Requires Revert? Yes

[dilbert]

What does this mean?
In the past I have only updated my forum that was unmodified. Now I have several modifications installed.
Do I need to delete all of them and start over?
Is there a way to learn what the changes are to the templates and make them all manually?

How do others with customized forums do this?

Thanks

[Steve Machol]

It means that if that template is modified, you will need to revert it then reapply your modifications.

This has been standard with every vB release over the last few years. :)

[dilbert]

As always, very quick Steve.
What about this question - Is there a way to learn what the changes are to the templates and make them all manually?

[Steve Machol]

To do this you would have to compare the customized template to the origional one prior to upgrading.

[COBRAws]

To do this you would have to compare the customized template to the origional one prior to upgrading.
For the people who wants to do this, I suggest using the freeware utility called ExamDiff, which you can download from here (http://www.prestosoft.com/ps.asp?page=edp_examdiff)
Helped me a lot!

[monForum]

As always, very quick Steve.
What about this question - Is there a way to learn what the changes are to the templates and make them all manually?

To do this you would have to compare the customized template to the origional one prior to upgrading.

For the people who wants to do this, I suggest using the freeware utility called ExamDiff, which you can download from here (http://www.prestosoft.com/ps.asp?page=edp_examdiff)
Helped me a lot!

It's worth noting that there is a built-in 'compare versions' feature in vB's AdminCP, that helps immensely with comparing template versions. When you log in to the AdminCP on 3.6b1, after upgrading from 3.5.4 (or as a fresh install into which you've imported a style developed for 3.5.4), the main AdminCP screen will inform you of the number of templates in the given style that are out of date (i.e. those templates you have customised in your style, but for which the default styles that underlay them have changed in 3.6 from 3.5.4). These are the styles that are in need of a 'revert' (i.e. revert to the new default 3.6 style) in order to ensure that they either (a) work properly in 3.6, or (b) take advantage of its features.

For these styles as listed in the AdminCP notification area, click the View History link. A new screen will appear, listing the two versions of that specific style available: your customised 3.5.4 style, and the new vB 3.6 default. In order to make the end result more useful, reverse the default order of the radio buttons: set your customised style (probably listed as 'current version') to Old, and the 3.6 default (listed as 'current default') to New. Then click Compare Versions.

This will yield a new, two-column screen in which your customised 3.5.4 style appears on the left, in parallel to the new default 3.6b1 default, neatly colour-coded for comparison. Unchanged bits are unhighlighted; bits that exist in your style that aren't in the new are in red; bits that are in the new but not in your old are in green; bits that exist in both, but which are different in the new, are in yellow.

As all this opens in a new window, you can keep the colour-coded, side-by-side comparison open in its window, while going back to AdminCP in another and editing your custom style, so you can ALT-TAB back and forth between them for quick reference.

[dilbert]

Thank you monForum

[Kier]

The strict definition of 'Requires Revert? Yes' is that the template has been changed in a way that would mean that by keeping an old version of the template, functionality would be lost.

For example, if we add a new feature then that feature may need certain elements of certain templates may need to be altered. Keeping an old customized version would mean that the new feature would not work.

In terms of what you need to do, there's a simple checklist:


If you have not customized the template, you need not do anything. The old template will be automatically replaced with the new version during the upgrade process.
If you have customized the template, you will need to do one of the following things:
The easiest thing to do is to revert the template. This means that your customized version will be deleted and the new master template will automatically take its place.
Alternatively, you can use the template compare system to look at what is new in the template and apply the changes to your customized template. This requires careful attention.

[Marcel Lee]

I'm planning an upgrade soon and I'm also wondering about the template revert issue.

I have three quick questions :

1) If a customized template hasn't been upgraded from version 3.5 to 3.6; in other words, if vBulletin hasn't added anything new or taken anything away from the default version of that template; will I still get a message saying that, even though it worked fine as a customized template in 3.5, I need to revert it just because it isn't the same as the default?

2) Steve Machol told dilbert he "would have to compare the customized template to the original one prior to upgrading"; but, judging from monForum's post, it seems it'll be just as efficient (if not more so) to do that after upgrading. Is this correct?

3) This is sort of an extension to the prior question, but would it be unnecessary to copy all customized templates (and save them to Notepad or something) prior to upgrading; which I originally planned to do; in fear of losing them during the upgrade? In other words, though old uncustomized templates are deleted and upgraded automatically during the upgrade, customized templates will still be viewable and will not be deleted and upgraded until the "revert" button is clicked; right?

[Marcel Lee]

(up)

[Steve Machol]

1. Non-modified templates will not need reverting nor will they show as needing reverting.

2. My answer was correct in regards to his question:

What about this question - Is there a way to learn what the changes are to the templates and make them all manually?
In otherwords he's asked what changes he made and the only way to know that is to compare it to the old template he changed, not the new one.

3. Custom templates do not get overwritten during the upgrade, which is why they later may need reverting.