Forum Display Enhancements - Forum Intro 1.0.3

Again this being such a simple mod there is no updates needed for 3.7beta3 either so for so good. I will keep posting the compatibility as I upgrade my site.

I should also mention that I was approach by a member that wants to produce a souped up version of this hack for 3.7 with additional doodads and what have you. I will also keep you informed of that as soon as I findout. I'll jump this mod up to 3.7 today sometime but like I said there are no changes.

There is no changes in the code from 1.0.1 to 1.0.3 I just added to the readme and updated the version number in the xml file.

*** Please do not update to version 1.0.4 if you have an earlier version because you will get a duplicate entry error.***

***Version 1.0.4 only adds a header in Admin so updating is not required***

This is my first real addon and was inspired by Adrian's forum sponsors hack.

What does it do?
It just puts a forum specific table on any forum you choose where you can add more forum info, a larger description, rules specific, links or whatever else you want.

It adds 4 new fields when editing a forum in admincp>>>Forums & Moderators>>>Any forum you want to add the Forum Intro to, near the bottom of the page you will find the following fields.
1. Radio Buttons - Turn on and off Forum Intro
2. Text field - Intro Title
3. Text Area - Some sort of content like a description, forum intro, links, ads etc..
4. Text field - Optional image URL. It uses the title as the image alt and when used creates a separate cell between the content and it.

You can change the template to suit your needs. I didn't do much to it so if anyone wants to post some templates for it please do.

Install: (Should work on VB3.6.x tested on VB3.6.3 - VB3.6.8p2-VB3.7beta3)
1. Import product_forum_info.xml
2. Add the code below to the forumdisplay template below $navbar is a good place to put it. ( Found in the readme as well)
Updated the template below to match the readme. Hopefully this fixes the error when adding the template edit when copying from the browser. If not, just use the code from the readme as it is the same.

<!-- Begin Forum Intro  -->
<if condition="$foruminfo['forumintroonoff'] == 1">
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="border-bottom-width:0px">
 
    
      <tr>
        <td  class="tcat" border="1" valign="top" colspan="2"><div align="center">$foruminfo[forumintroname]</div></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td class="alt1" valign="top"><if condition="$foruminfo['forumintroimage']"><img src="$foruminfo[forumintroimage]" alt="$foruminfo[forumintroname]" border="0" align="left"></td><td class="alt1" valign="top"></if><div align="left">$foruminfo[forumintrodescr]</div></td>
      </tr>

</table>
<br>
</if>
<!-- / End Forum Intro  -->

Anyway this is a pretty basic hack, addon whatever you want to call it. Did this to see if I can get the rank up for individual forums on my site.

FORUMHOME or Forum wide(Both need to be manually edited with your HTML)
Below is an example template that you would add below $navbar in the Forumhome template. (This would only show on the forum index page.)
For Forum wide add to the bottom of the Navbar template. (This will be on all pages where the Navbar Template is used. NOT RECOMMENDED)

<!-- Begin ForumHome Intro  -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="border-bottom-width:0px">
 
    
      <tr>
        <td  class="tcat" border="1" valign="top" colspan="2"><div align="center">Put The Block Title here</div></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td class="alt1" valign="top">
<img src="Put Image URL Here" alt="Put Image Title Here" border="0" align="left"></td>
<td class="alt1" valign="top"><div align="left">Put your Content Here using HTML</div></td>
      </tr>

</table>
<br>
<!-- / End ForumHome Intro  -->

Obviously it would look the same as in the forums but below is an example from my site.


enjoy

Hopefully I posted this right. Be gentle if I didn't, I'm fragile.

[jaks]

Originally Posted by periphrastic

yep i have turned it on

the thing is, when i insert the code into the template and click "save" - i get a blank screen (well, actually, a blank blue screen, that is - which is the color of my forum) - there is no indication the changes have been saved

when i search in my templates for that particular code, it's not even there

so i input it again - click "save" - get the blank screen (with no indication it's been saved) - look for the code in my templates to see if it's there, anyway, and it's not there

i'm inputting the code in the correct template and attempting to save it, but it's not even saving it ?

Sounds to me like the Time/Date on your computer is wrong. Had that problem myself a couple years back. If not that I have no idea. That is usually the issue when not being able to save/see changes in admin. Bottom line...this plugin is very simple and would not affect your admin like that.

Jon

[jaks]

Originally Posted by nectons

It is not working or it is unuseless. My opinion is to add a feauture for anyone to try to enter the whole forum without to have to setting it for every single forum. Just my opinion. I clicked install btw.

Not sure what you mean. If you want one intro for the entire forum then just do it manually at the very bottom of the Navbar template using the template I added to this thread a page or 2 back. If you need it for only guest or whatever then just add some if statements.

If you mean some sort of if statement like: Forum "A" has no Forum Intro so use Main Forum Intro in FORUM"A" then I may need help with that. I'm a bit rusty since I have been out of VB for awhile.

[periphrastic]

Originally Posted by jaks

Sounds to me like the Time/Date on your computer is wrong. Had that problem myself a couple years back. If not that I have no idea. That is usually the issue when not being able to save/see changes in admin. Bottom line...this plugin is very simple and would not affect your admin like that.

Jon

thanks Jon for your assistance

how would the time/date on my computer affect successful saving of this template edit? i'd really like to use this modification, and am just trying to exhaust all possible options for what could be causing this "no-save" issue on, as you've said, a very simple plugin

[jaks]

Originally Posted by periphrastic

thanks Jon for your assistance

how would the time/date on my computer affect successful saving of this template edit? i'd really like to use this modification, and am just trying to exhaust all possible options for what could be causing this "no-save" issue on, as you've said, a very simple plugin

That issue is had to do with sessions or something and nothing to do with any hack/mod. It may have for all I know been addressed in updates since it happened to me. I believe it was VB version 3.0.7 at the time I had that problem. I was simply guessing at what could be the reason for templates not saving. It took me a week to find the answer. I thought at the time it was VBArcade or VBAdvanced causing the problem since I had just installed them but infact it was because my date/time was set back to fool some software that was in trial version for 30 days. It was Brian from VBA that figured it out for me at the time.

Just to prove to yourself that this plugin cause anything like that, try editting and saving the forumdisplay template with just xxxx in the same spot. Try uninstalling the product all together and try editting the template again. You'll see that the issue hasn't changed.

Hope that helps
Jon

[IngoPan]

Hi!

Is there a way to enable forum intro for the main page means where index.php is being displayed ? I am currently just able to see the forum intro features after i entered a thread.
What do i have to edit ? Thanks in advance,

Ingo

[jaks]

Originally Posted by IngoPan

Hi!


Is there a way to enable forum intro for the main page means where index.php is being displayed ? I am currently just able to see the forum intro features after i entered a thread.
What do i have to edit ? Thanks in advance,


Ingo

Sounds like you editted the showthread template instead of the forumdisplay template. Might want to check that.