Recoiling in horror at the complexity of creating templates

jt2011

Active member
Despite all the wonderful features, why is it so complicated to create templates?
I don't want a layout like everyone else and simply changing colors does not make a site original.

PHPBB has a wonderfully simple template system which makes creating completely custom sites a breeze. The reason I do not want to use PHPBB anymore is that it is a resource hog and if you do code customizations they get lost in upgrades.

I bought Xen yesterday and at first I was excited with the awards functions but now I am frustrated as hell at the lack of ease in customizing my site.

Is there a step by step guide to creating custom templates or a tool I can use to compile HTML or PHP pages into Xen compatible code?

As it stands, this software is completely useless to me unless I can change the entire layout and design of the site to exactly the way I need.
 
@floris
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/screencast-creating-xenforo-add-on.694/
it says there
You can go to the admin.php file from XenForo by logging in as a full fledged administrator on the forums. In the top right there should be a link to the administrator control panel. The home tab will have a left sidebar from where you can click on 'list add-ons'. The page that loads will have a button in the top right that says Create new..
I do not have any button called "Create new addon"
is this tutorial for v1.1.2?
Did they move this button or rename it?
The only button on that page is "Install new addon" and when I click it it shows 2 options, to load a file from server or browse for file to install.
 
@DBA
Thanks. the problem with "Create New Template" is that it does not indicate at all how to use what you create.
I'll have a look at the links you provided.

For example, I want to create a new page, and in that new page I want to have a bunch of custom HTML not related to Xen at all. Then I want several columns and in each column it will show recent posts from specific categories.

[normal xen header with tabs................................................]
[custom html goes here..........................................................]
[custom html] [custom html][custom html][custom html]
[cat 1 post list] [cat 2 post list][cat 9 post list][cat 5 post list]
[custom html..........................][custom html........................]
[cat 3 post list] [cat 8 post list][cat 4 post list][cat 6 post list]
[custom html goes here..........................................................]
[normal xen footer with links................................................]
 
@floris
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/screencast-creating-xenforo-add-on.694/
it says there

I do not have any button called "Create new addon"
is this tutorial for v1.1.2?
Did they move this button or rename it?
The only button on that page is "Install new addon" and when I click it it shows 2 options, to load a file from server or browse for file to install.
You have to be in debug mode, add this to the top of your config.php file. (add your own IP address)

PHP:
if($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] == '192.168.1.1')
{
    $config['debug'] = true;
}
 
@DBA
Thanks. the problem with "Create New Template" is that it does not indicate at all how to use what you create.
I'll have a look at the links you provided.
Check out that last link I posted. (y)
For example, I want to create a new page, and in that new page I want to have a bunch of custom HTML not related to Xen at all. Then I want several columns and in each column it will show recent posts from specific categories.
Not saying that this will work for you, but check out the "Create New Page" under the Node Tree.
 
Sorry, was at the grocery store - and got there just in time. Dinner not ruined!

Anyway, yeah, you will have to be in debug mode to do any development on XenForo.
Sorry for not having that more clearly in my tutorials.
 
ok so I followed Floris' tutorial and created an addon that adds columns to the index page.
How do I get a list of threads from 1 forum into one of the columns?

I looked at template: thread_list_item but it is not clear how I can do this
 
You can make a ControllerPublic/Index.php where you handle what you do in Model/Index.php
Which helps you create a $yourResult that you can use in your own template to list on the page.
Such as ..
A class with a public static function that queries the database to get the data you want.

$db = XenForo_Application::get('db');
$userModel = new Xenforo_Model_User;
$yourResult = array();

$TempArray = $db->fetchAll("QUERY_HERE");

Go through the results, and populate the $yourResult to build your array

And end with return $yourResult;

Which in the controllerpublic index file you can use for your actionIndex();

Now that I think of it, there is probably an even easier way to do that. Anyway.
 
@DBA
Thanks. the problem with "Create New Template" is that it does not indicate at all how to use what you create.
I'll have a look at the links you provided.

For example, I want to create a new page, and in that new page I want to have a bunch of custom HTML not related to Xen at all. Then I want several columns and in each column it will show recent posts from specific categories.

[normal xen header with tabs................................................]
[custom html goes here..........................................................]
[custom html] [custom html][custom html][custom html]
[cat 1 post list] [cat 2 post list][cat 9 post list][cat 5 post list]
[custom html..........................][custom html........................]
[cat 3 post list] [cat 8 post list][cat 4 post list][cat 6 post list]
[custom html goes here..........................................................]
[normal xen footer with links................................................]
you could also use the xenforo pages for this;)
http://xenforo.com/help/nodes/
Also this http://xenforo.com/help/html-templates/ could help
 
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