Putting Info Center with recent posts in a center block

[propyl]

Well as a VB coder for the past 15 years I have just started fooling with PHP thanks to SMF and TP and I know just enough to make me very very dangerous.

I can follow php better than I can write it so when this question sounds silly please forgive my ignorance.

I've been trying to jam the info center with recent posts into a Center block. The reason is that the company that I work for just switched from using wowbb that failed on us to SMF. Wowbb actually had a page that showed recent posts very nicely. Much like this the way this mod here does. http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?action=download;mod=1069;id=47069;image

To appease our members that are crying that they miss the wowbb recent page I got to thinking that I could post the info center in a center block and just put a button to it as an article in my nav bar.  Sounds easy enough.

Well, this is where my newness kicks in. I jumped into the Board.template.php and stripped out everything that appeared to be info center related and jammed it into a block. I can get the info center, get the users online, and all of that jazz, but the recent posts come up blank.

I wondered is this a question for the SMF board or the TP board... I honestly wasn't sure. So here I am.

If anyone out there could point me in the right direction as to how to get these posts to show up it would be much appreciated.

[JPDeni]

If it's in a block, it's TP-related.

Could you post your code here -- using the [ code ] tags (the # button on the reply form) -- so we can see what you have? Just the part that deals with recent posts, since that's what you're having trouble with. It might be easier to debug your code than to write it from scratch ourselves. Besides, we can help you to learn about php that way.

[propyl]

Well thanks for no laughing. What I did wasn't much of a magic act thats for sure. I just opened the boardindex.template.php skimmed through it and found the info center area, copied it and pasted it into a php block. After making this post last night I played with it some more and I guess for a lack of better terms, it seems the collection or array that holds these topics or posts is being populated somewhere else? Perhaps the Recent.php? I dunno, I am pretty clueless as to where SMF keeps most of its global variables and arrays. Anyway, here is the info center from the template.

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// Here's where the "Info Center" starts...
echo '<br />
<div class="tborder" ', $context['browser']['needs_size_fix'] && !$context['browser']['is_ie6'] ? 'style="width: 100%;"' : '', '>
<div class="catbg" style="padding: 6px; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; ">
<a href="#" onclick="shrinkHeaderIC(!current_header_ic); return false;"><img id="upshrink_ic" src="', $settings['images_url'], '/', empty($options['collapse_header_ic']) ? 'collapse.gif' : 'expand.gif', '" alt="*" title="', $txt['upshrink_description'], '" style="margin-right: 2ex;" align="right" /></a>
', $txt[685], '
</div>
<div id="upshrinkHeaderIC"', empty($options['collapse_header_ic']) ? '' : ' style="display: none;"', '>
<table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4" class="bordercolor">';

// This is the "Recent Posts" bar.
if (!empty($settings['number_recent_posts']))
{
echo '
<tr>
<td class="titlebg" colspan="2">', $txt[214], '</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="windowbg" width="20" valign="middle" align="center">
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=recent"><img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/icons/recent.gif" alt="', $txt[214], '" /></a>
</td>
<td class="windowbg2">';

// Only show one post.
if ($settings['number_recent_posts'] == 1)
{
// latest_post has link, href, time, subject, short_subject (shortened with...), and topic. (its id.)
echo '
<b><a href="', $scripturl, '?action=recent">', $txt[214], '</a></b>
<div class="smalltext">
', $txt[234], ' &quot;', $context['latest_post']['link'], '&quot; ', $txt[235], ' (', $context['latest_post']['time'], ')<br />
</div>';
}
// Show lots of posts.
elseif (!empty($context['latest_posts']))
{
echo '
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" border="0">';

/* Each post in latest_posts has:
board (with an id, name, and link.), topic (the topic's id.), poster (with id, name, and link.),
subject, short_subject (shortened with...), time, link, and href. */
foreach ($context['latest_posts'] as $post)
echo '
<tr>

                              <td class="middletext" valign="top">(', $post['board']['link'], ') <b>', $post['link'], '</b> ', $txt[525], ' ', $post['poster']['link'], ' ', $txt[30], ' ', $post['time'],'</td>
</tr>';
echo '
</table>';
}
echo '
</td>
</tr>';
}

// Show information about events, birthdays, and holidays on the calendar.
if ($context['show_calendar'])
{
echo '
<tr>
<td class="titlebg" colspan="2">', $context['calendar_only_today'] ? $txt['calendar47b'] : $txt['calendar47'], '</td>
</tr><tr>
<td class="windowbg" width="20" valign="middle" align="center">
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=calendar"><img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/icons/calendar.gif" alt="', $txt['calendar24'], '" /></a>
</td>
<td class="windowbg2" width="100%">
<span class="smalltext">';

// Holidays like "Christmas", "Chanukah", and "We Love [Unknown] Day" :P.
if (!empty($context['calendar_holidays']))
echo '
<span style="color: #', $modSettings['cal_holidaycolor'], ';">', $txt['calendar5'], ' ', implode(', ', $context['calendar_holidays']), '</span><br />';

// People's birthdays. Like mine. And yours, I guess. Kidding.
if (!empty($context['calendar_birthdays']))
{
echo '
<span style="color: #', $modSettings['cal_bdaycolor'], ';">', $context['calendar_only_today'] ? $txt['calendar3'] : $txt['calendar3b'], '</span> ';
/* Each member in calendar_birthdays has:
id, name (person), age (if they have one set?), is_last. (last in list?), and is_today (birthday is today?) */
foreach ($context['calendar_birthdays'] as $member)
echo '
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=profile;u=', $member['id'], '">', $member['is_today'] ? '<b>' : '', $member['name'], $member['is_today'] ? '</b>' : '', isset($member['age']) ? ' (' . $member['age'] . ')' : '', '</a>', $member['is_last'] ? '<br />' : ', ';
}
// Events like community get-togethers.
if (!empty($context['calendar_events']))
{
echo '
<span style="color: #', $modSettings['cal_eventcolor'], ';">', $context['calendar_only_today'] ? $txt['calendar4'] : $txt['calendar4b'], '</span> ';
/* Each event in calendar_events should have:
title, href, is_last, can_edit (are they allowed?), modify_href, and is_today. */
foreach ($context['calendar_events'] as $event)
echo '
', $event['can_edit'] ? '<a href="' . $event['modify_href'] . '" style="color: #FF0000;">*</a> ' : '', $event['href'] == '' ? '' : '<a href="' . $event['href'] . '">', $event['is_today'] ? '<b>' . $event['title'] . '</b>' : $event['title'], $event['href'] == '' ? '' : '</a>', $event['is_last'] ? '<br />' : ', ';

// Show a little help text to help them along ;).
if ($context['calendar_can_edit'])
echo '
(<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=helpadmin;help=calendar_how_edit" onclick="return reqWin(this.href);">', $txt['calendar_how_edit'], '</a>)';
}
echo '
</span>
</td>
</tr>';
}


// Show YaBB SP1 style information...
if ($settings['show_sp1_info'])
{
echo '
<tr>
<td class="titlebg" colspan="2">', $txt[645], '</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="windowbg" width="20" valign="middle" align="center">
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=stats"><img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/icons/info.gif" alt="', $txt[645], '" /></a>
</td>
<td class="windowbg2" width="100%">
<span class="middletext">
', $context['common_stats']['total_posts'], ' ', $txt[95], ' ', $txt['smf88'], ' ', $context['common_stats']['total_topics'], ' ', $txt[64], ' ', $txt[525], ' ', $context['common_stats']['total_members'], ' ', $txt[19], '. ', $txt[656], ': <b> ', $context['common_stats']['latest_member']['link'], '</b>
<br /> ' . $txt[659] . ': <b>&quot;' . $context['latest_post']['link'] . '&quot;</b>  ( ' . $context['latest_post']['time'] . ' )<br />
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=recent">', $txt[234], '</a>', $context['show_stats'] ? '<br />
<a href="' . $scripturl . '?action=stats">' . $txt['smf223'] . '</a>' : '', '
</span>
</td>
</tr>';
}

// "Users online" - in order of activity.
echo '
<tr>
<td class="titlebg" colspan="2">', $txt[158], '</td>
</tr><tr>
<td rowspan="2" class="windowbg" width="20" valign="middle" align="center">
', $context['show_who'] ? '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?action=who">' : '', '<img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/icons/online.gif" alt="', $txt[158], '" />', $context['show_who'] ? '</a>' : '', '
</td>
<td class="windowbg2" width="100%">';

echo '
', $context['show_who'] ? '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?action=who">' : '', $context['num_guests'], ' ', $context['num_guests'] == 1 ? $txt['guest'] : $txt['guests'], ', ' . $context['num_users_online'], ' ', $context['num_users_online'] == 1 ? $txt['user'] : $txt['users'];

// Handle hidden users and buddies.
if (!empty($context['num_users_hidden']) || ($context['show_buddies'] && !empty($context['show_buddies'])))
{
echo ' (';

// Show the number of buddies online?
if ($context['show_buddies'])
echo $context['num_buddies'], ' ', $context['num_buddies'] == 1 ? $txt['buddy'] : $txt['buddies'];

// How about hidden users?
if (!empty($context['num_users_hidden']))
echo $context['show_buddies'] ? ', ' : '', $context['num_users_hidden'] . ' ' . $txt['hidden'];

echo ')';
}

echo $context['show_who'] ? '</a>' : '', '
<div class="smalltext">';

// Assuming there ARE users online... each user in users_online has an id, username, name, group, href, and link.
if (!empty($context['users_online']))
echo '
', $txt[140], ':<br />', implode(', ', $context['list_users_online']);

echo '
<br />
', $context['show_stats'] && !$settings['show_sp1_info'] ? '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?action=stats">' . $txt['smf223'] . '</a>' : '', '
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="windowbg2" width="100%">
<span class="middletext">
', $txt['most_online_today'], ': <b>', $modSettings['mostOnlineToday'], '</b>.
', $txt['most_online_ever'], ': ', $modSettings['mostOnline'], ' (' , timeformat($modSettings['mostDate']), ')
</span>
</td>
</tr>';

// If they are logged in, but SP1 style information is off... show a personal message bar.
if ($context['user']['is_logged'] && !$settings['show_sp1_info'])
{
echo '
<tr>
<td class="titlebg" colspan="2">', $txt[159], '</td>
</tr><tr>
<td class="windowbg" width="20" valign="middle" align="center">
', $context['allow_pm'] ? '<a href="' . $scripturl . '?action=pm">' : '', '<img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/message_sm.gif" alt="', $txt[159], '" />', $context['allow_pm'] ? '</a>' : '', '
</td>
<td class="windowbg2" valign="top">
<b><a href="', $scripturl, '?action=pm">', $txt[159], '</a></b>
<div class="smalltext">
', $txt[660], ' ', $context['user']['messages'], ' ', $context['user']['messages'] == 1 ? $txt[471] : $txt[153], '.... ', $txt[661], ' <a href="', $scripturl, '?action=pm">', $txt[662], '</a> ', $txt[663], '
</div>
</td>
</tr>';
}

// Show the login bar. (it's only true if they are logged out anyway.)
if ($context['show_login_bar'])
{
echo '
<tr>
<td class="titlebg" colspan="2">', $txt[34], ' <a href="', $scripturl, '?action=reminder" class="smalltext">(' . $txt[315] . ')</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="windowbg" width="20" align="center">
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=login"><img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/icons/login.gif" alt="', $txt[34], '" /></a>
</td>
<td class="windowbg2" valign="middle">
<form action="', $scripturl, '?action=login2" method="post" accept-charset="', $context['character_set'], '" style="margin: 0;">
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="center" width="100%"><tr>
<td valign="middle" align="left">
<label for="user"><b>', $txt[35], ':</b><br />
<input type="text" name="user" id="user" size="15" /></label>
</td>
<td valign="middle" align="left">
<label for="passwrd"><b>', $txt[36], ':</b><br />
<input type="password" name="passwrd" id="passwrd" size="15" /></label>
</td>
<td valign="middle" align="left">
<label for="cookielength"><b>', $txt[497], ':</b><br />
<input type="text" name="cookielength" id="cookielength" size="4" maxlength="4" value="', $modSettings['cookieTime'], '" /></label>
</td>
<td valign="middle" align="left">
<label for="cookieneverexp"><b>', $txt[508], ':</b><br />
<input type="checkbox" name="cookieneverexp" id="cookieneverexp" checked="checked" class="check" /></label>
</td>
<td valign="middle" align="left">
<input type="submit" value="', $txt[34], '" />
</td>
</tr></table>
</form>
</td>
</tr>';
}

echo '
</table>
</div>
</div>';


Thanks for the help! It's very very much appreciated! 

[JPDeni]

Is this the whole code that's in your block?

If so, the first thing I see is that you need to set a number of variables as global. Put this at the beginning of your code:

Code Select Expand


global $context, $scripturl, $settings, $options, $txt, $modSettings;


That could likely help.

However, it looks like the best way to get the recent posts is to use the function from SSI.php:

Code Select Expand


ssi_recentPosts();


Take a look at your SSI.php file and see what the options are that you can add.

[propyl]

Well no luck with adding the variables. And I guess I should clarify what I am doing a bit more as far as recent posts goes.

In the first post I made I put a link to an SMF mod that alters the look of the info centers recent posts.

It converts it to a recent topics view with a *new out to the side as well as showing views, replies, board and author.  (like seen in the link in the first post)

The way wowbb was setup was pretty much identical to this only it displayed on its own page vs below the main boards.

So is it safe to say that ssi.php stores many of the globals used throughout smf?

[JPDeni]

Well no luck with adding the variables.

Its the $context variable that's the issue. The recent posts information is stored in there and is defined within the context of the BoardIndex.php file. Probably. I haven't looked at all of the files closely enough to see in which files each variable is defined. But the clue comes from the code you posted:

Code Select Expand


elseif (!empty($context['latest_posts']))


(like seen in the link in the first post)

The way wowbb was setup was pretty much identical to this only it displayed on its own page vs below the main boards.

Could you look at the code from the mod and see if that will give you what you want?

So is it safe to say that ssi.php stores many of the globals used throughout smf?

No. It is a collection of functions that collects data and echos (if desired) various things that people often want.

If you take a look at ssi_recentPosts, you'll see that it collects a whole lot more data than it is designed to echo. If you want to display your recent posts in a different way, you can use something like:

Code Select Expand


$recent_posts = ssi_recentPosts(8,null,'return');


and then use the array $recent_posts to echo whatever you want to show on your page. It's all there in your SSI.php file, but I'll show you what variables to use to get the display that's in the image you originally posted. Assuming you use the code above:

Subject (with link to post) = $recent_posts['link']
Views = (that doesn't seem to be there. Is it vital?)
Board Name (with link to board) = $recent_posts['board']['link]
Author (with link to profile) = $recent_posts['poster']['link']
Date = $recent_posts['time']

[propyl]

You know what, I pulled a happy monday this morning even though its wednesday.

I copied and pasted you the wrong code.

Code Select Expand

global $context, $settings, $options, $txt, $scripturl, $modSettings;





// Here's where the "Info Center" starts...
echo '<br />
<div class="tborder" ', $context['browser']['needs_size_fix'] && !$context['browser']['is_ie6'] ? 'style="width: 100%;"' : '', '>
<div class="catbg" style="padding: 6px; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; ">
<a href="#" onclick="shrinkHeaderIC(!current_header_ic); return false;"><img id="upshrink_ic" src="', $settings['images_url'], '/', empty($options['collapse_header_ic']) ? 'collapse.gif' : 'expand.gif', '" alt="*" title="', $txt['upshrink_description'], '" style="margin-right: 2ex;" align="right" /></a>
', $txt[685], '
</div>
<div id="upshrinkHeaderIC"', empty($options['collapse_header_ic']) ? '' : ' style="display: none;"', '>
<table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4" class="bordercolor">';

// This is the "Recent Posts" bar.
if (!empty($settings['number_recent_posts']))
{
echo '
<tr>
<td class="titlebg" colspan="2">', $txt[214], '</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="windowbg" width="20" valign="middle" align="center">
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=recent"><img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/post/xx.gif" alt="', $txt[214], '" /></a>
</td>
<td class="windowbg2">';

// Only show one post.
if ($settings['number_recent_posts'] == 1)
{
// latest_post has link, href, time, subject, short_subject (shortened with...), and topic. (its id.)
echo '
<b><a href="', $scripturl, '?action=recent">', $txt[214], '</a></b>
<div class="smalltext">
', $txt[234], ' "', $context['latest_post']['link'], '" ', $txt[235], ' (', $context['latest_post']['time'], ')<br />
</div>';
}
// Show lots of posts.
elseif (!empty($context['latest_posts']))
{
echo '
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="100%" border="0">
           <tr>
               <td class="catbg2" style="text-align:left;" colspan="2">', $txt[70] ,'</td>
               <td class="catbg2" style="text-align:center;">', $txt[110] ,'</td>
               <td class="catbg2" style="text-align:center;">', $txt[301] ,'</td>
               <td class="catbg2" style="text-align:center;">', $txt[20] ,'</td>
               <td class="catbg2" style="text-align:center;">', $txt[29] ,'</td>
               <td class="catbg2" style="text-align:right;">', $txt[317] ,'</td>
             </tr>';


/* Each post in latest_posts has:
board (with an id, name, and link.), topic (the topic's id.), poster (with id, name, and link.),
subject, short_subject (shortened with...), time, link, and href. */
$cnt = 0;
foreach ($context['latest_posts'] as $post){
         $cnt++;
         $class = ($cnt % 2) ? 'windowbg' : 'windowbg2';
         
        echo '
<tr>
                <td class="', $class, '"><img src="', $post['icon'] , '" alt="" /></td>
<td class="', $class, '"" title="', $post['preview'] ,'">', $post['link'], '</td>
                <td class="', $class, '"" style="text-align:center;">', $post['replies'], '</td>
<td class="', $class, '"" style="text-align:center;">', $post['views'], '</td>
                <td class="', $class, '"" style="text-align:center;">',$post['board']['link'], '</td>
                <td class="', $class, '"" style="text-align:center;">',$post['poster']['link'], '</td>
<td class="', $class, '"" style="text-align:right;" nowrap="nowrap">', $post['time'], '</td>
</tr>';
       }

echo '
</table>';
}
echo '
</td>
</tr>';
}




This is what I am using and come to find out it works on the Home page as long as the forum shows on the home (which mine does right now). However viewing it stand alone as an article it does not.

You are right about the context. I will try and chase it down, if that doesnt work I'll try your idea for the ssi functions. I feel smarter already... well sorta. lol 

Thanks for baby sitting!

[propyl]

okay, so digging around it appears that BoardIndex.php is where its all happening. I tried to use require_once($sourcedir . '/Recent.php'); and require_once($sourcedir . '/BoardIndex.php'); to see if that would load the collection but then I started getting errors lol.

I think I am getting closer though.

[propyl]

lol im an idiot. this guys already got it figured out on page 38

http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php?topic=596.0