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.
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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.

[webhost]

anybody?

[webhost]

I have list working now and also putting a copy of the email in the forum, but there is a question.

My first forum has 2 topics, the first is new/outages/ect.
the second is vbulletin 2.0
I choose to place email in forum 1. and it does but it places it under vbulletin the second optuin, how to I make it place under the first subforum of the first forum instead of the second subforum?

Joey

[mjames]

Originally posted by 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.

Do you mean it will work if I set birthdays to 0 or it won't work at all for me with that error? Just wishing I could get this to work.

[tubedogg]

I mean if you set birthdays to 0 it will work but without birthdays.

[mjames]

Originally posted by tubedogg
I mean if you set birthdays to 0 it will work but without birthdays.

Oh, cool, great! Something's better than nothing - thanks.

[mjames]

I attempted to send out my Community Bulletin today. It sent it out to the first 76 people out of about 350 and then gave me this error:

Fatal error : Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 9847 bytes) in /home/mjames86/sports-central-www/community/boards/admin/commbull.php on line 540

What's this?

[JJR512]

Just a quick guess, but maybe you tried to send to too many people at once. Try reducing the number of emails sent at one time. Once you set the initial options, and click on Preview Mailing, down at the bottom is a setting for Mails to send at once. By default, it is set to 500. Trying to generate and send 500 emails all at once may be a bit much for the particular server you're on, especially if your bulletin is larger than normal. Try setting it to maybe 100 users, and see if it works. It will take longer to complete the process, but at least you would be able to complete it.

[mjames]

Originally posted by JJR512
Just a quick guess, but maybe you tried to send to too many people at once. Try reducing the number of emails sent at one time. Once you set the initial options, and click on Preview Mailing, down at the bottom is a setting for Mails to send at once. By default, it is set to 500. Trying to generate and send 500 emails all at once may be a bit much for the particular server you're on, especially if your bulletin is larger than normal. Try setting it to maybe 100 users, and see if it works. It will take longer to complete the process, but at least you would be able to complete it.

Thanks! I will try that next time. Thanks for putting that error in plain English.

[mjames]

Kevin,

I noticed a small error in the e-mail text. You spelled "receive" wrong at the bottom.

I'm a lil dizzy after reading this thread....can ya clear up what .zip file I actually need to download?

Q: is it: commbull98.zip at the begining of this thread? I'm gonna wipe my VB clean and install VB 2.0...as I have a corrupt database and get errors when I try the upgrade scripts on my: vBulletin Version 2.0.0 Release Candidate 2.

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