Miscellaneous Hacks - Ultimate Side Columns

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

Welcome to Ultimate Side Columns!

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.


Features

USC uses a standard vBulletin Options Interface with minimal template editing involved, to display content in columns on your site.

USC controls both the left and right columns on your site, both of which work independently of each other, and can be displayed on a range of pages through some very simple options.

The only editing required for a standard installation is the header and footer template. For advanced users, the templates for the two columns can also be edited if required. Most users of this system will not need to do this.


Installation

Import the product-ka_ultimate_sidecolumns.xml file as a product through your product manager.

Open your header template and at the very end add

<!-- USC header edit start -->
<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
$usc_left
<td valign="top">
<!-- USC header edit end -->

Open your footer template and above

$spacer_close

add

<!-- USC footer edit start -->
</td>
$usc_right
</tr>
</table>
<!-- USC footer edit end -->

That is all your template editing done.

Now, go to vBulletin Options > Ultimate Side Columns Options

Here you can set which column you wish to use, and where you want it to appear. Content is also controlled through the options on this page. HTML is allowed in all content boxes.


Configuration

As there are a number of options available, this section explains them all.

First, you have the settings for enabling and disabling the two columns. As these work independently of each other, you can have the left column turned on, the right column turned on, or both turned on. If you need to turn them off for any reason, you can also turn them off here. Also, if you need to disable plugins for any reason, the code is completely disabled meaning that no unsightly white gaps are left on your pages.

Next, we have the width settings for the two columns. If you find that your columns are too wide, or too narrow, then they can be adjusted independently here.

The display pages settings allow you to control where your columns are displayed. These are pretty straightforward, with the exception of the setting adsense appropriate. This option stops the column from being displayed on the following pages in line with the adsense TOS:
- search
- search results
- registration
- contact us
- usercp
This is correct as of todays date. Any changes in the TOS for adsense will only be reflected in any updates as appropriate.

Next are the settings for the content of the left column, followed by the content of the right column. Both sections are prefixed by a blank setting. This is by design and there is not a bug with the code or anything missing.


Adding More Blocks

By design there are five (5) blocks per column. Some people may require more than this. To allow for this, comments have been added to both the usc_sidecolumn_left and usc_sidecolumn_right templates. The comments include a commented out section of code to use as a template for additional blocks. There are also some warning comments present in both templates. Take heed of these as editing other than the places indicated will result in the templates being malformed and the USC system not working correctly.


Support

Support for this modification is extremely limited. However, as everything apart from the two small template edits is controlled directly through the vBulletin options and not through template editing, issues should be minimal.

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 the USC system.

Kerry-Anne




PLEASE NOTE: This modification is unsupported. You may not receive a reply right after posting. Please try and help each other out. I do not support custom styles. If this does not work in your style, and you can confirm that it does not work in the default style (with a link and screenshot) then you will need to resolve the problem yourself. I also do not support any versions earlier than 3.6.5 in any way, shape or form. If you are using it on a version prior to 3.6.5 then no support at all will be provided.



Version 2.0 information


Version 2.0 has been released and can be found here:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=175181

[anarki2009]

has any one added more blocks yet? if so how did you do it?

[peterska2]

The instructions are in the usc_sidecolumn_left and usc_sidecolumn_right templates. There is even templates in there for you to use that just need uncommenting. Or... wait for the new version to be released. I've just finished coding support for 20 blocks in it so you should not be short of blocks then.

Please search in this thread - the answers are there. In fact, the answer to this question is in the very first post of this thread which shows on all pages.

[Subah]

Originally Posted by Kerry-Anne

More information about version 2.0 development:

This was originally going to be version 1.5 but the amount of rewriting and new features being added warranted a whole new major version number so it is going to be version 2.0

Some of the features are going to be completely unexpected but as always it is easy to turn things on and off in the AdminCP.

At present, due to the complexity of the rewrite it is not upgradable. An upgrade script will be completed prior to version 2.0 being released which will need to be run before importing the new product. More instructions will follow regarding this when it is released.

As it stands, it is currently working well on vBulletin 3.7.0 RC1 (I've not upgraded my dev server to RC2 yet but full compatability will be checked). A lot of the original kinks have been ironed out, and many more glitches are being resolved as well as adding in the feature requests received and the new features that I have wanted to add to it for a while (they are top secret and will not be revealed until releasing it so don't bother asking what they are because I'm not telling).

The original code was designed to be extremely simple to use which, as a lot of people have rightly pointed out, introduced problems for anyone wanting to include any form of conditionals or calls to any functions. This is one of the reasons for the major rewrite and the necessity of having to also write an upgrade script. Most of, if not all of, the underlying code structure is being changed to resolve the issue. This does however cause it's own set of issues, by increasing the level of difficulty for use (no longer all settings, but using more templates which are edited to include the block contents) but it does not leave it overtly difficult. It does however solve the issues of not being able to add extra blocks easily by including 20 blocks in total by default which can be located as desired (yes - you will be able to add all 20 to one side only if you so wish - or more accurately you will be able to when that bit is finished being coded). An expansion product with a further 30 blocks will also be released. It will not be part of the main product as I doubt that many people will require more than 20 blocks, but of course there will always be someone who does.

The total code is approximately 40% complete at this time, excluding the expansion product and the upgrade script (that is one thing that I am not looking forward to!) although the upgrade script may not be required depending on how the final product installation code is written.

At the moment the script itself has evolved from a simple 3 plugin and 2 template product to a 30 template (and rising), 6 plugins (and rising), multiple phases (I lost count), 1 php file, and having a couple of entries added to the FAQ (not done yet but will be done before it is released). The sheer scale of the changes is why this is requiring 3.7.0 and will be unlikely to be backwards compatible with 3.6.9 (it certainly will not work with 3.6.5 or older).

Anyway, thats enough of me telling you what is included and the progress so far. I need to get back to actually doing it instead

WoW Great idea :up: waitting it

[peterska2]

Right then ..... It's finished and is being tested. The FAQ entries are being ommited deliberately. The upgrade script is written and well tested, and everything is peachy

USC 2.0 requires a minimum of vBulletin 3.7.0 RC1

The documentation and change log needs writing, along with the essential upgrade path (do it wrong and you lose your existing contents - so be warned!) and then it can be released. All being well it will be released over the weekend at some point, otherwise it will be Monday. The changelog is very extensive and so it will take a lot of writing.

The only thing not included is an exception for photopost which is simply because there are so many different versions of photopost and they may all have different script names and it would be impossible to even guess what they are.

[peterska2]

Ultimate Side Columns 2.0 has been released.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=175181

[tryance]

I installed it but it has made two right columns...one tothe right side where its supposed to be but it has also added one at the bottom of my page directly above hte "styles" box where you can change skins. When I enter info in box 1, it goes in both places. How did this happen? I checked for duplicate code but the code is in how it says it's supposed to be. help...

[peterska2]

Can you confirm that you are using USC 1.0 and not USC 2.0?

If you are using USC 2.0 then please post in the correct thread for support.

[malag]

Hello,
How edit code to reduce right column? (to next table)

[peterska2]

The width is controlled in the AdminCP > vBOptions > UCS

Or you can turn that column off completely in the same place.

[PlymWS]

I've searched through the entire thread but I can't find an answer to this :

I want to include and external RSS feed in my side columns. I would need to retireve the latest 5 items from the feed and place them in the 5 side column boxes.

I have seen some help regarding an RSS feed from the forum but I am after a solution that will take data from an external feed, not the VB external feed.

Any ideas on how I can achieve this ?