Thread

I have installed the “scaffold” theme.
I have set up two forum boards, forum1 and forum3 with the following URLS:

http://popeye.fmr.com:9080/ExpressionEngine/ee_fidelity/forum1/ and
http://popeye.fmr.com:9080/ExpressionEngine/ee_fidelity/forum3

Under, Theme Preferences, I have set the “Default Forum Theme” to be “Default”.

So, while not logged in, if I click on http://popeye.fmr.com:9080/ExpressionEngine/ee_fidelity/forum1, the Forums page is rendered using the ‘Default” theme; but when I put in my credentials and log in, the Forums page is rendered using the “scaffold” theme.

I am perplexed.

Hi, SunCSeeker.

It just means you have the scaffolding theme as your site’s default, but you’re using the Scaffolding theme. EE remembers the last one you used.

Under, Theme Preferences, I have set the “Default Forum Theme” for Forum Board, forum1, to be “Default”.

When, I am not logged in, if I click on http://popeye.fmr.com:9080/ExpressionEngine/ee_fidelity/forum1, the Forums page is rendered using the ‘Default” theme; but when I put in my credentials and log in, the Forums page is rendered using the “scaffold” theme.

I looked into the database to see if it has any reference to scaffold; it does not

mysql> select board_default_theme from exp_forum_boards;
+---------------------+
| board_default_theme |
+---------------------+
| default             |
| default             |
+---------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Why does it use a different theme when I am logged in? I am totally confused.

Hi, SunCSeeker. I’m sorry for the delay in responding to you.

Your individual exp_member record stores which forum theme you chose, if you have the ability to choose.

See the attached screen shot.

My admin account uses the blue template. Every other user including the guests will see the default theme.

Does that help?

The select statement does indeed indicate that the default forum_theme for the Admin user is “default”. Also, the default forum_theme for all the other members is “NULL”; I am assuming that if you leave it as NULL you will get the ‘Theme preferences’ as set under the “Default Preferences” for the “dicussion board” in question. Am I correct?

Also, how does one change the default “forum_theme” for a particular member? Can we do this from the Control Panel? or, do we have to manually update the value of “forum_theme” in the MySQL database via a SQL statement?

Yes, that is correct. So are you now still showing the Scaffold theme, or the default theme?

If you leave that value as null for the individual member, EE looks for the default based on the forum default.

You’d manually change the value of forum_theme. But that would only be an issue if you had users who had picked themeA and you deleted themeA and wanted to switch them to themeB. Not everyone allows users to change their forum themes.

Does that help?

I get the “Scaffold” theme when I am not logged in since that is the ‘Theme preferences’ as set under the “Default Preferences” for the “dicussion board” in question. When I log in as “Admin”, I get the “default” theme as it is the default forum_theme as set in the exp_members table for the Admin user. I understand the behavior now; it works as expected. Thanks a bunch for the explanation.

One last question on this topic - When you log in, there is a drop-down menu that allows you to select a theme. I am guessing if you select a theme here, it updates the exp_members table of the MySQL database. Is this correct?

Yes, you got it. So if you only want your SuperAdmins or t he like to be able to change, you set an if logged_in combined with the member group. Make sense?

Got it; thanks again.

This does sound like something I could write up for a wiki entry, just to prevent confusion. Feel free to start a new thread if you have any more questions.