I have been using vldPersonals for two years now. I have no doubt that I am not using vldPersonals to its fullest potential. Just recently I understood, thanks to Ramil, how to best use Custom Pages. Prior to learning the right way, I was using Custom Pages, but not to its full potential.
 
One of the most important files in vldPersonals are what they call extensions. There are two areas in vldPersonals that maintain files needed for extensions.
 
1. includes/ext folder
2. your template folder
 
The php files in the ext folder execute the extension while the tpl files in your template folder will format the extension.
 
If you look in your template folder you will see files that look like this: ext.members.tpl. All extensions start with ext.
 
To use these extensions, you have to place a call in another template. For example, a call to utilize ext.members.tpl on my home page is:
 
{members:limit=22,photos=1,cache_time=0,cache_name="new"}
 
The above call will display new members on the home page.
 
There are other extensions that are waiting to be used, but you need to place the proper call in a template to utilize them. The problem is, most people don't know what the proper call is to utilize that extension.
 
If I understand the parts of the call, one is the variable and the other part is the parameter. For example, in the above call, limit is the variable and 22 is the parameter. (if this is wrong, please correct me).
 
You can get a clue of the different calls by taking a peek at the php file in the includes/ext folder. For example if you look at includes/ext/ext.members.php you will see some familiar terms that is used in the above call (i.e. limit).
 
I actually have a harder time figuring out what the parameter is. Some are easy, like 22 in limit, but others are not so easy to figure out what they are.
 
I wish there was a utility that could tell how to use the full potential of every extension in vldPersonals. I have said more than once to Vlad, that I felt I was not utilizing the extensions to their fullest. But you know what, I bet I'm not the only one.
 
Maybe we can start sharing the different calls we use on our site. If you do want to share, please be sure to tell us what version of vldPersonals you are using
 
My Calls
 
Ok, I thought I would be the first to share some of my calls:
 
vldPersonals Version 2.5.3
Heavily Modified by Ramil
 
My homepage.tpl has quite a few calls. Here they are:
 
{banners:group="hometop"} - this is simply a call to call a banner I created in my CP. In this case, I named the banner group hometop
 
{members:limit=22,photos=1,cache_time=0,cache_name="new"} - this is a default call to list new members. The photos=1 tells the call to only list members who have active photos. It is worth pointing out that the cache_name needs to be unique. For example I may want to use this same call more than once. If I do, I should make sure that each cache_name is unique for each call.
 
{audios:limit=1,audio_id=37, cache_name="music"} - this call is to list a specific audio file. I’m pretty sure this call comes from a mod that Ramil did for me but those who use a later version of vldPersonals may have it as well. I noticed that some of Ramils modifications seem to show up in later versions of vldPersonals :)
 
{videos:limit=18,cache_time=0,cache_name="yout"} - this call lists youtube videos. This was a mod done by Ramil.
 
{blogs:limit=5,groups=2,orderby="random",cache_name="blogs1",cache_time=0} - this call lists the blogs on the home page. I’m not sure if by default all the above params are available. I had a mod done by Ramil, so the above may or may not be part of the default call.
 
My header.tpl calls
 
{polls:polls="engine",cache_time=0} - this is a default call to list polls
 
{members:limit=5,photos=1,orderby="lastvisit",groups=2,cache_time=0,cache_name="sidelarge",template="ext.members_side.tpl"} - this call is an example of the power of vldPersonals that I bet many are not aware of. To be honest, not sure you can do this in 2.5.5 but I can in 2.5.3. The term that Vlad uses when explaining this call was “Passing the Template”. Basically I duplicated the ext.member.tpl and gave it a new name called ext.members_side.tpl. Why did I do this? Because I wanted to use the member extension with different formats and the only way I could do that was to create another extension in the format I wanted while still being able to use the default member extension for new members. I think there is documentation on vldForum for this. Powerful stuff.
 
{pages:limit=10,tag="articles",separator="<br/>",orderby="page_id",orderdir="desc"} - this call lists my custom pages on my side bar. I believe you can do this in 2.5.5. I have version 2.5.3 and had a mod done by Ramil. Ramil’s mod is probably better so I may have more versatility than the default call for 2.5.5.