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.

[hypedave]

when I click on more glossary terms I get a blank page :alien:

[Dockaych]

Would it be possible to have the Glossary.php file show 'all' words in the glossary, and then allow users to filter if necessary (much like the members list page)??

Right now it looks as though the glossary is empty because I don't have any items in the '#' numerical category.

[Dockaych]

Another idea...

Would it be possible to make a custom tag such as [glossary]Avatar[/glossary] which makes the word a hyperlink to an information box (just like on the New Thread page)? This would be really useful.

[Dockaych]

Strange...

When I try to edit an entry, it gives me an SQL error.
However, I can add and delete entries with no problem.
What is the problem?

[drownedspirit]

I get the "Sorry, there are no matching glossary terms available." on the glossary page. I already inputted some terms, why won't they display?


HELP!!! gre:

[drownedspirit]

i get this error too..

Database error in vBulletin Control Panel 2.2.7:

Invalid SQL: INSERT INTO glossary (text, description) VALUES ('Who's Online', 'A page displaying the list of users currently on the forums, as well as their current action/location.')
mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 's Online', 'A page displaying the list of users currently on the forums, as well' at line 1

mysql error number: 1064

what do i do? please please HELP

[Geographic]

It appears as though if the definition of the Glossary term is too long, the alert box will not pop when clicking the random term.

Any fix for dat?

Nice Hack BTW! Good Work.

~Geo~

[Geographic]

The third planet from the sun, having a sidereal period of revolution about the sun of 365.26 days at a mean distance of approximately 149 million kilometers (92.96 million miles), an axial rotation period of 23 hours 56.07 minutes, an average radius of 6,378 kilometers (3,963 miles), and a mass of approximately 5.974 ? 1024 kilograms (1.317 ? 1025 pounds).

Oh yeah, with this definition.

[drownedspirit]

Originally posted by drownedspirit
i get this error too..

Database error in vBulletin Control Panel 2.2.7:

Invalid SQL: INSERT INTO glossary (text, description) VALUES ('Who's Online', 'A page displaying the list of users currently on the forums, as well as their current action/location.')
mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 's Online', 'A page displaying the list of users currently on the forums, as well' at line 1

mysql error number: 1064

what do i do? please please HELP

I found out why it gives me error.. I tried Who Is Online and it added. The table doesn't accept ' in Who's.

Btw, I still get the "Sorry, there are no matching glossary terms available." HELP!

[.:.NetStartz.:.]

Could you upload a new .zip to the first page with all the changes and corrections. I love this idea and would love to install it, but going through all the post to see the fixes/updates is time consuming.