vBGlossary

I must pay homage to user/moderator wluke for this idea. I must also thank him for allowing me to run with it, and release it publicly. Thanks Wayne!

What's it do?
Simple: creates a glossary of terms. They're sorted alphabetically much in the same way the Memberlist is. I find this is extremely useful for most forums, which surely have a lot of their own lingo. For my site, it's a few acronyms and goofy phrases. My members get a kick out of referring newbies to the glossary to learn about the phrases. It's really helped the whole place seem less like a clique...because others can catch up easily with a reference like this.

Here's a live demo


What's it take?
This hack involves a MySQL command, the uploading of two files, the modification of one, and the creation of five templates. It also requires the modification of a second file, and of two templates, if you want to display a random glossary term on the New Reply/New Thread pages. It'll require a bit more still if you want to add the Glossary to your forum jump menu.

First off, run the following query in MySQL. This is the table that will store the glossary data.

CREATE TABLE `glossary` (
  `glossaryid` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `text` text NOT NULL,
  `description` text NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`glossaryid`)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

Attched to the post right after this one is an archive: files.zip. This archive contains two files: glossary.php and admin_glossary.php. The first goes in your main forums directory. The second should be uploaded into your /admin/ directory.

Next, you'll need to create five templates. I've attached a text file containing all five to this post. Should be pretty straightforward. Mess with the formatting as you see fit, of course.

After that, you'll probably want to open (back it up!!!) your /admin/index.php file. Find the code below (around line 340):

makenavselect("Templates");
// ***

Right after that, add this:

makenavoption("Add", "admin_glossary.php?action=add", "|");
makenavoption("Edit", "admin_glossary.php?action=edit", "|");
makenavoption("Delete", "admin_glossary.php?action=delete");
makenavselect("Glossary", "<hr><br>");

There, it should work now! Now, on to the extras (well worth installing, in my opinion):

Display a random glossary term on new thread/new reply pages
Open newreply.php and find the following code (around line 468...it should be right near the end of the file):

getforumrules($foruminfo,$permissions);

Right after it, add this:

  $rand_term = $DB_site->query_first("SELECT text AS term_text, description AS term_description FROM glossary ORDER BY RAND()");
  extract($rand_term);
  $term_description = str_replace("'", "\\'", htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($term_description)));

Yeah, that last line is a little messy -- I like saving space, though.

Save and upload. Next, open newthread.php and find the same bit of code (duplicated below) around line 368 or so:

getforumrules($foruminfo,$permissions);

After that, add the same bit of code above.

Next: the templates. Find the below in both templates...

$vbcode_smilies</td>

...and in both templates, replace it with this:

	$vbcode_smilies<br><center><smallfont><b>Random Term: <a href="#" onclick="alert('$term_description'); return false;">$term_text</a></b></smallfont><br>

	<smallfont><a href="$bburl/glossary.php" target="_blank">More Glossary Terms!</a></smallfont><br></td>

There, you're done!


Add vBGlossary to the forum jump menu
Open forumdisplay.php in your main forums directory. Find this, near the top of the file (line 13 or so):

	case 'cp': $goto = 'usercp'; break;

Right after it, add this:

	case 'gl': $goto = 'glossary'; break;

Next (and last) step: open the forumjump template and add this bit of code somewhere amongst the other options...where you put it depends on where you want it in the menu.

		<option value="gl" $frmjmpsel[glossary]>The Glossary</option>

That's it! All done. Enjoy.

I hope you all enjoy this hack. It didn't take nearly as much time/effort as I thought it would...I really love it, though.

[SaintDog]

You don't need shell, just phpMyAdmin to run queries. Most hosts have it already installed on user accounts, if it is not you may wish to ask your host to install it for you as you will probably need it sometime down the line....

SaintDog

[diettalk]

It worked... thank you. I'll have to keep it for any other "hacks" I install. I just hope I don't blow up my database..

[Kaelon]

This is a great hack! I am curious, though, is there a way to do expand the functionality of this hack in the following way:

Instead of listing the definitions, the terms could be hyper-linked and open up a new page displaying an article; sort of like an Encyclopedic reference?

Thanks so much for your help!

Regards,
Kaelon

[TWTCommish]

Kaelon: yes, it could be modified. Though not HIGHLY easily. I'm not sure how it'd look, formatting-wise. Could you elaborate?

[Kaelon]

Sure!

Basically, like an Encyclopedia. The terms would be listed in the glossary.php page, without their definitions (so, basically, in a single column, like a list). Here are a few examples:

Ants
Apples
... etc.

Then, when you click on a term, a new page opens basically outputting the definition in the same template setting.

Ants:
such and such...

article information, etc.

<< Back to Index

Would that make sense/work?

Kaelon

[TWTCommish]

Oh, yeah. Sorry, I misunderstood you. Lemme take a look-see.

[Kaelon]

Thanks a bunch! What I'd really like to do with it is host an extensive library of fiction. =)

[Gutspiller]

I am very interested in installing this hack on my board, but I was hoping somebody could let me know if it will work on a 2.0.3 board?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

[TWTCommish]

Yes, I'm 99% sure it should work just fine with 2.0.3. Only one way to find out, though. It's mostly stand-alone anyway, so I think it's worth trying.

[Gutspiller]

Thanks TWTCommish, This will make a great addition to may 50+ hacks I have installed on my forum.

Anybody know if there is a record for how many hacks you can install in a certain version of VB?

I have some pretty cool ideas for this hack too. I love tinkering with hacks and using them in ways nobody even thought of.