welcome/login panel on non-vB page

I've seen a lot of requests for this around here, but no solutions.

Latest version is 1.30
Works with V2.2.9 Should work with earlier version of 2.2.x too.


OVERVIEW
========
This hack/modification is designed to create a welcome panel on your non-vB homepage, so that users are either welcomed back if they are registered, or invited to login/register if they are not.

There are config options to show avatar and/or PM information and/or who's online (with or without usernames) in your welcome panel.

If you want to see a working example, then go to http://www.thebookforum.com The hack installed there does not show all of its features, but gives a general idea. The templates allow complete control over the look of the login/welcome panel.

There is one PHP file (webwelcome.php) to upload, and ten custom VB templates to create.

The templates can be modified to suit the design of your site. The ones that I have included in the zip file are those that I created for my site.

There are options to include the following additional info
- Avatar for guests or user's own avatar if logged in. If no avatar selected, a default one will be shown. Example guest and default avatars included in this release package.
- PM info to logged in users (will not show if user cannot use PMs or has chosen not to)
- Who's online (number of members of guests). Additional option to choose whether to show usernames.


CREDITS
======
This hack also uses some code originally written by several members of vbulletin.org in particular Firefly and MrLister.

Full credit is given in the php file for the relevent bits of code used. I have modified their code slightly to work with this hack.

I have not formally asked their permission due to the open source nature of the hacks at vbulletin.org
If they object I will remove their code from this hack release.


HISTORY
======
V1.30 13 September 2002
Hack creation now very simple. No more copy & paste. I've changed a lot of the original vb code so copy & paste would be nearly impossible.
Added option to include PM info and who's online (with or without usernames) in the welcome panel.
Default templates included in the hack release altered to include these new options.
New templates for the additional info to be shown.

V1.20 11 September 2002
Added option to include user's avatar in the welcome panel.
Default templates included in the hack release altered to include these new options.
Default templates altered to be more generic.

V1.10 13 May 2002
Fixes the bug where the "most users online...." on the forum page keeps reseting to zero.
Removes a lot of the unecessary bloat from the script.
Creation of script simplified. Now just cut and paste.
NB template name change in this version - webwelcome_home is now called webwelcome.

V1.00 07 April 2002
Original release.

[Tony DiMera]

That did the trick, thanks a lot.

[NTLDR]

Your welcome

[Tony DiMera]

Is there anyway to adjust how it looks? Like in size and colors?

[Darren Lewis]

Everything is controlled by the templates.

[glo]

anyone that has this hack working,

I was hoping that u may be able to help me with the coding for this hack. It looks fine but wont work properly. To date Darren Lewis has had a look at the code but cannot see why it wont work for me.

i am trying to use it at
http://www.glo-racing.com/v3/main.php
but it keeps parsing the code for some unknown reason.

The actual code can be viewed at http://www.glo-racing.com/v3/main.html and selecting view source. the web welcome is supposed to load in the right hand column at the top.

Even when trying to view
http://www.glo-racing.com/forums/webwelcome.php doesnt display and I have not modified the code, just inserted the template, yet it wont work properly.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Darren Lewis]

If it helps, this is my PHPinfo file.

[JustAskJulie]

Is there any way to use this on a .html page instead of having to convert my homepage to .php ?

[glo]

Hi Julie,

From what i can tell, u need to use the php extension, otherwise it wont action the php code.

But then again, i could be wrong because i havent gotten this code to run on my site yet.

[glo]

Darren, after adding the templates, should i be able to test them by accessing www.website.com/forums/webwelcome.php ?

Regards

Gavin Lo

[Darren Lewis]

Yes you should be able to.

It will not work on a page with a .html extension, unless you set your server to parse .html extensions as php.