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

[psylenced]

It uses 2 things to join on to:

$ad_location[ad_header_end]

$ad_location[ad_navbar_below]

or

<!-- / nav buttons bar -->

Depending on which option you select.

[Jasen Hicks]

I just uploaded the files, imported the XML. All went well.

I turn on the LEFT/RIGHT column for all pages, and edited Block 1 and Block 10 in the templates, and chose to list it under my header.

Nothing is showing up.

http://www.auzbay.com/forum

Tips?

[popular]

you have to goto usergroup and edit then scroll all the way down and find "Ultimate Side Columns Permissions" and set yes

[Jasen Hicks]

Hahahah..... Gotta love those really simple fixes. Thanks brother.

Jasen

[Jasen Hicks]

Ok, next question

Anyway to use straight PHP Code in the USC 2.2? I am trying to integrate my Auction Site with my forums a bit better, and I want to run some of the auciton code into the left side column

[South Bank Hank]

Having installed the product, we're getting errors in the "USB Sidebar Options" areas under "Display Pages for Left Column" and "Display Pages for Right Column" saying:

An error occurred while processing the bitfield files, the following information was returned:

Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks.

[stephlb]

I'm attempting manual edits. I just want a right side column. Where would I put the beginning code to start my right sidebar underneath the navbar? I'm able to easily get it so that its next to the navbar, but what if I wanted it to start underneath the navbar.

Thanks.

[thompson]

is there anywhere a code to let me see the latest blog entries in the sidebar ?

[d-wiz]

I'm having a few problems with the content in my blocks:

Block 12: It only show new threads and not new posts, here is the code I used:

<if condition="$vbulletin->options['externaljs']">
<!-- show latest active threads -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" 
align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="tcat">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_external')"><img 
id="collapseimg_forumhome_external" 
src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_external].gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<a href="search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getnew">Seneste aktive tr?de</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_external" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_external]">
<tr>
 
<td class="alt1" width="100%">
 
<div class="smallfont">
<script type="text/javascript" src="external.php?type=js"></script> 
<script language="" type="text/javascript">
<!--
for (x = 0; x < 20; x++)
{
document.writeln("<img class=\"inlineimg\" src=\"$stylevar[imgdir_button]/lastpost.gif\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" /> <a href=\"showthread.php?t="+threads[x].threadid+"\">"+threads[x].title+"</a> <span class=\"time\">($vbphrase[posted_by]: "+threads[x].poster+")</span><br />");
}
//-->
</script></div>
 
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<!-- show latest active threads -->
</table>
<br />
</if>

<table width="100%" class="tborder" border="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]">

Block 13: the search field doesn't work, I used this code:

<tr>
<td class="tcat"><a href="http://www.ontopic.dk/search.php">S?g p? forum</a></strong></span></td>
</tr>

			
				<tr>
<td class="alt1">
	<input class="bginput" name="query" size="13" type="text"> <input class="button" value="OK" type="submit">
	<div class="smallfont"><a href="http://www.ontopic.dk/search.php">Avanceret s?gning</a>
</td>
</tr>

</table>
<br />
<table width="100%" class="tborder" border="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]">

Note: I'm new at all this and have little experience with code, so far I've used trail and error but I'm a bit stuck here?

My site is located at www.ontopic.dk

[RrCoX22]

does this column allow certain cell boxes for advertising? like a row with 150x45 pixel pictures w/links to the advertisers site