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

[dsboyce8624]

Originally Posted by tamarian

Check Xenon's hack:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=59958

This will give me:

Cat Header

:laugh: Subforum :laugh: Subforum
:laugh: Subforum :laugh: Subforum
:laugh: Subforum :laugh: Subforum

With space between of course? His picture isn't very easy to look at.

[tamarian]

dsboyce, you might want to create some shell-forums under the existing categories, then put the actual forums of that category as children of that new shell forum.

Before:
-- Category name
---- Forum 1
---- Forum 2

After:
--- Category name
------ Shell forum
--------- Forum 1
--------- Forum 2

[dsboyce8624]

Originally Posted by tamarian

dsboyce, you might want to create some shell-forums under the existing categories, then put the actual forums of that category as children of that new shell forum.

Before:
-- Category name
---- Forum 1
---- Forum 2

After:
--- Category name
------ Shell forum
--------- Forum 1
--------- Forum 2

Good idea, I'll give it a try.

Thanks for being so responsive.

EDIT:That worked, now I just have to figure out how to name them, since it'll be:

cat
--Shell
----Forum
----Forum

And the Cats are already named.

Any ideas on how to handle this?

[axi]

i dont get it
so how do i do subforums?
i thought they are already sub forums under each main forum title?

[dsboyce8624]

Okay I created a non-posting forum under the first two cats and called it categories, didn't know you could have multiple forums with the same name.

So here's what I did to resolve categories instead of parent forums:

Under each top category I created a new forum with posting turned off, then moved the child forums under it.

Like so:

Existing Category (Top Level with act as forum off)
--New Forum (With posting off, but act as forum on)
----Moved Exiting Child Forums

Hope this helps if others have the same problem.

Dennis

[axi]

so do i have to make the each main forum before the subforums, a subforum?

[dsboyce8624]

Originally Posted by axi

so do i have to make the each main forum before the subforums, a subforum?

If your top level are Categories (Act as Forum is off) then you need to add a new Forum under that (I recommend turning off posting) and move the subs under the one you just created. Look at my site to see what I did.

Some are still the old way because I'm working on it now.

[axi]

i see what you done but i dont get it still?

where do i move the subs into? they are already under the categories that act as no forum. do i have to set them to act as no forum too?

im so confused

[dsboyce8624]

Originally Posted by axi

i see what you done but i dont get it still?

where do i move the subs into? they are already under the categories that act as no forum. do i have to set them to act as no forum too?

im so confused

You can try to change them to act as forums and make them closed. I tried that but it messed things up. I added a NEW forum under each of the ones that were acct as forum=NO and put the child forums in it.

Kind of adding a top forum, since you don't have a top one, you have a category.

[axi]

so i have to re-add all the sub forums from scratch?