Question Unable to make the forum appear in a separate joomla template - it always uses the default template!

Dear all,

I have installed Kunena 1.6 in a Joomla 1.5.23 environment.
The forum opens in the main "content" area of the website (where usually articles are displayed).

I want the forum to appear in a separate window, and using a basically empty template (without all the stuff that comes with my main website template (default template)). To this end I have
a) set the menu link to "open in a separate window with browser navigation" and
b) have assigned an alternative joomla template (stripped of all the unnecessary stuff) to this menu item.

On testing with ofther contents (for example an article) the alternative template is used.
However, as soon as the menu calls the Kunena forum, it appears using the complete main website template (default template).

I have tried if assigning alternative templates to the menu item calling Kunena works better in a different environment: I installed it on a different website (with an even technically quite different default template by the way), but the result is the same: Kunena forum always appears using the default template, without respect to the differing menu assignment in the joomla template manager.

Who can help solve this problem?

Thank you, kind regards,

Christian Geiselmann

---

Here is the Kunena config report, from the first of the two sites

---

Database collation check: The collation of your table fields are correct

Legacy mode: Disabled | Joomla! SEF: Disabled | Joomla! SEF rewrite: Disabled | FTP layer: Disabled |

This message contains confidential information

htaccess: Exists | PHP environment: Max execution time: 30 seconds | Max execution memory: 64M | Max file upload: 16M

Joomla default template details : zeleniteizbori | author: Christian Geiselmann | version: 1.0 | creationdate: 14.2.2011

Kunena default template details : Blue Eagle (default) | author: Kunena Team | version: 1.6.4 | creationdate: 2011-05-07

Kunena version detailled: Installed version: 1.6.4 | Build: 4832 | Version name: Kerkrade | Kunena detailled configuration:

Warning: Spoiler!

[th]Kunena config settings:[/th]

board_title	Forum Zelena Sofia
board_offline	0
board_ofset	0.00
offline_message	<h2>The Forum is currently offline for maintenance.</h2> <div>Check back soon!</div>
enablerss	1
enablepdf	1
threads_per_page	20
messages_per_page	6
messages_per_page_search	15
showhistory	1
historylimit	6
shownew	1
jmambot	0
disemoticons	0
template	default
showannouncement	1
avataroncat	0
catimagepath	category_images/
showchildcaticon	1
annmodid	62
rtewidth	450
rteheight	300
enableforumjump	1
reportmsg	1
username	1
askemail	0
showemail	0
showuserstats	1
showkarma	1
useredit	1
useredittime	0
useredittimegrace	600
editmarkup	1
allowsubscriptions	1
subscriptionschecked	1
allowfavorites	1
maxsubject	50
maxsig	300
regonly	0
changename	0
pubwrite	1
floodprotection	0
mailmod	0
mailadmin	0
captcha	0
mailfull	1
allowavatar	1
allowavatarupload	1
allowavatargallery	1
avatarquality	65
avatarsize	2048
allowimageupload	0
allowimageregupload	1
imageheight	800
imagewidth	800
imagesize	150
allowfileupload	0
allowfileregupload	1
filetypes	txt,rtf,pdf,zip,tar.gz,tgz,tar.bz2
filesize	120
showranking	1
rankimages	1
avatar_src	fb
fb_profile	fb
pm_component	no
userlist_rows	30
userlist_online	1
userlist_avatar	1
userlist_name	1
userlist_username	1
userlist_posts	1
userlist_karma	1
userlist_email	0
userlist_usertype	0
userlist_joindate	1
userlist_lastvisitdate	1
userlist_userhits	1
latestcategory	0
showstats	1
showwhoisonline	1
showgenstats	1
showpopuserstats	1
popusercount	5
showpopsubjectstats	1
popsubjectcount	5
usernamechange	0
rules_infb	1
rules_cid	1
help_infb	1
help_cid	1
showspoilertag	1
showvideotag	1
showebaytag	1
trimlongurls	1
trimlongurlsfront	40
trimlongurlsback	20
autoembedyoutube	1
autoembedebay	1
ebaylanguagecode	en-us
fbsessiontimeout	1800
highlightcode	0
rss_type	topic
rss_timelimit	month
rss_limit	100
rss_included_categories
rss_excluded_categories
rss_specification	rss2.0
rss_allow_html	1
rss_author_format	name
rss_author_in_title	1
rss_word_count	0
rss_old_titles	1
rss_cache	900
fbdefaultpage	recent
default_sort	asc
alphauserpointsnumchars	0
sef	1
sefcats	0
sefutf8	0
showimgforguest	1
showfileforguest	1
pollnboptions	4
pollallowvoteone	1
pollenabled	1
poppollscount	5
showpoppollstats	1
polltimebtvotes	00:15:00
pollnbvotesbyuser	100
pollresultsuserslist	1
maxpersotext	50
ordering_system	mesid
post_dateformat	ago
post_dateformat_hover	datetime
hide_ip	1
js_actstr_integration	0
imagetypes	jpg,jpeg,gif,png
checkmimetypes	1
imagemimetypes	image/jpeg,image/jpg,image/gif,image/png
imagequality	50
thumbheight	32
thumbwidth	32
hideuserprofileinfo	put_empty
integration_access	auto
integration_login	auto
integration_avatar	auto
integration_profile	auto
integration_private	auto
integration_activity	auto
boxghostmessage	0
userdeletetmessage	0
latestcategory_in	1
topicicons	1
onlineusers	1
debug	0
catsautosubscribed	0
showbannedreason	0
version_check	1
showthankyou	1
showpopthankyoustats	1
popthankscount	5
mod_see_deleted	0
bbcode_img_secure	text
listcat_show_moderators	1
lightbox	1
activity_limit	0
show_list_time	720
show_session_type	0
show_session_starttime	0
userlist_allowed	0
userlist_count_users	1
enable_threaded_layouts	0
category_subscriptions	post
topic_subscriptions	every
pubprofile	1

Third-party components: None

Third-party SEF components: None

Plugins: System - Mootools Upgrade: Disabled | System - Mootools12: Disabled

Modules: None

This issue is solved now.

The solution is very simple:

When assigning an alternative joomla template to Kunena forum, you must not forget the genuine Kunena menu (automatically created on Kunena installation).

Step by step:
- Create your second (alternative) joomla template
- In "Extensions --> Template manager" click on the alternative template
- Assign the template to the menu item which will call the Kunena forum (e.g. a menu item in your main menu called "forum"
- Assign the template to the complete Kunena menu (including all its items!).

My mistake was that I forgot the last step. As a result, the Kunena menu continued calling the default template, even when the "forum" menu item in the main menu a second prior to this had called the alternative template.

Thanks to Mr. Sozzled (who moderates the forum), since I hit on this simple issue just after reading one of his answers to my posts.