sometimes a user claim, there is a bug in the system, you check twice, exchange a lot of messages with the user, even get access info to test things yourself and then it figures that he just didn't read instructions well and missing an obvious step. Time wasted for nothing! Or you give an answer to a user but a month later another user asks the same question and says he doesn't have time to check if it is already answered in the thread. Like we have time to answer same questions everyday! ^^

Bottom line, I'm not in the position of supporting my hacks very well due to my busy schedule anymore. I can follow 2 paths:
1- I can remove all my hacks and don't release new ones.
2- I can release them as they are but without support.

I choose to follow the second path because I believe that this helps people who can use the hack without needing support. I'm aware people which needs help is not happy to not receive it in this scenario and I'm sorry for them but I still think this is better than removing all my hacks due to lack of time. I'm doing my best to give easy answers to questions when I can have time but I can not spare time to give a full support and cover all questions anymore. Sorry for this.

[Logician]

Originally Posted by jeffj

I asked if templates created with this mod could be used in certain forums (as the forum template) and no one responded.

After that looong story above, here is my comment: :knockedout:

The answer is "no" as you found out because this mod is for creating "sites other pages" which is powered by vbulletin. However what you are trying to achieve is change vbulletin's postbit system to make it look like something else in different forums. This request does not have any relation to what this hack does.

I exported my default style and changed the name - then re-imported the style and applied that style to my new forum on my website. I will simply change the templates that need to be changed inside that style to accomplish what I need.

Exactly! So I don't know why you need this hack (or any hack) for this request in the first place.

[Logician]

Originally Posted by Kihon Kata

But, shouldn't my custom stylesheet work in lue of the vB one? It works fine on other pages (non CMS)

It does IF you include "$headinclude" variable into your webtemplate/webtemplate theme you are using. You probably didnt do this