Miscellaneous Hacks - External URL Redirects in framed page [Archive]

View Full Version : Miscellaneous Hacks - External URL Redirects in framed page

SiMateoAko

01-12-2007, 10:00 PM

URL Redirect for vBulletin is a simple way to keep your users grounded to your site. All external URLs will be displayed in a frame with your logo above.

Installation is simple and fast. Simply import the product (product-igusto_urlredirect.xml) and upload the ext.php file to your main forum directory.

How is this product different from other similar products released in the past?

It is true that other people have released similar products in the past. The main differences are as follows:

no code changes - other vBulletin hacks required you to change core files in order to make this work properly.
released as a product - other vBulletin hacks were not released as a simple importable product
No footprint - when you uninstall this product, there are no residual footprints. This has not been the case with other versions of this utility released to vBulletin previously.
Will distinguisth internal and external urls - Instead of displaying internal urls with the header, this plugin will evaluate the url and determine if it is the same as the host site. If it is, no banner will be displayed.

The product consists of one template (urlredirect_page) and one plugin. The plugin will change all external urls posted in forum posts to the new ext.php file. The template (urlredirect_page) is the header that will be displayed at the top of your redirect page.

Inside of the header you will find text that looks like this:



Replace that text with your google adsense javascript, or another ad generator.

I've tested this on 3.5.7 and 3.6.4. It works fine on both systems.

if you find it not working, check the following first:

Ensure that the plugin named "url_redirect parser" is enabled.
Ensure that you uploaded the file ext.php into your forum directory

Brought to you by the folks at www.igusto.net

Changelog

v1.0
Recently removed security flaw. Please update your ext.php file

Hornstar

01-12-2007, 11:02 PM

Awesome mod, I suppose this is similar to google images when you click on one of those images it displays something similiar.

Can you whitelist sites, so they dont get the frame? if not that maybe an idea for a future update.

GruntHalo

01-12-2007, 11:03 PM

Great mod, installed. :D

KURTZ

01-12-2007, 11:06 PM

interesting hack, just a question it's compatible with vBanonimizer?

CSS59

01-12-2007, 11:06 PM

is this a dup?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=136311

KURTZ

01-12-2007, 11:10 PM

THIS (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=122975) is another one :)

The Finman

01-13-2007, 12:06 AM

interesting hack, just a question it's compatible with vBanonimizer?

That is exactly what I am wondering. :confused:

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 12:19 AM

interesting hack, just a question it's compatible with vBanonimizer?

unsure... give it a shot :)

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 12:20 AM

THIS (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=122975) is another one :)

The difference with this plugin and the one you linked are numerous. They accomplish the same thing, but this one can be imported via the products menu, will filter out internal links, and won't leave a footprint when you uninstall it. Oh, and you don't have to edit core php files in order to make it work.

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 12:21 AM

is this a dup?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=136311

released on both forums b/c it is compatible with both versions. All future updates will be to this version.

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 12:22 AM

Can you whitelist sites, so they dont get the frame? if not that maybe an idea for a future update.

That's a great idea. Look for it inthe next version.

wizardan

01-13-2007, 01:10 AM

Very nice!
Installed.

DPSR

01-13-2007, 01:40 AM

Very very nice, installed :D:D

EDIT: Not compactable with vBanonimizer :(

SaN-DeeP

01-13-2007, 02:47 AM

thanks this modification will come handy

DPSR

01-13-2007, 03:24 AM

One problem:

It redirects some home links (like http://www.site.com/gallery/blah.php) to site main page- http://www.site.com/index.php :(

Any sol. for this?

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 05:32 AM

One problem:

It redirects some home links (like http://www.site.com/gallery/blah.php) to site main page- http://www.site.com/index.php :(

Any sol. for this?

I'll look into this tomorrow and get a fix for you. Are these all internal links that you are having a problem with?

ETA: Just figured out the problem. Reuploading the file now.

EETA: Just FYI, redownload and replace the ext.php file with the new one. Should do it.

DPSR

01-13-2007, 06:55 AM

cuphongle

01-13-2007, 07:13 AM

looks good, gonna try it out

Dismounted

01-13-2007, 08:05 AM

interesting hack, just a question it's compatible with vBanonimizer?
That is exactly what I am wondering. :confused:
As the author of vbAnonymizer, I say that this hack should work together with it. You will just get the normal vbAnonymizer Redirect inside the frame.

EDIT: *CONFIRMED NOT WORKING WITH VBANONYMIZER!*

DPSR

01-13-2007, 08:18 AM

As the author of vbAnonymizer, I say that this hack should work together with it. You will just get the normal vbAnonymizer Redirect inside the frame.

By the way, this hack opens up a serious XSS hole. You leave $ref unchecked in the script. Also, this hack will cut all URL's with more than one GET variable on a URL.
Nope buddy, your hack is not working with this :(:(

After installing above hack, all links are converted to http://site.com/ext.php?ref=

Dismounted

01-13-2007, 10:00 AM

Thanks, I wasn't sure. I edited the above post to reflect it.

MaestroX

01-13-2007, 10:12 AM

Thanks for the mod, I think i've found a bug though.

Any links with subdomains get redirected, any solution to this?

tankaya61

01-13-2007, 01:43 PM

its super plug-in
thanks man

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 02:26 PM

Thanks for the mod, I think i've found a bug though.

Any links with subdomains get redirected, any solution to this?

Can you give an example?

for example, is your site www.mysite.com and it's redirecting forum.mysite.com?

If so, I can look into this and get a fix soon.

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 02:28 PM

As the author of vbAnonymizer, I say that this hack should work together with it. You will just get the normal vbAnonymizer Redirect inside the frame.

EDIT: *CONFIRMED NOT WORKING WITH VBANONYMIZER!*

Can someone link me to vanonymizer? I searched for it but couldn't find a thing. I'm sure I can figure out a way to makeit compatible.

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 02:37 PM

AFter updating, its not uploading external links on my portal page (site main index page, but previous version was doing it!)

Second, its still pointing gallery images to- http://www.fotorack.com/ext.php?ref=http://www.fotorack.com/gallery/index.php?n=4220

when clicked, its take to invalid url- http://http//www.fotorack.com/gallery/index.php?n=4220
:(

I think something on your server is configured differently.

See this link:

http://www.exmo-social.com/ext.php?ref=http://www.fotorack.com/gallery/index.php?n=4220

odds are it's something with your .htaccess file

DPSR

01-13-2007, 03:04 PM

Can someone link me to vanonymizer? I searched for it but couldn't find a thing. I'm sure I can figure out a way to makeit compatible.

It here - https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=131292

:)

EDIT, just re-tried..not working! No problem i will wait for some update ;)

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 10:01 PM

By the way, this hack opens up a serious XSS hole. You leave $ref unchecked in the script. Also, this hack will cut all URL's with more than one GET variable on a URL.

just fixed both of these issues.

SiMateoAko

01-13-2007, 10:10 PM

Just added functionality to parse signatures too

letsjoy

01-13-2007, 10:19 PM

where is file ?

Attitude

01-14-2007, 07:27 AM

well cudnt install it properly.

1) Imported the Product.
2) Copied the ext.php file in the forum directory.

Now what?????? Didnt see any urlredirect template or plugin....... stuck!! Logged out and logged back in.... still cudnt see any urlredirect template or the plugin....

sorry m new to all this.....

any help would be appreciated....

Robru

01-14-2007, 10:48 AM

Just added functionality to parse signatures too
Thanks, works perfect!

SiMateoAko

01-14-2007, 03:08 PM

Attitude

01-14-2007, 03:25 PM

I'll try installing it on one of my forums today to see if I have any problems.
m using Vbulletin 3.6.3 ........

see what you can do...

thanks mate

Ronak

01-15-2007, 01:22 AM

Nice hack :) wish it had worked with vBanonymiser ;) and btw delete ur Google ad codes in it..or u will get banned :(

SiMateoAko

01-15-2007, 03:14 AM

Nice hack :) wish it had worked with vBanonymiser ;) and btw delete ur Google ad codes in it..or u will get banned :(

Thanks for the heads up.

The next version in a few weeks will be completely reworked and compatible with vbanonymiser.

OmniBuzz

01-15-2007, 10:32 PM

what does it do with iframe ?

Zia

01-18-2007, 12:25 PM

Hello SiMateoAko...

i got few request..

it would be nice if the external link showed inside an iframe so user will be able to use the Vb's Navbar...

Something Similar like it :
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7646/istugv4.jpg

Like: Externally hosted download zone or etc can be presented to user by this way.
Pls give a thought on it.

ubblite

01-23-2007, 03:50 PM

Second, its still pointing gallery images to- http://www.fotorack.com/ext.php?ref=http://www.fotorack.com/gallery/index.php?n=4220

when clicked, its take to invalid url- http://http//www.fotorack.com/gallery/index.php?n=4220
:(

Same problem here - you can't use this hack with links on you OWN site, you'll get the same error as mentioned above.

SiMateoAko, can you please update this hack to fix this problem? Thanks.

obmob

01-23-2007, 11:52 PM

Interesting, thanks! :D

tiger

01-24-2007, 12:03 AM

Instead of "leaving BOARDNAME..."
Is there a way to put the thread name as the title?

simalert

02-15-2007, 04:18 PM

Excellent hack and exactly what I was looking for.

Just one problem, it puts the frame on if someone goes from my forum to my main site via a link on the forum, is there a way to set certain domains to be excluded?

So if someone clicks a link on the forum at http://forum.simalert.com could I set it so that it doesn't put the frame on anything in www.simalert.com domain? So www.simalert.com/360.html wouldn't be framed but any other domains would?

This would make it perfect for me.

Thanks :)

The Finman

02-15-2007, 07:54 PM

Thanks for the heads up.

The next version in a few weeks will be completely reworked and compatible with vbanonymiser.

Thanks SiMateoAko! :) :up:

simalert

02-16-2007, 01:27 PM

I've found another problem (sorry).

My members started complaining when the Ebay section on my forum started having problems. All their links comes up with the frame, but it seems to trim Ebay URLs down which causes the item not to show.

A random example URL would be

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320082447786&rd=1&rd=1

which is trimmed down by this mod to

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1

this means that if I use this on my site, the Ebay section can no longer be used for my users to list their auctions and that got me quite a few complaints in the support sections :D

I've had to disable this mod temporarily, is there any chance of a fix for this please?

(If a fix isn't possible, perhaps my suggestion 2 posts up about having a domain exclusion where the frame's not applied would also work here. Solves the problem of framing your own local site and also would fix the Ebay issue).

This is a really good mod and one that I've searched for a long time for one that works well. This works perfectly apart from the above, so if this could be fixed I'd definitely use it again and rate it highly.

Thanks

itrends

02-16-2007, 10:40 PM

Doesnt work on my vbadvanced portal front page. Works in the forums, but not on the portal. Any chance of a fix? :)

DPSR

02-20-2007, 09:04 AM

Any chance of excluding one site links?? (that 2nd site actually belongs to me, so i don't want top frames for links to my 2nd site)..anybody know how to do this?

simalert

02-20-2007, 09:08 AM

If you look 2 posts back I'm having similar issues.

Just seeing if SiMateoAko can do this, if not might have a play with the code but I'm not really in to changing mods myself.

Kihon Kata

02-27-2007, 01:40 AM

Installed! Can certain forums be excluded?

Kihon Kata

03-02-2007, 12:06 AM

I guess no support for this mod.

simalert

03-02-2007, 07:34 AM

It's ticked at the top, but I don't think it is either. Anyone care to have a go at this?

kfiasche81

03-28-2007, 05:48 PM

is possible to exclude single forum to external redirect?

there is a little bug with a multi rss automatic post

simalert

03-28-2007, 09:08 PM

is possible to exclude single forum to external redirect?

there is a little bug with a multi rss automatic post

I don't think this is supported any longer, see last few posts.

kollam003

06-02-2007, 06:02 AM

great hack dude thanks :)

minimalize

07-14-2007, 09:49 AM

is there an option to integrade it with the link & download manager?

mrahul

02-07-2008, 06:27 AM

how to remove logo from the external url direct page. I am displaying 2 logos, I don't know where to remove them

lowey

02-24-2008, 02:30 PM

Hi there, great mod, but I have a problem using external stylesheets in some of my articles. All links to these are boken, when your mod is active.

Is there a way I can avoid this? Some sort of blacklist for external URLS?

Thanks! :)

egyptsons

04-30-2008, 10:37 PM

is this work with 3.7 ?

markbolyard

05-06-2008, 09:41 PM

is this work with 3.7 ?

Curious about this as well as functionality with vbseo. Thanks for the nice modification. Will have to try it on 3.7 with vbseo and see how it goes.

markbolyard

05-08-2008, 01:34 AM

Update: Did not work with vBulletin 3.7 Gold and vbseo. I'm actually thinking it's probably conflicting with vbseo more than the fact that I'm on vBulletin 3.7. Was worth the try however.

egyptsons

05-08-2008, 02:08 AM

Update: Did not work with vBulletin 3.7 Gold and vbseo. I'm actually thinking it's probably conflicting with vbseo more than the fact that I'm on vBulletin 3.7. Was worth the try however.
I try it on VB 3.7 and working fine ;) , but I didn't install vbseo
So I think like you said it's probably conflicting with vbseo.

mrahul

05-15-2008, 09:41 AM

does this work on 3.7.x ? and any releases for 3.7.x ?

egyptsons

06-22-2008, 01:23 PM

does this work on 3.7.x ? and any releases for 3.7.x ?
Yes it worked with me on 3.7.0 :cool:

Harley D

08-29-2008, 07:45 PM

How can an option to break from the frames be added?

riverplate.com

09-16-2008, 12:29 AM

i've got a problem

for ex

this link

http://foros.riverplate.com/futbol-nacional/30723-futbol-de-primera-usa-photoshop.html

it's transformed to

http://foros.riverplate.com/ext.php?ref=!30723!http://foros.riverplate.com/futbol-nacional/30723-futbol-de-primera-usa-photoshop.html

there it's an extra !30723! inside the url!
but it only appears for local links (forum threads)

any ideas?
thanks in advance

Yuvraj420

09-18-2008, 08:33 PM

Nice mod. Installed and works great. Thankyou

E-IndiaWeb

01-09-2009, 12:34 PM

Working in Version 3.7.4

SamirDarji

09-04-2009, 01:46 AM

Anyone tried this on 3.8.3? Seems nice and light and does the job.

thephoneclub

09-16-2009, 08:49 PM

lazydesis

12-31-2009, 03:36 PM

SamirDarji

12-31-2009, 05:11 PM

Probably has to do with vbseo. Try disabling vbseo and see what happens.

lazydesis

01-11-2010, 04:29 PM

Phew .. finally was able to figure out the problem with the internal links not working.

It has to do with vBSEO.

In vBSEO settings, there is one setting called as "Add Thread Titles"

If this is set to anything other than "Do not add thread titles" we will get into the problem of internal URLs not working with the Redirects.

Just set this option to "Do not add thread titles" and the redirect starts to work again ^ ^

YAY!

SamirDarji

01-11-2010, 09:43 PM

Glad to see you got it working...and that I guessed right. :D

CRDeveloper

01-19-2011, 04:51 AM

Would do this work or can be updated to vb4?

egyptsons

07-30-2011, 11:00 AM

Would do this work or can be updated to vb4?
it's not working with vb4
it give this error
Warning: fetch_template() calls should be replaced by the vB_Template class. Template name: urlredirect_page in [path]/includes/functions.php on line 3984

SamirDarji

07-30-2011, 04:10 PM

it's not working with vb4
it give this error
Warning: fetch_template() calls should be replaced by the vB_Template class. Template name: urlredirect_page in [path]/includes/functions.php on line 3984This mod will probably would need to be completely re-written for vb4, but it's not that complicated. I modified it heavily for use on vb3 and I'm no programmer by any means.

PEPITO69

08-06-2011, 12:00 PM

Hi,
Im my opinion, this could be good for SEO or bad, it depends. Having no real external links may be not good.