Forum Display Enhancements - All Topic / Master Forums - View Threads from Multiple Forums in a Master Forums

This a complete and total upgrade to version 2.0!

This mod is now an importable product, there are no more manual file edits.

In addition this mod will be able to auto edit your templates if you run the standard threadbit template, otherwise there are instructions in the zip file for manual template edits if needed.

What does this mod do? - Basically this is only the most awesomest mod ever for vBulletin. You can now view threads from other forums in "Master Forums" you designate.

For example on my site "Off Topic" is my "Master Forum" and virtually all other forums are assigned to the Master Forum offering user's the ability to browse 1 forum while seeing threads from many others.

New in version 2.0: You can now have multiple master forums.

See the screen shots for an example.

All instructions are included in the zip file.

As pointed out by phpdesk you must have at least 1 thread in your master forum for this to work.

I have tested this on VB 3.8.6 and am sure it will work on all 3.8 versions. I also strongly believe it will work as far back as VB 3.6 but can't test it myself.

This will not work for vBulletin 4.0, do not try to install it. The VB4 Version is here.

If you used the old version revert your forumdisplay.php file back to it's original condition before installing.

Please Mark as Installed if you use this.

You can mostly ignore all posts in this thread up to post #28. Old posts are not longer relevant to this new version. (Note: post #7 is still relevant if you have only 1 master forum.)

Upgrade to Version 2.1 (March 3, 2011)
Fixes a bug where the master forum wouldn't display as many pages as there were posts.

[F0xy]

any chance of a screenshot or a demo?

[BirdOPrey5]

I attached a couple of screen shots... This is up and running on my forum, www.juot.net, but you need to register to see my main off-topic which is my 'master' forum.

[BirdOPrey5]

OK I made an optional update to this mod...
This will give users the option of turning this mod off if they would rather not see all the forums you've chosen in a 'master' forum. Install this ONLY if you want to give users a choice.

First in Admin CP go to the menu on the left and choose "Add New User Profile Field" under "User Profile Fields."

Choose "Single Selection Radio Box" from the drop down menu...

On the next screen set the following...

Title: All Topic
Description: Use this setting to enable or disable the 'All Topics' system. [or whatever description you want obviously]
Options:

Yes
No

Field Required: Yes, at registration and...
Private/Field Searchable.../Display on... All "No"
Display Page: Options: Thread Viewing
Leave all other settings to default and hit "Save" to create the profile field.

Inform users the option now exists... The code below is designed so even if a user doesn't make a selection it is enabled by default so they only need to change it to 'opt out.'

Now we'll make the forumdisplay.php edits mentioned in the top post of this thread. Make those same edits except change all the IF statements to the one below:

PHP Code:

if (($foruminfo[forumid] == 1) && ($vbulletin->userinfo['field5'] != "No")) 


Replace the number 1 of course with the forumid of your "master" forum... Replace 'field5' with the profile field name that was auto created when added the profile field above. Go to "User Profile Field Manager" to see the name the field was given.

And that's that, you now have an "All Topics" system that can be turned on or off by each member.

[Kolektor]

you know I like this idea

Thanks for sharing.

[BirdOPrey5]

Thanks... I've come up with another add-on / option for this mod...

If you want to edit a thread's title to reflect it is a thread outside of your 'master forum' do the following...

Edit the threadbit template.

Find:

<if condition="$show['sticky']"> <img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/sticky.gif" alt="$vbphrase[sticky_thread]" /> </if>
				</span>
			</if>

After this add:

<if condition="$vbulletin->userinfo['field5'] != 'No'">
<if condition="($foruminfo[forumid] == 1) AND ($thread[forumid] != 1)">[X]</if></if>

Replace the two instances of "1" with the forumid of your master forum. Replace 'field5' with the field name of your opt-in field discussed in post #4 in this thread. If you are not using the opt-in system then instead add the following code:

<if condition="($foruminfo[forumid] == 1) AND ($thread[forumid] != 1)">[X]</if>

You can obviously change "[X]" with any text or code you'd like... in fact I went a step further personally... I have a unique status icon for each of my forums so I used a mini version (18 pixels square) of each icon in place of the [X]. To do this I renamed each icon to be the forumid number of each forum. Then in place of [X] I used:

<img src="/forums/images/ministatus/$thread[forumid].gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

Of course you'd set the directory path to wherever you uploaded your images. Doing this will produce results like in my screen shot (but with your images of course.) I recommend 18x18 pixel graphics so they are the same size as standard text but any size icons will work.

[BirdOPrey5]

One additional change I made that I find works well with a "Master Forum" is to edit your forumjump template to add a 'quick link' back to your 'master forum.' This is because users may be used to using the forum jump menu to quickly return to the forum they were previously browsing, but if they followed a link from your 'master forum' the forum jump menu will send them back to the listing for the forum the thread is 'really' in.

This link can be used to always return users to the 'master forum' in one click and doesn't take up any room on the page that wouldn't otherwise be wasted.

Edit your forumjump template...

Find:

<strong>$vbphrase[forum_jump]</strong><br />

Replace With:

<strong>$vbphrase[forum_jump]: <a href="/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1">Jump to Master Forum</a></strong><br />

As always replace the number "1" with the forumid of your master forum. Edit "Jump to Master Forum" and the file path to suit your needs, I personally used "Jump to Off-Topic"

Screen Shot:

[funmasti]

its great, but can u make a XML (product installation) file?

[BirdOPrey5]

No, unfortunately I don't know how to put php file edits into an xml file, or if it's even possible due to the edits needed... but I give my permission for someone else to do so if they have the know-how.

[ChuteBoxe]

Great mod. Does everything that it says it does, and is rather easy to install.

Only question is, is it possible to break it down to a per thread basis?

Maybe like, posts that are moved from the offtopic forum to the subforum, are the only ones that show in both forums?