Updated Community Bulletin Generator

SPECIAL NOTE for those upgrading to vBulletin v2.0.0: You will need to make changes to the default RC3 files, as you did with the previous version files. The files are member.php and admin/index.php. After you upgrade to RC3, the link in your Admin CP will no longer be there. In order to find instructions for upgrading, go to http://yoursite/forum/admin/commbull.php and click the link for Instructions. Make these changes to your files, and reupload the two modified files. The link will then be back in your Admin CP.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Kier's permission, I am rereleasing this hack. It has been updated, but most of the credit still goes to Kier. I just added a couple things. Namely, I took Kier's starting point for birthdays and reworked it a bit so they can now be included. I also added 3 new sets of Latest Threads input, and added a sorting option to get topics with no replies (aka "Virgin" topics).
I also added a box to change the section separation character (Kier had it as a "-", now you can change it) and the list item character (Kier had it as an "o"). There are also instructions on how to integrate it into your Admin CP.

To install, just upload it to your Admin directory and go to it in a browser.

If you had previously installed Kier's original version, simply overwrite the commbull.php file on your server, and make this change to your admin/index.php file:
Find

<a href="email.php?s=<?php echo $session[sessionhash]; ?>"> Email users </a><br>

and right below it, add

<a href="commbull.php?s=<?php echo $session[sessionhash]; ?>"> Send Community Bulletin </a><br>

Upload your admin/index.php file and go to your Admin CP. You should see the new option under "Users" on the left-hand side.

Hack version: 0.98

Changes since v0.97: Fixed a stupid bug that screwed up the script when you posted a copy to a forum and that forum didn't count posts toward post totals.

Changes since v0.96: Fixed a minor bug that was causing large problems when the number of emails to send was more than it was set to per page.

Changes since v0.95: Minor cosmetic changes; fixed "copy post to board" function so it actually works; added option to exclude threads from being used more than once (if doing multiple blocks); fixed sorting by most replies/most views so they don't return threads with 0 replies or 1 view, respectively;

Changes since v0.93: Option to post a copy of the email to your board, to a forum you specify using a username your specify (If you do this, there is a function to exclude certain parts (for example, the user info section that details username/password etc) and it parses URLs so the message on your board has hyperlinks to the threads/polls/etc); various cosmetic upgrades; minor little things here and there; fixed/changed "Only include threads that have been started or replied to since this date?" so it doesn't defeat the purpose of specifying a date.

For version: v2.0.0

Info for Clean Install -------
Files needed: commbull.php

Files to edit: admin/index.php, member.php

Templates to edit: none

Instructions are in the script itself. When you first run it, it will tell you what you need to do. If upgrading from Kier's original version, see instructions above.
End Info for Clean Install -------

Info for Upgrading from v0.90, v0.91, v0.93, v0.94, v0.95, v0.96, v0.97 ------
Files needed: commbull.php

Files to edit: none

Instructions: Upload the commbull.php file from the commbull98.zip file.
End Info for Upgrading -------

Please do not bug Kier about this hack!
Please also DO NOT contact me via AIM, ICQ, PM, or email about this hack. Post your question/problem here and I will try to help you.

[Cold Steel]

This is great.

Thanks!!!!

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by Byron
Will adding the new field to user database cause any conflict in future vb release?

Not unless this hack becomes part of vB itself, in which case Kier or I (or somebody) will try to make sure that some sort of contingency exists for those that already installed it.

Just in case if we do not want to use this script after adding the new field to user database, how do we revert back any changes to the database?

DROP receivebulletin FROM user;
Run that query from telnet or phpMyAdmin.

Hope that hack will appear in the next vb release.

Maybe.

[Byron]

Thanks tubedogg!

[VirtueTech]

The hack installed great, but when ever I try and run the hack...it timesout.....I have over 150 forums, maybe that is why.

Too bad...I really want to use it.

[tubedogg]

Does it timeout after the first screen or when going to send emails?

[Dave#]

ooops - ignore

[mjames]

Kevin,

Thanks for this wonderful hack. I went through all the steps and got to the part where I can specify when it goes out, to who, etc., but I got the "There seems to have been a slight problem with the database..." error and this e-mail:

Database error in vBulletin Control Panel: Invalid SQL: SELECT * FROM user WHERE SUBSTRING(birthday,6)>='06-21' AND SUBSTRING(birthday,6)<='07-05' ORDER BY SUBSTRING(birthday,6) LIMIT 0,10
mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'SUBSTRING(birthday,6) LIMIT 0,10' at line 1
mysql error number: 1064
Date: Thursday 21st of June 2001 10:51:46 PM
Script: /community/boards/admin/commbull.php
Referer: http://www.sports-central.org/commun...n/commbull.php

Any idea? Thanks!

[tubedogg]

Unfortunately that's a limitation of some older versions of MySQL that don't allow sorting by substring. For right now the workaround is to set birthdays to 0 and not send them until I can figure out some other way to do it.

[Dave#]

Damn I am having problems:

I have set the comm to only use data from the 1st of June onwards but look at the dates in this snip from the preview.

NB dates are in European format date:month:year

Title: "Bruce is New Manager!!!" (posted 05-06-2003 by CM_Addicted)
o 249 replies, 575 views, last post: 09:41 AM, 31-05-2001 by DiscoDaveyf
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8875

Title: "One word answer; Who would you like to take over from AS??" (posted 05-03-2002 by Eddie McGoldrick's tash)
o 217 replies, 17 views, last post: 07:00 PM, 15-05-2001 by BJ
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8701

Title: "Redundancies" (posted 03-01-2003 by BarryBee)
o 207 replies, 0 views, last post: 11:00 PM, 25-03-2001 by wedgetail
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7444

Title: "Jordan has seen enough" (posted 03-12-2001 by ruediger)
o 207 replies, 0 views, last post: 03:11 PM, 12-03-2001 by Bintang
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7195

Title: "Fans Forum" (posted 05-12-2001 by GreatGonzo)
o 198 replies, 24 views, last post: 01:34 PM, 12-05-2001 by GreatGonzo
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8660

Title: "Why I'm an eagle" (posted 09-05-2002 by Dave)
o 189 replies, 522 views, last post: 02:51 PM, 18-06-2001 by SAMO*
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1952

Title: "Supporters of Austin & Harrison" (posted 02-09-2001 by fieldy)
o 164 replies, 0 views, last post: 12:50 AM, 10-02-2001 by Tarby
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6699

Title: "One word (two if necessary) to describe how you feel at the moment" (posted 04-06-2003 by markholmes1991)
o 160 replies, 12 views, last post: 10:31 PM, 30-04-2001 by Mr_Optimistic
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8259

Title: "Alan Smith - a correction" (posted 04-08-2002 by James)
o 158 replies, 5 views, last post: 02:58 PM, 20-04-2001 by Wandering Seagull
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7909

Title: "Jordan's latest folly?" (posted 02-08-2001 by James)
o 158 replies, 0 views, last post: 11:39 PM, 08-02-2001 by JohnA
o http://forums.cpfc.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6694

[tubedogg]

Double-check that you have "Only include threads that have been started or replied to since this date?" set to Yes. It is set to No by default.