Add-On Releases - vBISpy - AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads

After seeing the http://www.digg.com/spy application; I wondered if this could be done for vBulletin as well. I came across this webpage which had a "how to" on how they built a similiar application to do the same thing. Taking a page from their book (i.e. the code), I modified it for use with vBulletin.

During development, I also came across this post here on vBulletin.Org where the very subject had already been discussed.

So I put this together; a simple ZIP file with a single PHP script, three javascript files and 4 images.

Installation

. UNZIP the file into your forums directory
. That's it!

Virtually all the code to customize the page is in the vaispy.php script; there are no plugins, no templates and no phrases. You do not need to do anything further; this should work right out of the box.

In your browser, open the URL:

http://www.yourforum.com/forum/vaispy.php

You can see examples of this at:

http://www.viperalley.com/forum/vaispy.php
http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/vaispy.php

Note: I claim no ownership of this code except for the file vaispy.php - the rest of the files were using 'freely distributable' sources. As such, you may use these files as you wish, but please do not remove the copyrights.

This modification is for vBulletin 3.6 only, if you are running vBulletin 3.5 you will need to see this thread.

JOIN THE vBIspy Network!
Once you have this mod installed, you can join the vBIspy network to have your threads appear on this site; the vBIspy Network is a great way for people to see what's going on in various vBulletin communities and for forum owners to promote their sites and generate new traffic.

Optional add-ons

Who's Online mod for this: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126209

vBAdvanced Module: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126421

UPDATES
1.0.4
Added buro9's code from here

1.0.5 - 9.9.06
Modified some JavaScript in va_spy.js to remove split strings

1.0.6 - 9.10.06
Added date cuffoff code from here and changed init() to spyinit() - changed vaispy.php and va_spy.js files.

1.0.7 - 9.12.06
va_spy.js: Added a forum url variable to allow for integration with portals or other products outside the forum directory
va_spy.js: Added xmldelay variable at top of script for easier configuration or repolling
Updated files: vaispy.php, vb_spy.js

1.0.8 - 9.13.06
vaispy.php - changed code for checking for forum permissions to include password protected forums, added javascript tag for script code

1.0.9 - 9.16.06
vaispy.php
va_spy.js
va_effects.js
- modified to allow for proper display in Opera browsers and moved more html into vaispy.php to allow for stylevars, trimmed va_effects.js to remove unused code (ForumDog's suggestions, except not using templates yet), changed way threads are parsed (removes html as well)

1.0.10 - 9.17.06
va_prototype.js - removed 20kb of unused code

1.1.11 - 9.25.2006
vaispy.php
va_spy.js
- added SirAdrian's mods for thread status icons and alternating row colors
- added code to prepopulate the first 10 rows with existing threads allowing for 5 new ones to be added in scrolling mode (versus scrolling starting from the first thread).
- added option to display subscribed threads only

1.1.12 - 9.26.2006
vaispy.php
- added code to add empty rows if initial pull has less than 20 rows.

[MPDev]

<a href="http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/vaispy.php" target="_blank">http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/vaispy.php</a>

I just uploaded the files to here and it worked right out of the box. If you post a URL, I'll take a look using the Firefox JavaScript console.

[ericgtr]

Sure, the only thing I changed was the title http://www.guitarblast.com/vaispy.php All the .js files are in the clientscript directory.

[MPDev]

Okay, redownload and upload the vaispy.php script; when I loaded your page it didn't like an ampersand in the title.

Error: not well-formed
Source File: http://www.guitarblast.com/vaispy.php?do=xml&r=0.9394500932840069&_=
Line: 45, Column: 34
Source Code:
<title>Perfect Strangers (mange & Fredrik)</title>---------------------------------^

I added a call to htmlspecialchars_uni for the title and forum names.

[Cheertobi]

You also can check it here :-D

Tobi

[MPDev]

Working for me, Cheertobi. You, too, Ericgtr.

[Cheertobi]

Yep, I just uploaded the new files

Thanks!

[ericgtr]

Originally Posted by MPDev

Okay, redownload and upload the vaispy.php script; when I loaded your page it didn't like an ampersand in the title.

Error: not well-formed
Source File: http://www.guitarblast.com/vaispy.php?do=xml&r=0.9394500932840069&_=
Line: 45, Column: 34
Source Code:
<title>Perfect Strangers (mange & Fredrik)</title>---------------------------------^

I added a call to htmlspecialchars_uni for the title and forum names.

Excellent, that fixed it, thanks! So how is this tracking exactly, I can see it updates in time intervals so each update will show when a user is viewing different forums, etc?

[Zachariah]

woohoo more Ajax

[janjalani]

sweet! installed and working fine!

[MPDev]

No, it's just doing a single query to get new posts/threads; that's all. It's a global thing (with permissions), so it doesn't require looking at any specific forum.

I have ideas for future use and how to filter what you see; but this gets everyone started.

And was meant to be as simple as possible to get running.