Don't get it yet :>

[ncangler]

Okay, I'm usually pretty good at learning something new but I am really having a hard time figuring out how to create a new module or to add a cmps setup to a vBulletin page. Can someone explain to me the steps necessary to do the following three things:

1) create a new page with my vba links on the left side of the page and statistics/poll on the right side for my "Links" homepage.

2) to create a center column at top window called "Reel News", where I can post announcements or articles to, that cannot have reply posts, they are just announcements that I can upload. Do I set up a forum that shows up here or is there a way to do it so that it is only seen in this window on the main page?

3) change the name of the NEWS ARCHIVE to "News Pond Archive" and Title News articles "The News Pond". Possible?

If I'm asking too much, please forgive me. I figured if I could see the steps to doing these three things I might see the light.

I apologize for being so dense. I promise to contribute something to this forum someday!

[bi11i]

I'm still unclear on how to use the News and News Archive features of this as well. There's not much documentation on it - anyone...?

[mholtum]

You set your news up by the ID number of the thread and then you can display as many items in the middle as you wish

[ncangler]

My news is working. In item (2) I am looking for how to create a custom messages block using the Custom Page Content (I guess).

[mholtum]

in admincp/ CMPS

[Brian]

Have you taken a look at the users maunal available in the Members' Area here?

[ncangler]

I have Brian. That is why I am embarrassed to say I don't get it. :> Maybe it is the medication I'm on (been home sick). I had posted an earlier email that I am more of a visual learner. I know you guys don't have time to hand hold folks through this but it sure be great to have an online training seminar like Macromedia does so folks could actually watch you create the modules, templates and pages. Or even a simple video tutorial would be great. I hate to monkey with the system too much without knowing for sure what I'm doing. I know I'll have that eureka moment when I see it done. Thanks for all your support.

[bi11i]

i have - it doesn't tell me all that much in what i'm wanting to know. i'm trying to compare what i have to your current front page. How did you get the Tsunami appeal window up there? Where does the news archive come from? Are those simply older posts in the forum i've specified to be my news forum?

[KW802]

Originally Posted by bi11i

How did you get the Tsunami appeal window up there?

It's just a static module. http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4646

Originally Posted by bi11i

Where does the news archive come from? Are those simply older posts in the forum i've specified to be my news forum?

The news archives is coming from the forums that you've specified in the CMPS settings. Yes, they are just older posts than the X that you specified to be shown.

[ncangler]

But where do you edit/create the static template? I'm assuming it uses the "Custom Page Content" module but where do you put the content to make it appear mid-screen at the top? I'm waiting for that eureka moment!

[KW802]

NCAnger, don't get too frustrated... it's a lot for somebody to learn because there are a lot of options. Let's take things one step at a time....

For Tsunami template, do you want it on multiple CMPS pages or just one?

[ncangler]

The tsunami page is similar to what I'm trying to do in item #2 in my top post. If I can figure out how to create a static page like that (again I assume that is the Custom Content module?) and how/where to input the actual content to have it show up there, item #2 would be taken care of and it might actually click. Thanks for your help.

[KW802]

Originally Posted by ncangler

The tsunami page is similar to what I'm trying to do in item #2 in my top post. If I can figure out how to create a static page like that (again I assume that is the Custom Content module?) and how/where
to input the actual content to have it show up there, item #2 would be taken care of and it might actually click. Thanks for your help.

[OK, I see that Brian beat me to the response as I was typing this but after I typed all this I'm going to post it anyway. ]

OK, let's take a simple approach to this to some static content that will appear on one page......

Step #1: Create a new template

ACP --> Styles & Templates --> Style Manager --> {choose the default parent style} --> Add New Template

Title = adv_portal_tsunami_aid

Tempate =

<table class="tborder" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" align="center">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tcat" width="100%">Tsunami Disaster Appeal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1">As the death toll from the South-East Asian earthquake / tsunami tops 100,000, we would like to encourage all of our visitors to make a donation to the appeal for aid to help the relief efforts in the affected countries. To donate using a credit card, you may click the image to the right, or you can find a large number of organizations who can accept donations on this <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4131881.stm" target="_blank">BBC news page</a> or this <a href="http://www.google.com/tsunami_relief.html" target="_blank">Aid Agencies List</a> on Google.</td>
<td width="162" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><a href="http://www.dec.org.uk" target="_blank"><img src="/tsunami_donate.gif" width="130" height="130" border="0"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<br />

Save the template.

Step #2: Create a new page

ACP --> vBa CMPS --> Add Page

Page Title = Tsunami Aid

Page Identifier = tsunami

Page Template = adv_portal_tsunami_aid

Custom Style For This Page = {make sure this is listed as "Use Default Style" -- You might have a need for it later but, trust me on this, for now make it sure says "Use Default Style" and NOT "Default Style"}

Modules Enabled = You can always turn stuff off & on later but for now left everything in your left column as is. In the middle column turn off everything but the "Custom Page Content" option. In the right column turn off everything.

Usergroups = Just leave everything turn on for now. Again, you can always tweak it later if need be.

Advanced Options.... = Just leave everything from this point down as is, there is no need to change any of these options for what we want.

Save the page.

Step #3: Just one minor thing left to do...

Go to http://www.vbadvanced.com

Save a copy of the Tsunami picture and then upload it to the root of your web server.

OK, you're all done. Now go to http://www.ncangler.com/?page=tsunami and you should see something like this. If you don't then check your changes above and let us know what the results are.

[ncangler]

hi guys. I just got back online. Thank you both so much for stepping me through this. Two words come to mind. "Duh!" and "Eureka!" I finally understand and yes it is very simple. Three elements: templates, modules and pages. The templates contain the content, the modules create the formatted environment for the content to show up "within" and the pages determine how the modules are positioned on the screen. Is that close?

One problem though. The content did not show up. I checked and the template was created in the "custom templates" group instead of within vBadvanced CMPS Templates. Would that matter?

Next question, if I create a new page for my Links page and want the Links content to show up on the left side of the screen and the other modules I want to use to show up on the right side of the screen, at what point to I have to designate which items are active in that page and are located on the right side?

And finally, is there a way to create a Custom Content Module that "steps" through several snippets of announcements holding on each for a determined amount of time? I'm really asking for a lot now aren't I!

You guys are really awesome for taking time to help me understand this. Thank you!

[Brian]

When you add a new page you will see an option called 'Page Template'. Say you want to create a rules page. You would create a new template called 'forum_rules' (just for example). You would add the content you want to be displayed in that template, then add 'forum_rules' in the 'Template to Include' field on that page. Then that content will show up in the 'Custom Page Content' module. This module is basically there so that you can easily create numerous pages that will include a specified template.
If you want a module that can be shown on multiple pages, or just something to display on the homepage, you create a new template called 'adv_portal_tsunami' (using the tusnami module as an example). Note that it must have the prefix 'adv_portal_'. Then you go to 'Add Module' and use 'tusnami' for the 'Template to Include' option. The only other options on that page that you need to specify are the 'Module Title', 'Active', 'Column', and 'Display Order', which should be pretty self explanitory.

[bi11i]

i think i'm slowly getting this - i'm still confused as to what the 'Custom Page Content' module via the CMPS Default Settings is all about. Does this link to something? Is this precisely what you're speaking of in the walk-through above?

I think I've got it now, when it comes to the modules, less the understanding of Custom Page Content module. How would I edit this?

Thanks for your documentation above - it's definitely helping.

[KW802]

Originally Posted by bi11i

i think i'm slowly getting this - i'm still confused as to what the 'Custom Page Content' module via the CMPS Default Settings is all about. Does this link to something? Is this precisely what you're speaking of in the walk-through above?

I think I've got it now, when it comes to the modules, less the understanding of Custom Page Content module. How would I edit this?

Thanks for your documentation above - it's definitely helping.

Ever type a real long response out and then accidentally hit a key on keyboard and your browser screen gets refreshed wiping out your much thought out response? Man, that's annoying. Here's a quick recap of what my original response would've been.....

Think of Custom Page Content as being a generic module. Now that may not help you too much unless you're familiar with modules so think about this: After the tsunami example above was done on your site how would you then add the same content to multiple pages? One answer might be to use the Custom Page Content on every page to associate the page to the adv_portal_tsunami_aid template but what if your page was already using the Custom Page Content for something else? That's where a module comes in. We would create a new module named something (eg: "Tsunami Aid") and then associate that module to the adv_portal_tsunami_aid template. After we saved the module then we would go into each of the pages that we want to display the new tsunami module on and turn on the module for those pages. That's it, you're done!

What we did with the module was to associate our content (the template) to a module and then we associated the module to each of the pages that we wanted to display the content on. Now, coming back to the Custom Page Content thing.... what if we really needed to display our content (the template) on just one page, isn't creating a single template associated to a single module associated to a single page overkill? Yes. For that reason Brian created a generic module called Custom Page Content that allows you to bypass having to create a new module for your one-off page.

To expound upon that, let's say that you want to create several new pages with static content in them. The static content should always appear in the middle column at the top. OK, no problem. The first thing we would do is look at the properties of the Custom Page Content module and make sure that it is configured to be in the center at the top. The second thing we would do is create our templates that contain our content. Finally we would create a page for each of the new content templates that we created and on those pages turn on the Custom Page Content module. You're done! If, for example, you created three pages the module method would've required you to create three templates associated to three modules associated to three pages. Using the Custom Page Content method you instead created three templates associated to three pages without having to create the three modules.

Rule of thumb: For quick down & dirty static content pages the Custom Page Content method is the way to go. For content that needs to be more flexible or should appear on multiple pages then the module method is usually the better choice.

Hopefully my rambling didn't cloud anybody's thinking further.

[Brian]

When you add a page, you can specify a template name in the 'Template to Include' option. If a template is specified there, then your 'Custom Page Content' module will output that specified template.

[bi11i]

hi guys. I just got back online. Thank you both so much for stepping me through this. Two words come to mind. "Duh!" and "Eureka!" I finally understand and yes it is very simple. Three elements: templates, modules and pages. The templates contain the content, the modules create the formatted environment for the content to show up "within" and the pages determine how the modules are positioned on the screen. Is that close?

hey, you just made this clear as day, even to me! that snipped should be cut and paste straight to the documentation, no?

[ncangler]

hi bi11i. I'm glad my explanation was clear (I wasn't sure myself :>). It would seem that once a template is created and a module identified you would only need to cut and paste the content you want into the template and the existing page would be updated with the new information. Thank goodness Brian created the Custom Content module so we don't have to do everything in sets of three!

Now if I could just get the example that made sense to actually show up!