Panic Button - Postbit
 

Please click Mark as Installed if you are using this hack.


What Does This Hack Do?[hr]hr[/hr]
This is an update to my 3.7.x version of this hack.

Do your members ever view your site from work when they should not be doing so? Will they get in to trouble if they do get caught by their boss? If the answer is yes to both questions, then this hack is for you.

This hack gives your members their own vBulletin Boss Key (i.e. Panic button), which is displayed at the bottom of the postbit in each post, so your members can quickly click themselves to the safety of legitimate url if the boss turns up, while your members are at work.

I have created a custom button for this hack, you can use another button if you like, just remember to rename it panic.gif. You can have a different button for each style, as long as each one is named panic.gif.

NOTE: Any Panic Button you see in a thread is tied to your profile, even if it is in someone else's postbit (to prove it, disable the Panic Button in the your UserCP)

This hack was created because of a requested here.

If your members report errors when clicking on the panic button, first thing to ensure is that they used the full url (including http://) when typing in the site their panic button will go to, ie http://www.google.com (will work) and not like this - www.google.com (will not work). The second thing to check for, is that the Panic Button - URL Jump box is not empty.


Limitation with this hack[hr]hr[/hr]
People keep asking for usergroup permissions for this hack.

While this would easy to implement, what people fail to realise is that User Profile Fields are not controlled by usergroup permissions at all, and even if usergroup permissions were added to this hack, the User Profile Fields would still be viewable by members even if they do not have permissions to use them.

User Profile Fields are either viewable by all or viewable by none, this is how they were implemented in vBulletin by design, there is no in between with User Profile Fields.

So, I will not be adding usergroup permissions to this hack.


vBulletin Version Compatibility[hr]hr[/hr]
This hack can be used with vBulletin versions 3.6.0 - 3.8.8.

For the v4.0.x version of this hack - check here.


Hack Support/Feature Requests[hr]hr[/hr]
IMPORTANT: This hack is no longer supported.


Install/Uninstall Instructions[hr]hr[/hr]
The Panic Button Installation Instructions 3.8.xxx.pdf instructions file is included in attached .zip (includes instructions and pictures)


Version History[hr]hr[/hr]
v3.8.002 - Friday 27th March 2009
-- Fixed: Uncached Template
-- Added: Uninstall Instructions

v3.8.001 - Friday 9th January 2009
-- Initial Release


Thanks[hr]hr[/hr]
Thanks go out to Paul M who gave me permission to use some of his install code.


Show Your Appreciation [hr]hr[/hr]
Although not required, if you have enjoyed the benefits of this hack, and would like show your appreciation for my efforts, then please feel free to click on the Support Developer link and donate any amount you feel is appropriate.

Installed & working good...thanks. :)

Thanks for the cool MOD and detailed instructions.

Works flawlessly with 3.8.0 Gold

VOTED 5 out of 5

Excellent work!

Is it possible to give permission to us it just for some usergroups?

Excellent Installed:up:

CAn't seem to get this to display in my profile. I have a Post bit selector at position #5 and have tried 6 & 7, 8 & 9 even 20 & 21 but no luck. Any ideas?

Second vote for ability based on user group permissions.

There are two circumstances that this will happen

• Either you have not entered the correct user profile field numbers in vBulletin Options.
• Or, you are using a custom style that has not been updated to include the correct template hook.

Read the below (now added to 1st post):

I will change my "mark installed" from the 3.7.x version to this one.

But the description of this one has a bug.;)
We are not that far in 2009 yet.:D:D

Opps, fixed up :)

Great mod :) installed.

yea it's a great mod not installed but BOOKMARKED!

Very nice, thank you! Had members wanting something like this!

Awesome love it and installed! Working on 8.1.

Good work, thank you......

Installed & working Very good :up:

works! Wonderful mod!

i saw this when regin at another site, and i just had to come find it!! ;D very neat and handy idea, i have marked as installed and nominated for MOTM, good luck

ok i installed this and followed the instructions, but when i uploaded the product i got this error

XML Error: not well-formed (invalid token) at Line 1

something to do with pl1?

It sounds like something went wrong when you downloaded the zip file, try downloading it and extracting the files again. Let me know if the problem persists.

I still love this hack. good job, Mosh!

worked, thanks

it imported fine and everything seems to be working, i did steps 5 and 6 and when i go to my options in my userxp the input areas are there

but in bot postbit and legacy no panic button shows up, its just not there :(

id love to send u a link so u can try it urself

I love the hack, but the PDF file prohibits cut and paste of details.

A simple text file would have been preferable.

OK call me lazy, sling rotten eggs at me......

I do love the hack!!!!

i agree, but foxit pdf reader allowed me to save to a txt, then i just copy/pasted everything

ok here are some screenshots, and btw ice is me

i also attached the txt, i hope that is ok

[s]If you want me to take a look then feel free to PM me your site address, a temp admin user (with admin permissions - Can Administer Settings for editing options, Can Administer Styles for editing templates, Can Administer Language Settings for editing phrases and finally Can Administer Plugins for editing products and plugins), and ftp access details, without these I can not help you. I will look when I have time, and even if I have a look, I can not guarantee that I will be able to fix it, so it is up to you what you want to do. You can revoke these after I have helped you out.[/s]

thats cool but i got to go so tomorrow, thanks :)

ok, i sent PM

Can you send me the info I require to help you out via PM please. Without it I will not be able to help.

All fixed up now. You can remove temp admin and ftp accounts now :)

You had two issues.

Firstly in step 2 you set the options to OFF ON, should have been Off On, this was the major reason the hack did not work.

Secondly, you did not upload panic.gif to one of your styles, which would have been the reason the button did not show if the hack was working.

Hope you members enjoy the hack :)

Any differences between this and the previous version?
I have now 3.8 but with the previous mod, so I was wondering if there's anything to change or if it's just the same.

It is pretty much the same, but any versions below v3.8.001 I will not be providing any support for. But if it is working for you, then there is probably no need to update it.

am i blind cuz i still dont see it

heres a screenshot

You will have to resend the details via PM, as it was working with the test account you sent me.

EDIT: Before doing that, can you select Edit Options from your UserCP, if Panic Button - ON/OFF Switch is not already set to On then select On, then just save the settings.

That should alter the Panic Button - ON/OFF Switch profile field column in the database from having ON (wrong value) to the correct value of On.

If that does not work (which I think it will), then do the above.

yea that was the problem, sorry im retarded

You are not retarded at all, it took me a couple of hours before it occurred to me that was probably what the issue was. So, it was not all that obvious what the issue was.

Update: v3.8.002 - Friday 27th March 2009
-- Fixed: Uncached Template
-- Added: Uninstall Instructions

Triple checked everything. It won't show up when turned on. Does this conflict with the "blog this" button of vb blog?

www.bigsoccer.com

This hack does not touch vBlog at all, just the postbit in a post, thread and private message.

Jeez, thought I clicked it. My bad. Clicked.

Waht's happenign is I have the right fieldIDs but it's not seeing 'em. I've checked the db and the right field id's are there, but hte template isn't getting the On/Off and URL values. I've also confirmed in the db that the values in my profile fields are On and http://www.google.com

Well have a look at the attached sreenshot, you will see that the Blog this Post icon is also there, so this hack does not conflict with it.

If you have followed the instructions to the letter (most of the time when I look a clients installations they have not done so, even when they say that they did), I will need to at your installation to help you further.

[s]If you want me to take a look then feel free to PM me your site address, a temp admin user (with admin permissions - Can Administer Settings for editing options, Can Administer Styles for editing templates, Can Administer Language Settings for editing phrases and finally Can Administer Plugins for editing products and plugins), and ftp access details, without these I can not help you. I will look when I have time, and even if I have a look, I can not guarantee that I will be able to fix it, so it is up to you what you want to do. You can revoke these after I have helped you out.

This offer will be on the table for 7 days, after which time it will be revoked, and[/s] I will not be able to help you further.

Let me know what you decide.

I can't give you FTP access for security reasons. If that rules this out, fine. I appreciate the offer tho.

For what it's worth, I've confirmed everything is there via phpmyadmin, even the correct capitalization for On and Off and if I edit your code to call the fieldID directly, instead of via variable, it still doesn't pull it for some reason.

That is totally understandable, but as this hack is not rocket science to install and there is very little that can go wrong with it (apart from not following the instructions to the letter), if it is not working and you have done everything, without looking at your installation I can not help you any further.