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3.5.6 efiction version

Jimako authored on 2024/03/09 16:09:42
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docs/creating_blocks.htm
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+<html>
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+
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+<head>
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
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+<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
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+<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
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+<title>Creating Blocks</title>
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+</head>
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+
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+<body>
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+
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+<h2 align="center">Creating Blocks</h2>
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+<p>For those that want to create their own blocks to share with others or just
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+  tweak the ones included already, here's the basics.&nbsp; There are two files
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+  needed for each block: blockname.php an init.php.&nbsp; Technically, if you
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+  added the block manually, you wouldn't need the init.php file.&nbsp; It is only
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+  used when the block is first initialized, and can be deleted afterward.&nbsp;
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+  Though I would suggest keeping a backup somewhere, just in case.</p>
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+<p>The init.php file is very simple composed simply of a mysql statement that
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+  adds the block tot he database.&nbsp; As in the example below.</p>
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+<p>&lt;?php<br>
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+  dbquery(&quot;INSERT INTO &quot;.TABLEPREFIX.&quot;fanfiction_blocks(`block_name`,
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+  `block_title`, `block_status`, `block_file`, `block_variables`) VALUES('categories',
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+  'Main Categories', '0', 'categories/categories.php', '');&quot;);<br>
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+  ?&gt;</p>
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+<p>This also shows the basic parameters needed for a block: name, title, status,
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+  file, and variables.&nbsp; The title can be an empty string if you don't need
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+  a title for that particular block. If the block doesn't need any variables,
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+  that too can be left empty. The file should be a subfolder/file of the blocks
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+  folder for the sake of consistency. The status should generally start off as
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+  0 for inactive.&nbsp; There are 3 status options for blocks: </p>
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+<div align="center">
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+  <center>
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+  <table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
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+  style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111">
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+    <tr>
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+      <th colspan="2">Status</th>
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+      <th>&nbsp;Associated .tpl file</th>
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+      <th>Appears</th>
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+    </tr>
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+    <tr>
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+      <td>0</td>
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+      <td>Inactive</td>
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+      <td>The block is off. </td>
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+      <td>nowhere</td>
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+    </tr>
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+    <tr>
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+      <td>1</td>
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+      <td>Active</td>
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+      <td>The block is on.</td>
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+      <td>anywhere</td>
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+    </tr>
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+    <tr>
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+      <td>2</td>
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+      <td>Index only</td>
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+      <td>index page only.</td>
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+      <td>anywhere on the index page.</td>
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+    </tr>
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+    </table>
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+  </center>
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+</div>
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+<p>&nbsp; </p>
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+<p>Any default configuration you want for the block can be included in the init.php
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+  as well.&nbsp; The variables are an array encoded using PHP's serialize function.
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+  For instance, the categories block currently has two options: one column and
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+  multiple columns.&nbsp; The default is a single column lists.&nbsp; If I were
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+  to change the init file as follows, the default would then become a multiple
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+  column list.</p>
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+<p>&lt;?php<br>
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+  dbquery(&quot;INSERT INTO &quot;.TABLEPREFIX.&quot;fanfiction_blocks(`block_name`,
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+  `block_title`, `block_status`, `block_file`, `block_variables`) VALUES('categories',
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+  'Main Categories', '0', 'categories/categories.php', '&quot;.serialize(array(&quot;columns&quot;
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+  =&gt; &quot;1&quot;)).&quot;');&quot;);<br>
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+  ?&gt;</p>
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+<p> When you change any of the settings for the blocks from the admin panel the
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+  information stored in the database about the block is updated.</p>
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+<p>The block.php file creates the content that is placed inside the {blockname_content}
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+variable.&nbsp; This content is placed inside a variable $content which is then
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+assigned to {blockname_content}&nbsp; So a very simple example of a block would
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+be:</p>
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+<p>&lt;?php<br>
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+$content = &quot;Hello World!&quot;;<br>
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+?&gt;</p>
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+<p>There are two other optional files.&nbsp; The first is an admin file which
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+will be called from the admin panel to make changes to the settings in the
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+block.&nbsp; Creating one of those is for another day. </p>
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+<p>The second file (or multiple files) is a language file that defines any text
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+you use in your block.&nbsp; These files take the same format as the main
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+language file in the languages folder and are named similarly.&nbsp; So for
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+instance, an English language file would be named en.php.&nbsp; For Spanish, it
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+would be es.php. </p>
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+<p>Most often, you might need to define some wording for your admin.php file.&nbsp;
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+If you need to add a language file, use the following code in either admin.php
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+or blockname.php</p>
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+<p>if(file_exists(&quot;blocks/categories/{$language}.php&quot;)) include_once(&quot;blocks/categories/{$language}.php&quot;);</p>
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+<p>The if(...) isn't technically necessary, but it will prevent errors if the
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+  file ends up missing.&nbsp; For instance, the site's language is set to Russian,
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+  but the block doesn't have a Russian translation.&nbsp; You might also want
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+  to include an else statement to load a default language file you have created
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+  if the site's chosen language is missing.</p>
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+<p>if(file_exists(&quot;blocks/categories/{$language}.php&quot;)) include_once(&quot;blocks/categories/{$language}.php&quot;);<br>
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+  else include_once(&quot;blocks/categories/en.php&quot;);</p>
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+<p>To keep your block files secure from hackers you are strongly encouraged to
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+  include this line at the top of each file just under the &lt;?php</p>
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+<p>if(!defined(&quot;_CHARSET&quot;)) exit( );</p>
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+<p>&nbsp;</p>
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+</body>
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+
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+</html>
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