Unclear on when to revert, when not to, etc.

[aharown07]

Hi... new to vBulletin. A guy's been helping me w/a development site and we've customized a few templates a bit and I've adjusted all the colors and a few of the graphics.
When I upgraded from 3.7.2 to 3.7.3 pl1, there was (for a while) some stuff in admincp about reverting. Had to do some other things and now it's not there anymore.

In any case, I'm unclear on several things regarding upgrading and reverting and such.

First, if I revert and don't like the results can I "unrevert"? That is, will the cusomizations we've made still be around somewhere in some form so we can put them in again or whatever has to be done?

Second, my impression after a good bit of reading is that reverting becomes necessary under the following conditions: templates have been customized in some way + upgrade includes new versions of those templates + vB therefore doesn't upgrade those particular templates because it would wreck the customizations. So you have to find a way to get the latest templates applied and get your customizations moved to it... am I right so far?

So how does "reverting" help with that? Sounds like it would have the same result as if the upgrade script just went ahead and applied the new templates in the first place. So I must be missing something.

I hope the good folks at vB.com have long term plans to make that whole business less messy. (-: I should probably mention that I've installed the mod TMS (I think... it seems to be installed), but I haven't a clue how it makes any difference.

[Lynne]

Originally Posted by aharown07

First, if I revert and don't like the results can I "unrevert"? That is, will the cusomizations we've made still be around somewhere in some form so we can put them in again or whatever has to be done?

No. So if you are worried about it, keep a copy of your template as a text file on your computer.

Second, my impression after a good bit of reading is that reverting becomes necessary under the following conditions: templates have been customized in some way + upgrade includes new versions of those templates + vB therefore doesn't upgrade those particular templates because it would wreck the customizations. So you have to find a way to get the latest templates applied and get your customizations moved to it... am I right so far?

Yep, that is basically it, except *reverting*, meaning hitting the Revert button, is not necessary. The goal is to have all the new features, but keep the customization, right? So, go to edit the template and click View History. A new window will open and you may compare your version of the template to the default Jelsoft version of the template. All the differences will be highlighted. Go through each change and decide if you need to add it to your template. If so, copy/paste it into the template and then when done, Save it. Then you will have a template with all the new Jelsoft stuff and all your old hack changes.

[aharown07]

Thanks, that helps.
At that the point the "default" is the new upgraded template, right?

Any tips on how to tell what's worth keeping and what isn't? I remember looking at a side by side and thinking "what is this telling me?" Maybe it's easiest to comment all the hacks in some way that makes them easy to find, then save as a file, then take the new template as a whole ("revert") then paste the old hacks in roughly where they were before.

Also... I don't see here in the help file how to save a template as a file.

[Lynne]

I try to put comments around all the things I have modified in a template. That way I know when the change is because of me. Sometimes the change is just because Jelsoft changed the css class, or changed a size, or moved some stuff around.

I actually do things a little different than what I wrote. I open up View History so I can see the changes, and then I usually go to a different tab/window and go back to the Style List, find the template, and hit revert. That gives me a totally default Jelsoft template. Then I go back to the View History/Compare page and copy all my changes one by one into the template.

You can't samve a template as a file by hitting a button. You have to copy the content and paste it into your text editor.

[Gamelobby]

I know this is somewhat old, but the topic is still relevant.


I have upgraded, but not sure which ones to revert, & which ones to just save.
I have always been told just to open the file& save it. (but there must be more to it. lol)

Here are the two options i get after an upgrade..

The attempted merge failed due to conflicts

or

Changes were automatically merged into this template

So should i revert the red ones, & save the blue ones.?

I need cliff notes, i didn't understand what you guys posted above (or if it is still relevant with 4.1)


Thanks


*edit*
Aww crap i just realized this is in a vB3 discussion section.
I'll make a new post.

[Lynne]

The answer is the same whether for vB3 or vB4. *You* need to click to edit any modified template and then compare it to a default and make a decision on whether you need to incorporate the changes into your modified template.

[Gamelobby]

Originally Posted by Lynne

The answer is the same whether for vB3 or vB4. *You* need to click to edit any modified template and then compare it to a default and make a decision on whether you need to incorporate the changes into your modified template.

I guess there is where i run into problems..
How do i know if i should or need to incorporate the changes.?


Thanks

[Lynne]

If the code looks different, and you are having problems in that area, then you need to change it. Also, look at the release announcement. There is a list of templates in there that say they are changed and some say they require a revert which means the change is required for functionality.

[Gamelobby]

That makes sense.

Another question.. If i'm not seeing any issues or problems it should be fine as is.?
Meaning that functionality wise it works, but is there possibilities of causing lag, or other issues that aren't as apparent.?


Thanks

[Lynne]

Usually a template won't cause lag or anything like that.