Forum Display Enhancements - GLA - Geographic Location Awareness for vBulletin

*** Staff note: The author of this modification has passed away in a diving accident. We wish his family all strength in dealing with this traggic issue. ***

GLA - Geographic Location Awareness for vBulletin

What does this do?

GLA adds an additional layer of information into your vBulletin site (visitors' country name). GLA doesn't output anything to the user, or change any display on your forum, it simply adds additional information which is then available to other programs or mods.

But what can I use it for?

There are many applications, but the main idea is that this mod enables other mod writers to very easily add location awareness functions into their own mods. If you were thinking of writing a mod to display a person's registration country in the postbit, it's now very easy to do.

Why should I download and install this?

Unless you are also going to install one of the other mods which requires GLA, there isn't much point. If you are a developer, you might install this to add functionality to your own mods.

How will I update this?

Easy - you can update the database used for matching country names to IP addresses yourself - it's very easy. Full instructions are provided in the install.txt file inside the zip file.

How do I install?

Download the zip file and look for install.txt. But basically it's easy - upload the contents of the upload folder to your forum directory, and import the enclosed .xml file. That's it.

How do I know if it is working?

A test script is provided that will test every aspect of your GLA installation to inform you of any potential problems. Please see the installation instructions for information about this test script.

What about flags?

This includes flags, meaning that other mods won't have to package flags. You can change the flags if you like, instructions are provided.



How about a quick summary of features?

• Fast - GLA adds almost no overhead. This is important for big sites. Only a single query is executed each time a session is created
• Transparent - new variables are automatically available to any part of your site
• Updateable - you can update the database yourself
• Free - a free database is used
• Accurate - the database provider claims 98% accuracy
• Configuration - absolutely nothing to configure for this mod (since it just provides data to other mods)
• Extendible - GLA may encourage other mod developers to add location features. Why not ask the author of your favourite mod to use GLA? Were you thinking of making a mod which uses location data, but didn't know how? GLA solves the problem for you - now all you need to do is read a variable
• Easy developer information - hints and tips are provided with the zip file to make life easier for developers

Is there a list of mods that currently use GLA?



Yes, a list will be maintained here. Please let me know if you find a mod which requires GLA that isn't listed, so I can add it. The current list of GLA mods is as follows:

• Country Display for Who's Online
• Check Proxy RBL on Registration (unsupported, hack for an existing mod)

Before posting on this thread:

Please post on this thread only for issues relating to GLA itself. If you have an issue that concerns a mod that uses GLA, please post on the appropriate thread for that mod. If you have an issue which concerns the underlying functionality of GLA itself, then post here.

Even though this is a required mod from another mod and may be fairly boring, please click install if you are using it. Support requests from people who have not clicked install may not be answered.

No screen shots for this mod, since there's nothing to see.

Version history
1.0 (07.07.07) Initial version

[tekguru]

Not a problem I understand completely, as I know how life can interact at times adn get in the way

Good luck with it as and when you can find the time to continue

[steven s]

Does anyone get this 404 error in their logs?
Cannot find 'images/misc/flags/.png'
Otherwise GLA and flags in the who's online is fine.

[Mrdby]

well my flags show up...BUT i get the error

Testing to see if the flag from country "ad" is present: Failed - Flag file not found in http://>>>>.net/forum/images/kirsch/misc/flags/
Testing to see if the flag from country "zw" is present: Failed - Flag file not found in http://.....net/forum/images/kirsch/misc/flags/


I uploaded the flags under my mis for all styles..and only 1 style worked. Any ideas?

[mfyvie]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

Does anyone get this 404 error in their logs?
Cannot find 'images/misc/flags/.png'
Otherwise GLA and flags in the who's online is fine.

Use the test script to troubleshoot the problem

Originally Posted by Mrdby

well my flags show up...BUT i get the error

Testing to see if the flag from country "ad" is present: Failed - Flag file not found in http://>>>>.net/forum/images/kirsch/misc/flags/
Testing to see if the flag from country "zw" is present: Failed - Flag file not found in http://.....net/forum/images/kirsch/misc/flags/


I uploaded the flags under my mis for all styles..and only 1 style worked. Any ideas?

File permissions? directory permissions? ownership? Basically those flag files aren't being found in the location where they are expected. I'd recommend double checking it. Each style has a path set for the misc images (in the admincp), that's the same path where you need to add your flags directory.

[steven s]

Originally Posted by mfyvie

Use the test script to troubleshoot the problem

The test script reads
Testing to see if the flag from country "ad" is present: Failed - Flag file not found in http://www.my domain.org/forum/images/misc/flags/
Testing to see if the flag from country "zw" is present: Failed - Flag file not found in http://www.my domain.org/forum/images/misc/flags/

When I try to view it in my browser I get
You don't have permission to access /forum/images/misc/flags/ad.png on this server.
But it's there. I have no problem with /forum/images/misc/flags/us.png
Permissions are the same for ad as it is for us.

But still, looking at my latest error log I see
public_html/forum/images/misc/flags/.png <--- dot png. Is that normal?

[Mrdby]

Originally Posted by mfyvie

Use the test script to troubleshoot the problem



File permissions? directory permissions? ownership? Basically those flag files aren't being found in the location where they are expected. I'd recommend double checking it. Each style has a path set for the misc images (in the admincp), that's the same path where you need to add your flags directory.

ok go to my acp and go where?

[steven s]

Originally Posted by Mrdby

ok go to my acp and go where?

I think . . .
Styles & Templates --> Style Manager --> StyleVars
Scroll down to Miscellaneous Images Folder

[Mrdby]

I see it now..now what?

[steven s]

Originally Posted by Mrdby

I see it now..now what?

Be sure it's correct.
I use the full url for my settings.

[Mrdby]

i added the full url and added misc/flags and the images on my test page stopped showing up..and when i removed the flags..they cam back and still have the not found error.