vb.org Archive - Enhanced syndication script (external2.php)

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Enhanced syndication script (external2.php)

Hi,

This is my first public hack. I hope I'm not breaking any rules! :rolleyes:

This is an enhanced version of external.php that gives you two little useful features:

1. Control the number of threads you want to get (up to 50 threads, or even more).
2. Change the order of threads from the date of the thread to the date of the last post.

This will allow you to make an external list of your latest XX posts using JavaScript, XML, or RSS.

Installation
1. Make a copy of the file external.php in the same directory and call it external2.php.

2. Open external2.php in your favorite text editor.

3. Look for these lines:

Code:

if ($forumchoice != '')

{

        // query last 15 threads from visible / chosen forums

Add these lines above them:

PHP Code:


		
			
// see if there is a count preference

if ($_REQUEST['limit'])

{

    $limit = intval($_REQUEST['limit']);

    if ($limit > 50)

    {

        $limit = 50;

    }

}

else

{

    $limit = 15;

}



// see if there is an ordering preference

if ($_REQUEST['orderby'] == 'lastpost') {

    $orderby = 'thread.lastpost DESC';

}

else

{

    $orderby = 'thread.dateline DESC';

}

Then find these two lines:

Code:

                ORDER BY thread.dateline DESC

                LIMIT 15

And replace them with:

Code:

                ORDER BY $orderby

                LIMIT $limit

Usage
Just like you would use external.php, but with the following extra parameters:

1. limit: this controls the number of threads you want to be displayed. You cannot go beyond 50 here. If not set to anything, it will return 15 threads.

2. orderby: if set to 'lastpost', it will give you the last XX number of threads based on the last post to the thread. If set to anything else (or not set at all), it will give you the last XX number of threads based on their start date (this order doesn't change when someone replies to a thread).

If you ignore both extra parameters limit and orderby, the script will act just like the normal external.php. So, you can use it in place of external.php, instead of as an second (external2.php) script.

I hope you will find it useful.

Nice, now that feature can be used better :)

But please make a *.txt file for the instructions and attach it :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by poetic

any demo's??

Sure. Here is the code for an HTML file that will get 25 threads by their dates of last post and display them in a marquee:

PHP Code:


		
			
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML4 . 01Transitional//EN">



<html dir="rtl">

<head>

    <title>marquee</title>

    <style>

        body {

            font-family: tahoma;

            font-size:10 pt;

            font-weight: bold;

            color: #6C3809;

        }

        a {

            text-decoration: none;

            color: #6C3809;

        }

        a:active {

            color: #9A611A;

        }

        a:hover {

            color: #CAA577;

        }

    </style>

</head>



<body>

<script src="http://www.multaqana.org/vb/external2.php?type=JS&limit=25&orderby=lastpost"></script>



<marquee direction="right" scrolldelay="100">



<script>

URL = "http://www.multaqana.org/vb/";



i =0 ;

for (t in threads) {

    document.write('<a href="', URL, 'showthread.php?t=', threads[t].threadid, '" target="_blank">', threads[t].title, '</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;::&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;');

}

</script>

</marquee>



</body>

</html>

Notes:
1. This file is designed for right-to-left languages. If you want it for a left-to-right language, then you will have to change the "dir" attribute in the "html" tag to "ltr" and the "direction" attribute in the "marquee" tag to "left".

2. This file was not checked for best browser compatability and standards compliance.

3. The file is static (server-wise). It doesn't have to be a ".php" file. The "magic" happens by the interaction between the client-side javascript code and the external2.php content provider.

4. You will also need to change the "src" attribute of the first "script" tage, and the URL variable in the second script to point to your own forum.

5. The best way of making use of this script is to insert it in your forum as an iframe. This way, you will always have the threads with the latest posts displayed on all pages.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrNase

Nice, now that feature can be used better :)

But please make a *.txt file for the instructions and attach it :)

I've just did :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ???`S?LV?R???`

nice enhancement

I'm glad you liked it :)

Is this thread looking for the last x posts (in the database), everytime someone visits the site? Or does it has an interval (to save some serverload)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TCB

Is this thread looking for the last x posts (in the database), everytime someone visits the site? Or does it has an interval (to save some serverload)?

I meant: does external.php work with something like cachefiles, or does it generates the lists realtime?

No, actually, there is no caching, but it can be added.

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Messages:

Phrase Groups Available:

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.01109 seconds Memory Usage 1,771KB Queries Executed 10 (?)
More Information
Template Usage: (1)ad_footer_end (1)ad_footer_start (1)ad_header_end (1)ad_header_logo (1)ad_navbar_below (3)bbcode_code_printable (2)bbcode_php_printable (4)bbcode_quote_printable (1)footer (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (6)option (1)pagenav (1)pagenav_curpage (1)pagenav_pagelink (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (1)printthread (10)printthreadbit (1)spacer_close (1)spacer_open Phrase Groups Available: global postbit showthread	Included Files: ./printthread.php ./global.php ./includes/init.php ./includes/class_core.php ./includes/config.php ./includes/functions.php ./includes/class_hook.php ./includes/modsystem_functions.php ./includes/class_bbcode_alt.php ./includes/class_bbcode.php ./includes/functions_bigthree.php Hooks Called: init_startup init_startup_session_setup_start init_startup_session_setup_complete cache_permissions fetch_threadinfo_query fetch_threadinfo fetch_foruminfo style_fetch cache_templates global_start parse_templates global_setup_complete printthread_start pagenav_page pagenav_complete bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete printthread_post printthread_complete
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