If you want to show the number of unread private messages for a user who is logged in, add this PHP code to a regular template.
<?php
global $SESS, $DB;
$query = $DB->query("SELECT count(*) AS private_messages FROM exp_message_copies WHERE message_read = 'n' AND recipient_id = '".$DB->escape_str($SESS->userdata['member_id'])."'");
$pmCount = $query->row['private_messages'];
$message = "";
if ($pmCount > 0) {
if ($pmCount == 1) {
$message = "You have " . $pmCount . " new message.";
} else {
$message = "You have " . $pmCount . " new messages.";
}
}
?>
Hi {screen_name} <?php echo $message;?>