Things that i have found:

get_userdata( $current_User->ID )
//is now
UserCache::get_by_login( $current_User->ID )
//Extracted from 'evocore/_obsolete092.php'

Item_get_by_ID($PostID) ;
//is now
$ItemCache->get_by_ID($PostID) ;
//Extracted from 'admin/b2edit.php'

$b2_version
//is now
$app_version
//Extracted from 'conf/_application.php'

Columns with the names "ID" are now properly named.
//Extracted from phpmyadmin

$baseurl now includes a '/' at the end.
//Extracted from "echo $baseurl;"

Well there the things ive had to change so far in Lightality.
I will fiddle with the panels, and plugins soon.

Cool. Where in the skins did you find these references? I'm pretty sure the b2_version thing was/is in the top of _main.php, but what about the others? I wrote that doc by taking an old version of custom and seeing what I had to do to make it work in phoenix, and by sort of just looking through it as I went along. Obviously I missed some stuff eh?

Lemme know what you can so I can correct that document. I've also got feedback about some additional information I should provide for style sheets, so the more the merrier.

I updated my previous post to include where i found this information out.
I just used a program called 'Agent Ransack' to find where the functions where located in the previous version, then figure out where/what they are in the new one.

I still need to fiddle with the plugins and i will have a look at these new features soon.

Oh and EBd what does this do in your tutorial?

$Item->views();
echo ' '.T_('views');

Oh and also what is the 'T_' for? It doesnt seem to do anything....

Okay now I see. Basically to me changed details doesn't matter. Heck the whole b2evocore folder is GONE, but so what: that's not part of what anyone needs to know to upgrade a skin, which is the purpose of that page.

The "views" thing is if you want to add a page view counter to your posts, and the T_ is to get translations working. You would add it to the posts loop in the location you would want that detail about the post to show up. Take a look at the (new) custom skin and you'll see it in action.

Well all the changes i mentioned above are required for skins that i have made to run.
Because i did the changes you said on your tutorial, and i still got a bunch of errors so i what i posted above is what i had to change in order to make my skins work again.

I thought of that after a fashion. I recall you made a heck of a skin with your lightality project, but that goes way above the 'typical' skin. I figured the average user will really need a helping hand, and the advanced skinner would appreciate a little head start. Your additional information is good to have in this thread but I'm going to leave it out of the basic tutorial thing - given my target audience eh?

Alrite so we agree to use this thread to post all changes, and your tutorial for basic changes....

And have you, or do you know a tutorial or documentation for plugins in 1.6?
Because i would like to start making them, and i recall someone saying that it is different than 0.9...

And whats the advantage of having "Archives" as a plugin instead of a php file included by the skin?

Another thing i have noticed is that the old category panel code does not display the post counts any more.

But using the plugin for categories works fine.

And shouldnt this thread be pinned?

It may be slightly inaccurate due to the few months between documenting and the recent release, but I do mention the category plugin on [url=http://wonderwinds.com/hackblog.php?p=594&more=1&page=10]page 10[/url]. It seems to me that my index on page 1 of that post needs to tell people what each page is about instead of just lumping the sidebar plugins together as 'thingies'. As to pinning this post, yeah I reckon. I tend to not think of what I write as all that worthy, but this one's pretty good I guess...

(Now to figure out how to turn the thread into a sticky!)

Is there a way to edit evo_Arch / arcdir to remove the post count (as you could with _archive)?

Not atm, but im sure EdB or blueeyed would love to do it for you ;)
If you can't wait for a developer to update the plugin to support this.
You can modify it your self.

Just open up the plugins/_archives.plugin.php
Perform a search for "= $arc_row->count;" and replace with "= '';"
Should work ;)

That'd leave "month ()" displayed. In plugins/_archives.plugin.php find

 <span class="dimmed">('.$arc_count.')</span>

and delete it. There are three cases where it happens beginning around line 194.

There is no way to turn off or alter that detail at the skin level though. Gotta be done by tweaking the actual file.

Worked like a charm. It'd just be great if this could be controlled through the templates in the future.

Yep 1.6 just stopped me being able to do this:

$MainList[$i]->Author->email

Because you can't do this:

$MainList[$i]

:'(

balupton, what "Yep"?

You might want to try

$MainList->Obj[$i]->Author->email

Thanks blueyed, i was trying all sorts of wierd stuff to try get that working again ;)

And Yep is a form of Yes, it's slang.

In looking at the Skin file structure for 1.8 Summertime, I noticed that the included skins vary a lot.
Some use an "rsc" folder with an "img" folder and the css file, some don't.

What is the preferred, most efficient or recommended structure or...doesn't it matter at all

As far as I know it doesn't matter. Do it however you like it.

1.8 is called Summer, not Summertime, and not Phoenix.

And it does not matter at all for how your skins are structured, although it is usefull if you follow the general guidlines, includes in a folder, resources in a folder, images in a folder, stylesheets in a folder, javascripts in a folder, etc, just keep it organised and clean.

The old 'standard' was to have your _*.php files and your primary style sheet in the skins/skinname folder, then to put images in skins/skinname/img and - if need be - add folders beyond that. Like some people put in a css folder for additional or supplemental style sheets.

The new way seems to be that skins/skinname has the _*.php files and an rsc folder. rsc holds .css and .js files, and an img folder for images. Then again the newest version of custom still has custom.css in skins/skinname, so go figure. Anyway as soon as I finish up the 14 skins I'm working on the old way will bury the new way in sheer voluume. Or is it vollume? I hate that word. Both look wrong >:(

One thing that gets my goat is how skinners tweak 'custom' and doesn't bother to change the name of the style sheet. It bugged the hell out of me to open (back in the day) 22 style sheets ALL named custom.css! I therefore implemented what I'll suggest people do: name your style sheet after your skin. Kinda easy eh? So like a skin named "UglyCrapFromEdB" gets uglycrapfromedb.css for a style sheet. Actually that'd be a styleless sheet, but you get the idea. It's a minor detail, but a detail that's easily addressed and will simplify someone's life someday.

--------

And yeah: this thread was about upgrading skins to phoenix, which is v1.6, but this discussion switched to summer, which is v1.8. Having said that, let's look at John's concern. Images stored in the rsc/img folder can be accessed using $rsc_url, like this:

<img src="<?php echo $rsc_url; ?>img/b2evolution_logo_80.gif" alt="b2evolution" width="80" height="17" border="0" class="middle" />

Therefore if you had images you wanted to make available across a bunch of skins you can upload them to rsc/img and use this method.

If you're making a skin for public consumption, or just for yourself and want it to be self-contained there is an easy method available. Take advantage of the base href tag, which points to your skins/skinname folder, like this:

<img src="img/my_cool_button.png" alt="b2evolution" width="80" height="17" border="0" class="middle" />

It works for me is the thing.

Thanks EdB.

Surely we don't need this topic any more, a delete or unsticky do you rekon?

This is a sticky? I'll unstick and lock.

Hey! Are you trying to get me to lock everything I ever wrote!!!

Hey! Are you trying to get me to lock everything I ever wrote!!!

Depends, is all you wrote useless :P