Miscellaneous Hacks - Ultimate Side Columns 2.2

Ultimate Side Columns
By Kerry-Anne www.peterska2.co.uk

Welcome to Ultimate Side Columns 2.2 !

USC 2.2 has now been released!!!!

Introduction

Following the success of the left and right side column modifications, and building on their weaknesses, the Ultimate Side Columns system was born.

Ultimate Side Columns (USC) is your one stop shop for all your side columns needs. It is an easy to configure, all in one solution.

USC 2.0 was born through the evolution and bug fixing of USC 1.0 for vBulletin 3.6 and is for vBulletin 3.7.0 RC1 and later only. It is not supported with earlier versions and may not work with them.

Features

USC 2.0 is fully customizable, can use conditions and variables (not available in USC 1.0), has greater flexibility in where it can be omitted from (after requests received), and contains new functionality of both independently collapsible columns and user defined custom links to be displayed on a per user basis in the column location of the administrators choosing.

A maximum of 20 blocks spread over the two columns are available at this time. However, if more are required then an expansion pack will be provided. The blocks can be reordered and moved between the templates with ease through simple template edits.

USC 2.2 Change Log:
Fixed bug with profile.php?do=editattachments
Added All Pages options

USC 2.1 Change Log:
Fixed blank page caused by missing template in the XML
Added compatibility with 3.7.0 Stable/Gold
Manual Template Edit instructions added to package
Enhanced the display page choices to allow exact selection of the pages where USC is to be displayed
Added usergroup permissions in addition to the global options for viewing the left column, viewing the right column, and using the custom contents block.

USC 2.1 has additional files. You need to upload the files first BEFORE importing the product

Upgrading from USC 2.0
Upload the contents of the upload folder, except the admincp directory, then import the XML.

Go to vBOptions > USC Options and set the display pages using the new options
Go to Usergroups > Usergroup Manager and set the permissions for each usergroup as desired. By default no permissions are given to any usergroups.

Upgrading from USC 1.0

USC 2.0 has been rewritten from the ground up and therefore all the blocks have been moved from the settings into the templates. Therefore, a unique upgrade script has been provided which must be run before importing the new product. Importing the new product first will result in the loss of your existing USC contents.

The upgrade script is located in the admincp directory after uploading the USC files and is ran by pointing your browser to admincp/usc_upgrade.php

Full upgrade instructions are included in the upgrade readme file in the zip.

Installation Instructions

Download the zip, unzip it and upload the contents of the upload folder to your forum directory. Import the product, all done.

Full instructions are included in the install readme in the zip.

Support

This modification has limited support only and is therefore flagged as unsupported. Support will be given when possible although it is always preferable when users of USC support each other. This was very successful with USC 1.0 and therefore is continued with USC 2.0

If you have any other combinations of pages that you would like to see available for the column options, please post them in the support thread ensuring that you add the title "USC Page Combination Request" to your post, or use this as the first line of your post ensuring that it is in bold text. This is very specific as due to the limited nature of support and time, the support thread will only be quickly skimmed through and therefore requests may be missed if it is not clear what they are.


The screenshots attached to this post and the next one show a range of pages with a range of column combinations. They are not labeled but they are pretty self explanatory.

Enjoy USC 2.0.

Kerry-Anne


PLEASE NOTE: This modification is unsupported. You may not receive a reply right after posting. Please try and help each other out.



Problems with your side columns not showing?
For your side columns to show, you need to update your usergroup permissions from the usergroup manager for each usergroup

Problems with errors in your vBOptions?
Point your browser to admincp/index.php?do=buildbitfields then try again

[jrcal]

Hello,
I've tried searching and troubleshooting for a few hours now, and I haven't been able to fix my problem.

I just did a fresh install of 2.2, and for some reason, the left column won't show up at all, and the right column shows up at the very bottom of the screen. Aside from the general setup configurations, does anyone know what could be causing this problem?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE: I actually resolved the problem right after I posted. It turns out the tweak that I used to attempt to use to make it work didn't get submitted... so now it's all working! Thanks Kerry-Anne for this FANTASTIC module.

Best,
JR

[guvner]

Originally Posted by Kerry-Anne

Have a look in you USC options in the vBOptions to see which you are using.

Sorry Kerry-Anne, but I can't see anything there which relates to template editing type unless you mean the radio button at bottom - there I've selected "below navbar and below notices".

I've provided a screenshot (link below) which shows all my USC options.

Also, should I still leave the "orphan" column on my main VBA page for your reference or do you have what you need, until this is fixed I'd like to disable USC there since it looks a little weird.

Thanks again,
Mike

[screenshot]

[peterska2]

Originally Posted by LeroyP

I have tried that and its not working? Do I need to turn a html setting on somewhere?

What is the exact code you are using?

Originally Posted by andrewc_11890

I downloaded the zip folder, unzipped it. I installed 2.0, then I upgraded to 2.1 then upgraded to 2.2, I saw that the side columns appeared when I had 2.0 installed, but Now that I have 2.2, they dont appear? I can get to the edit area, but it still doesn't make them show up when I change the options. Also which option do I use to post an adsense html code in?

You don't install and upgrade, you just install the latest version (2.2). As is said in the install instructions and numerous times in this thread You need to set the usergroup permissions before the columns will be displayed. To put code into your columns, you edit one of the usc_block templates.

Originally Posted by guvner

Sorry Kerry-Anne, but I can't see anything there which relates to template editing type unless you mean the radio button at bottom - there I've selected "below navbar and below notices".

I've provided a screenshot (link below) which shows all my USC options.

Also, should I still leave the "orphan" column on my main VBA page for your reference or do you have what you need, until this is fixed I'd like to disable USC there since it looks a little weird.

Thanks again,
Mike

[screenshot]

It's possible that your style does not have the required code for the auto edit in this location. Use the manual template edit setting and edit the templates to add the start and end code. The instructions are in the downloaded files.

[apex944]

>> upload the USC files to your forum directory then immediately delete usc_upgrade.php from the AdminCP directory

Then why upload it at all? For 2.2 fresh install should it not say "Do not upload usc_upgrade.php " ??

[guvner]

Hi Kerry-Anne - I removed the auto edit option then added the code you provided in your readme to the end of the navbar and the top of the footer and all's well.

Thanks!

Mike

[andrewc_11890]

Originally Posted by Kerry-Anne

You don't install and upgrade, you just install the latest version (2.2). As is said in the install instructions and numerous times in this thread You need to set the usergroup permissions before the columns will be displayed. To put code into your columns, you edit one of the usc_block templates.

Sorry I didnt see that

[andrewc_11890]

Hey I have another question. I only have my left hand column enabled right now and that is all I want for now. I am putting google adsense in the side column. However I my page will only display a max of 2 ads in the column. How do I change this?

Also, is it possible to make it so there is a bit more space between the ads rather than them being right on top of each other?

Also, the only thing that appears even when i click the boxes such as search or user cp to display, all i get is the column Header? I have set the permissions for everyone to see the columns.

Thanks, Andrew

[Viruseater]

Keep this in mind. You probably have another google ad somewhere in the page right? maybe a banner at the top?

Google AdSense only allows 3 TOTAL ads in one webpage. so if you have a banner on top, the columns can only display two more ads

[andrewc_11890]

ya you are right i have a banner. however i also have a google referral ad at the bottom too. do those ones not count. is it only 3 ads for content allowed per page. so i could put up yahoo ads then if i wanted to put up a few more and get a wider variety of advertisers right?

[Viruseater]

They're different. you can have 3 google for content ads on one page, a google search, and a google referral. That's ok.

You might want to check the terms of service but I don't believe google allows you to run Yahoo ads on the same pages it's ads are on.