Topic: Portal block question

[DollarSRV]

* SMF 2.X RC3
* SimplePortal 2.3.2
* http://www.gamingmayhem.smffy.com

I want to make a block on the portal with a welcome message such has  Welcome to my forum username where it says username is there a bbcode or html code to use that will fetch that members name to the block.

PS i'm using a free host so dont have access to any files

[Nathaniel]

Use a custom php block, below is an example:

Code: [Select]

global $user_info;
?>

Welcome to my forum, <?php echo $user_info['name']; ?>.

<?php
You can put any html code in there, as long as its not within the "<?php PHP code goes here ?>" tags.

[DollarSRV]

I cant i dont have that option i only can add html or bb blocks as i'm using a free host do you no if a mod exists for custom php blocks so i can ask my host to install it for me.

[Nathaniel]

Custom PHP blocks are a default feature in SimplePortal. I am guessing that your host has purposefully disabled them. If your host is restricting your usage of SimplePortal in that way, I would suggest that you seriously consider finding a less restrictive free host. There are plenty of free hosts where you can setup SMF with SimplePortal (or any other mods that you want for that matter), without such mundane restrictions. If you are using a service that lets you easily setup SMF and SimplePortal, but then you can't customize them, it seems pointless imo. Installing SMF + SP on a free host is fairly easy anyway, as SMF has good installation docs and a support forum.

I would also like to point out that using a free host doesn't necessarily mean that you can't access your forum's files (in fact, free hosts generally give people access to their own files). Essentially, you're losing customizability for ease of setup and maintenance. Although if you aren't worried about customizability, and just want a stock forum, then its much easier to let someone else worry about SMF/SP installation.

If you want to request a mod, then feel free to post a request in the Mod Requests board. Although, if your host specifically denies you the use of the default Custom PHP block, I find it highly unlikely that they will allow you to install a mod that gives you similar access. A better solution might be to alter the Custom BBC or HTML blocks, so that certain tags are replaced by the current user's name. (eg. "{username}" gets replace by the current user's name)

[DollarSRV]

Ok thanks for your advice on this  I did start using a freehost to learn how smf works has it was my first time using smf forums and did'nt know anything about them. I have learned a lot other the last few months of people like yourself and will probley get my own paid host soon then will pretty much be able to mod it how i would like. Once again thanks

[deansmar]

after reading this thread, your using a fee host to test and find out if SMF and SP is for you....

then i have another thought;

why not set up a SMF and SP environment on your own local computer using XAMPP or WAMP then you would have no restriction at all.

one can read more about
WAMP  here
or
XAMPP  here

[DollarSRV]

Thanks for that but i downloaded WAMP installed so how would i get smf to work on it (BE AWARE I'M A NOOB) and not got a clue how it works.

[Nathaniel]

SMF has some good documentation: http://docs.simplemachines.org/

You will need to download the SMF package, then extract the contents into WAMP's http directory/its directory for local web files. Then you can follow the SMF installation documentation.

[DollarSRV]

Ok thanks alot guys.

- Solved