Help completing a contest product -- see screenshots

[aggiefan]

I created a product (based on Abe1's forms hack) that is a "pick 'em style" contest for all major sports. I had it working in 3.0, was porting it into a product (and beefing it up in 3.5) and now just upgraded to 3.6.

It seems 3.6 has done some damage to the base code as it no longer submits the code and pulls the error messages or templates when you hit submit. I'm looking for somebody that is interested in helping to make an awesome (and robust) product for release. They'd get recognition and the source code or payment(there's a chance this could be a pay-for hack like vBPool).

{EDITED -- REMOVED LINKS BECAUSE THEY NO LONGER ARE CORRECT}

I'm available on YIM under the name vlyrockaf and reachable by e-mail at matt@aggiefans.com.

Again, any help would be appreciated. Also, I'm under a major time crunch since football season starts in less than a month.

I've figured out much of what's going on and have got this back on track. Still, if somebody's willing to lend knowledge (like ajax) etc to help improve it, I'm all for it.

[trainer]

i would be interested in this aswell... how is this exactly setup?

[vol_freak]

I would be interested as well. Any progress?

[jibious]

and matt, if/when you want some beta testers, i'll be more than happy to help out. i'm probably going to put up a 'static' thread on my forum this next Sunday for my users to make their picks, for now. just keep us posted (and wish i could help out more, but the ole coding knowledge is fairly limited).

[aggiefan]

My coding knowledge is limited as well. I have figured out the major issues and am working on small bugs and flow now. I'm building the contest with plans to expand it to all sports, but only NCAA is functional at this point...

I'll post here when I know more (like when it's complete) -- but it's getting there. And I too am no coder. I did this out of necessity and by tearing apart other hacks to see how the whole vbulletin thing works. :)

[jibious]

I'll post here when I know more (like when it's complete) -- but it's getting there. And I too am no coder. I did this out of necessity and by tearing apart other hacks to see how the whole vbulletin thing works. :)

That's the best way to learn... I know Brian did that for his vBadvanced CMPS, which turned into him learning more and then actual commercial coding jobs later on down the road. :)

P.S. - Is there really any other sport than college football? :-)

[aggiefan]

Thanks...have hit a semi-wall on the edit games part (after you submit them)....trying to work around that. Once this works, I'll stick it in for the users also and it should be done....I'm hoping to have it done by the start of next week if I can find time between my job and new wife to finish it. :)

[Freesteyelz]

Hmm. That is an interesting mod and if it can be incorporated with a point system like vBux/vBPlaza that'll be awesome. I wish you well on your progress. :)

[aggiefan]

Well, I made wonderful progress tonight. I figured out how to edit like i want, plus i figured out how to loop values from the database so i don't have to create 119 options for each dropdown (for all the NCAA teams) like i had been doing. So, time to clean up the code.

Freesteyelz, I don't use vBux/vBPlaza so wouldn't know how to incorporate it. Maybe one day, I'll research it.

My next project is to have a Top 25 ranking that our members can vote that scores and posts a Top 25 each week. :D

[jibious]

My next project is to have a Top 25 ranking that our members can vote that scores and posts a Top 25 each week. :D

That one sounds cool, as well. I'm thinking of starting up a new website and forum at some point for college football (Auburn, more specifically, obviously)... just seems like they are a dime a dozen these days though. you have a really nice foothold in the TAMU market though (#1, i would imagine). :)

i think i'm going to sit down and teach myself PHP and AJAX (mainly as a skillset for work), so maybe one day we can collab on something related to CFB.

...these days until opening kickoff just won't go by any quicker though. and i found out yesterday that i'm going to have my tonsils removed sometime soon (i'm hoping that i can schedule it for the monday after our game with LSU, if it has to be during the season).

[aggiefan]

You're right about the sites being a dime a dozen. There's probably 6-8 A&M ones, I'm the newest, but probably #2 overall. The #1 overall is Texags.com. The owner built the code himself for the forum which is pretty cool, but probably a pain to maintain. They've been around a while though and have tons of members (50,000+ or a lot more).

The contest is nearing completion. I need to clean up the templates and make it look pretty, make sure the redirects and links all point to the right place, make some kind of landing page for the contest tab on the navbar, and then make the installer/product along with documentation (or how to).

I will probably need one beta tester to make sure it works and installs fine and report bugs/issues to me. It's gonna have to be a quick turnaround, so need somebody who can install right away and dedicate time to messing with it.

[jibious]

me me me :)

...and i'll have two installations - one in my test bed and one on my production site. i have to upgrade to 3.6 still, but it appears that all outstanding apps that i have installed are 3.6 compliant now (sans Links Directory, which i'm okay removing).

[TeddyKGB]

aggiefan - first off, Clemson fan here. Much respect for your team, school and most of all your fans. I know that series will go down in our histroy as one of the best general fan experiences ever.

I'd also like to volunteer to be a test user if you need one. I am not very proficient with coding at all but I can volunteer my boards user to help test. Please let me know.

Thanks
J

[aggiefan]

For those interested, I've got it functioning (and running) on my website now. You can view it at:

http://www.aggiefans.com/forums/vbcontest.php?do=home
(have to be registered to view and enter -- it's free!!)

It supports only NCAA right now, but will support all sports shortly. :D

[TeddyKGB]

From what I can see it looks pretty good. Is there a chance you will release it to the general public? I am dying to be able to do something like this over at our place.

Thanks!

[aggiefan]

What board do you run Teddy? Most likely we'll sell it (to recoup the time invested) but it'll be affordable and flexible.... It's going through some beta testing at other sites (along with ours) and will be available for all soon (hopefully).

[TeddyKGB]

I run the aptly named http://www.theclemsonboard.com

It is still relatively new (our first season). I would be more than happy to donate to the aggiefan fund, just let me know if you have a set donation in mind and how I would get you the donation. (You can email me at admin@theclemsonboard.com if need be).

I would also love to be a beta test as well if possible.