Arrange Sub-Forums in columns

There's also a vB 3.5 version here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=82845

What it does
This hack arranges sub-forums on the forum home into 2 (or more) columns, makeing large lists of sub-forums more presentable. You can see it in action on my forums here:

Demo
http://forum.lowcarber.org

Note:
1. You need to enable sub-forum display on the forum home from your vB admin panel
2. This hack is for the forum home page, not forum display.

To enable sub-forums on the forum home page
1. Go to your forum Admin panel
2. Click vBulletin Options
3. Select "Forum Listings Display Options" from the drop down list
4. In "Depth of Sub-Forums" replace 0 with 1

Installation
To install, edit the file functions_forumlist.php (in the includes directory)

1. Find

PHP Code:

      foreach($vbulletin->iforumcache["$parentid"] AS $forumid) 


Place this code above it:

PHP Code:

$output .= "<table width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"center\" ><tr valign=\"top\"> ";
      $cols = 0; 


2. Find

PHP Code:

            eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";');
            if (!empty($output))
            {
                $subforum = $splitter["$canpost"] . $subforum;
            }
            if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])
            {
                $output .= construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1);
            }
        }
    }

    return $output;

} 


Replace with

PHP Code:

            eval('$subforum = "' . fetch_template("forumhome_subforumbit_$canpost") . '";');
                    if ($depth < $vbulletin->options['subforumdepth'])
                        {
                                $cols++;
                                if ($cols==3)
                                        {
                                        $cols = 1;
                                        $output .=  "</tr><tr>";
                                        }

                        $output .= '<td width="50%">' . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . "</td>";
                        }
        }
    }

        if ($cols ==1) $output.="<td>&nbsp;</td></tr></table>";
    else $output.="</tr></table>";

        return $output;

} 


To put them in 3 columns, instead of t2, just edit this line "if ($cols==3)" to "if ($cols==4)" and change this line:

PHP Code:

                  $output .= "<td width=\"50%\">" . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . ""; 


To this:

PHP Code:

                  $output .= "<td width=\"33%\">" . construct_subforum_bit($forumid, $cancontainthreads, $subforum, $depthmark . '--', $depth + 1) . ""; 


Template modification (optional)
As this hack will list the sub-forums in a table, the font used is not effected by the <div> tag for subforums, which will cause the default font to be used instead of smallfont.

To use smallfont for sub-forum names, edit the "forumhome_subforumbit_post"

Change (this is the whole template)

<img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]">$forum[title]</a>

To:

<img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/subforum_$forum[statusicon].gif" alt="" /> <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]"><span class="smallfont">$forum[title]</span></a>

And for those who want to edit or remove the "Sub-forum" word, just remove (or edit, if you just want to change it) "<strong>$vbphrase[subforums]</strong>:" from the "forumhome_forumbit_level2_post" template

Screen shots, before/after

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by Razz

tamarian, you added the fix before I changed it again, my previous post was edited for the correct syntax as although the other method I posted worked, the one showing now is the correct way to do it

Sorry to mess you about

No problem, re-applied.

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by lanc3lot

Can someone tell what u gain with this last addon?

It's just more XHTML standard compliant. No need to worry about if you don't want to change it, you'll be fine.

[Razz]

tamarian I'm still getting a couple of errors on the XHTML compliance test, I've managed to track it back to this column hack.

<tr valign="top"></tr>

"end tag for "tr" which is not finished"

Any ideas?

It seems to be something to do with having uneven numbered subforums as I get two occurences of this and have 2 lots of uneven numbered subforums.

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by Razz

tamarian I'm still getting a couple of errors on the XHTML compliance test, I've managed to track it back to this column hack.

<tr valign="top"></tr>

"end tag for "tr" which is not finished"

Any ideas?

It seems to be something to do with having uneven numbered subforums as I get two occurences of this and have 2 lots of uneven numbered subforums.

Try this:

PHP Code:

        if ($cols ==1) $output.="<td>&nbsp;</td></tr></table>";
    else $output.="</tr></table>"; 


Instead of this:

PHP Code:

$output.="</tr></table>"; 


This should add an empty cell to odd numbered sub-forums.

Let me know if it passes, and I'll add it to the original.

[Razz]

Exactly same error, no change at all

[Razz]

Wouldn't it need to be inside the foreach loop?

[tamarian]

Originally Posted by Razz

Wouldn't it need to be inside the foreach loop?

No, it's only for the last subforum for each parent forum. If the last sub-forum is odd, it adds an empty cell to complete the TR.

Why not post the errors, and someone might spot it for us.

I can't validate my own main page, since I'm sure it will stop the validation too early due to too many XHTML errors

[Razz]

Line 279, column 493: end tag for "tr" which is not finished

...lign="center" ><tr valign="top"> </tr></table></td><td width="50%"><img class

Most likely, You nested tags and closed them in the wrong order. For example <p><em>...</p> is not acceptable, as <em> must be closed before <p>. Acceptable nesting is: <p><em>...</em></p>

Another possibility is that you used an element (e.g. 'ul') which requires a child element (e.g. 'li') that you did not include. Hence the parent element is "not finished", not complete

[Razz]

Thats the complete error, notice that the <tr> is still immediately terminated, there is no blank cell in there.

[Razz]

I'm pretty sure it's not the odd number of columns causing this now, it seems as if it's related to some subforums having subforums of their own.