Users Can create their own drop down list in navbar

This hack is part of Lesson #6 of my Using the PHPINCLUDE_START template" tutorial thread. It is presented here individually. While techinically a user feature, it is put here with mini-mods since it requires no code edits. Instead you have 2 template edits: navbar and phpinclude_start. You must also add a user profile field.

For a more complete explaination of the code please visit the tutorial thread.

AND NOW THE HACK...

To begin create a user profile field that is multiple text lines and has a character limit of at least 2000. Note the user profile field # the system assigns to the new field - you'll need it below.

Once you do that crack into your navbar and look for this code:

			<!-- nav buttons bar -->
				<div align="center">
					<table class="thead" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
						<tr align="center">
							<if condition="$show['popups']">

Immediately after add.

								<if condition="!empty($mylinks)">
									<td id="mylinks" class="vbmenu_control"><a href="#mylinks">My Links</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("mylinks"); </script></td>		
								</if>

Next look for this code in the navbar

	<!-- / NAVBAR POPUP MENUS -->

Immediately above it insert the following code

<if condition="!empty($mylinks)">
<!-- My Links Menu -->
	<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="mylinks_menu" style="display:none"> 
 		<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0"> 
			$mylinks
		</table> 
	</div>
<!-- /My Links -->
</if>

Now insert the following into PHPINCLUDE_START at either the very start or the very end.

PHP Code:

if (!empty($bbuserinfo['fieldX']))
    {
    require_once('./includes/functions_bbcodeparse.php');
    $mylinks = parse_bbcode2($bbuserinfo['fieldX'], 0, 0, 0, 1);
    $mylinks = str_replace('<br />', '', $mylinks);
    $mylinks = str_replace('</a>', '</a></td></tr>', $mylinks);
    $mylinks = str_replace('<a', '<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a', $mylinks);    
    } 


You will need to plug the correct user profile field # into the spot occupied by "fieldX" above. So if your new profile field created above was field #9 you'd refer to $bbuserinfo['field9']

And with that you're done. Enjoy.

Compatibility Note
If you are running a version of vbulletin prior to version 3.0.3 you'll need to run a database query in order to have field lengths longer than 250 characters. This query is:

ALTER TABLE userfield MODIFY COLUMN fieldX TEXT

You'll need to change fieldX to the field# appropriate to your forums.

[SVTOA]

I have been comparing the code between vBAdvanced homepage and VBA CMPS, and began to play with the index.php files for both. I took this bit of code from vbAdvanced homepage:

if ($vboptions['home_navbar'])
{
	eval('$navbar = "' . fetch_template('navbar') . '";');
	
	$navbar = str_replace(
	array(
		'"memberlist.php',
		'"usercp.php',
		'"register.php',
		'"faq.php',
		'"calendar.php',
		'"search.php',
		'"login.php',
		'"forumdisplay.php',
		'"profile.php',
		'"private.php',
		'"subscription.php',
		'"member.php',
		'"online.php',
		'"clientscript',
		'\'misc.php',
		"$vboptions[bbtitle]</strong>"
	), 
	array(
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/memberlist.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/usercp.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/register.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/faq.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/calendar.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/search.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/login.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/forumdisplay.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/profile.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/private.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/subscription.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/member.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/online.php",
		"\"$vboptions[bburl]/clientscript",
		"'$vboptions[bburl]/misc.php",
		"$vboptions[hometitle]</strong>"
	), $navbar);
}

and went to the CMPS index.php and inserted it directly below this:

require_once('./global.php');

Renamed the page as test.php and called it up in my browser. This "my links" hack started working on that page.
The ratio of php-to-mysql and page load time changed very little, if any.
I get no errors either. Is this an acceptable fix or have I introduced bad code into the CMPS page?

[SVTOA]

Originally Posted by Michael Morris

Two added.

Note, minor glitch found for RC4 - you can't have user input fields beyond 500 characters or so (odd). I presume this is fixed in later versions.

Ugh, I think I have to give up on this one. In 3.0.0:

"Maximum Input (Input, Textarea only)
This setting is how many characters a user is allowed to enter into this field. This can be any number between 1 and 250."

Nice idea but it's not working out like I had hoped.

[Michael Morris]

Originally Posted by SVTOA

Ugh, I think I have to give up on this one. In 3.0.0:

"Maximum Input (Input, Textarea only)
This setting is how many characters a user is allowed to enter into this field. This can be any number between 1 and 250."

Nice idea but it's not working out like I had hoped.

I'm pretty sure you can run a query to override this - run the query after the table is created.

[SVTOA]

And that query would be?

[Michael Morris]

Testing it now - Such things can royally mess up a board if done incorrectly

BTW, 3.0.3 allows you to set any length.

[Michael Morris]

The correct query is..

ALTER TABLE userfield MODIFY COLUMN fieldX TEXT

You need to change fieldX to the actual field # you're going to use.

PS you can use this script to up the lengths of the other profile fields, such as biography, if you want.

[SVTOA]

Thank you for the followup, if this works then the hack becomes extremely useful to me and my members. Will check back in a bit.

[Jaxx]

Nice Michael.

Along the same lines as the msg I sent you, just got to figure out how to get the actual links to work in the profile view if other members look at it.

I know I could keep it a private field, but whats the fun in that.

[SVTOA]

BRAVO!!!! Worked perfectly!!! Much appreciated!!!!

SVTOA clicks *INSTALL*

[wirewolf]

Michael, very nice hack. Installed it today and it went smoothly. However, I have the "Links Directory v1.0.0 RC3" by vBadvanced installed on my forum. All of the "links" directory scripts call for their links_config.php file, which in turn calls for the vbulletins' global.php file, where the PHPINCLUDE_START is called. The "links" templates also call for the vbulletin $navbar. But the "My Links" drop down does not show when you go to the Links Directory Pages. I suspect it has to do with the PHPINCLUDE_START not being called apon correctly in the "links" files, but I'm not sure. I'm not getting any errors. The "Links Directory" files are in a separate directory within my main forum directory.
/home/vbforum/links

See the two attachments. Any clue where to start looking?
Thanks, John