Invision Byte Tutorials

Install a hook

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:22:45 +0000

A very quick article to help those new to IPBoard on how to install a hook, by their nature they are easy to install. Hopefully this short guide should answer any immediate questions.

For the purpose of this, I've chosen a simple hook only example "Members Online Today" as its very easy to install and a popular choice for a lot of communities.

1. Having downloaded the file, extract the .zip:

2. Lets take a look at the contents:

We can see the hook xml file itself and some instructions. I won't duplicate the text from those here but its recommended to check the instructions provided by the author regarding the hooks settings (if applicable) and any other features.

3. We need to upload the hook xml now. Go to your ACP. Click the System tab, then on the left Manage Hooks:

4. On the Manage Hooks page, click the "Install Hook" button:

5. A popup will appear. Browse for and upload the hook xml in the .zip you extracted earlier:

Don't forget to click "Install"

6. The hook may take a few moments to install. Once it has finished you'll see a message similar to this, indicating what it has done:

Scroll down a bit to the list of hooks, and you'll see the hook you just chose has been installed:

7. Having already read the instructions included in the hook (you did read them yes ?) you'll know it has some settings, so on the System tab, click System Settings on the left, then the Hooks tab in the settings list and you'll see the settings for this hook:

8.Lets take a quick look at this hooks settings, they are self explanatory and just adjust as required not forgetting to save them:

Remember not all hooks have settings, always refer to the instructions that accompany a hook or if in doubt ask in its support topic.

9. Now we've set it as we wanted to, we know this hook displays on the board index in the stats (as per the instructions) so lets check our board to see what its done:

As you can see its working. You can return to Manage Hooks to disable and / or install any hook at a future point.

3.2.x Adding 'Member Number' back to Topic View

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:03:03 +0000

Here's a quick article on how to restore the Member Number to topic view.

ACP > Look / Feel > (choose skin) > Manage Templates / CSS > Global Templates > UserInfoPane.

Find...

        
            {parse expression="$this->registry->getClass('class_localization')->formatNumber( intval( $author['posts'] ) )"} {$this->lang->words['m_posts']}

Add this line just before the final tag:

Member:  {$author['member_id']}

You should now hopefully have something like this:

        
            {parse expression="$this->registry->getClass('class_localization')->formatNumber( intval( $author['posts'] ) )"} {$this->lang->words['m_posts']}
        
        
Member Number: {$author['member_id']}

Save.

Quick pic:

3.2.x Disable Fast Reply

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:06:52 +0000

A few people have expressed an interest in removing the fast reply from topic view. Here is a simple skin edit to do that.

Its in two parts as part 1 involves removing the fast reply window and part 2 adds the 'post reply' button to the end of the page, otherwise you'd have to scroll to the top to add a reply.

ACP > Look / Feel > Skin Manager > (choose skin) > Templates / CSS > Topic View > TopicViewTemplate

Part One, remove the fast reply box:

Find...




	
		{$this->lang->words['topic_add_reply']}
		{$this->lang->words['locked_reply_fr']}

		
		
			memberData['member_id']}" seotitle="{$this->memberData['members_seo_name']}" template="showuser" base="public"}" title='{$this->lang->words['your_profile']}' class='ipsUserPhotoLink left'>lang->words['users_photo'],$this->memberData['members_display_name'])"}" class='ipsUserPhoto ipsUserPhoto_medium' />
		
			{IPSMember::buildNoPhoto(0, 'small' )}
		
		
			
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
					
				
				
					{parse expression="implode( '
', $topic['_fastReplyStatusMessage'] )"}
				
				{parse editor="Post" options="array( 'type' => 'full', 'minimize' => 1, 'isTypingCallBack' => 'ipb.topic.isTypingCallBack', 'height' => 180, 'autoSaveKey' => 'reply-' . $topic[tid] )"}
				
				
				
					  			
				
			
		
		
	



	
		{parse template="editorLoadJs" group="editors" params="$displayData['smilies']"}

Comment it out by adding a  to the end (do not remove the code)

Part two, add 'post reply' to the end of the page.

Immediately after the code you have removed, you'll see this line:

<!-- Close topic -->

Add the following code just above that 'close topic' line but after the code you commented out:

	
		
			
				
					
						{parse replacement="lock_icon"} {$this->lang->words['top_poll_only_reply']}
					
						{parse replacement="lock_icon"} {$this->lang->words['top_poll_only']}
					
				
					
						{parse replacement="lock_icon"} {$this->lang->words['top_locked_reply']}
					
						{parse replacement="lock_icon"} {$this->lang->words['top_locked']}
					
				
			
		
			
				
					{$this->lang->words['topic_add_reply']}
				
					{$this->lang->words['top_cannot_reply']}

Save.

Quick pic:

Adjust the log pruning schedule

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:26:15 +0000

IP.Board provides options (System Settings > Advanced > Log Pruning) to enable / disable pruning various logs such as spider logs, database error logs, spam logs etc.

The only issue some administrators may have is that thirty days may be too long, or in some rare cases not enough but again not enough to justify not pruning them.

A simple tweak is possible to adjust the pruning schedule.

Connect via FTP or your hosts file manager and open admin/applications/core/tasks/logprune.php

Around line 34, find...

protected $deleteTime = 2592000;

Replace that line with one of the following, depending on what you require.

14 days

protected $deleteTime = 1209600;

7 days

protected $deleteTime = 604800;

3 days

protected $deleteTime = 259200;

Save the change. The settings description will still indicate 30 days but the actual pruning will take place at the days interval you have specified. , remember this change will effect them all so you may wish to disable any pruning you do not want to occur at that interval.

3.2.x Public polls by default

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:51:48 +0000

Here is a quick, simple tutorial on how to have "Make votes public?" checked by default. This may eliminate the problem of members who do wish to have a public poll but are unable to change it after submitting it.

A small skin edit is required.

ACP > Look / Feel > Skin Manager > (choose skin) > Manage Templates / CSS > Post Screen > Poll Box >

Find...


						checked='checked' />
						{$this->lang->words['poll_fs_public']}

Change to...


						checked='checked' />
						{$this->lang->words['poll_fs_public']}

Save the change. Repeat for other skins if required. Quick pic:

3.2.x Adding joined date to topic view

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:27:32 +0000

Its very easy with a small skin edit to add the joined date back to topic view on 3.2 if you require it.

ACP > Look / Feel > Skin Manager > (choose skin) > Manage Templates / CSS > Global Templates > UserInfoPane

Find...

        
            {parse expression="$this->registry->getClass('class_localization')->formatNumber( intval( $author['posts'] ) )"} {$this->lang->words['m_posts']}

Add this after the tag but before the tag...

{$this->lang->words['m_joined']} {parse date="$author['joined']" format="joined"}

So you end up with this:

        
            {parse expression="$this->registry->getClass('class_localization')->formatNumber( intval( $author['posts'] ) )"} {$this->lang->words['m_posts']}
        
        
{$this->lang->words['m_joined']} {parse date="$author['joined']" format="joined"}

Save. Quick pic:

You might want to add a
tag or suchlike to space it out, but that's essentially it.

3.2.x Adjusting status update numbers

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:39:32 +0000

Here's how to adjust the number of status updates on 3.2.x without any core file edits. This is helpful for those using a hosted community as they will not be able to perform an edit to an otherwise encoded file.

Connect via FTP. Open /conf_global.php. Just above the closing ?> tag, on its own line add:

$INFO['status_sidebar_show_x']            =    '10';

Save the change, adjust the 10 if you prefer a different number. The default if that line is missing is 5.

Note: Ensure that conf_global.php is not writeable after you've re-uploaded it, typically you would CHMOD it to 644 or 444 if possible. Never leave it at 777.

Customize Like Button in 3.2.0

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:02:16 +0000

Maybe many communities need little customization of like button. With this tutoria you can customize colours and texts.

1)Image background erase: upload 2 file attached in your skin images folder

2)Color customization: Look&Feel - manage skin set & template - your skin - css -ipb_stayle.css and find:

	.ipsLikeButton.ipsLikeButton_enabled {
		background: #850600 url({style_images_url}/like_button.png ) no-repeat top left;
		border: 1px solid #850600;
	}

and change the 2 colors code 7B96BB with your preferred color

3)Text customization: Look&Feel - manage language - open your official lang - use search field to find "like_this" - and you can change the text now

Before:

After:

--------------------------------------

Below the 2 images attached

Autocheck 'leave a link' when moving a topic or topics

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:01:54 +0000

Here's a simple article on how to set "Leave a link to the new topic in the source forum?" for both individual and mass moving topics as by default they are both unchecked.

Two small skin edits are needed, the template names are very similar so be careful to not mix them up. , the first one is MoveTopicForm the second is MoveTopicsForm

ACP > Look / Feel > Skin Manager > (choose skin) > Manage Templates / CSS > Moderation > MoveTopicForm

Find...

			
				
				{$this->lang->words['leave_link']}

Change to...

			
				
				{$this->lang->words['leave_link']}

Save the change.

ACP > ACP > Look / Feel > Skin Manager > (choose skin) > Manage Templates / CSS > Moderation > MoveTopicsForm

Find...

			
				
				{$this->lang->words['leave_link']}

Change to...

			
				
				{$this->lang->words['leave_link']}

Again, save the change.

That's it, it should be done. Here's two quick pics although its quite obvious what its done:

Autocheck use first tag as prefix

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:36:22 +0000

Here's a quick and very simple article on how to make the 'Use first tag as prefix' box checked by default to hopefully increase your members use of tags.

Members can uncheck it if they wish, I did consider hiding it but that negates it being there as this way they can opt out of using it if they still wish to use tags, it just serves as a helpful feature.

A tiny skin edit is needed.

ACP > Look / Feel > Skin Manager > (choose skin) > Manage Templates / CSS > Other Global Templates > TagTextEntryBox

Find...


	  checked='checked' /> {$this->lang->words['firsttagprefix']}

Replace with...


	  checked='checked' /> {$this->lang->words['firsttagprefix']}

Save the change. Repeat for other skins if required.

Here's a quick pic anyway: