Custom Sidebar Panel

cbavota

I may have totally missed this but I feel like I have been searching for hours. How can I customize the sidebar panel. I noticed that on this forum you have a My Profile box. I would like to do something similar. What file must I modify?

Tim

You need to create a plugin that contains a module. Check out the WhosOnline plugin as a good example of this kind of feature.

cbavota

I have to create a whole plugin just to add something to the sidebar panel?

Tim

Well, were is the data going to come from? How is it going to function?

If by "whole plugin" you mean 1 file called default.php with one method called Base_Render_Before() containing maybe 3 lines of code to include the module... then yes. A whole plugin

Tim

On the other hand, if all you want to add is a snippet of HTML or text, you can use Messages to do that.

Dashboard > Messages

cbavota

I'm sorry if I am coming off poorly, but I have been trying to figure out the structure of Vanilla and I feel like the learning curve is pretty steep. The plugin you suggested I look at seemed complex, but I am new to OOP.

All I want to do is add the login form that appears on http://support.bavotasan.com/vanilla/entry/signin to the sidebar panel on the index page where the welcome box is. I would like to have it there instead of appear in the popup. I would also like to do something similar to the My Profile box that is on this site.

cbavota

I seem to be on the right track. I dissected Mark's In This Discussion plugin and was able to add something to the sidebar. Now I need to figure out how to order the items in the sidebar panel and how to call the contents of the module that creates the signin form on this page: http://support.bavotasan.com/vanilla/entry/signin. Any help would be amazing.

Thanks.

Tim

Ordering the modules:
$Configuration['Modules']['Vanilla']['Panel'] = array('NewDiscussionModule', 'SignedInModule', 'GuestModule', 'Ads');

Raize

this is the lazy way to add stuff to the sidebar

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/12861/how-do-i-put-a-google-advertisement-in-the-right-sidebar

cbavota

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I think I figured most of it out, but I still can't get the panel order to change. I have tried modifying the $Configuration['Modules']. I modified it in the config-default.php file. I added it to config.php and tried to modify it there but that also didn't work. What am I missing?

vintprox

True, changing `$Configuration['Modules']['Vanilla']['Panel']` doesn't affect the order and display of modules in the panel asset...

Bug?

R_J

https://open.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/256487#Comment_256487

It has worked some versions ago, so I'd say it is a bug. In the Gdn_Controller there is the following property:

   /**
    * @var string An associative array of assets and what order their modules should be rendered in.
    * You can set module sort orders in the config using Modules.ModuleSortContainer.AssetName.
    * @example $Configuration['Modules']['Vanilla']['Panel'] = array('CategoryModule', 'NewDiscussionModule');
    */
   public $ModuleSortContainer;

The inline documentation suggests that this is the way to achieve a sort, but later on you can find this code:

   public function __construct() {
       ...
       $this->ModuleSortContainer = '';
       ...
   }

And it is not filled anywhere with values from the config before it is used:

   public function getAsset($assetName) {
       if (!array_key_exists($assetName, $this->Assets)) {
           return '';
       }
       if (!is_array($this->Assets[$assetName])) {
           return $this->Assets[$assetName];
       }

       // Include the module sort
       $modules = array_change_key_case(c('Modules', []));
       $sortContainer = strtolower($this->ModuleSortContainer);
       $applicationName = strtolower($this->Application);

       if ($this->ModuleSortContainer === false) {
           $moduleSort = false; // no sort wanted
       } elseif (isset($modules[$sortContainer][$assetName])) {
           $moduleSort = $modules[$sortContainer][$assetName]; // explicit sort
       } elseif (isset($modules[$applicationName][$assetName])) {
           $moduleSort = $modules[$applicationName][$assetName]; // application default sort
       }

Since the $this->ModuleSortContainer is always an empty string, the last if condition will always match and no sort will happen.

To fix this, adding this to your theme/a plugin should recreate the sort method again:

   public function base_render_before($sender) {
       $sender->ModuleSortContainer = Gdn::config('Modules.Vanilla.Panel');
   }