Basic CSS Variables in PHP

[Krytic]

This offers a shorthand way to write CSS. For instance, instead of writing this:

.class
{
background: url('images/imagesubdir/image.png');
other css
}

.anotherclass
{
background: url('images/imagesubdir/image.png');
more css
}

You could write this:

.class
{
background: {BG};
other css
}

.anotherclass
{
background: {BG};
more css
}

It's incredibly easy to do and only requires a few lines of code.

Open up admin/modules/style/themes.php.

Find (around line 1900):

		// Now we have the new stylesheet, save it
		$updated_stylesheet = array(
			"cachefile" => $db->escape_string($stylesheet['name']),
			"stylesheet" => $db->escape_string(unfix_css_urls($mybb->input['stylesheet'])),
			"lastmodified" => TIME_NOW
		);

Add before:

		$replace = array(
			"{BG}"	=>	"black",
			"{TH}"	=>	"blue");

		$mybb->input['stylesheet'] = strtr($mybb->input['stylesheet'], $replace);

To add more variables, add new array entries. I just used my two test variables. These only work on the Advanced Editor and will be replaced when you save it.

If you want it to apply to new stylesheets:

Find (around line 2260):

			// Add Stylesheet			
			$insert_array = array(
				'name' => $db->escape_string($mybb->input['name']),
				'tid' => intval($mybb->input['tid']),
				'attachedto' => implode('|', array_map(array($db, "escape_string"), $attached)),
				'stylesheet' => $db->escape_string($stylesheet),
				'cachefile' => $db->escape_string(str_replace('/', '', $mybb->input['name'])),
				'lastmodified' => TIME_NOW
			);

Add before:

			$replace = array(
				"{BG}"	=>	"black",
				"{TH}"	=>	"blue");

			$stylesheet = strtr($stylesheet, $replace);

I tried making this into a plugin but always broke my Theme Editor. I hope this helps you.

[ElectricShock]

This can be detrimental if not used properly plus some themes use a lot of colours so declaring the variables is not an easy task especially for PHP newcomers.

[Eric]

This is nice, but something like LESS is probably more efficient. I'd use this if there were a way to customize/add variables and it was a plugin, though.

[Euan T]

I actually made a guide ages back to implement LESS support but once again MyBB's resync_stylesheet() function caused all sorts of issues...