vBulletin LTS

Load templates from XCache
Mod Version: 1.0.0 Beta, by Andreas

By default vBulletin loads templates out of the database which means that all templates that are required on a page must be loaded ("cached") before the first template gets rendered.

If a template is not cached an additional dataase query is required.

This Add-on loads templates from XCache on demand, completely emiminating the need for database reads after an initial pageload.

By loading templates on demand only those templates that are really being used on a page will be loaded into memory, so theoretically this Add-on should

• Decrease memory footprint
• Decrease page creation time (as loading data from a shared memory storage like XCache is faster than DB access)
• Remove 1+X (X = amount of uncached templates) queries per page

How is that different to other existing tools like vBOptimise?
Most existing tools (at least the ones I know of) load all templates upfront, just like vBulletin would do if the DB is used.
This means that only those templates that are explicitly cached will be loaded from the cache, uncahed templates will cause additional database queries.

Can I use this Add-on my hared Webhosting?
Most likely not as it requires XCache with variable caching enabled which is usually not the case on shared hosts

I use multiple webservers, is that a problem?
It should work just fine with multiple webservers but that has not been tested so far.

Are there any other drawbacks?
Yes, this Add-on might be (be is not necessarily) incompatible with Add-ons that manipulate the template cache at runtime (which is a technique that is genreally deprecated).

History
1.0.0 Beta 1
First Public Release

1.0.0 Beta 2

• Fixed incorrect variable initialisation that caused problems with other Add-ons that manipulate the template cache
  Important: Such techniques (like using str_replace(), etc.) are deprecated and it is strongly advised not to use Add-ons that do such auto-template changes.
• Increased Plug-in execution order to the maximum to ensure all Templates cached via Plug-ins are grabbed

1.0.0 Beta 3

• Fixed missing global in Hook template_compile
• Added prefix setting to config.php