Download Thread as PDF

[magnus]

Keywords: SHOWTHREAD, PDF, Abobe, export, download, thread

Description:
Allows you to download an entire thread in PDF format, viewable in any PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/) or Foxit Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/).

Details:
Previously, there was a modification that performed this task however that modification is no longer supported and the backend used was seriously out-of-date and suffered from quite a few bugs. I've gone ahead and created this modification around an entirely different backend, one which works quickly and flawlessly.

Requirements:
PHP Version 4.0.4 or greater
html2ps (link (http://user.it.uu.se/~jan/html2ps.html))
ps2pdf (link (http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/))

Notes:
Please note, these prerequesits may already be installed on your system. If you're unsure, simply install the modification and upon usage it will inform you if something is missing.

If you happen to be fortunate enough to be using Debian, the above requirements can be installed with the following packages:
# apt-get install html2ps
# apt-get install gs-common


-
Usage:
Under "Thread Tools", simply select "Download as PDF" which will be located under "Show Printable Version". Easy, eh?

-
Installation:

Download and unzip the pdfthread101.zip archive.
Upload necessary files to their respective locations.
Import the product-pdfthread.xml via the Product Manager.
???
Profit!


Notes:
All template modifications are made automatically. They attach to pretty common text locations, so modified styles shouldn't* be a problem.

-
Comments:
As with all my hacks, this modification is provided free of charge. However, if you find this product useful and have money burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to make a small donation (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=magn2o%40comcast%2enet&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8), I won't mind.. really. :)

Version History:

1.0.1 - Initial release, here's to hoping...


Currently Known Bugs:

None


* Please note that this modification was developed on a forum with a userbase of 1 (myself). I've tested it for basic functionality but I cannot guarantee functionality or behavior on your forum. So, please -- make backups before installing this product!

[magnus]

Reserved.

[jasculs]

What do I do with these?

* html2ps (link)
* ps2pdf (link)

I'm not sure where to put them and I couldn't quite understand the installation instruction.

[magnus]

What do I do with these?

* html2ps (link)
* ps2pdf (link)

I'm not sure where to put them and I couldn't quite understand the installation instruction.

The applications html2ps and ps2pdf are both dependencies of this modification. If they're not already present on your system, they will need to be downloaded, compiled and installed. These utilities are not vBulletin related, they have absolutely nothing to do with vBulletin.

Chances are, if you're using a shared hosting account, these are already installed. Before trying to install them, I would just attempt to run the modification first and see if they're already present.

[FleaBag]

I have printthread completely removed for SEO purposes. This is just the alternative I've been waiting for! Thanks. :)

[Barakat]

all the time :- safe mode effect .

Warning: unlink() [function.unlink]: SAFE MODE Restriction in effect. The script whose uid is 583 is not allowed to access /tmp/thread5918aSSCNI owned by uid 48 in /threadtopdf.php on line 179
HTML_ToPDF Error: html2ps [/usr/bin/html2ps] not executable

dont we have a way to prevent it .

[Hornstar]

This really looks like a good feature for any forums. Thanks for releasing, will test it out shortly.
Thanks.

[ssslippy]

all the time :- safe mode effect .

dont we have a way to prevent it .

Unfortunally your host has safe mode. You would need to contact them to resolve this issue.

[Quantnet]

installed this and html2ps but still have the error
HTML_ToPDF Error: html2ps [/usr/bin/local/html2ps] not executable

I changed the path in /includes/class_threadtop.php to /usr/bin/local/html2ps to no avail

This mod requires the use a direct access to their server. What about those on shared hosting ?

[magnus]

A few friends of mine run vBulletin sites on shared hosting and they were able to use this modification no problem. Really, it's hit or miss with some shared hosting providers.

The html2ps error you're receiving is claiming the binary isn't set to executable. What are the permissions? Did you install from source or did you use a package (ie. rpm, deb)?

A simple chmod 755 should fix it (provided you have rights to do that).

[Quantnet]

i'm on a VPS so i have full control over my server. Here is the step i used

wget http://user.it.uu.se/~jan/html2ps-1.0b5.tar.gz
tar xvfz html2ps-1.0b5.tar.gz
cd html2ps-1.0b5
./install

Click yes and set directory..it get installed in /usr/local/bin/

cd /usr/local/bin/
chmod 755 html2p*


Still the same error...did i chmod correctly ? What do i miss ?

[soletrader]

anyone have the link to the older version of this hack?

[ragtek]

I have printthread completely removed for SEO purposes. This is just the alternative I've been waiting for! Thanks. :)
this is unnecessary.

this link is marked with rel="nofollow" so the bots aren't indexing it and so you woun't have double content

[SuperTaz]

Is there a screenshot of this?

[Lizard King]

this is unnecessary.

this link is marked with rel="nofollow" so the bots aren't indexing it and so you woun't have double content
Every search engine bot doesn't rely on rel="nofollow" .

[ragtek]

hm
i havnt heard that before, but ok
have to belive you, because i'm not very interessted in this subject/topic(don't know how to say for that)

in my eyes i make a site for the people and not for the bots.... but back to topic

and isn't it right that google can look pdf files to?
so wount it be double content?

[irantk]

HTML_ToPDF Error: html2ps [/usr/bin/html2ps] not executable ???????????????????????

[FleaBag]

As my firend says, not all engines use the attribute. Also, while Google not double listing content in this way, other engines may do so - and Google will not take kindly to you have duplicate content indexed elsewhere (at least, this is what I believe). I also have no desire to allow a printable thread, if they wish to print the thread so much they can print the normal page (or now, use this).

Also, I intend to allow only members access to this - so no duplicate content issues there.

[projectego]

Awesome! :D

* projectego clicks install

[magnus]

Is there a screenshot of this?

Uh, a screenshot of what a PDF file looks like? :confused:

[magnus]

i'm on a VPS so i have full control over my server. Here is the step i used

wget http://user.it.uu.se/~jan/html2ps-1.0b5.tar.gz
tar xvfz html2ps-1.0b5.tar.gz
cd html2ps-1.0b5
./install

Click yes and set directory..it get installed in /usr/local/bin/

cd /usr/local/bin/
chmod 755 html2p*


Still the same error...did i chmod correctly ? What do i miss ?

The developer states that error is:
that is a problem of not having html2ps on your server (or it being in a different path). You'll need to install it in your home directory most likely if you do not have root access on the server

So, that being said.. can you execute html2ps from your shell?
# whereis html2ps
html2ps: /usr/bin/html2ps /usr/X11R6/bin/html2ps /usr/bin/X11/html2ps /usr/share/man/man1/html2ps.1.gz
# html2ps -v
html2ps version 1.0 beta5

Also, this was mentioned on the same topic by the author:
There is PHPs open_basedir, if "/usr/local/bin/" is not within the allowed path, then php scripts won't be able to access the file.

Also check your php.ini file to see if anything has been defined in the directive 'disable_functions'

You may want to try locating html2ps within your webroot, seeing if that will work.

[Paul M]

I now have this working but several problems needed to be overcome;

The required ghostscript and html2ps were not installed on my server so I had to get them and install them (without 'jasper', whatever that is).

Once installed I got the execution errors and noticed that default path in the class file was wrong - they installed to /usr/local/bin/ (not /usr/bin/) so I had to edit the class file.

Despite fixing this I still got the "not executable" errors, this was quickly traced to php open_basdir kicking in and preventing apache from accessing the binaries - so I had to update php settings.

Once all this was done, the pdf conversion started to work - however, I was only getting one page, not the whole thread. This took a bit of degugging, during which I found some unnecessary code in the threadtopdf.php file. Having removed the unnecessary perpage stuff from the file, I found that even though the code was building the whole thread, once I used it properly, the pdf file was still only one page, with the perpage stuff I had removed.

After much head scratching about how this was impossible I did some packet tracing to see what was going on and found the culprit - VBSEO. I had Rewrite Printthread URLs set to 'Yes' and this was somehow interferring with the way the this mod works, causing the pdf output to be built from printthread.php, and not threadtopdf.php - once I disabled the url rewrite on print threads, the mod started outputting the pdf correctly.

I still have one minor issue - the header image is missing from the threads, but this is not important.


FYI; I removed the following code in threadtopdf.php as perpage stuff is not needed ;

$vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc('r', array(
'perpage' => TYPE_UINT,
'pagenumber'=> TYPE_UINT
));


// split thread over pages if necessary
$countposts = $db->query_first_slave("
SELECT COUNT(*) AS total
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "post AS post
WHERE threadid=$threadinfo[threadid] AND visible=1
");
$totalposts = $countposts['total'];

$vbulletin->GPC['perpage'] = sanitize_maxposts($totalposts);
$maxperpage = sanitize_maxposts(-1);

if ($vbulletin->GPC['pagenumber'] < 1)
{
$vbulletin->GPC['pagenumber'] = 1;
}

$startat = ($vbulletin->GPC['pagenumber'] - 1) * $vbulletin->GPC['perpage'];

$pagenav = construct_page_nav($vbulletin->GPC['pagenumber'], $vbulletin->GPC['perpage'], $totalposts, 'threadtopdf.php?' . $vbulletin->session->vars['sessionurl'] . "t=$threadinfo[threadid]", '&amp;pp=' . $vbulletin->GPC['perpage']);
// end page splitter


I also edited the SQL to this ;

$posts = $db->query_read_slave("
SELECT post.*,post.username AS postusername,user.username
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "post AS post
LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "user AS user USING(userid)
WHERE post.threadid=$threadid AND post.visible=1
ORDER BY dateline $postorder
");



There is also a premissions problem - you cannot pdf threads unless they are viewable by guests, and also a slight error in the url build as well.

I think I have fixed these problems locally, but need to test them, and I have to go out now for a few hours.

[Paul M]

There is also a premissions problem - you cannot pdf threads unless they are viewable by guests, and also a slight error in the url build as well.

I think I have fixed these problems locally, but need to test them, and I have to go out now for a few hours.
JFYI - I've changed the following in threadtopdf.php

$htmlFile = $vbulletin->options['bburl'] . '/threadtopdf.php?t=' . $threadid . '&amp;pdf=1';
to

$htmlFile = $vbulletin->options['bburl'] . '/threadtopdf.php?t=' . $threadid;

and

$forumperms = fetch_permissions($threadinfo['forumid']);
if (!($forumperms & $vbulletin->bf_ugp_forumpermissions['canview']) OR !($forumperms & $vbulletin->bf_ugp_forumpermissions['canviewthreads']))
{
print_no_permission();
}
if (!($forumperms & $vbulletin->bf_ugp_forumpermissions['canviewothers']) AND ($threadinfo['postuserid'] != $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] OR $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] == 0))
{
print_no_permission();
}

if ($threadinfo['open'] == 10)
{
exec_header_redirect('threadtopdf.php?' . $vbulletin->session->vars['sessionurl_js'] . "t=$threadinfo[pollid]");
}

// check if there is a forum password and if so, ensure the user has it set
verify_forum_password($foruminfo['forumid'], $foruminfo['password']);
to

if ($threadinfo['open'] == 10)
{
exec_header_redirect('threadtopdf.php?' . $vbulletin->session->vars['sessionurl_js'] . "t=$threadinfo[pollid]");
}

if ($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR'] != IPADDRESS)
{
$forumperms = fetch_permissions($threadinfo['forumid']);
if (!($forumperms & $vbulletin->bf_ugp_forumpermissions['canview']) OR !($forumperms & $vbulletin->bf_ugp_forumpermissions['canviewthreads']))
{
print_no_permission();
}
if (!($forumperms & $vbulletin->bf_ugp_forumpermissions['canviewothers']) AND ($threadinfo['postuserid'] != $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] OR $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] == 0))
{
print_no_permission();
}

// check if there is a forum password and if so, ensure the user has it set
verify_forum_password($foruminfo['forumid'], $foruminfo['password']);
}

Apart from the missing images, I now have a fully operational Thread > PDF (on my test forum). :)

If I decide to make this live I will probably do custom templates instead of using the printthread templates. :cool:

[theFAILURE]

Some of the threads on my site are between 50 to 300 pages long, and are basically stories you read from beginning till end. Mostly all of them have audio and photos as well.

It's nice to have the members logged in and reading the stories, instead of downloading the PDF file then getting logging out.

While reading the threads, it also entices members to post in the thread. While logged out reading PDF files this may not happen.

[rjmjr69]

I get this error when trying am I missing something?

http://www.isosdcftp.com/forums/threadtopdf.php?t=370&pdf=1

If I'm missing those files you posted a link to where do I install those?

[nebu]

pdf convertion is fine, but i have no pics ...
neither avatars nor images/smilies :(

[magnus]

pdf convertion is fine, but i have no pics ...
neither avatars nor images/smilies :(

You're not supposed to. It's a PDF of the "View Printable Version" output.

[nebu]

i overwrited my "old" version (2 days old) with the new one.
it works fine with the old one, but now i get this error message with the new one
"HTML_ToPDF Error: html2ps [/usr/bin/html2ps] not executable"

i have no root access and i dont know what to do :(

[nebu]

can u upload the old version again plz?
the old works .....

[Tralala]

Some of the threads on my site are between 50 to 300 pages long, and are basically stories you read from beginning till end. Mostly all of them have audio and photos as well.

It's nice to have the members logged in and reading the stories, instead of downloading the PDF file then getting logging out.

While reading the threads, it also entices members to post in the thread. While logged out reading PDF files this may not happen.


And yet, on the other hand, there are forums with lots of technical information and support shared. Admins might wish to allow their users to be able to locally archive and search this information. Users might feel "safer" knowing they're able to save a long, informative thread to their own computers... should the forum be down or the thread get removed.

Think of vb.org, for example. There have been instances where a hack author leaves, or a mod is removed... in that case, the support thread with all he answers go "poof!" as well. As a forum admin who might be running one of those mods, the ability to save the thread for my own reference later on would be VERY much appreciated.


That said... I, for one, am appreciative that magnus has coded this and is sharing it with us all. Looking forward to seeing improvements, if they are planned. I would like to see the option for images (inline as well as smilies) to be included, if that's possible.

[magnus]

Yea, I'm trying to rework this modification to make it a bit easier for those on shared hosts who don't necessarily have access to server configs.

This was just a quick attempt to fill a requested need. We'll see what develops.

[nebu]

thx :)

[testebr]

Which to real need of having a topic in pdf?

[magnus]

Which to real need of having a topic in pdf?

There's plenty of uses for a modification such as this. For instance, if you run a technical site many times a thread will be one of your best sources of information. So, rather than printing it out you can simply save the thread in PDF format for reference purposes -- so if you ever need it again, the information is readily available.

Or, perhaps, you run a gaming site. Often threads will contain game hints, tips, walkthroughs or the like. Again, you can just save the thread to PDF and have it available at your fingertips.

The list goes on and on. However, if you cannot fathom a use for your site then perhaps this modification isn't for you.

[Quantnet]

any development on this, magnus ?

[magnus]

On this one, no. I'm trying to achieve the same results w/o the need for any non-standard unix binaries. There are a few ways to do it, but unforunately, they're not nearly as efficient. But, I do have a couple things in the works -- hopefully a viable solution will fall into place soon.

[Simon Moon]

I have installed this on a new forum (not visible to the public yet) and it gives me a blank pdf. It clearly is a pdf though, but it is empty, just no content at all. I have vBSEO installed, could that interfere in some way?

[magnus]

I have installed this on a new forum (not visible to the public yet) and it gives me a blank pdf. It clearly is a pdf though, but it is empty, just no content at all. I have vBSEO installed, could that interfere in some way?

In your vBSEO settings, make sure "Rewrite Printthread URLs" is set to No.

[Simon Moon]

I tried that, doesn't work though. It still shows a completely empty PDF.

Looking a bit deeper, does it have problems with basedir restrictions?
Safe mode is off, but basedir is limited to the public html directory.

[magnus]

I tried that, doesn't work though. It still shows a completely empty PDF.

Looking a bit deeper, does it have problems with basedir restrictions?
Safe mode is off, but basedir is limited to the public html directory.

There is PHPs open_basedir, if "/usr/local/bin/" (or wherever you've placed your html2ps binary) is not within the allowed path, then php scripts won't be able to access the file.

[Simon Moon]

i disabled the open_basedir for this host now to test, and it still delivers the same result. Any ideas on how i could test this to find the cause of it? I mean i get a valid PDF file, its just blank, so maybe the problem lays somewhere in the data part?

[magnus]

i disabled the open_basedir for this host now to test, and it still delivers the same result. Any ideas on how i could test this to find the cause of it? I mean i get a valid PDF file, its just blank, so maybe the problem lays somewhere in the data part?

If you try to View Printable Version, does it display fine? If so, does it work as a Guest/Not Logged In user?

All this does is pipe the output of View Printable Version through html2pdf. So, if we can verify that half of it works, we know where to look.

[Simon Moon]

I figured it out, it was me. The forum is behind an htaccess authentication, for the setup etc. It seems like this plugin goes and literally uses a web access to the showthread url for this, so, if a general user without anything special cant see it (say user and password, or even if you would block the printthread for non registered users) it would not work anymore.

It is a great plugin and i keep it in, but you should note that in the first posts text, so it is very clear what it does (direct http access).

[GeekDrew]

I figured it out, it was me. The forum is behind an htaccess authentication, for the setup etc. It seems like this plugin goes and literally uses a web access to the showthread url for this, so, if a general user without anything special cant see it (say user and password, or even if you would block the printthread for non registered users) it would not work anymore.

All of my forums require that the user be logged in to read threads, so guests are not able to view any threads. This plugin works just fine for me...

[nebu]

can you say when the new version will be ready?

[Majest]

I've installed this, but each time I try to save a thread as a PDF I get the following error message.

Fatal error: Cannot instantiate non-existent class: html_topdf in /home/user/public_html/forum/threadtopdf.php on line 187

I am not sure if I have html2ps and/or ps2pdf installed. Could that be the problem?

[magnus]

I am not sure if I have html2ps and/or ps2pdf installed. Could that be the problem?

There's no doubt that's the problem. You can't instantiate a class when it doesn't exist. :)

[raiderlax]

Definitely not working for me,

let's make it work please!

[magnus]

Definitely not working for me,

let's make it work please!

Can't fix it if you don't tell me what's wrong.

[Majest]

There's no doubt that's the problem. You can't instantiate a class when it doesn't exist. :)

Ah okay, so what versions do I download and how and where do I install them on my site. Sorry but I don't have a clue what to do with them.

[magnus]

Ah okay, so what versions do I download and how and where do I install them on my site. Sorry but I don't have a clue what to do with them.

Everything is in the original post.

[Majest]

Forgive me, but I don't see where it tells me to install them. What folders? :confused:

[magnus]

Forgive me, but I don't see where it tells me to install them. What folders? :confused:
Under requirements, there are respective links for each required utility -- simply click the link and you will be taken to the product's homepage where there you can find installation instructions. Be advised that you will most likely need root access to your server in order to install these.

[raiderlax]

Can't fix it if you don't tell me what's wrong.

It shows up a blank page with a 1 line error :(

[magnus]

It shows up a blank page with a 1 line error :(
Come on man, work with me here...

[nebu]

is there a version for us who dont have full control over the server?
i cant use this nice hack :(

[nnjj.net]

is there any ipdate for this hack for 3.6.8?

I tried to use it but I am getting page can't display

[BadgerDog]

Anyone know where I can find this:

ps2pdf (link)

I searched around the site in the link posted in the instructions, but I can't find this download. I got the other one.

Thanks .. :)

Regards,
Badger

[nnjj.net]

how I can deal with
html2ps (link)
ps2pdf (link)

[Fungsten]

I'm getting this error.


HTML_ToPDF Error: html2ps [/usr/bin/html2ps] not executable

[yoyoyoyo]

I was receiving errors due to the safe mode being activated, so I wrote to my hosting company and got this response:

Hello,

If you need Register Globals ON then you can upload
a custom php.ini file in your scripts directory to
negate this change (this means your scripts will be
vulnerable to being exploited). You can find a custom
php.ini file at the URL below with Register Globals
turned ON. Simply upload it to your scripts directory
and name it php.ini to override the change on the
server.

php.ini should be upload to the same dir where php script is placed. It
doesn't affect subdirectories.I thought that this might help other people who are getting errors. I am attaching the php.ini file to this post. You can edit it in any text editor (I don't recommend notepad - use a better one like notepad2). Remove the .txt extension and upload it to your server.

[franzis]

hi everybody,

in my case the addon is working. it creates a pdf..
but only the first page of the thread. (and there are often thread with 10 pages and more)

anyone an idea where's my mistake?

greets franzis

[inciarco]

I'm getting this error.

I'm getting that same error :confused::

HTML_ToPDF Error: html2ps [/usr/bin/html2ps] not executable

in the following Address :confused::

threadtopdf.php?t=1833&pdf=1

What can be done?? :confused: :(

My Best Regards!! ;)

:)

[Illustrious]

What are the template modifications anyway, should I need them?

[chikkoo]

I have installed both the softwares in my server, and fixed the path in your class file, still I get the below error. Can you guide me how to fix this?

HTML_ToPDF Error: there was a problem running the ps2pdf command. Error code returned: 127. setDebug() for more information

[NNJJ]

is it working for 3.6.8?

[marcos_]

thats good man thanks.

[RedFoxy]

it goes with 3.7.2 but i can download only page where i push on download as pdf

[logicuk]

can someone update this for vb 3.7?

[abrecher]

This mod has stopped working for long threads. I have a few threads that are around 75+ pages and it's only downloading around 25 pages.

Any ideas on how to get this working for longer threads please ?

[chikkoo]

Hi..

I've found the softwares html2ps & ps2pdf are installed in a different folder (/user/local/bin) other than the one mentioned here or the default one ([/usr/bin/). Where can I change it in this module?

I don't see anything in vbulletin ACP Options.

[sross]

ok got it installed and it works fine up to 10 posts split into 4 pages. But anything more than that and it fails to show the entire thread. Seems very close to being an awesome mod can anyone fix this? Thanks

[abrecher]

A fix here would be awesome!!

[logicuk]

Yep i agree this needs fixing :D

would love this addon for vb 3.7

[58D]

I could really use this too. A refined version with the abilty to include photos would be perfect.

[Neutral Singh]

Is this working for 3.8.0?

[zushiba]

Excellent question this would be extreamly helpful.

[yahoooh]

does it work for 3.8???

[sross]

I don't think it ever worked to begin with. I went through the trouble of installing but if I had threads that were 10-30 pages long it would not save more than a couple of pages of a thread as pdf..

[yahoooh]

I don't think it ever worked to begin with. I went through the trouble of installing but if I had threads that were 10-30 pages long it would not save more than a couple of pages of a thread as pdf..

can be used for main thread and if the coder make it for post as option it will be good

[ArchAngelz]

Would this work for vb4?

[Avimelech]

I second that question. Has anyone tried this for VB4? Or can anyone recommend another way/add-on to accomplish this?