[AJAX] vBShout v2.0

[high]Staff Edit/Update[/high]

I have released an updated version of this hack (version 2.0.1), this version fixes some security issues with this hack. All version prior to this one allow users to insert html in their shouts, this can cause problems with them using html that breaks the site layout or malicious javascript. Download the new zip file (vBshout_fixed.zip) and upload the new vbshout.php file to patch/upgrade. If you want to manual instructions they are in the zip file, in the file bugfixes.txt

Second Staff update

I've uploaded a new version of this hack, dubbed '2.0.2'. This one should fix the html injection issues without breaking special characters. To upgrade, download the new zip file and upload the new vbshout.php file.

Please note that this only fixes the html injection issues. I do not use this hack on my own forum (although I've tested this on a client's board) so I will not be fixing the server load issues. I suggest you do not install this hack if you can't deal with the extra server load, as it's rather intensive.

- Brad

[high]End staff edit[/high]

Well, been a while since I've been to vb.org and released anything, thought i'd break the trend and whip up something quick while I have a little spare time.

A shoutbox as you would assume, a very simple one to start off with, but does include AJAX Technology, which pushes the shoutbox 1 step closer to live, messages from other people will appear with no refreshing, and so will yours that you post

A preview is below, i'd estimate a 50 second installation max

Primary Features:
- AJAX Technology (no refreshing)
- Administration control an display element options
- Fast format editor

Change Log::

- v1.1:
WOL (Who's Online) Correction

- v1.2:
New Posting Featurs (Bold/Italic/Underline/Colour/Font)
Admin Controls

- Change location/position of shoutbox
- Change number of shouts displayed
- Switch vbcode/similes on/off

- v1.3
Firefox javascript issue fixed
New Admin Controls

- Command Activation
- Swtch extra format options on/off
- Change position of editor (above/below messages)

New Commands

- /prune (Clears the shoutbox completely)
- /prune [username] (Clears all shouts posted by specified user)

- v1.4
Usergroup HTML Markup For Usernames
Clear Editor Button
Emoticons Pop Up Menu
Time display configurated to vBulletin settings
Username Links To Profile
New Admin Conrols

New vBShout Position (Directly Above Forums)
Banned Users
Banned Usergroups
Banned Permissions
Smilie Pop-Up Box Height
Smilie Pop-Up Box Width

New Commands

"/me" - Action message (all users are able to use this command)
/pruneshout [shout] - Deletes a single shout

- v1.5
Improved Smilies Display
XHTML 1.0 Transitional Valid (couple of errors fixed)
New Admin Options

Shoutbox Height
Smilies To Show
Shout Messages Order
Banned Permissions (fixed)

- v1.6
Bug Fixes:

- Unable to delete shouts that used /me command fixed
- Shouts being displayed from bottom-upwards only showed first 20 shouts

Automatically parses URL's

- v2.0
New Archive

- Displays shouts and pages
- Stats and top 10 shouters
- AJAX Edit/Delete (staff can edit/delete all shouts)

Enjoy,

- Zero Tolerance

[apokphp]

Originally Posted by bi11i

Seriously? Has anyone else noticed this? My server seems to have magically slowed over the last couple of months, but I can't imagine it's because of the Shoutbox - anyone else have an experience to note?

Test it out. Disable your shoutbox for 24 hours and see if you and anyone else can notice a difference. On my site (of approx 1,000 users), there was a significant difference. It started "lagging" when I installed it, but didn't think much of it. It increased as the shoutbox grew to be more popular. I remove it, and now it runs much smoother.

[Harley77]

What about reducing the refresh rate? Make it only update every couple mins or simply on page load or after a shout was made. That (im my mind) would eliminate the constant polling of multiple members and take the pressure off the server.

[wtrk]

i thinnk there should be an automatic dump of the shoutbox archive after x peroid of time.

[Tulsa]

In examining the stats of the bandwidth usage, even reducing the refresh to 20 seconds didn't help that much. Any less than 20 seconds and the delay is causing it to not be utilized, so it just refreshes for nothing.

I've disabled it for now until this one gets tweaked or until someone else comes out with a shoutbox that's functional and without so much downside.

[Snake]

Oh I never noticed about making the server like to go down or slow. But are you guys pretty sure the shoutbox is causing it?

I've gotten this database error twice since installing vbshout...
Database error in vBulletin :

mysql_connect(): Host '217.160.230.138' is not allowed to connect to this MySQL server xxxxxxxxxxxxx/forums/includes/class_core.php on line 273

MySQL Error  : 
Error Number : 
Date         : Monday, December 5th 2005 @ 07:51:00 PM
Script       : http://tntu.net/vbshout.php
Referrer     : 
IP Address   : 209.74.228.37
Username     : 
Classname    : vb_database

[vedman]

My shoutbox hasn't slowed down my server too much (I have an avg of 30-40 registered members on at any given minute, and guests cannot see the shoutbox). However, I increased the refresh to 15000 I think, and that will be the first thing I go to change again if when/if I need to. At worst, I'm sure the shoutbox can be slightly altered to show up on it's own page, with no refresh (basically, the archive view but with the ability to shout).

If anyone is saying their shoutbox is slowing down their server, and what you really mean to say is it's taking longer for your *page* to finish loading, I assume you either have all "extras" (smileys and formatting) disabled, OR have taken this out of your template, to kill the smiley pre-loading?

I did this, and my vbshout area loads almost twice as fast now:

PHP Code:

//make it load quicker, take smileys out of vbshout without giving up the formatting extras or ability to use :smiley codes:
//remove this from forumhome_vbshout:

<div id='shout_emo' style='display:none'>
        <table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
        <tr>
            <td class="tcat" align="center">
                Emoticons
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td class='alt2' width='100%' height='100%' align='center' valign='top'>
                $ Smilie_Build
            </td>
        </tr>
        </table>
    <br />
</div> 


and

PHP Code:

//remove this from forumhome_vbshout.. might occur twice in the page, I forget:
<input type='button' class='button' value='Smilies' onclick='sb_Smilies(this)' /> 


?

edit - oh, and of course you would take out the smilie sql query near the top of the plugin "vBShout [Template Alteration]"

[Harley77]

Those code changes make a definate improvement. Thank you.

(I prefer users not have smilies in the shoutbox anyway :-) )

[boatswife]

Originally Posted by vedman

edit - oh, and of course you would take out the smilie sql query near the top of the plugin "vBShout [Template Alteration]"

I'm just making sure that I will be removing all of this??

$smilies = $db->query_read("
SELECT smilieid, smilietext, smiliepath, smilie.title,
imagecategory.title AS category
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "smilie AS smilie
LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "imagecategory AS imagecategory USING(imagecategoryid)
ORDER BY imagecategory.displayorder, smilie.displayorder
");
$Smilie_Build = '';
$Total_Smilies = $db->num_rows($smilies);

if ($Total_Smilies > 0)
{
while ($emo = $db->fetch_array($smilies))
{
if ($vbulletin->options['shout_smilies_show'] > 0)
{
$Smilie_Cache[] = $emo;
}
else
{
$Smilie_Build .= '<a href="#" onclick="return sb_Smilie(\''.$emo['smilietext'].'\')"><img src="'.$emo['smiliepath'].'" alt="'.$emo['title'].'" border="0" /></a> ';
}
}

if ($vbulletin->options['shout_smilies_show'] > $Total_Smilies)
{
$vbulletin->options['shout_smilies_show'] = $Total_Smilies;
}

if ($vbulletin->options['shout_smilies_show'] > 0)
{
while ($Used < $vbulletin->options['shout_smilies_show'])
{
$GetEmo = $Total_Smilies;
$GetEmo = rand(0, $GetEmo);

if (!in_array($GetEmo, $UsedArr) && $Smilie_Cache[$GetEmo])
{
$Used++;
$GetEmo = $Smilie_Cache[$GetEmo];
$Smilie_Build .= '<a href="#" onclick="return sb_Smilie(\''.$GetEmo['smilietext'].'\')"><img src="'.$GetEmo['smiliepath'].'" alt="'.$GetEmo['title'].'" border="0" /></a> ';
}
}
}
}
else
{
$Smilie_Build = 'No Emoticons Available';
}

Thanks!!

[ShadowOne]

is there a way to have this shoutbox on a seperate page? like if i added a link that said shoutbox, and it went to its own page? cuz i dont want my forumhome too too cluttered....thnx