php files in the template folder

SpookyET

Does Vanilla actually read the php files in the templates folder when you give it a theme URL in the Account settings? I added some echo statements to the php files, and they don't get outputed. I'm trying to style it to integrate it with http://www.ksuicehockey.com Thank you.

Minisweeper

I'm afraid i cant help directly with your question, but what exactly is it you're trying to output and where? It may be just as well/easy to do it with extensions?

SpookyET

Look at the media link in the menubar. You'll see plogger. I need to output the header, the menu, the scoreboard, the footer, wrap the forum, and style it to match the site.

Minisweeper

Hmm. Well the banner up top on this site is added with an extension so it's possible that thats the most sensible way to do it. But i could be wrong and even so it should be possible with themes.

What have you tried adding with echos? Though i have no idea about much of the theming, i found just chucking a simple echo in the templates/foot.php showed up here at the bottom?

Minisweeper

infact this themeing thing is quite fun. I might have a go at making one myself.

SpookyET

The thing is that if you put that in the vanilla/styles/templates, it works but if i put that in ksuk/styles/templates, it does not.

Minisweeper

Hmm. Just to double check, try swopping the folder names of your style and the vanilla style. If it works with your style then and choosing vanilla (under ksuk) doesnt, theres something bad in the code somewhere.

SpookyET

Of course it works. It looks for the vanilla templates folder.

SpookyET

I think I'll go with PunBB. It's very easy to use and customize. The theme is one css file, and it validates as XHTML 1.0 STrict.

Minisweeper

and what happened if you chose the vanilla style under the ksuk directory?

Minisweeper

Right. I'm not sure why its taken me so long to realise this (and why i didnt know already), but using your own custom style doesnt work atall in 0.9.3. If you add the style as an administrator then select it as choice it will work but entering the path and choosing it wont. /me goes digging to try and find why not.

SpookyET

It didn't work.

Minisweeper

RIGHT. After much mucking around and stupidity i've got a basic understanding of whats going on. Basically, you can set a custom style AS LONG AS you give it a reference in which it can find two folders - css, and images. If you want to JUST make your own style, then hack together some css and images folders, and place them on your server under /path/to/vanilla/themes/vanilla/styles/YOURSTYLENAME/. IF you want to make your own THEME (in this case i believe you do), you need to edit appg/settings.php and change: $Configuration["THEME_PATH"] = "/path/to/vanilla/themes/vanilla/"; to: $Configuration["THEME_PATH"] = "/path/to/vanilla/themes/YOURTHEMENAME/"; You can then create the directory /path/to/vanilla/themes/YOURTHEMENAME/ and under it place styles and templates folders. Then update the style path on the forum settings pages and it SHOULD work. Those instructions dont make much sense and probably seem quite complex but then again it is 3am and tonight is the first time i'd looked at anything to do with styling. In any case, try and follow through my rantings and you should be able to do what you want. If you need any more help just gimme a shout.

Minisweeper

after digging for a couple more minutes i'm absolutely dumbfounded why it took me so long to work all that out. /me blames alcahol

Mark

0.9.3 is still in development, so there are no support docs for it yet.

PunBB is an excellent choice, though. Great forum.

SpookyET

I will use Vanilla in the future. I believe that it is revolutionary and the future of forums. But, for this site, due to the time constraints I have to use PunBB. I'm working on styling it right now. http://www.ksuicehockey.com/forum Once it is done, it will be moved to http://www.ksuicehockey.com/community where Vanilla is now. Thank you all for your help. PS: minesweeper, use the /conf dir; leave appg alone.