Activity Modification

For vB3.7, see The vB3.7 version

This is the plugin/vB3.5/vB3.6 version of this hack

This mod was developed on vB3.6.4, and tested for compatibility with vB3.5.4

Description
This hack adds an activity metric for users to your forum; this metric takes into account a variable number of weeks. Also provided is a Junior/Normal/Senior member system based on this metric, and a longevity metric (user registered time as a percent of the amount of time the first user has been registered).

Visiting each day and posting the configured amount of times per day for the configured number of weeks will yeild 100% activity. Posts are checked individually for each day, so days cannot be skipped then spammed up afterwards. The weight of visiting for the day relative to posting is configurable. Weeks are weighted so the most recent has a bigger impact on the activity percent than the most distant.

When a user logs in with activity above the configured threshold, they are promoted from Junior Member to Member. When they log in with the configured amount of time as Member, they are promoted to Senior Member. You can configure the mod to also add secondary usergroups when these promotions happen.

Complexity
This modification requires 1 XML import, modification to 3 templates, and the addition of some CSS, depending on what options you choose

Technical
This hack adds 1 query to showthread for each user who posts in that page (or only 1 for the logged in user by configuration). In addition, the first time a member's post or profile is accessed during a day (GMT), 3 queries are performed to find that user's activity. By configuration, 1 query may be added to each page load to find the logged in user's "activity today". By configuration, 1 query may be added to each member profile view to find that member's "activity today".

Upgradability
This modification will import your settings and data from the 3.0/hack version

Frequently Asked Questions

• I installed this mod using the Download/Upload Plugin page and there was an error/it doesn't seem to work
  To install this mod, you need to use the Add/Import Product link on the Manage Products page
• I just installed and everyone's activity seems low
  1. Part of the activity calculation is what days users visited on. This information isn't collected before the mod is installed, so no user can have 100% activity untill you've been running the mod for the full period of time you have it set to monitor
  2. Please realize that there is no "roll over" for activity; if you have it set to look at 4 posts per day, your users must post 4 posts on each individual day to obtain 100%.
• I founded this forum, but I don't have 100% longevity
  Somehow a user's join date has been set before yours. When you install, the mod looks for the earliest join date to use to find longevity, but you can change the baseline date. To change the "Start of board" time, go to Maintenance>Activity Maintenance>Set Start of Board, enter your user number in the text field, then click Set Start of Board
• I'm using the images template version, but the images don't show up
  Be sure to upload one of the activity directories from activityimages.zip to the misc directory for each of your styles. To find a style's misc directory, goto the Style Manager, then from the dropdown next to the style, choose Stylevars. The setting Miscellaneous Images Folder contains the path to that style's misc directory, where you need to upload the activity directory
• Can I use activity for promotions?
  The project to build a full-blown promotion hack for use with this mod has been cancelled, after losing all of my work, however a much simpler system that adds secondary groups based on two thresholds has been added to the main hack.
• Can you make X number get split up into digits?
  I understand where you're coming from with this one, but I just can't figure out a way to work this that would be simple to use.
• The tooltips don't wrap and get cut off with FireFox
  The same thing happens to other vB tooltips (the thumbnail ones, for example). If you know a way to add line breaks to FF tooltips without scripting, please let me know.

Change log

Note: To upgrade, with the old version still installed, go to the Add/Import Product link on the Manage Products page, select the XML file for the new version, choose Yes for overwrite, then click Import.

2.80 release update

• Added AdminCP option to disable display of activity ranks (ranktext)
• Modified template changes to support the above change (for most people, your templates should work as is)
• Modified template changes for image horizontal postbit to always locate activity information in the upper right of the postbit, so it doesn't move arround from post to post (if you're happy with how it is now, no need to update)

2.80 rc3 update

• You can now control the number of entries on the Top Activity board from the adminCP
• Top Activity templates are properly cached
• Changes for XHTML 1.0 validation (requires template reedits if you want XHTML validation)

2.80 rc1 update

• Added improved built-in Top Activity page
• Added option for activity breakdown in activity bar tooltip
• Added option to promote users when their activity is calculated instead of just when they visit to help admins that are having trouble with the promotion system
• Fixed issue with maintenance section with other languages. It should display correctly now for all languages.
• Added admin help in 3.6.x
• Added 3.6.x version and link in product list
• No template changes since 2.70 (there are new templates, however)

2.71 update

• Corrected a bug where users on forums with "Weeks reflected" set to 1 could not reach 100% activity

2.70 update

• Full info available to MEMBERINFO template
• Full info available for the logged-in user (see template customization in install file)
• Fixed % issue with different vB versions
• "Midnight" for activity hack is configurable. Note that it may be desirable to set this to a time other than true midnight for your users.
• Options to control calculation of activity today in MEMBERINFO and for logged-in user
• Simple promotion system adds secondary usergroups when members are promoted in the ranktext system
• Reworking of internals
• Default templates should not try to display activity information when it is unavailable (a generic fix that covers vbA gallery)

2.51 update

• Updated phrases for vb3.5.1
• Updated options activity refresh for vb3.5.1
• Fixed problem with activity-based ranks

2.50 Release update

• Added fix for reversed posts field in images version templates when user is using a right-to-left language. (Manually update the postbit and postbit_legacy templates)

Beta 6 update

• Added extra checks for excessive activity
• User activity is now automatically refreshed when settings changes make it neccessary
• Fixed guest bug

Beta 5 update

• Removed the query added to PM views in beta 4
• Removed the post digits setting; it causes trouble since the majority of users seem to be using the image version, and the load impact is slight anyway.

Beta 4 update

• Fixed the problem where activity panel displayed incorrect information in PMs
• Moved start of board into settings, removed 1 query from showthread, view PM, view user note

Beta 3 update

• Fixed a critical issue with activity caching. Everyone should update
• Fixed an issue with a query not working when using table prefixes
• Added template modification instructions
• Added image template mod version screenshot

Beta 2 update

• There was an issue with % signs in the phrases, this has been corrected.
• Screen shots added.

Changes from the hack version

• Thresholds for promotions are configurable
• Ranktext system is configured from the options page instead of by a file
• You can now prune the visit log from the adminCP (Under Maintenance>Activity Maintenance)

Support

Please click the install link if you install this hack
I will support this hack in this thread on about a weekly basis.

[711]

Originally Posted by WetWired

What version of vB are you using?
To confirm, when you re-install the product, the user-titles linked to postcount and usergroup disappear?
The mod is not supposed to hide any existing information, only add new information.
If you disabled the mod-generated user ranks in the admin CP and it didn't go away, something is wrong.

Perhaps you have a caching issue of some sort? I'm using vB 3.6.8 and don't have either of your problems.

No, you don't need to edit the "postbit" template, if you don't use it.

I am using vB 3.6.8, sorry forgot to mention in my post.

I will try reinstalling again, it's possible that I made an error when editing the templates, or that another installed mod is interfering.

Thanks for the quick response.

[WetWired]

Try just installing the XML first, and see if you have the problem before you edit the templates.

[711]

I'm getting this error on one of my non-vB pages that uses vb's global.php for login purposes:

PHP Code:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare wwu002activityupdate() (previously declared in /path/to/forums/global.php(360) : eval()'d code:238) in /path/to/forums/global.php(360) : eval()'d code on line 238 


Here is the top part of the page which generates the error:

PHP Code:

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);
define('NO_REGISTER_GLOBALS', 1);
define('THIS_SCRIPT', 'chat');
chdir('/path/to/forums');
require('/path/to/forums/global.php');
include('/path/to/forums/global.php');
chdir('/path/to/forum.com');

I tried to disable the mod for the chat page by using this conditional in postbit:

PHP Code:

<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == chat">
    &nbsp;
<else />
ACTIVITY MOD CODE
</if> 


but it had no effect. I see that this mod has hooks in global_start. Perhaps there is a way to disable this mod for the chat script? This seems likely to work, since the only vB file included in the chat page is globals.php

Any assistance appreciated, thanks!

[WetWired]

Your problem is

require('/path/to/forums/global.php'); 
include('/path/to/forums/global.php');

You only need one of those lines. Remove one and it will work fine.

[711]

Originally Posted by WetWired

Your problem is

require('/path/to/forums/global.php'); 
include('/path/to/forums/global.php');

You only need one of those lines. Remove one and it will work fine.

Actually, both of those lines have been in the script for well over a year now, and it ran just fine during that time. In fact, the base code for the page was provided by the chat software creators, and it included both lines.

In any case I tried:

require('/path/to/forums/global.php');

then

include('/path/to/forums/global.php');

and even

require_once('/path/to/forums/global.php');

and they all still result in the same error.

Any ideas?

[711]

Chat still not working because of this error

Chat is an important feature for my members, who are also thrilled with the new activity/longevity meters.

I'd really love to get this error sorted. Is there a conditional I can use somewhere to prevent the activity mod from initalizing on non-vB pages that use the vB global.php for login purposes?

[WetWired]

The root cause of the problem is globals.php being included multiple times, or global_start, at least. If you can't figure out why global_start is running twice, you could modify the activity mod's global_start plugin by wrapping the whole thing in

if(!$WWU002globalstartonce++){
}

which should prevent that specific plugin from executing twice.

[711]

Originally Posted by WetWired

The root cause of the problem is globals.php being included multiple times, or global_start, at least. If you can't figure out why global_start is running twice, you could modify the activity mod's global_start plugin by wrapping the whole thing in

if(!$WWU002globalstartonce++){
}

which should prevent that specific plugin from executing twice.

That worked, thank you very much!! :up:

[711]

**EDIT** Found the activity_config_guide.txt file earlier in this thread. Any reason why this is no longer included in the download package? It is still referenced in the help popups in admincp.

Question, I would like to set the weeks reflected back even further than 10, but it is hardcoded in the admin CP. If I manually change the entry in my forum database, will this work? I would also like to raise the counted posts per day slightly.

Also, could you give any tips on more advanced tweaking of the activity rating forumula (i.e. including other variables such as reputation power, etc)? I assume this would need to be done by manually editing the plugins, correct?

Also, any plans to support vBulletin blog entries in the activity calculations?

[coffee]

Installed, Thank you.