Miscellaneous Hacks - vBISpy - AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads

This is a port of vBISpy by MPDev to vBulletin4. MPDev has given me permission to port this modification, if any staff need to see it, I can forward the PM.


If you use this modification, please >> Mark As Installed, Nominate for MOTM, or Support Developer <<, thank you


What is this!?
vBISpy is an AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads for your vBulletin 4.0 forum.

Please note that this is currently in Beta. The style is not perfect, but the mod should be fully functionial.


Current Version
2.0.4 - You can find the 3.6.x version, here.


Features flagged for future version(s):

• looking for suggestions

Will this work on x.x.x ??
Unless otherwise stated, this will work on all 4.0.x versions. This will not work on 3.x.


Sounds cool. How do I install?

1. Extract the zip, you should have the following directories/files:
   
   

   /
   |_ vaispy.php
   
   /clientscript/
   |_ va_effects.js
   |_ va_prototype.js
   |_ va_spy.js
   
   /images/
   	/misc/
   	|_ pause_down.gif
   	|_ pause_up.gif
   	|_ play_down.gif
   	|_ play_up.gif

2. Upload: (in the below instructions 'yourforum' would be where you have vBulletin installed)
   
   • vaispy.php to /yourforum/vaispy.php
     
   • /clientscript/*.js to /yourforum/clientscript/*.js
     
   • /images/misc/*.gif to /yourforum/images/misc/*.gif

Upgrading
Unless noted otherwise, just upload and overwrite 'vaispy.php'.


Customization
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.

If you'd like to block certain usergroups from viewing vBISpy; or certain forums from being displayed - edit vaispy.php

PHP Code:

/**
* Do not list these forums even if they have 
* permissions (test categories, etc)
*
* Enter them by ID, separated by commans (eg: 1,2,3)
*/
$blockforums = '';

/**
* Do not allow these groups.
*
* Enter them by ID, separated by commans (eg: 1,2,3)
*/
$blockgroups = ''; 


In your browser, open the URL:

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

You can see examples of this at:

• Anyone wanting to list here as an example?

Note: Neither I nor MPDev claim ownership of this code except for the file vaispy.php - the rest of the files were using 'freely distributable' (although modified to suit vBISpy) sources. As such, you may use these files as you wish, but please do not remove the copyrights.


Changelog
2.0.4 - June 23, 2011
- Changed 'xml' to 'feed' when the script is requesting data via AJAX
- Updated code that checks for blocked groups and forums so that it works properly.
- Added version string (?v=) to script calls.
- Updated template html to include facebook data if enabled.
- Updated css link rendering to determine if templates are stored as files or not.

2.0.3 - March 25, 2010
- Updated alternate row colors to use stylevars.
- Added ability to block certain usergroups by editing vaispy.php.
- Fixed possible bug where in certain situations a database error would occur.

2.0.2 - January 23, 2010
- Hopefully the incorrect showthread link is now fixed.
- Added alternate row colors.
- Changed default xml delay in va_spy.js to 3000 from 7000.

2.0.1 - January 21, 2010
- Fixed issue with incorrect path to thread statusicon's
- Edits to clientscript/va_spy.js to hopefully fix issues with incorrect showthread link.
- Removed &nbsp;'s from the rows generated if displayed rows are less than 20

2.0.0 - January 21, 2010
- Ported to vBulletin4 with permission from MPDev



If you use this modification, please >> Mark As Installed, Nominate for MOTM, or Support Developer <<, thank you

[Eric]

Originally Posted by ahmedbehiry

http://haridy.com/ib/vaispy.php
sorry, it's in Arabic.. but you can see that the posts are not changing..

You're using jQuery - jQuery and Prototype(what this mod uses) do not play nice with each other.

[ahmedbehiry]

:S is there a way to disable jquery inthis page with vb conditionals?

[New Joe]

Originally Posted by SecondV

This seems to be because of vB4's new "Friendly URL's" - I've not found a way to be able to generate them in Javascript.

So do you think it can be done?

[compuminus]

Originally Posted by SecondV

Updated to 2.0.2

2.0.2 - January 23, 2010
- Added alternate row colors.

Ideally the alternate row colors would be drawn from the stylevars, as opposed to being hard-coded into the php. I have a light and dark style for my forums, so as it stands now, vBISpy won't look right with one of them. Perhaps alt1 could correspond to threadbit_background and alt2 could be threadbit_alt_background ? Thanks for porting this to vB4!

[compuminus]

Also, perhaps you would want to use the new thread status icons for vB4...? You'd mentioned that these were too large to fit in the line of vBISpy test, so they weren't used -- but how about using the 16x16px versions? This would just change the vaispy.php code from:

$thread['statusicon'] = vB_Template_Runtime::fetchStylevar('imgdir_statusicon') . '/thread' . $thread['statusicon'] . '.gif';

to:

$thread['statusicon'] = vB_Template_Runtime::fetchStylevar('imgdir_statusicon') . '/thread' . $thread['statusicon'] . '-16.png';

[ahmedbehiry]

I've disabled jquery in the page using vb conditional <vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT != 'vaispy'">
and I'm checking it right now

[ahmedbehiry]

still not working even though jquery is disabled.

[phil801]

I'm so glad you fixed this mod for 4.0! I was in the process of paying to have it customized.

Installed fast and easy and WORKS!

Viewable here: http://www.ldspreppers.com/recentposts.php

[Eric]

Originally Posted by compuminus

Ideally the alternate row colors would be drawn from the stylevars, as opposed to being hard-coded into the php. I have a light and dark style for my forums, so as it stands now, vBISpy won't look right with one of them. Perhaps alt1 could correspond to threadbit_background and alt could be threadbit_alt_background ? Thanks for porting this to vB4!

Yeah, it just slipped my mind when I added that in. The threadbit backgrounds probably would be best for it.

Originally Posted by compuminus

Also, perhaps you would want to use the new thread status icons for vB4...? You'd mentioned that these were too large to fit in the line of vBISpy test, so they weren't used -- but how about using the 16x16px versions? This would just change the vaispy.php code from:

$thread['statusicon'] = vB_Template_Runtime::fetchStylevar('imgdir_statusicon') . '/thread' . $thread['statusicon'] . '.gif';

to:

$thread['statusicon'] = vB_Template_Runtime::fetchStylevar('imgdir_statusicon') . '/thread' . $thread['statusicon'] . '-16.png';

Ahh, thanks for that - will implement that in the next release

Originally Posted by ahmedbehiry

I've disabled jquery in the page using vb conditional <vb:if condition="THIS_SCRIPT != 'vaispy'">
and I'm checking it right now

Sorry, not sure what else to tell you. It could be an RTL issue, I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by New Joe

So do you think it can be done?

Still looking into the friendly URL situation...

[compuminus]

Originally Posted by SecondV

Ahh, thanks for that - will implement that in the next release

Great. It's not a perfect icons coding though, since it does not always correctly use the thread_dot_16-right.png or thread-16-right.png as opposed to thread_dot_16.png or thread-16.png, respectively (when appropriate), but it's pretty close.

Look forward to the new release! Thanks!