help me to simplify my Quick Style Chooser mod

[JonZ]

vB Version: 3.7.3
Here's a summary of what I am trying to achieve:

I am trying to make the Quick Style Chooser (QSC) to actually record the theme into the users profile. What is the Quick Style Chooser? it the drop down list that appear at the bottom of vB pages, which allow you to change your theme design on the fly. You can actually see an example of it at http://www.vbulletin.com/forum



What this chooser don't do however is it doesn't record the theme into the users profile and just query the actual webpage to adjust the choosen theme based on cookies, which is fine for anonymous users.

__________________________________________________ ____________________

What I did:

So I took the form in users Control Panel as a template, and take portions of code that would submit a selection the information based their values. On my HTML file, I put this html segment:

<form action="/board/myprofile.php" method="post" >
     <input type="hidden" name="s" value="index.php" /> <!-- same path location where this form is executed -->
     <input type="hidden" name="do" value="updateoptions" />
     <input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="<?=$vbulletin->userinfo['securitytoken']?>" />
     <select class="forumselector" name="newstyleset" id="sel_newstyleset"  onchange="this.form.submit()";>
   	    <?=$quickchooserbits?>                 
     </select>
</form>

notice that I replaced the original onchange="switch_id( this, 'style')" by "this.form.submit()". So when a selection is made, the script automatically do a submit action and bring the user to myprofile.php.


__________________________________________________ __________________

My problems:

I don't have a great understanding in PHP, but I can solve many issues by improvisations.
Here what I did is I torn appart the original profile.php where the information of a submition was treated in the user CP.

PHP Code:

<?php
// ####################### SET PHP ENVIRONMENT ###########################
error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);

// #################### DEFINE IMPORTANT CONSTANTS #######################
define('THIS_SCRIPT', 'myprofile');
define('CSRF_PROTECTION', true);

// ######################### REQUIRE BACK-END ############################
require_once('./global.php');

// ############################### start update options ###############################
if ($_POST['do'] == 'updateoptions')
{
       $web = $_POST['s'];
    if ($show['member']){
    
        $vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc('p', array('newstyleset'    => TYPE_INT));

        $userdata =& datamanager_init('User', $vbulletin, ERRTYPE_STANDARD);
        $userdata->set_existing($vbulletin->userinfo);

        // style set
        if ($vbulletin->options['allowchangestyles'] AND $vbulletin->userinfo['realstyleid'] != $vbulletin->GPC['newstyleset'])
        {
            $userdata->set('styleid', $vbulletin->GPC['newstyleset']);
        }

        ($hook = vBulletinHook::fetch_hook('profile_updateoptions')) ? eval($hook) : false;
        $userdata->save();
    }    
    else {
        exec_header_redirect($web.'styleid');
    }    
}

// #############################################################################

exec_header_redirect('$web');

?>

The good news is, it working, almost. If I execute my html, choose an item from the dropdown list, it load myprofile.php, my theme change and the information is also changed in the user's profile (UCP). The bad news is, I haven't find a way to just change the theme based on cookies like the original QSC do for anonymous users, and I'm kinda stuck on this problem.

What the original QSC is doing to change the cookie's mode theme, is to get the value of a selected item, and paste it to the current address (ie: myweb.com/board/?styleid=45). You can try it on every board that support styles, take the web address and paste ?styleid=(styleid number here), you will browse temporarely on another theme. Where that query is being treated in the php files, I don't know.

The other problem, is the simplicity. I would like to not have an independent file (myprofile.php) to treat the transaction but in the html itself, just like the original QSC do. This way I could re-use the code on each new module without querying myprofile.php everytime, maybe in a form of a custom function. What I liked on the original QSC is I could just reuse the code in 3 lines, and that was it. This new one take 5-6 html lines, an independent file, and support codes for every page of my sites.

Also the problem with this code, is I have to specify a path with exec_header_redirect() function, when I just want to reload the same page I was before. Not very practical when I want to re-use this function on other pages.


____________________________


This is where I am stuck. I really hope you will help me to resolve this.
Please do many suggestions you can.


Thanks advance.

PS/ The QSC on this very board is working exactly the way I want. It change on the fly, AND it is saved in the user's profile. You can verify it yourself. Choose a color, log out, then log back in, the style you have choosen still apply.

[Dismounted]

Originally Posted by JonZ

The bad news is, I haven't find a way to just change the theme based on cookies like the original QSC do for anonymous users, and I'm kinda stuck on this problem.

Use a template conditional, switching to the JS version if the viewer is a guest.

Originally Posted by JonZ

The other problem, is the simplicity. I would like to not have an independent file (myprofile.php) to treat the transaction but in the html itself, just like the original QSC do.

You must write to the database to change the Style ID for the user, and this cannot be done in JS. (The data manager call writes to the database.) You may be able to piggyback on profile.php's action, but I haven't looked into that myself.

[JonZ]

Originally Posted by Dismounted

You must write to the database to change the Style ID for the user, and this cannot be done in JS. (The data manager call writes to the database.) You may be able to piggyback on profile.php's action, but I haven't looked into that myself.

When you look on vb.org QSF, it transacting with misc.php, save the setting in the users profile and get you back to the page you were on. Is that what you mean by piggyback?

My php knowledge is pretty limited, I'm was not able so far to create a condition to switch user's theme if they are guests. I don't know what is the processing behind it (?styleid=x?).

And I don't know how to make the query to land back the user to the same page he was browsing before.

any more suggestions?

thanks

[dstruct2k]

Try something similar to:

<if condition="$bbuserinfo[usergroup] == '1'">
<!-- Original code for people not signed in -->
<else />
<!-- Your new code for people logged in -->
</if>

That conditional says "If the user isn't logged in, use old code, else use new code" and should give the desired effect.

[JonZ]

Originally Posted by dstruct2k

..

I'm not working in plugin mode, I'm working straight in html/php. Besides, it basically my condition on my code above (maybe just not the proper $variable used), I just don't know how to make a code that will switch anonymous user's style.

[dstruct2k]

Plugin? That code should be placed inside the template. <if> conditionals are evaluated by the template engine. Just replace the standard quick chooser wherever it appears in the footer template with the more elaborate version I posted.

[JonZ]

The reason why I am doing it outside of plugin mode or template for vB is I am doing this for outside vB, like portals. If I have to do your if code, I will have to do a pluggin to support the new chooser outside vB.

[Dismounted]

Originally Posted by JonZ

When you look on vb.org QSF, it transacting with misc.php, save the setting in the users profile and get you back to the page you were on. Is that what you mean by piggyback?

The one used here uses a custom plugin attached to misc.php to run the code to change a user's style (similar to the one you posted).

Originally Posted by JonZ

And I don't know how to make the query to land back the user to the same page he was browsing before.

Use the referrer.

Originally Posted by JonZ

The reason why I am doing it outside of plugin mode or template for vB is I am doing this for outside vB, like portals. If I have to do your if code, I will have to do a pluggin to support the new chooser outside vB.

If you're creating a portal, aren't you include global.php or the like (to get user info and security tokens)?

[JonZ]

Originally Posted by Dismounted

The one used here uses a custom plugin attached to misc.php to run the code to change a user's style (similar to the one you posted).

So you mean that you took like the portion of the code from profile.php and integrate it in misc.php? How do you bounce back the users where they were browsing?

Originally Posted by Dismounted

Use the referrer.

can you be more specific? what does that mean.

Originally Posted by Dismounted

If you're creating a portal, aren't you include global.php or the like (to get user info and security tokens)?

Yes, I did. Still, I'm not going to edit my external files in ACP. It a personal preference and it more friendly for the others webmasters who is going to maintain the external files only without accessing the ACP (keeping it safe).

[Dismounted]

Originally Posted by JonZ

can you be more specific? what does that mean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_referrer