Links and Files Database

The VB3.0 version is no longer supported although there have been no reported problems for some time

See here for the VB 3.6 version of this hack, which is now the supported version. This version currently also works with VB 3.5
See here for the VB 3.5 thread for this hack.

What's new in v1.60?

Option to display associated thumbnail images
Option to accept/not accept new entries if these already exists in database
Code for mass edits (accessed via admincp) tidied up
VB phrasing completed
Includes a full French and a partial German translation (thanks to cclaerhout, Allan and LeeWicKeD), handled properly by installation script.
Various bugs fixed and tested against php4 and php5:
Better database validation (on startup/in admincp: links with invalid associated forumids, categories with invalid parentids)
Alternative linkbit templates provided (default uses a fieldset, the other is the old-style table row)
Alternative category selection templates (pull down menu/list of checkboxes),
Star rating displayed using standard VB stars rather than in text form
Series of minor bug fixes
See file change.txt in zip file

What it is/does

- Provides a searchable database of weblinks and/or downloadable files, for example manuals, music files, pictures, etc.
- Integrates within VBulletin, without requiring any code changes.
- Transparently handles links and file downloads. (If you want to provide downloads from your own site, you need a separate tool to upload these files. This hack does not and will not include a file uploader.)
- Provides unlimited nested categories.
- Each link/file can be a member of multiple categories.
- Link and category title and descriptions can use all BBCODEs, giving the possibility to add images, colouring, etc, as you wish
- Viewing/access permissions controlled using VBulletin forum system
- Users can rate links, in a similar manner to VB thread rating.
- File downloads are semi-leechproof, i.e. the user does not see where the file is stored and can only access the link if she has access to the associated forum.
- Audio files playable via Windows Media Player can be offered as a jukebox .
- Tracks who downloads what
- Validates links on entry/editing, and provides admin facility to validate the entire database.

Installation/upgrading instructions

Read instructions.txt in the zip file. Installation script works out whether to install or upgrade.

To upgrade from an earlier release of this hack, simply re-run the installation script. If you modified the templates in the top styles, you will lose these modifications unless you back up and re-edit.

PLEASE BACK UP YOUR DATABASE

See also

For screen shots, see attachments.

Tested with

VBulletin 3.0 and higher
PHP 4.1.1 and 4.3.4, should work with all 4.x versions, seems ok with 5.0.4
MySQL 4.0.
Reported ok with MySQL 4.1 but not exhaustively tested

Credits

Initially inspired by drkFusion's vb2 hack "vb Link Directory" v.2 and discussion about v.3 on Vbulletin.org. This is a complete rewrite with many more features. Every credit to the VBulletin folks for providing the infrastructure and to those on vbulletin.org who have helped with testing.

Integrations/Conversions

Natch has written extensions to integrate this hack with VBindex and VBAdvanced.

For convenience, this hack includes fully integrates with, but does not install, his VBIndex hack - i.e. the required template and code are provided, and the admin panel handles the configuration settings. Please refer to his thread for instructions.

Integration with VBadvanced is described in thread 1319 at vbadvanced.com.

The zip file includes a script and instructions for converting from vbLinks v2 (see thread 44551

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by baqai

love the hack, only problem is that is there any way to show it on the nav bar on top?

Yes - you have to edit the navbar template to get the results you want. The attached example puts an entry just to the left of the FAQ button. Just experiment to get the effect you want.

[baqai]

thanks a lot working fine now

[PranK]

/me clicks install

nice work! thank you!

Christian

[PranK]

btw - extremely nice 'instructions.txt' - very well laid out with lots of info!!

Thanks again,

Christian

[Acido]

AndrewD, is there a way to display the rates of the links? I only can see the options to rate, but i'm confused about where the rates are displayed...

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Acido

AndrewD, is there a way to display the rates of the links? I only can see the options to rate, but i'm confused about where the rates are displayed...

You spotted this about five minutes before I did. I managed to destroy the ratings display in version 1.10 by missing out a dollar sign.

If you want to fix this, edit local_links.php, line 169

PHP Code:

if (!links_rate_set) 


and put a dollar sign in front of links_rate_set.

Sorry about that.

[The Geek]

Superb add on.
Would be nice for the ratings to come up as stars, and if the user already rated for them not to be able to rate again.
O, would be nice for hyperlinks and email addresses to be parsed automatically. There is no easy way to add email addresses to an entry.

well done.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by the nail geek

Superb add on.
Would be nice for the ratings to come up as stars, and if the user already rated for them not to be able to rate again.
O, would be nice for hyperlinks and email addresses to be parsed automatically. There is no easy way to add email addresses to an entry.

well done.

Thanks - it is not hard to change the template to display stars (I think someone already sorted that out - will try to track it down) - if someone tries to vote a second time, this is allowed, but it cancels their previous vote, i.e. their vote only gets counted once.

[The Geek]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Thanks - it is not hard to change the template to display stars (I think someone already sorted that out - will try to track it down) - if someone tries to vote a second time, this is allowed, but it cancels their previous vote, i.e. their vote only gets counted once.

As a workaround for that (only wanted people to vote once) I did the following:

Changed the query in get_linklistbit to this:

PHP Code:

    $query = "
        SELECT link.linkid AS linkid, link.linkname AS linkname, link.linkuserid AS linkuserid,
            link.linkusername AS linkusername, link.linkurl AS linkurl, link.linkdesc AS linkdesc,
            link.linkhits AS linkhits, link.linkstatus AS linkstatus, link.linkdate AS linkdate, linkrate.linkvote
        FROM ".THIS_TABLE."linkslink AS link
        LEFT JOIN ".THIS_TABLE."linksltoc AS ltoc
        ON link.linkid = ltoc.linkid
        LEFT  OUTER  JOIN local_linksrate AS linkrate
        ON ( ( link.linkid = linkrate.linkid ) AND ( linkrate.linkuserid =" . intval($bbuserinfo['userid']) ." ) )
            $squery
        ORDER BY linkname
        "; 


Then under this:

PHP Code:

            $linknew = iif($bbuserinfo['lastvisit'] < $myrow['linkdate'],1,0); 


I stuck this:

PHP Code:

            $linkvoted=intval($myrow["linkvote"]); 


Then in the list_linkbit template, I changed

PHP Code:

<if condition="$links_permissions[can_rate_link]"> 


To this:

PHP Code:

<if condition="$links_permissions[can_rate_link] AND $linkvoted==0"> 


May not be the best, but thought I would post it in case anyone else wanted it. As for the star, tmeplate thing... I didnt look in the 27 page thread here, but you are right... its about as easy as could be.

Just change the lins_ratebit template to this:

PHP Code:

<br />&nbsp;<br /><img src="images/rating/rating_$linkrate.gif"> 


Kick ass mod m8.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by the nail geek

Superb add on.
Would be nice for the ratings to come up as stars, and if the user already rated for them not to be able to rate again.
O, would be nice for hyperlinks and email addresses to be parsed automatically. There is no easy way to add email addresses to an entry.

well done.

I think you added the second point after I blinked I missed it first time round.

You're right that a link has to be a file or an http link - it does not recognise ftps, mailtos etc. But you can add mailtos in the description, simply by using the email bbcode