[How-To] vBulletin API Basics: Variables, Functions, Objects
 

vBulletin API Basics: Variables, Functions, Objects

This How-To should serve as a reference to coders, who have a basic knowledge of PHP and who want to make their own mods.

$vbulletin (Type: Object)

Contains vBulletin data that has been in separate variables in vB 3.0.x.
Below you can find a translation table of changed variables and functions.
This is an expanded version of the list that you can find in vBulletin's source code (functions_legacy.php).
vBulletin 3.0.3 locations are on the left hand side, and the corresponding vBulletin 3.5.0 locations are on the right hand side.
Legacy locations can be enabled by running legacy_enable(), although this is officially not recommended for long term compatibility.

Please note the following:

1. $vbulletin
   Inside of object classes, you should access $vbulletin->[...] as $this->registry->[...]. Therefore, use that structure when modifying code inside of any classes.
   .
2. VARIABLES ENABLED FOR TEMPLATES
   $vboptions['x'], $bbuserinfo['x'] and $session['x'] do work in the template system without running legacy_enable().
   .
3. SUPERGLOBALS
   $_GET/$_POST/$_REQUEST/$_COOKIE/$_FILES/$_SERVER/$_ENV are available anywhere, but generally you should avoid using them. Instead, "clean" those variables and place them into $vbulletin->GPC using $vbulletin->input->clean_gpc() and $vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc() methods.
   You can read more about these two "cleaning" methods here.
   
   As a summary:
   1. Use $vbulletin->input->clean_gpc() for a single variable, and $vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc() for arrays.
   2. After variables are patched through, they can be accessed using $vbulltin->GPC (which is an array).
   3. Cleaning 'somevar' will not create variable $somevar.
   4. $vbulletin->input->clean_gpc() returns the clean value, therefore the following code will work out nicely:
      
      
      Code:

      ---

      $id = $vbulletin->input->clean_gpc('r', 'id', TYPE_UINT);

      ---

   
   Once you get to know the syntax of those functions, you can use the following as a reference:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   ------------------------------------
SOURCES AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS
------------------------------------

'g'                    - $_GET
'p'                    - $_POST
'r'                    - $_REQUEST
'c'                    - $_COOKIE
's'                    - $_SERVER
'e'                    - $_ENV
'f'                    - $_FILES

------------------------------------
VALID DATA TYPES
------------------------------------

TYPE_BOOL              - Boolean
TYPE_INT              - Integer
TYPE_UINT              - Unsigned Integer
TYPE_NUM              - Floating Point Number
TYPE_UNUM              - Unsigned Floating Point Number
TYPE_UNIXTIME          - Unix Timestamp (Unsigned Integer)
TYPE_STR              - Trimmed String (No leading or trailing whitespace)
TYPE_NOTRIM            - String
TYPE_NOHTML            - Trimmed String sent through htmlspecialchars_uni()
TYPE_ARRAY            - Array
TYPE_FILE              - File
TYPE_NOCLEAN          - Unvalidated

   ---

4. GLOBALIZING VARIABLES IN FUNCTIONS
   Since most of the variables can be found within the $vbulletin class, there is generally no need to globalize more than one variable (which is $vbulletin). An exception would be the $vbphrase array, which currently cannot be found within the $vbulletin class.
   
   Taking the above account, the following code is not good:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   function foo()
{
    global $forumcache, $vbulletin, $vboptions;

    $forumcache =& $vbulletin->forumcache;
    $vboptions =& $vbulletin->options;

    foreach ($forumcache AS $forumid => $forum)
    {
        if ($vboptions['something'])
        {
            // do stuff
        }
    }
}

   ---

   Instead, you should use the following code (which is, obviously, shorter and easier to use):
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   function foo()
{
    global $vbulletin;

    foreach ($vbulletin->forumcache AS $forumid => $forum)
    {
        if ($vbulletin->options['something'])
        {
            // do something
        }
    }
}

   ---

5. DATASTORE ITEMS
   In vBulletin 3.0.x you could commonly see the following code:
   
   
   PHP Code:

   ---

   if (isset($datastore_item)) 


   ---

   Unfortunately, this does not work in vBulletin 3.5.0, since the datastore items are now contained within $vbulletin class.
   You need to use the following code instead:
   
   
   PHP Code:

   ---

   if ($vbulletin->datastore_item !== null) 


   ---

6. BITFIELDS
   In case you have been wondering, "ugp" stands for "UserGroup Permissions".
   To avoid the confusing "$object->array[key1][key2][key3][key4]...[key10]" stuff, there are references set up that allow you to talk to deep elements quickly. For example, $vbulletin->bf_ugp_adminpermissions is a reference to $vbulletin->bf_ugp['adminpermissions'].
   .
7. BBCODE PARSE
   BBCode Parser has changed slightly in vBulletin 3.5.
   To familiarize yourself with the new syntax, check out KirbyDE's How-To.
   .
8. MISCELLANEOUS
   It is impossible to list here every aspect of vBulletin code, therefore you should familizarize yourself with the contents of init.php and class_core.php before beginning to hack into the system (and I know you are in a rush ;)).

$db (Type: Object)

As you might have judged from the Table 1 in this tutorial, the database object in vB3.5 is $vbulletin->db.
However, $db is another way to access that object; it is the way that used everywhere unless you call it from within a function. In functions, use $vbulletin->db.
Obviously, the purpose of the database method is to perform various operations on the database. Most common methods are described below.

• $db->query();
  Deprecated in favor of below methods (to save memory).
  Returns: MySQL Resource
  .
• $db->query_read();
  Performs SELECT and SHOW operations only.
  These queries will execute on the slave server, if one is defined.
  Returns: MySQL Resource
  .
• $db->query_write();
  Performs INSERT, REPLACE, UPDATE, DROP, ALTER and other data-modifying queries.
  These queries will execute on the master server.
  Returns: MySQL Resource
  .
• $db->query_first();
  Same as query_read(), but returns first result as an array.
  Returns: array on success / boolean false on failure
  .
• $db->num_rows($mysql_resource_var);
  Input: A MySQL resource variable (usually output of the first three methods).
  Returns: int Amount of Resulting Rows
  .
• $db->fetch_array($mysql_resource_var);
  Input: A MySQL resource variable (usually output of the first three methods).
  Returns: array One row from the mysql results on success / boolean false on failure
  
  To fetch each row consecutively, use the following code:
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  while ($var = $db->fetch_array($mysql_resource_var))
{
        // your code ($var contains the array);
}

  ---

• $db->insert_id();
  Input: None.
  Returns: int Row ID of the latest INSERT operation.
  .
• $db->escape_string(); and $db->escape_string_like();
  Input: String.
  Returns: string A string with appropriate characters escaped.
  
  These two functions must be used instead of the PHP built-in addslashes() and addslashes_like().
  Using the PHP built-in functions may cause problems on non-MySQL systems.
  .
• $db->show_errors(); and $db->hide_errors();
  Input: None.
  Returns: None.
  
  The first function enables sql error output (default), whereas the second function disables such output.
  Useful when you do not want the script to die on error (example: no die on product installation if a table already exists).

Data Managers

Data Managers (DMs) are an interface to various data objects used within vBulletin. They enforce necessary constraints and administrator-set options on the data to ensure that the data is valid.
You can read more about Data Managers in vBulletin's online manual.
Also, you can read specifically about the User DM in this KirbyDE's How-To, and about Thread DM here.

Authentication Storage

The authentication data is stored in the following way (thank to Kirby for this info):

$_COOKIE:
{cookiepfx}userid - plain(userid)
{cookiepfx}password - md5(md5(md5('PlaintextPassword') . salt) . 'LicenseNo').

TABLE user:
password - md5(md5('PlaintextPassword') . salt)

Note that for cookie, {cookiepfx} is your board's cookie prefix. It is configurable via admincp and is accessible via the COOKIE_PREFIX constant.

Important Functions

• construct_page_nav($pagenumber, $perpage, $results, $address, $address2 = '');
  
  Returns the HTML for multi-page navigation.
  Two latest arguments are not used yet, therefore they are not documented.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  $pagenumber        int    Total number of items found
$perpage        string  Base address for links eg: showthread.php?t=99{&page=4}
$results        string  Ending portion of address for links

  ---

• eval(standard_error(fetch_error('error_phrase')));
  
  Outputs a standard error message with a phrase of your choice.
  fetch_error looks up the phrase you specify in the "Front-End Error Messages" phrase category.
  Error phrases must be prefixed with "error_".
  .
• print_standard_redirect($redir_phrase, $doquery = true, $forceredirect = false);
  
  Returns eval()-able code to initiate a standard redirect
  $vbulletin->url should contain the target url for the redirect.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  $redir_phrase        string  Name of redirect phrase
$doquery        boolean  If true, it will fetch $redir_phrase from "Front-End Redirect Messages" phrase category. Must be prefixed with "redirect_".
                        If false, it will use the value of $redir_phrase as the phrase itself.
$forceredirect  boolean  Should generally be set to true.

  ---

• is_valid_email($email);
  
  Checks an email for validity and returns true or false.
  .
• can_moderate($forumid = 0, $do = '', $userid = -1, $usergroupids = '');
  
  Checks whether a user can moderate a certain forum.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  $forumid      int      Specific forum to check. If not set, will check whether the user is a moderator of any forum at all.
$do            string    Specific mod action to check. If not set, will check whether the user is a moderator of the forum specified in $forumid.
$userid        int      User ID to check. If not set, will use $vbulletin->userinfo.
$usergroupids  string    List of group IDs, separate by commas, to which the user belongs. Should be generally left blank.

  ---

• can_administer();
  
  Checks whether or not the visiting user has administrative permissions
  
  This function can optionally take any number of parameters, each of which
  should be a particular administrative permission you want to check. For example:
  can_administer('canadminsettings', 'canadminstyles', 'canadminlanguages')
  If any one of these permissions is met, the function will return true.
  If no parameters are specified, the function will simply check that the user is an administrator.
  .
• convert_bits_to_array(&$bitfield, $_FIELDNAMES);
  
  Converts a bitfield into an array of 1 / 0 values based on the array describing the resulting fields. Returns an array.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  &$bitfield      int      (ref) Bitfield
$_FIELDNAMES    array    Array containing field definitions - array('canx' => 1, 'cany' => 2, 'canz' => 4) etc.

  ---

• function convert_array_to_bits(&$arry, $_FIELDNAMES, $unset = 0);
  
  Takes an array and returns the bitwise value.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  &arry          array    Array for input.
$_FIELDNAMES    array    Array containing field definitions - array('canx' => 1, 'cany' => 2, 'canz' => 4) etc.
$unset          int      Defines whether to unset the array data once it has been converted to bits

  ---

• fetch_template($templatename, $escape = 0, $gethtmlcomments = true);
  
  Returns a single template from the templatecache or the database.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  $templatename    string  Name of template to be fetched
$escape          int      Escape quotes in template? 1: escape; -1: unescape; 0: do nothing
$gethtmlcomments boolean  Wrap template in HTML comments showing the template name?

  ---

  Two most common uses are:
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  eval('$mycustomvar .= "' . fetch_template('mycustomtemplate') . '";');
eval('print_output("' . fetch_template('mycustomtemplate') . '");');

  ---

• vbsetcookie($name, $value = '', $permanent = true);
  
  Sets a cookie based on vBulletin environmental settings.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  $name          string    Cookie name
$value          mixed    Value to store in the cookie
$permanent      boolean  If true, do not set an expiry date for the cookie

  ---

• vb_number_format($number, $decimals = 0, $bytesize = false, $decimalsep = null, $thousandsep = null);
  
  Formats a number with user's own decimal and thousands chars and returns the formatted number.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  $number          mixed    Number to be formatted: integer / 8MB / 16 GB / 6.0 KB / 3M / 5K / ETC
$decimals        integer  Number of decimal places to display
$bytesize        boolean  Special case for byte-based numbers
$decimalsep      string    Custom decimal separator (to override user's preference)
$thousandsep    string    Custom thousands separator (to override user's preference)

  ---

• vbmail($toemail, $subject, $message, $notsubscription = false, $from = '', $uheaders = '', $username = '');
  
  Starts the process of sending an email - either immediately or by adding it to the mail queue.
  
  
  Code:

  ---

  $toemail          string    Destination email address
$subject          string    Email message subject
$message          string    Email message body
$notsubscription  boolean    If true, do not use the mail queue and send immediately
$from            string    Optional name/email to use in 'From' header
$uheaders        string    Additional headers
$username        string    Username of person sending the email

  ---

Sources Used

• vBulletin's source code
• vBulletin Online Manual
• Kier's message for developers, released here by Wayne Luke
• Scotsmist's contribution post (nice one!)

>> EOD

this is my first subscribed thread (no email notifications).
in other way, i bookmarked.

Thank You so much, DV!

very handy. thanks.

Excellent!!

NICE work Dark Visor. :D

Very nice! Bookmarking for future references :)

Great job.

Matt

Thanks everyone for feedback.

Tutorial has been updated with two pairs of emendations to the $db class documentation:
- $db->escape_string(); + $db->escape_string_like();
- $db->show_errors(); + $db->hide_errors();

Brilliant - I've actually bookmarked this thread. Why do Jelsoft make it so bloody difficult for people? I've been looking for some simple software documentation on this type of thing and it's just "not provided".

Many thanks, keep up the good work!

Keith L

Not bad young grasshoper. Not bad at all. :)

Of course ;)

I dont need the reference but I will definally pass it on to people im working on training. Since I do php training and vbulletin training for new coders.

No problem, except don't reprint it anywhere...
Pass it on as a link to this thread.

You dont have to worry about me reprinting it. :)

If I was gonna have a vbulletin 3.5 change tutorial on my site I would definatly make my own.

By plagiarising this tutorial? No... I'd prefer that, if you want, reprint it on your site via copy-and-paste method, but leave me my credits and a link to this thread :P Thanks

Ermm sorry but if I were extremeTim I would get offended with that comment of yours...

Anyway thanks for the great tutorial :)

Yes, hmm, I misread this "If I was gonna have a vbulletin 3.5 change tutorial on my site I would definatly make my own."... but unfortunately, too late.

NP :)

I need to make a query (from the table user) that returns an array and the key of the array would be the userid and the value would be the value of another field in the database (eg referrerid).
For example if the array is $array and the users with userid 100, 200, 300 have a referrerid of 1,1 and 50 respectively that array should have the values $array[100]=1 $array[200]=1 $array[300]=50

Is that hard? How can I do it without adding many queries?
Thanks a lot in advance :)

edit: [offtopic] OMG I just saw you are 16!!! Wow! I'd never had expected that! I thought you were about 25+! OMG, most 16 year olds in Greece do not know how an opening tag of php is and generally they only care about playing games... Of course there are exeptions, like my bf which is in that age but still there is a huge difference... OMG, I still can't believe it! [/offtopic]

Nevermind, I figured out another way to get the results I wanted :)

That could be done with just one query. :)

This code is not tested but should be working properly.

That's right, I am 16 :)

EDIT:

:( (lol)... How did you do it?

Something similar but WAY more messy than yours :o

However the 100,200,300 where just examples, in an actual forum it should go through all the userids :)
Well, that's not very hard to change, I'll just put instead of your WHERE a WHERE referrerid>0 (cause I want it to only return the users with a referrer) :)

Thanks so much!! That's much more organized than my code. I'm still trying to figure out how those SQL things work, it's quite hard :nervous:

edit: And it works too! Woo hoo!! :D Thanks, thanks, thanks!!! :D :D :D

np, and what are you trying to make, if it's not a secret? :)

I'm trying to make a mod to display referrer statistics, so that a forum can have referrer contests etc. I've seen this requested many times in the modification requests and I would also like it for my forum. :)
I have lots of learning to do though in order to make it, but I'm determined :p :p

Ah, great, I remember back in 2.3.x days there was a "vbStats 230.b created by Bane for Talkloud.NET" hack, but that project was abandoned (or at least it is not free anymore). Even though I PM-ed them many times :(... Then I forgot about it, but now if you going to make it, that'd be great, and I'll gladly help you :)

EDIT:

Yes, I thought so. They have it, but they do not release it anymore:
http://www.talkloud.net/forums/vbsta...on=memberrefer :(

Thanks so much!!! :D
How can I ask you if I have a question? In this thread or via pm? :nervous:
I wish I could code for hours today, I am really eager to do it but I have a trip so I have to start packing in about an hour, so I'll continue working at night when I arrive (it's 6:46 in the morning here) :)
Anyway, when I really want to make something I can sit at the computer for hours till I make it, lol :p I made smilie maker in one night and for my (low) level of knowledge that's an achievement :p

That's really mean of them. :(
Anyway mine will be better :p

OMG I am totally insane! :p
I postponed my trip 5 hours so I can work at the script! LOOOOOOOOOOL!!! :p

It's better via PM or even AIM, so as not to clutter up this thread :)

Same here. :)

Nice attitude :)

Wow. Hopefully it wasn't a business trip or an interview appointment lol.

Update:
Added "Authentication Storage" section, based on a random Kirby's post that I've found.

I hope someone here can help me :( I have a hack that stopped working after upgrading to 3.5.1. I have already made the change for "db" from "DB_site", but this page seems to still be having a problem:
http://www.familycorner.com/forums/contest.php3

You will see if you scroll down to where it says "Posts Today" in a purple box that the total number of posts are missing. This is what the post count is calling from:

What else do I need to change from the old version code to update it to work on 3.5.1?

THANK YOU!

Sorry, I should have posted this as well. This code is at the top of the page, just under the body tag:

and this is at the very top of the page, before the HTML tag:

Some screenshot please?

Not exactly related to the first post but some things I find very very useful when coding.

At the bottom of includes/functions.php I have the following:

where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is your internet IP and 127.0.0.1 is if you have an installation on your pc.

All of the above were taken off user comments at php.net


Usages:
This will print_r a variable in a formatted way (print_r is a php function that outputs the value of variables, good for arrays).
Extremely useful for seeing what vB knows at any point, especially if you need to call some of that data. A tip: don't pre($vbulletin), it's really messy.

Does what echo $var does, but as you can see from the code, it only shows you so it doesn't disrupt the board.

and
This is a microtimer, put the s() just before the code you want to time, and the e() after, and it will echo the time it took in seconds. Change the 6 to control the number of decimal places. So:
That will tell you how long it takes the system to assign a value to a variable 1 million times (I got 0.35secs on a 2.4ghz P4, if anyone cares).


These are all bound to your IP or localhost to save unnecessary outputting to the board.

this isn't right it's $db->insert_id();

Thank you for pointing that out. Corrected.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together anthony, i have been using it as a reference quite frequently.

Yup. :)

Hi, I believe you have an error in the above code, where you've putI believe it should say I.e. what the script does it takes the plain password, md5()s it, the adds the salt to the end, then md5()s it again. At least that is what i think it does in vB 3.6.0..

I'd be keen on getting some clarification on this, cheers :D

I got that from Kirby's post and haven't actually verified the information, but you are most likely correct.

Yep you need a . instead of , otherwise things will go horribly wrong.

Thank you. May I ask why you are not responding to my private message over at your site?

Hi Psionic Vision, do you know what do I wrong?

Here is the code:
And how do I do to show Selected Threads on forum?

Thank you

ASC cannot be there alone without ORDER BY something before it. You can either remove ASC or write ORDER BY title DESC.

Second question - don't know, sorry. Post in modification questions please.

holy cow, how did i miss this thread.............

Any updates for 3.7 on this article? Looking to get some documentation as I am trying to write a hack but am completely stumped when it comes to vBulletin and writing hacks for it.

most of the stuff herein still applies to 3.7