Hi there;

I'm looking for some additional information on the advanced layout options, specifially a full list of every single <!-- command --> that is available to be used when defining page layouts.

I'm not sure if that comes across entirely clear, but let me give an example; I am delving into the complete customization of my site right now, and as such, I have reset my site to a base layout (have no drop in templates loaded) to save all the layout and menu page files for customization. Specifically I was dealing with the news page today, downloaded the news page file that was available in the administration console, and opened it up in notepad to take at look at its code. Within the layout code for the news page there are classes such as

<!--News:StartNewsSection:5-->
<!--News:StartNewsPost-->

etc, etc.

but for the life of me after spending a day poking around in the forums of dkpsystem.com I cannot find a list of all commands and elements.

Basically, I'm looking to create a custom news page that only contains elements that I want to use, not just the options available within the admin console under

http://<subdomain>.dkpsystem.com/adminnews.php

as the drop down options presented on this page I really don't want, I would prefer to simply have news page that has two colums, the news posts, and a recent list side by side.

If there is a list of the commands that I could use to create a custom "Recent posts" list that would work as well, but I can't find that either.

If anyone could provide extra information on the construction of a "recent posts" list it would be greatly appreciated.

<edit
oh yeah, not sure if this is possible or not, but I would appreciate it is someone could provide a complete list of every single tag available within the system, as an example, I have attached the news page file that I downloaded from my site today, note the tags, <!--NewsPost:Comments-->, <!--News:IfCanPost-->, etc etc. I can find the list of the system and menu tags in the guides, but there is no mention of these 'news' tags, I'm sure there must be other tags on other pages that I have yet to get into, but a complete list of all the systems available tags and what they are for would be super thanks if you can help out
end edit>


Cheers!
~Clearphoenix
(web admin for Krush:Wildhammer:US http://krush.dkpsystem.com )

While there isn't a complete or comprehensive list of the commands for those Advanced Layout Options (and I'm sorry for that), I can direct you to all the layout files used for each section:

News Page:
News Only: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/4/news.html
Side by Side: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/11/news.html
Simple with Welcome: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/10/news.html
Standard: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/12/news.html
Two Above: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/14/news.html
Two Below: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/15/news.html


Forum Thread List (the index that shows the list of threads):
Flat: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/9/threadlist.html
Standard: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/2/threadlist.html
Like-Digg: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/8/threadlist.html


Forum Thread View (an individual thread view):
Minimalist: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/5/thread.html
Simple: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/7/thread.html
Standard: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/1/thread.html
Vertical: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/6/thread.html


Classic Mode:
Standard: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/3/classic.html
Alternative: http://www.dkpsystem.com/settings/www/forumlayout/13/classic.html


A quick bit about the News layout commands. You'll see commands like

<!--News:Section:Post,Guide,Blog:5-->
and
<!--News:Section:Gallery:2x1-->

But those can actually be overwritten by the "customize" link. As written in the code, they are just suggestions.

If you have any questions though, please let me know. The forum is getting a massive overhaul and might be getting some more commands, plus the normal Advanced Layout Options are getting some new commands (to allow to dynamic drop down menus, as some guilds do manually - see sanctumguild.dkpsystem.com). So I've held off a bit on adding the commands since they COULD possibly change. I'm doing everything I can to ensure backward compatibility, but I just want to make sure you're aware.

For the most part, you should be alright (especially since the news isn't getting an update in the immediate future).

But anyway, ask me if you need any help or get confused. It'll help me with documentation :)

Thank you very much Chops all those should do nicely.

Let me ask one other question while I'm here; before I spend hours trying to make this work and pulling my hair out, am I able to create a news page that has two columns, but only contains one of the customizable drop-ins?

Such that, the "Welcome" message is at the top, the news is on the left, and there is the column on the right but it only contains 1 element rather then 3?

The standard "Side by Side" layout, but with only the recent posts module on the right side rather then 3 modules?


I appreciate the info with regards to the potential changes for the menu system, I was going to code a javascript menu for that exact purpose so the implementation of that will be a great time saver, is there any idea about a timeline for the upgrades?

Absolutely. That would be perfectly reasonable. I would imagine that would work best with something like <!--News:Section:Gallery:1x8--> on the right.

As for a timeline, the best I can offer is "soon". The functionality is pretty much mostly done on the development machine, but as with all Advanced Layout Options commands, I want to build a template along with the feature to make sure it works for practical purposes.

Fantastic, Thanks Chops.

I must say I am throughly impressed with your timely responces in the forums.

Keep up the amazing work!

Ok, just a few last items

Did a simple mod to the news layout page, I have it attached.
All I did was remove 2 of the 'div' sections from the right column, after uploading the file, and testing it, the news page does show with only 1 element in the right column (granted in the test view it shows the gallery for some reason when the code is specified as recent posts) but once I set it to go live, I go back to the news page only to find that I have all 3 right column elements back.

Is there some step I'm missing in this process? why would the test show me exactly what I was looking for, and then once it is set to go live it's like nothing was even uploaded.

Another question as well, can I call the news tags in the default layout file, or any other file for that matter? simply put, I took the main page layout which contains the "top stats" element, took out the "popular threads" tag, and inserted the <!--News:Section:Guide,Post,Blog--> tag, as we have no use for the "popular threads" and would rather include the "recent posts" in the page header, but this yielded no results.
I must assume that there are limitations to calling said tags depending on the page it is in correct? Is there any way around this, if that is the case?

Yup, your last step (it's not obvious, and that needs fixing), is to head to Admin > General Settings > News, then choose your new layout from the drop down box at the top.

That method of changing is a remnant of when the site supported users setting their own preferred method on a per-user basis.

As for your Recent Threads issue, I'll have to look into adding <!--System:RecentPosts--> tag that works like the <!--System opularThreads--> tag, since it looks like that was never implemented (oddly).

Chops, you sir are fantastic!
Again, I must give you props on your responce time to my issues, I can't thank you enough for your assistance.

Chops;

just wanted to give you another thanks to all the work you do here, it most certainly makes it so much easier for us

I just wanted to drop another post in here, mainly for the purpose of saying, take a peek at what I have been able to build thus far with the amazing customization ability that you give to us.

One of the main reasons why I chose to use DKPsystem.com as my hosting service was due to the features and access that you provide. The other reason was that your site gave me the power to build what I wanted, rather then just filling out information in some static page. It also gave me the opportunity to teach myself how to use CSS/HTML and I must say it was far easier to figure out and learn then I had expected, and offers some amazing power.

This may not be the greatest place to post my comments on your service, but I wanted there to be some reference as well to the amazing help that you provide as well.

Thanks again for all your hard work

Wow! I'm impressed. Great unique look on your site. Always makes my day to see someone take the (admittedly sometimes rather limited) tools and do something very creative with them.

Hopefully with some of the new changes I'll be pushing along, you'll be able to customize even further