Can write to datastore, but not retrieve.

[rob30UK]

I made a cron which writes to the datastore, but I cannot retrieve it in any plugins.

Just to be sure Im not going mad I changed my cron code to a very very simple
<?php
build_datastore('glossary_links', 'thisistestdata');
?>True enough when the cron is fired the data is entered into the datastore which I can see via phpmyadmin.

Now I have tried every which way that I can to retrieve this data and have tried several hook locations but no matter what I do I cannot retrieve the data from out the datastore again. I've tried global $vbulletin;
$glossary_links = $vbulletin->glossary_links;Nothing seems to work. Does anyone know the stupidly obvious thing that I am forgetting to do here?

[Boofo]

Use this to build the datastore:

build_datastore('glossary_links', serialize($glossary_links),1);


and this to fetch it:


if (method_exists($vbulletin->datastore,'do_fetch'))
{ // Datastore extension exists, use it
$vbulletin->datastore->do_fetch('glossary_links',$errors);
if ($errors[0])
{ // Fetch failed, use original datastore
$vbulletin->datastore->do_db_fetch("'glossary_links'");
}
}
else
{ // No extension, use original datastore
$vbulletin->datastore->do_db_fetch("'glossary_links'");
}
$glossary_links = $vbulletin->glossary_links;

[rob30UK]

Hi Boofo!!

Thank you very very much for your help this has been driving me insane for hours.
I still cant get it going though...

In my test, this cron builds the datastore:<?php
$kwdStr="I will not show at the end of every post!";
build_datastore('glossary_links', serialize($kwdStr),1);
?>

and in postbit_display_complete I run this codeif (method_exists($vbulletin->datastore,'do_fetch'))
{ // Datastore extension exists, use it
$vbulletin->datastore->do_fetch('glossary_links',$errors);
if ($errors[0])
{ // Fetch failed, use original datastore
$vbulletin->datastore->do_db_fetch("'glossary_links'");
}
}
else
{ // No extension, use original datastore
$vbulletin->datastore->do_db_fetch("'glossary_links'");
}
$glossary_links = $vbulletin->glossary_links;

$this->post['message'] .= $glossary_links;

Nothing has come through - the datastore should be appended to the end of every post (I've tested that code also with a normal string.. eg. I can append hello to every post with $this->post['message'] .= "hello";)

Am I doing something wrong when I try and output the data? It's a plain string I am storing in the datastore, not an array or anything.

[Boofo]

Why not just do a profile field for the info?

--------------- Added 1206995932 at 1206995932 ---------------

have you truied using $glossary_links instead of $this->post['message']?

[rob30UK]

hah well, I'm using it for more than just this, I just broke it right down above to try and get any form of datastore working.

No, what I am really doing is using the extra thread fields lite hack to add an extra field to threads in the glossary forum. The extra field takes a comma seperated list of keywords.

The keywords, or key phrases will then get automatically linked back to the thread whenever they occur in any post on the site. i use the extra thread field approach because our staff can easy add the linked terms when creating glossary threads.

My cron basically goes along once a day and caches the 'keywords' and 'threadid' for all threads (where that extra field isnt blank)

Everything up to this point works but I cant carry on because even though the data is in the database in the datastore table I cannot retrieve it no matter what I do. The alternative is to do a database SELECT from threads table where keywords (field1) != ''

I can of course code around not having a datastore, but the fact is we do have a datastore.... but it seems very difficult to use for 'custom' data. I still cant get it going.

this:- $vbulletin->mydatastoreitem
is it returned in the same variable type 'as entered' for instance if I pass a string to the datastore, will it return a string? Or does it always return an array, or something else?

Sorry if I am seeming a little thick, PHP isnt my usual sweetstuff.

[Boofo]

I'm new at the datastore stuff myself so I know what you are going through. I did a hack for my site that uses the datastore to retrieve top poster, top thread starter, etc. The code I gave you is from that. Paul M and cheesgrits helped me get to the point of it working like it should.

Here is how I do it:

glossary_links[datastoreitem]

and it display the piece of info from the datastore I have entered into it. Here is how I set it up to add the info to the db.

$options = array(
'arcadegames' => 1,
'arcadecats' => 1,
'getthreadviews' => 1,
'topposter' => 1,
'topposterid' => 1,
'toppostercount' => 1,
'topposterpercent' => 1,
'topstarter' => 1,
'topstarterid' => 1,
'topstartercount' => 1,
'topthreadspercent' => 1,
'getfileviewsun' => 1,
'getfileviewsid' => 1,
'getfileviews' => 1,
'ref2' => 1,
'topreferrerid' => 1,
'ref' => 1,
'lastupdate' => 1,
);
build_datastore('statscache', serialize($options),1);

That is the install code query I run when setting up the hack. You would put glossary_links where I have statscache.

And here is the uninstall code I use:


DELETE FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "datastore WHERE title = 'statscache' LIMIT 1

[rob30UK]

Ok, thats very helpful boofo.....

Could I see an example of how you are reading these items back from the datastore?
That would appear to be where i'm falling down....

[Boofo]

The code I gave you (if (method_exists($vbulletin->datastore,'do_fetch'))) is what I use to pull the info for display. I put that at the very beginning of my code and then set up the variables to be added to the datastore at a given time (every 15 minutes for my hack). If you have IM, PM me and I can send you the hack so you can look at how I did it if that will help you at all.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

$kwdStr="I will not show at the end of every post!";
build_datastore('glossary_links', serialize($kwdStr),1);
Why are you serializing a string. Serializing is done on an array.

[Boofo]

I think he is trying to update the datastore there.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

How does that answer my question??

It does not matter what you do with it, but serializing is an array operation, not a string operation.

[Boofo]

I understand. I'm just telling you what I think he is trying to do, not what is the right way to do it.

[rob30UK]

hi, ok I didnt know what serialize was for arrays or not... either way I tried it without serialize.

Please try and reproduce this:-

try this as a cron file:- $kwdStr="I will not show at the end of every post!";
build_datastore('glossary_links', $kwdStr);Then try this as a plugin on postbit_display_complete$this->post['message'] .= $vbulletin->glossary_links;By rights, that code SHOULD work!

I tried swopping the plugin for this code
if (method_exists($vbulletin->datastore,'do_fetch'))
{ // Datastore extension exists, use it
$vbulletin->datastore->do_fetch('glossary_links',$errors);
if ($errors[0])
{ // Fetch failed, use original datastore
$vbulletin->datastore->do_db_fetch("'glossary_links'");
}
}
else
{ // No extension, use original datastore
$vbulletin->datastore->do_db_fetch("'glossary_links'");
}
$glossary_links = $vbulletin->glossary_links;
$this->post['message'] .= $glossary_links;That makes much more sense to me and was optimistic that that would work...
but still nothing.

Does anyone know why this isnt working and importantly how to fix it?