AGM Advanced vBNavbar RSS Reader (Flash-based)

[syrus.xl]

AGM Advanced vBNavbar RSS Reader (Flash-based)
'Display either an External Newsfeed or Latest Forum Posts in Your vBulletin Navbar'
Syrus XL Media - LIVE DEMO -> www.digitalport.co.uk (http://www.digitalport.co.uk)
Please note BOTH versions are included in the download package.
Documentation is available in Word, PDF & Text - all included in package.

http://www.digitalport.co.uk/banners/agm_rss_preview.jpg


Introduction
This product is capable of showing either a Newsfeed from other websites using their RSS feeds, or the Latest Forum Posts version will display the latest posts from your forum directly within your vBulletin Navbar. It has been designed to fit the default navbar of the standard vBulletin style, and uses the same color scheme. It is coded to strip the standard HTML RSS layout code and use its own. The RSS reader is coded in ActionScript 2.0 to allow most users to use it without updating their Adobe Flash Browser Plugin.

Features include:
? Auto-scrolling feed
? Pause on mouse-over
? High-light description on mouse-over
? Buttons for Forward and Rewind feed
? Auto-detect flash version and notify user if update is required

Depending on which version you install, the reader will open in either a new window for use as a newsreader, or open in same window if used for latest forum posts. All the aforementioned features are available in both versions.

If you are familiar with vBulletin template coding then you can place
this product anywhere on your forum.

Installation
Upload all the files depending on which version you require (details in download package).

Edit the ag_read.php ? this file acts as a proxy if you are pulling data from an external RSS source, it also allows you to specify the rss source, whether it is external or internal. You should change the value of the dataURL to suit your own requirements. If this is to point at your own forum then please enable external rss data handling via the AdminCP. By default we have set the dataURL to the BBC?s rss newsfeed in the external dataPull version and vBulletin.com for the Latest Posts demonstration.

Template Edit
This modification only requires one template edit, making it simple to install into any vBulletin setup.

AdminCP -> Styles & Templates -> Default Style -> Edit Templates -> Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates > navbar

Find:
</td>
<if condition="$show['member']">
<td class="alt2" nowrap="nowrap">
<div class="smallfont">
<strong><phrase 1="$bbuserinfo[username]" 2="member.php?$session[sessionurl]u=$bbuserinfo[userid]">$vbphrase[welcome_x_link_y]</phrase></strong><br />Before Add:
<!-- AG Advanced RSS Reader -->
<td class="alt2">

<div align="right">
<script src="Scripts/swfobject_modified.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<object id="FlashID" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="200" height="85">
<param name="movie" value="vbnavrss.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
<param name="swfversion" value="6.0.65.0" />
<param name="expressinstall" value="Scripts/expressInstall.swf" />


<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="vbnavrss.swf" width="200" height="85">

<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="wmode" value="opaque" />
<param name="swfversion" value="6.0.65.0" />
<param name="expressinstall" value="Scripts/expressInstall.swf" />
<div>
<h4>AG RSS Reader requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.</h4>
<p><a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"><img src="http://www.adobe.com/images/shared/download_buttons/get_flash_player.gif" alt="Get Adobe Flash player" width="112" height="33" /></a></p>
</div>

</object>

</object>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
swfobject.registerObject("FlashID");
//-->
</script>

</div>
</td>
<!-- End AG Advanced RSS Reader -->End of Template Edit. Click Save.

If you download this product and like it please click Install, so we can notify you of future updates.
Syrus XL Media 2003-2009

[syrus.xl]

*Reserved*

[Rene Kriest]

I like the idea which gives websites a more polished feeling.

Any chances to alter the window size without hardcoding?

[syrus.xl]

Not really, the window is hardcoded within the flash file. What sort of dimensions were you looking at?

[Jasem]

Good work, thank you!

[Haltech]

i personally would like something longer and about 65 for height so i can place it did center in the navbar.

[syrus.xl]

I will resize it, and make it to a height of 65 pixels - I'll upload it, in both variations a little later. :)

[DobieGillis?]

i personally would like something longer and about 65 for height so i can place it did center in the navbar.

centered would be awesome.

[Stoebi]

Thanks :)

Any chance to change the scrolling speed/delay?

[syrus.xl]

centered would be awesome.
It cannot be centered within the navbar - this would break the breadcrumbs on the left side of the navbar.
Thanks :)

Any chance to change the scrolling speed/delay?
I'll see if I can code this into a flashvar - thus allowing people to alter the speed externally, via a variable which would be thousandths of a second e.g. ?delay=3000 would be 3 seconds.

[DobieGillis?]

It cannot be centered within the navbar - this would break the breadcrumbs on the left side of the navbar.

I'll see if I can code this into a flashvar - thus allowing people to alter the speed externally, via a variable which would be thousandths of a second e.g. ?delay=3000 would be 3 seconds.

gotcha!

[kkeezer]

Looks great, I will install it this weekend.

Thanks,
Kyle

[Gemma]

Thank You! I was hoping you would release this after seen your screenshoot inthe 'Style Chooser' hack. Simple and flawless, great stuff, once again thanks! :)

[syrus.xl]

Thank You! I was hoping you would release this after seen your screenshoot inthe 'Style Chooser' hack. Simple and flawless, great stuff, once again thanks! :)

You're welcome Gemma! You only have to ask about other modifications, I use - normally they do get released, just not all are available on here. :)

[macc]

Thanks - nice hack !


Kan we use two in same time - put both in navbar template - mean one for rss feeds and another for latest forum posts?
some help ?

regards

macc

[syrus.xl]

Thanks - nice hack !


Kan we use two in same time - put both in navbar template - mean one for rss feeds and another for latest forum posts?
some help ?

regards

macc

OPTION 1: You could put 2 in the navbar, but they would need to be in sub-directories - each one would then need to referenced correctly from the template code as to where the main swf files are placed. This could be done by adding relative urls to each swf call.

OPTION 2: Alternatively, I could recompile a new file for you which would point to a new ag_read.php proxy file, obviously being renamed accordingly.

If you're not sure how to reference objects using relative urls and setup the sub-directory mapping, then probably the best bet would be to take the second option.

[crashys]

Good night,
I'm having some troubles setting up AGM vNabvar, I'v got it up and running all ok, but I'm having problems with characters, I can't get any pontuation on words, for example: 'Su?cia(Suécia)' , 'n?o(não)', 'diferen?a(diferença)';

Any sugestion on fixing this?

Thanks in advance

[hambil]

About time someone made use of that empty space. Nice work :p

[syrus.xl]

Good night,
I'm having some troubles setting up AGM vNabvar, I'v got it up and running all ok, but I'm having problems with characters, I can't get any pontuation on words, for example: 'Su?cia(Su?cia)' , 'n?o(n?o)', 'diferen?a(diferen?a)';

Any sugestion on fixing this?

Thanks in advance

That could be an issue when using non-english characters. With this product the flash file I have embedded 117 font characters (this includes english only punctuation), it is kept low as possible to keep the file light-weight, however this does restrict languages that it can be used upon.

Can you tell me which language you are using? I will then recompile a version for your language.

The problem with this product is if all languages are catered for then the product file size would increase by over 300k per page load, which is far too heavy.

Regards,

[crashys]

That could be an issue when using non-english characters. With this product the flash file I have embedded 117 font characters (this includes english only punctuation), it is kept low as possible to keep the file light-weight, however this does restrict languages that it can be used upon.

Can you tell me which language you are using? I will then recompile a version for your language.

The problem with this product is if all languages are catered for then the product file size would increase by over 300k per page load, which is far too heavy.

Regards,

Hi, thanks for your fast answer, my language is Portuguese.

[syrus.xl]

Hi, thanks for your fast answer, my language is Portuguese.

You're welcome. I'll compile one tomorrow and upload it on here. :)

[macc]

hello and thanks for answer ...

Have one problem more ... how get color that will be same like my navbar ... can you take a look on my site - now i put this on different place because the colors not match


regards

macc

edit: fixed - now is ok

[syrus.xl]

hello and thanks for answer ...

Have one problem more ... how get color that will be same like my navbar ... can you take a look on my site - now i put this on different place because the colors not match


regards

macc

edit: fixed - now is ok

Color coding will be available in a pro version - but a dark version will also be released before that.

Looks good, glad you fixed the issue! :)

[Jezlad]

This is close to something I was looking to pay for a year ago. Except the latest threads would update automatically via Ajax each time a member posts.

How hard is this to achieve? I'm willing to pay. :)

[syrus.xl]

This is close to something I was looking to pay for a year ago. Except the latest threads would update automatically via Ajax each time a member posts.

How hard is this to achieve? I'm willing to pay. :)
This wouldn't be too difficult to achieve, just getting the modification to query the database at regular intervals for the required data, format it and then update the output window.

[Sofia]

Very good hack. Installed.

Edit : problem with characters (french language) with :

ç - é - è - ê - ë - à - â - ù - û - ô - î

[webgroup]

very very nice!

[alexquattro]

Is that possible to recompile the flash for a dark forum skin?

[syrus.xl]

Is that possible to recompile the flash for a dark forum skin?

It can be done. But if you want it for a specific forum style, then I would need to see your actual forum so we can use the correct HEX values. A small charge would be incurred though, for us to change these values, and recompile it. PM me if you're still interested.

Regards,

[syrus.xl]

Very good hack. Installed.


Edit : problem with characters (french language) with :

? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ?

This would be due to the character set embedded. To try and keep the file size down it was compiled with the minimum amount required, other languages are possible. A full set of characters would take the file size in excess of 400k, therefore we would need to look at which extra characters would be needed for the output to be in French.

[zelnik]

Looks like a great mod is there a way of adding it to a side column instead of the navbar?

[syrus.xl]

Looks like a great mod is there a way of adding it to a side column instead of the navbar?

It could be added anywhere, but you need to consider the 200 pixel width. Obviously, the coding would need to be changed slightly, so it would function in a side-column which I assume is on vBulletin.

[zelnik]

It could be added anywhere, but you need to consider the 200 pixel width. Obviously, the coding would need to be changed slightly, so it would function in a side-column which I assume is on vBulletin.

Hi Syrus,

Thanks for the reply looks like a great mod.

I'm running this for the side column https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=175181

I'll give it a try and see how it looks and report back if it's do'able if the coding could be done then I wouldn't mind paying for the branding free version you mentioned in the install package.

I've been using a news ticker until now but I've discovered via my host that it's causing my site to be massively slow if it can't get the rss feed, like if the site is slown or down for example so looking for an alternative and this seems ideal, if not better!

[syrus.xl]

Hi Syrus,

Thanks for the reply looks like a great mod.

I'm running this for the side column https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=175181

I'll give it a try and see how it looks and report back if it's do'able if the coding could be done then I wouldn't mind paying for the branding free version you mentioned in the install package.

I've been using a news ticker until now but I've discovered via my host that it's causing my site to be massively slow if it can't get the rss feed, like if the site is slown or down for example so looking for an alternative and this seems ideal, if not better!
It shouldn't cause issues, because it is flash-based and only calls the feed in if available, if not then it just shuts down, it doesn't make any other calls. So if the feed is dead, it just shows nothing, but most websites feeds should show - it handles many feed types.

Sorry for the reply, but I've been busy working on another large vbulletin website.

[zelnik]

Hi there,

Have installed it for a few days now trialling it out but I'm a bit concerned about how much traffic this is producing as firefox is constantly saying "transferring data from <website url>"

I assume it's doing this for everyone on my site surely that's producing a decent amount of traffic/bandwidth opposed to a system that just goes and gets an rss feed say once every 30 mins and then everyone uses the stored feed?

Look forward to your thoughts.

[syrus.xl]

The actual coding in flash doesn't mean it is constantly pulling data externally. It only refreshes once upon a page load, some AJAX versions do actually have refresh intervals, however this one doesn't work like that. The amount of data would not change if a visitor was on any page for 1 minute or a few hours, it pulls once and that is it.

Firefox will show any flash object constantly transfering data even if it is not. The reason is because data is pulled externally via the proxy file, therefore the flash object may look to the browser that data is being continually sent/received - the fact is if the flash object was set to stop after pulling the data once then it would not show this message, but then the RSS feed would fail.

Bandwidth shouldn't be an issue, it is only the cost of the main flash object you would need to worry about, if that. The swf is designed to be compact as much as possible, this is why some people have mentioned certain languages failing, if all languages were embedded then the file size would be over 400k per page load, which is far beyond anything we would consider releasing.

Hope that explains it a bit better. :)

[BadgerDog]

Installed for testing .... :)

Thanks you ... nice work ... :up:

Is there any way to make the box a little shorter, but wider? I mean, is there someplace I can set the height and width?

Also, for last posts, how many does it pull and is it the vBulletin external file that specifies that?

Regards,
Badger