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.

[ladyfyre]

is there any way to set this up so that you can add glossary editors who are not Admins? Our Admins are already under a TREMENDOUS work load, and i seriously doubt they will contribute time to this...but we have many senior members who i believe would happily submit terms on a regular basis.

Would it work to move the admin_glossary.php file to another directory and use .htaccess to control access? (assuming of course that the script will work with the require for global.php taken out)

[TWTCommish]

It won't work without the global.php file, I don't think. You might be able to move it to the /mod directory so that Mods can manage the Glossary, though.

[bpuetz]

Great hacks -- thanks!

A question that I didn't see an answer to in the thread -- is it somehow possible to add images and other links into the definitions? I have a real need for that.

Also, a feature request. I would like to see an additional Category added to the terms. Then I could display the forum related terms when called from the forums, or the classified realted terms when called from the classifieds, etc. There would also be an option to display all terms. Because of the nature of my site, I'm going to eventually have a huge number of terms in the glossary, and this feature would make it less overwhelming and easier to navigate.

Thanks again!

[FWC]

Originally posted by bpuetz
Great hacks -- thanks!

A question that I didn't see an answer to in the thread -- is it somehow possible to add images and other links into the definitions? I have a real need for that.

Sure, just use HTML in the definition. I do it all the time.

[bpuetz]

Originally posted by FWC
Sure, just use HTML in the definition. I do it all the time.

I'll say you do! I just had a look at your glossary. Thanks!

[FWC]

Originally posted by bpuetz
I'll say you do! I just had a look at your glossary. Thanks!

Glad to help.

[firewars]

This isn't working for me

The glossary itself works fine.
However, the admin_glossary-file is just blank.
I can't find an error, though.
I did the sql query and uploaded both files as well as added both templates and modified my /admin/index.php-file.

Any ideas?

[firewars]

My fault, I tried accessing the file itself without the addings (?action=add..)
Thanks for such a great hack!

[firewars]

Umm ok now this is not really working, as I just noticed:

When editing, I get a SQL error

[Martin64]

excellent one, TWTCommish

I just installed this one and I'm now ready to add some glossary. This should be fun

This is my third TWT hack I have installed on my boards, I guess I like your hacks. :P