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.

[BirdOPrey5]

Really? I installed it fine and the page displays but I don't get any new/live updates of new threads. You mind if I ask what host?

[viper357]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

Really? I installed it fine and the page displays but I don't get any new/live updates of new threads. You mind if I ask what host?

Yip, working 100%. I'm with urljet.com

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by viper357

Yip, working 100%. I'm with urljet.com

That's my host too. I guess I should try it again. Thanks.

[viper357]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

That's my host too. I guess I should try it again. Thanks.

I've been watching it on your site and it's working fine for me.

[BirdOPrey5]

Really? I have to try another computer then- for me it doesn't update at all and it doesn't even show my newest posts when I refresh, it's like 20 minutes behind... But thank you I'll keep playing with this.

[viper357]

Ok, something weird going on with yours, when viewing your board as a guest it seems to work fine, it updates and the faded posts are there at the bottom but it does seem to be a bit behind by about 2 hours I think it was, but then I registered and viewed it again and it didn't work at all, just keeps showing the same posts. Maybe a conflict with another add-on?

[BirdOPrey5]

Thanks, I'll check as a guest...I registered on your site to see it and it was indeed working fine for me so it's not my browser.

One thing different through... when I look up what type of server you are running at:
http://whois.domaintools.com/ for your domain, under server stats it lists:
Apache/2.0.63 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.0.63 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635

For my domain (http://whois.domaintools.com/juot.net) it lists simply:
litespeed

So maybe our servers are configured differently.

[BirdOPrey5]

I found the conflict, it was: Cyb Tic-Tac-Toe.

I have no clue why this would cause a problem honestly but when disabled vbISpy works as expected.

My solution was to modify the main Tic Tac Toe "GS" plugin and edit the code, replace the first line (the if statement) with this:

PHP Code:

if ($vbulletin->options['cybttt_enable'] AND THIS_SCRIPT != 'vaispy') 


Now it's working for registered users. :up: Thank you viper!

-Edited Jan 15, 2011- I had the wrong code posted before.

[EddyMaxx]

Thanks for the update Joe. Working well with 3.8.6

[viper357]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

One thing different through... when I look up what type of server you are running at:
http://whois.domaintools.com/ for your domain, under server stats it lists:
Apache/2.0.63 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.0.63 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635

For my domain (http://whois.domaintools.com/juot.net) it lists simply:
litespeed

So maybe our servers are configured differently.

That's odd, although in my admincp it says Litespeed instead of Apache, they must be conning me oh well, at least my site is working and it's fast I'm not going to complain, lol.

Anyway, glad you figured it out. :up:

Now it's your turn to help me again please

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

You could probably put a META REFRESH tag in the header to forward the user to the main forum index after 5 minutes or so.

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="300;url=http://www.yoursite.com/forums/" />

300 is 5 minutes in seconds.

When you say "header" do you mean the actual main forum header? If so then does that mean that any page a member is on will forward the user to index or whatever, after the set time period?