Download Forum Thread To Your Computer (Vb3.x)

This hacks allows you to download a forum thread into your computer (desktop etc.) as a text file with one click.

The hack adds a "DOWNLOAD THREAD" link inside Thread Tools pop-up and when clicked entire thread is downloaded to your computer. (See Screenshot)

It's useful when:
a) You want to archive and save the thread,
b) Want to read it offline,
c) It's a long thread and you want to browse it faster as a text file, use better searching features of your text editor.

The hack is tested with vB3.0.0 And vB 3.0.1, it is NOT tested with versions prior to 3.0.0. (vB2.x version is here). It is very easy to install. As a matter of fact it is an add-on, not a hack so you can install to your board without modifying any vb files. Just upload dt.php to your forum directory and make a easy change in showthread template and it is installed. Simple as that.

VERSION FOR VB 3.5 is released here:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=97217

If you install it, please click INSTALL, thank you.

Note : Download function is tested with IE v.6.0, Netscape v.4.7, Mozilla 1.2a and it's working fine in these browsers. I dont know other browsers or older versions though.
27.May.2004 Bug Fix : A small bug is fixed in file dt.php which effect users with prefixed tables in database.
29.May.2004 Bug Fix : A small bug in dt.php is fixed to cure post titles with special characters ("'?&) in it. Attached dt.php file is uptodate.
12.Dec.2004 Bug Fix : A small bug which causes soft deleted posts to be included in the downloaded text is fixed. Attached dt.php file is uptodate.


Note 1: If you want to use a different download thread image, see this post.
Note 2: If you want to save threads as .rtf, instead of .txt, see this post.


Enjoy the hack,
Logician

[JirQUEST]

yup. upgraded and it still worked without a hitch man, great hack

[Frzzy]

/me clicks install...

Hmmm... no attachments support, any way to include link to attachments into the file instead of simply ditch them?

[Michael Morris]

Great hack, my board's subscribed users will love this. I applied a couple mods.

I only want one group - subscribed users - to use this feature. I replaced the unallowed users lines with a call to vbulletin's is_member_of function, hence

PHP Code:

if (!is_member_of($bbuserinfo, 9))
{
echo standard_error("I'm sorry, but you are attempting to access a feature limited to community supporters only!", '', 1);
} 


was used in place of

PHP Code:

$unallowed_downloaders = array(9);

if (!is_array($unallowed_downloaders) AND in_array($bbuserinfo[usergroupid],$unallowed_downloaders)) {echo standard_error("Sorry this feature is not meant for your usage!", '', 1);} 


[Michael Morris]

I don't want to display a button to a function folks can't use. The second mod was placed in the showthread template part of Logician's instructions. Surround the code for the buttons with a conditional as follows:

<if condition="is_member_of($bbuserinfo, 9)">
	<tr>
		<td class="vbmenu_option"><img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/sortasc.gif" alt="Download This Thread" /> <a href="dt.php?$session[sessionurl]t=$threadid">Download This Thread</a></td>
	</tr>
	</if>

Note - you can change the usergroup # to whatever you like of course - '9' happens to be our board's subscribed usergroup's number.

(BTW, I split this post in two because I have a router that blocks html sends over a certain size that I haven't figured out how to solve. Sorry for the inconvenience).

[turbidblue]

thank you! very easy!!

[high]* turbidblue clicks install!
[/high]

[Blam Forumz]

/me clicks install

[luck777jojo]

After line:

  $filename=preg_replace("/[.&!:\\\?\^\'\"\$]/", '', $thread[title]);

I added:

  $filename=preg_replace('/\s+/', '_', $filename);

Just in case anyone with mozilla, or another browser had trouble downloading the file with spaces in the name... I hope this is ok with hack creator? Nice job by the way . I like this a lot.

[David G. Rigg]

Way cool, much appreciated.

[y2krazy]

/me clicks install!

[phprus]

phprus clicks install!