Upgrading to 3.7 Skin Question

**ctfortner** · 05-02-2008, 06:52 AM

Hello all, wanted to pick some brains.

My current setup is:

VB 3.68
VBSEO 3.1
ReviewPost
Free skin (modified somewhat) from here

I have read till I am blue in the face about upgrading, templates, etc.. I still am not 100% cozy.

Is there a way I can tell if my skin will work, or do you just have to try it? I worked a lot on trying to get this skin to match the colors of my site, and just really dont want to go back to the old blue style. So I fear that I upgrade, then the skin wont work and I have to use something else that doesnt match my colors at all.

Can I look at my admincp for whats been modified and what hasnt, and then judge from that how hard the upgrade will be, or is it not that easy?

I have about 10-12 mods installed as well, most of which I could live without if need be, or update if its available. The main concern I have is just getting updated to 3.7 and then worry about mods later.

I do plan to use blogs and groups as well, if that makes any difference. And I plan to use all the social bookmarking features.

I would appreciate any advice, suggestions, help etc...

Thanks,

**glennybee** · 05-02-2008, 07:51 AM

Most of your mods will still work when you upgrade to 3.7.0. If there's one or two that don't, remove them and there's probably been new mods added to the 3.7.0 section on vb.org.

The skin...well....I've just done the same for my site. Best thing to do it, create a default style after you upgrade, then you know everything will work.

On your current skin, go to admin cp, styles and templates, style manager and look at the 'StyleVars' and 'Main CSS' for the skin. This is where the main modifications are.

I've upgraded by test forum to 3.7.0 and managed to change the default skin to look like my modified skin on my main 3.6.10 forum. Always best to try things out on your test forum first. If you don't have a test forum, go to vb.com and so a search for 'testvb'.

**Ross** · 05-02-2008, 07:57 AM

*edit* Looks like I got beaten to the post.... Must type faster lol

Hi,

There is a lot of template changes between 3.6.8 and 3.7.0, so not all the features in 3.7.0 will work straight out of the box. I would recommend downloading this WinMerge. This tool will highlight the differences between the templates. For example, you put your 3.6.8 header template in the left hand side and the default themes header from 3.7.0 then press refresh. This will then show you the differences between the two templates. This will save you a lot of time as it searches for the changes itself, instead of having to do it manually.

As for mods, you *could* come up again conflicts with the new "security tokens" in 3.7.0. I would suggest installing this Security Token Notification - vBulletin.org Forum this modification will tell you when there is an error with a security token. A bit more information on the new security tokens can be found here (Implementing CSRF Protection in modifications - vBulletin.org Forum), along with information how to apply the CSRF protection to modifications.

I hope this helps answering some of your questions.

Ross

**ctfortner** · 05-02-2008, 07:59 AM

Thanks for the info glennybee. I do not have a test forum, sounds like I should do that to be safe.

So, you mean I should do the upgrade, and just use the default skin first, to know everything works correctly. Then behind the scenes, work on using a new skin to match what I need.

So what happens when you upgrade? I have 4 skins right now, does it copy them into 3.7, or how does that work? It would be nice if I upgraded and it gave me a defauly 3.7 skin that 100% worked, but also copied over my current skin that I could mess with see if it will work.

**ctfortner** · 05-02-2008, 08:02 AM

We must have been typing at the same time, I saw this one after I replied.

I will check those tools out, thanks. I will see if you have any thoughts on my previous post I just made.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross

*edit* Looks like I got beaten to the post.... Must type faster lol

Hi,

There is a lot of template changes between 3.6.8 and 3.7.0, so not all the features in 3.7.0 will work straight out of the box. I would recommend downloading this WinMerge. This tool will highlight the differences between the templates. For example, you put your 3.6.8 header template in the left hand side and the default themes header from 3.7.0 then press refresh. This will then show you the differences between the two templates. This will save you a lot of time as it searches for the changes itself, instead of having to do it manually.

As for mods, you *could* come up again conflicts with the new "security tokens" in 3.7.0. I would suggest installing this Security Token Notification - vBulletin.org Forum this modification will tell you when there is an error with a security token. A bit more information on the new security tokens can be found here (Implementing CSRF Protection in modifications - vBulletin.org Forum), along with information how to apply the CSRF protection to modifications.

I hope this helps answering some of your questions.

Ross

**Curio** · 05-02-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctfortner

Thanks for the info glennybee. I do not have a test forum, sounds like I should do that to be safe.

So, you mean I should do the upgrade, and just use the default skin first, to know everything works correctly. Then behind the scenes, work on using a new skin to match what I need.

So what happens when you upgrade? I have 4 skins right now, does it copy them into 3.7, or how does that work? It would be nice if I upgraded and it gave me a defauly 3.7 skin that 100% worked, but also copied over my current skin that I could mess with see if it will work.

There should be a 'default style' on your board that is the master 3.7 style with no changes. If it somehow got deleted you can always just add new style using the style manager (it's the link at the bottom of the style manager page), leave it unedited, and it will work with 3.7 guaranteed. You then set this style as your board default and hide the custom ones so you can update them at you leisure knowing your board is still functional.

Styles are not deleted between version upgrades, though you will receive a message saying they need to be updated to be compatible with the new version.

**glennybee** · 05-03-2008, 01:55 AM

Your current styles will still be selectable in the new version but you won't see certain features like the new UserCP options or profile tabs.

**ctfortner** · 05-03-2008, 10:16 AM

Ok, I think I got it now. So I can safely upgrade to 3.7, and just use the default unaltered style, and then just update my current one if possible to work with 3.7 behind the scenes.

That sounds like a good plan, thanks for the info.