vRewrite - SEOed URLs for vBulletin

About

vRewrite is an advance but simple system to rewrite vB's URLs. The rewrite system uses preg_match_all and str_replace to rewrite the URLs. It will rewrite any URLs that are dynamic ex: showthread.php?t= to /the-forum/title-of-the-forum-id.html. Why? SEs (Search Engines) rate results based on filename. Not only that, but most SEs give a "boost" to static URLs (what we do here) versus dynamic URLs. vRewrite accomplishes both of this, for all URLs that a search engine (or a guest) will see.

Installation

Please download vRewrite.zip and read install.html for more information on how to install it.

Requirements

vRewrite assumes that you are using Apache with the mod_rewrite module enabled, and running vBulletin 3.5.x. However, if you ask for support here on IIS' module or on vBulletin 3.0.x - I will be more then happy to assist you.

Contributions

I would like to thank Chroder and Cole for assisting me release vRewrite. I could not have released it if it wasn't for them.

I would like to thank the following people/boards for helping beta test vRewrite and making it a better product.

Gaming Ultimate, BP Gaming, NBS Designz Cyclez, Hosting-Talk and Forum University.

Copyright

I've spent many hours working and perfecting vRewrite. The only thing I ask you to do is if you use it, please keep the link back. If you wish to put it in your style instead, simply remove or comment out that line. However, if you use vRewrite you MUST link back. That is the only thing I ask.

Known Issues

There are no known issues with the latest release (1.0).

Support / Issues

If you have any problems or discover a bug please post here in this thread. I have also included my email in the install.html email for one-on-one support. The only thing I ask you is please do not post this email address publicly - it is my personal email.

Changelog

1.5 Release - vRewrite 1.5 has become stable, and all users under 1.5 RC3 and 1.0 need to upgrade. Support for 1.0 will no longer be offered, and you will be told simply to upgrade. Please continue to keep all bug and feature suggestions on the bug tracker at:

http://www.techhelpforum.com/vrewrite

1.1 Release - Several bug fixes, and a few new features. Details here.

03/26/06 - Updated the thread to reflect vRewrite 1.5 Beta links. vRewrite files has NOT changed.

03/11/06 - Updated the thread to take advantage of vB.org's new prefix feature. vRewrite itself has NOT changed.

1.0 Release (02/19/06) - I have released the much awaited 1.0. This is the first stable release of vRewrite. All users now should be safe installing vRewrite. For more information, and how to upgrade, please see here.

1.0 Preview (01/12/06) - I have released a preview version of 1.0. This is the final version before 1.0 is considered stable. I believe everything should work in this new preview, but one bug (see known issues). Please see here for more information and how to upgrade.

01/05/06 - Updated ZIP to include a fix for boards running a table prefix. You do not need to upgrade unless you previously had SQL errors. You can upgrade by importing the product and choose "Allow Overwrite".

Donations

Any donations are very much appreciated! I do this out of my free time and work many hours on it - all for free. Anything to help is always very welcomed

If you use vRewrite, please click Install. This helps you keep track of additional upgrades and shows to me that you care about vRewrite


You may not post vRewrite ZIP or any files contained in the ZIP on any website. You may not also post any support requests/give support on any website other then this one, without my permission. If you do so, you will get a DMCA for copyright infringement. I do not want this spread to pirated users. Please stop piracy and do not share the source outside of this thread and vB.org/com. Thanks.

Support will only be obtained at:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=182

[Immortal]

Add this line of code to your .htaccess if it doesn't already exist:

RewriteRule ^sendtofriend-(.*)-(.*).html sendmessage.php?do=sendtofriend&t=$2 [L]

The newthread link you posted and if I manually go to it myself works just dandy?

[high]* Immortal thinks he must be going mad[/high]

[Ericsson]

Originally Posted by Immortal

Huh? Just by looking at:
http://www.supercarforums.org/ferreri-13/newthread.php

I can tell you did not apply all necessary template changes...

I did all the template changes, you just had to add:

<base href="$vboptions[bburl]/" />

to showthread, newreply, newthread, forumdisplay, memberinfo, right?

[trilljester]

Immortal: I think I know what's causing these problems. It's the order of the rewriterules in the .htaccess file.

I turned on rewrite logging for my Apache server, and saw this entry when i tried to send a thread to a friend:

rewrite sendtofriend-trillium-clothing-shop-1090.html -> showthread.php?goto=1090&t=shop

So I looked at the rules in the .htaccess and saw this rule about midway through:

RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*)-(.*).html showthread.php?goto=$3&t=$2 [L]

That should be the LAST Rewriterule in the .htaccess file, so it catches anything that falls through the other rules.

I moved it to the bottom of my .htaccess and it fixed the problem with sending email to a friend. So that problem is resolved. Now to figure out the WYSIWYG problem.

Edit: I found proof that the editor problem might be related to Internet Explorer. I loaded Firefox, and tried a New Topic, and everything worked (smilies popup, attachment manager, etc..)

In IE, the smilie popup and attachment manager does NOT work. I did some research and I'm guessing it has something to do with the <base> tag. Maybe because IE6 is not fully XHTML compliant? Firefox understands it and is fine. Is there a workaround?

[caislander]

Originally Posted by Fender963

Excellent hack Immortal, one problem though. It's not rewriting my thread urls or my member profile urls. It rewrites the forum ones fine.

www.plantedtank.net/forums/ is my link.

EDIT: After further inspection I noticed the following:
1. It rewrites the url in any forum, for the most recent post.
2. Any post that is not rewritten will give an incorrect url for page 2 of posts. It only does it for page 2, not 3,4,5,32 .... you get the point.

This is very odd behavior.

First off Great hack.. Thanks

BUT (ya you knew there had to be one ) I am having this very same issue, is there some kind of solution? or trouble shooting process or.. or..

Thanks for the hack and your time

[trilljester]

Originally Posted by caislander

First off Great hack.. Thanks

BUT (ya you knew there had to be one ) I am having this very same issue, is there some kind of solution? or trouble shooting process or.. or..

Thanks for the hack and your time

Previous page has a solution.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=316

Replace the plugin with that code he posted, it should resolve the multiple page problem and the not rewriting past the first forum issue.

[Immortal]

Originally Posted by trilljester

Immortal: I think I know what's causing these problems. It's the order of the rewriterules in the .htaccess file.

I turned on rewrite logging for my Apache server, and saw this entry when i tried to send a thread to a friend:

rewrite sendtofriend-trillium-clothing-shop-1090.html -> showthread.php?goto=1090&t=shop

So I looked at the rules in the .htaccess and saw this rule about midway through:

RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*)-(.*).html showthread.php?goto=$3&t=$2 [L]

That should be the LAST Rewriterule in the .htaccess file, so it catches anything that falls through the other rules.

I moved it to the bottom of my .htaccess and it fixed the problem with sending email to a friend. So that problem is resolved. Now to figure out the WYSIWYG problem.

Edit: I found proof that the editor problem might be related to Internet Explorer. I loaded Firefox, and tried a New Topic, and everything worked (smilies popup, attachment manager, etc..)

In IE, the smilie popup and attachment manager does NOT work. I did some research and I'm guessing it has something to do with the <base> tag. Maybe because IE6 is not fully XHTML compliant? Firefox understands it and is fine. Is there a workaround?

Uh, I cannot believe that I used a rule like that, hah. I'll try and see about the IE problem. But leave it up to IE :tired:

[caislander]

Originally Posted by Immortal

Uh, I cannot believe that I used a rule like that, hah. I'll try and see about the IE problem. But leave it up to IE :tired:

trilljester,

Thanks for that, the problem of only the first url being rewitten seem to be gone However, I still am having the issue of the 2nd page of a thread being sent off to some other thread, And another issue if I am on the main index page (forum home) and click the latest post link for any forum the url is not rewritten?

Thanks

[xtreme-mobile]

hi guys

ive used this hack onnmy old forum with no problems but on my new forum this plugin is making i threads go to ~"page cannot be displayed" yet as soon as i disable the plugin it works fine

any ideas?

[Immortal]

Originally Posted by caislander

trilljester,

Thanks for that, the problem of only the first url being rewitten seem to be gone However, I still am having the issue of the 2nd page of a thread being sent off to some other thread, And another issue if I am on the main index page (forum home) and click the latest post link for any forum the url is not rewritten?

Thanks

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=327

Originally Posted by xtreme-mobile

hi guys

ive used this hack onnmy old forum with no problems but on my new forum this plugin is making i threads go to ~"page cannot be displayed" yet as soon as i disable the plugin it works fine

any ideas?

Could you please post your .htaccess along with your forum URL?

[xtreme-mobile]

http://www.extreme-mobile.com

and file attached