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.

[Gutspiller]

TWTCommish

I was wondering if it would be possible to make the gloassary searchable with the VB search? I was also looking Kaelon's request and I would like something like that too. Not exactly for the same thing, but it would work.

If you could let me know if it would be possible to make it searchable, along with adding that feature Kaelon as talking about I would really appreciate it. I have a really cool idea for this, but I kinda need these two features in order for it to work properly.

Thanks TWTCommish!

[boatdesign]

It would definitely be very cool if you could both:
1.) Include searching of the glossary in every Search
2.) Choose to seach the glossary from a drop down

Maybe with #1 it would also be nice to put glossary results at the end of the results section.

[Gutspiller]

Bump.

TWTCommish are you still working on this hack or should I be looking for an alternative hack for my databasing idea?

[TWTCommish]

I'll need some more time, I'm working on a few other things. Don't give up on me just yet.

[Gutspiller]

OK sounds good. Thanks. When you do update it please post in this thread so I get an email. I'm not as actively searching for hacks as I used to, just because I am starting to run into more problems when I install hacks of today on a 2.0.3 forum.

[Radon3k]

Works great on 2.2.5 TWT, again, great hack!

Just one question...When viewing the "Who's Online", it just says "unknown source" then gives the link to the glossary...is there someway that I can make it say "Glossary"?

[FWC]

Originally posted by Radon3k
Works great on 2.2.5 TWT, again, great hack!

Just one question...When viewing the "Who's Online", it just says "unknown source" then gives the link to the glossary...is there someway that I can make it say "Glossary"?

You can always hard code it, but I highly recommend this hack:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=32849

[TWTCommish]

What FWC said.

[thehobbyforum]

I'm sure you have been told this a thousand times but great hack!

[midad]

This is a fantastic Hack TWTCommish, it's just what I was looking for and I have installed it of course
Would it possible to add the following to the hack:
1. The search engine as you mentioned earlier and I DO think it's useful.
2. Can we add a new option so that the users themselves can add terms to the glossary itselfe?????
Thanx in advance