Miscellaneous Hacks - Rotating Banner System

With the Rotating Banner System software, you may publish literally anywhere standard banners and advertising, with no restriction but your imagination. Unlike many other products, it allows to show an unlimited amount of banners and advertising, which are randomly shown at the places you choose, and you may refer generically to an Ad by using specific placeholders.

Also the management is straight-forward and simple to use. Forum administrators with maintenance rights may add, edit and delete records from the Administration Control Panel (ACP), one of each representing a banner. After saving the new banner settings, they are immediately visible at your board.

Compatibility: from vBulletin 3.6.5 onwards

By the way, I do also install the hack on your boards, but since I am very, very busy, it may take some time (weeks) until it gets done.


Tutorials:

• How-to create my first banner (Flash).

Updates:

• 2.0.1: Simple click tracker added, HTML help included.
• 2.0.3: Small bug fixes; additional banner list, navigation bar, E-Mail field for banner event notifications and automatic save on scroll setting; absolute URL to rbs_banner.php in order to allow click tracking on non-standard pages; supported languages: English, Italian; Help file clean-up.
• 2.0.5: Small bug fixes; additional details in banner list; email notification for epired banners.
• 2.0.6: vbCMS compatibility bug fix; additional banner lists.
• 2.0.7: Usergroups filter: now it is possible to define a list of usergroups which may show a banner; additional vbCMS compatibility bug fix.
• 2.0.8: Various fixes and most of all, inclusion of the right files: admin_rbs.php, cpnav_rbs.xml
• 2.0.9: Extra comma fix in new record creation.
• 2.1.0: Fix for an occasional banner type selection bug, when the sample banners have been deleted or disabled.
• 2.2.0 (Major upgrade): Up to 10 different banner locations. Requires changes to your existing placeholders in your templates, since a more generic format has been chosen. If you don't need more than 2 different locations, you don't need to upgrade. Changed files: rbs_banner.php, admin_rbs.php
• 2.2.1: Minor bug fix in files: admin_rbs_h_banner_list.php, admin_rbs_v_banner_list.php
• 2.2.1: Hotfix for Max Clicks saving bug.
• 2.2.2: More listings and less files. PDF Help. Separate Italian add-ons and help. Duplicate button.
• 2.2.3: Minor bug fixes. Changed files: product-rbs.xml
• 2.2.4: Flash Banner support (beta). Changed files: product-rbs.xml, rbs_wrapper.swf, admin_rbs.php, English Help.
• 2.2.5: Hotfix for vBulletin 4.0.2 compatibility bug.
• 2.2.6: Checking for installed Flash Wrapper rbs_wrapper.swf; A few English FAQ; Help files. Changed files: product-rbs.xml
• 2.3.0 (Major upgrade): New modules: Delete Expired Banners, Disable Expired Banners; Detail Banner Statistics with unique access key for your customers; Updated help; Changed files: all.
• 2.3.1: Hotfix for missing field in rbs_hist table. Changed files: none, just update product.
• 2.3.2: Added: Unsupported option for setting any number of available positions between 1 and big bang. Fixed: Small bug and speed issues. Removed: Italian translation. Italians may now request support at www.vbulletin.it. Changed files: admin_rbs.php.
• 2.3.3: Fix: Copy selected forum ID's during banner duplication. Changed: start and end hours for new banners are set to 0:00 and 23:59 respectively. Changed files: admin_rbs.php.
• 2.3.4: Option: Send Mail Before. This option allows to schedule expiring banners differently. New variables for emails: $rbs_enddate: This variable holds the formatted banner ending date and time based on the standard formats for date and time in vBulletin settings; $rbs_name: This variable holds the banner name. EMail Notifications option description: Added direct links to the email phrases for quick changes. Changed files: rbs_mail_cron.php.
• 2.4.0 (Major upgrade): Removed: Option to enable or disable mailing. Banners with email addresses to notify are handled. Setting to reset mailing in single banners. Now, if mailing should be repeated, you will have to edit the banner from phpMyAdmin. Added: Order links in lists. The initial state is ordered by ID, as before. By clicking the titles, the other voices can be ordered. Clicking twice inverts the order. This works in all lists. Options to prevent counting and reducing thus a tiny bit of load. A new bunch of demo banners for new installations. Demo banners are locked into database in order to avoid 30% of the questions because of the 'experts' deleting them before trying the product. They can be disabled and modified though. The true experts can delete them after all testing from the database by using phpMyAdmin without side effects. Changes: Phrase for emailing about expiring banners, now also with direct links to the phrases. Demo banners. Our old publisher ID is replaced with the new ones, and old demo banners are updated with the new ones, if found. The functions have been exported to includes/functions_rbs.php. This makes the product code smaller and easier to maintain, and runs faster on sites where caching/acceleration is enabled. Changed Files: all *.php
• 2.4.1: Option Likelihood. This new option adds a weight to banners and allows thus to show one banner more often than another. The default weight is 100%. We also make sure that the final date of the default banners falls into a valid range. Changed files: includes/functions_rbs.php and rbs_stats.php.
• 2.4.2: Workaround for update sequence problems.

Hacks and unsupported add-ons:

• Banner Rotator Widget To CMS
• Rotate banners in-place
• Italian Translation

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by Drache

This is the plugin i've been waiting for.
Thanks

But can i request some more features?

Maybe like impressions cap per day per banner? And 1/24hours freg capping maybe? Would be great to have country filter too.

Sorry if i am asking too much but just my suggestion.

You can, but your requests are too difficult to implement and require a lot more resources than anybody would like to offer for such a simple tool. You are asking for a professional allround no-limits software, which would be used just by you

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by motorola

Finally I managed to understand how this mod works .

I have one more question : I need to know if this mod will not affect my affiliate urls ?

I right-clicked on the banner and then I click Copy Link Location and I saw my destination url is http://www.domain.com/forum/rbs_bann...id=12&userid=1, instead of my affiliate url. It's okay like this or will affect the tracking?

If you have already remote (affiliate) tracking and you don't need to hide your landing page, you should switch click tracking off, since it adds one more redirect.
If you don't trust your affiliates or you don't have remote click tracking, keep it on.

If the landing page URL contains your affiliate code (normally it does), affiliates will not notice a difference. If your affiliates rely upon the referer and the web server does not redirect correctly referers, you may need to switch click tracking off. This is however a problem you rarely encounter. Please check with your affiliates.

[motorola]

Ok thanks for all your answers and keep up the good work you do here. Cheers !

[Drache]

Originally Posted by y2ksw

You can, but your requests are too difficult to implement and require a lot more resources than anybody would like to offer for such a simple tool. You are asking for a professional allround no-limits software, which would be used just by you

Thank you for your quick reply. you are right

BTW can I ask I seem to have problem getting the ad show in first post content. But it works in all other locations. I am doing something wrong?

I should downlaod the 2.3.1.rbs.zip but use 2.3.1-hotfix-product-rbs.xml to install it. isn't it?

added install and added nominated motm


Edit:

Is it possible to track scripts click rate too or it's limited to just single flash and pictures?

[CybaGirl]

Originally Posted by y2ksw

Ok, this file shows a banner and it works perfectly well. I tried it in a production environment.

At this point, it may be a browser issue ...

Or do you iframe the banners?

Hello and thank you very much for getting back to me and your continued support on this issue.

I am running Firefox version 3.6 and Internet Explorer 8 and the two browsers opening at once happens in both of these browsers.

I guess I can try other versions of Firefox by using the portable versions and see what happens. But seeing how the issue happens in both FF and IE I am assuming that the browser is not causing the problem.

Sorry what do you mean by iframing the banners?

Here is the code I use in the "ad_global_header1" under the "add Location Templates" of the skin.

<br><br><br>
<div align="center"><table>
<tr>
    <td><!--@vbbanners:2@--></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>

While I am at it I added a new banner last night and the banner seems to sit on top of the drop menus in the nav bar when using Internet Explorer 8. Is there some way I can get the drop down menus from the nav bar to appear over the banner like they do in Firefox?

Thanks.

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by Drache

Thank you for your quick reply. you are right

BTW can I ask I seem to have problem getting the ad show in first post content. But it works in all other locations. I am doing something wrong?

I should downlaod the 2.3.1.rbs.zip but use 2.3.1-hotfix-product-rbs.xml to install it. isn't it?

added install and added nominated motm


Edit:

Is it possible to track scripts click rate too or it's limited to just single flash and pictures?

If you don't need statistics, the smaller brother is just fine

The first post location is found in a specific template, but I can't remember which, maybe a designer can help you.

... and it is not possible to click track scripts, unless you are using a cyclic reference to the landing page inside the script to rbs_banner.php&id=N, where N is the banner ID and URL is defined as the landing page. However I haven't tested this extensively and it may not work under some conditions.

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by CybaGirl

Hello and thank you very much for getting back to me and your continued support on this issue.

I am running Firefox version 3.6 and Internet Explorer 8 and the two browsers opening at once happens in both of these browsers.

I guess I can try other versions of Firefox by using the portable versions and see what happens. But seeing how the issue happens in both FF and IE I am assuming that the browser is not causing the problem.

Sorry what do you mean by iframing the banners?

Here is the code I use in the "ad_global_header1" under the "add Location Templates" of the skin.

<br><br><br>
<div align="center"><table>
<tr>
    <td><!--@vbbanners:2@--></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>

While I am at it I added a new banner last night and the banner seems to sit on top of the drop menus in the nav bar when using Internet Explorer 8. Is there some way I can get the drop down menus from the nav bar to appear over the banner like they do in Firefox?

Thanks.

I am using FF 3.6 and IE 8.

I copied the banner code from your site and tested it again on mine, at the same template location. The extensive testing results are: your swf banner does occasionally execute code which causes to open an additional browser window. While it happens on my site occasionally (1 out of 5), it appears to be constant on yours.

I can't tell. However, it is definitively a flash banner issue, and probably related to the mouse click on a certain area or to an internally captured event, such as onLoad.

I have no solution for this.

[CybaGirl]

Originally Posted by y2ksw

I am using FF 3.6 and IE 8.

I copied the banner code from your site and tested it again on mine, at the same template location. The extensive testing results are: your swf banner does occasionally execute code which causes to open an additional browser window. While it happens on my site occasionally (1 out of 5), it appears to be constant on yours.

I can't tell. However, it is definitively a flash banner issue, and probably related to the mouse click on a certain area or to an internally captured event, such as onLoad.

I have no solution for this.

Thanks for getting back to me.

But if this issue is related to the banner wouldn't this behavior be present when using normal HTML code to display the banner?

As I don't have an issue when using normal HTML code to display this banner or others I have created. In fact no browser window opens when I use normal HTML code to display the banner as there is no link built into the banner or implemented into the HTML code.

Thanks.

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by CybaGirl

Thanks for getting back to me.

But if this issue is related to the banner wouldn't this behavior be present when using normal HTML code to display the banner?

As I don't have an issue when using normal HTML code to display this banner or others I have created. In fact no browser window opens when I use normal HTML code to display the banner as there is no link built into the banner or implemented into the HTML code.

Thanks.

In fact, the banner should behave the same way it does inside the wrapper, but it doesn't. Since I have no debugging environment for Flash, I can't tell what is wrong. It might be the wrapper as well, although there is no code which would run a second instance of a browser, but it may be there is hidden code which is compiled into the Flash at some circumstances and we never know ... this applies also to your banner.

At this point, you may still show your banner as HTML, pasting the code into the Text field, but of course, the landing page must be compiled into your banner in order to reply to a click.

[CybaGirl]

Originally Posted by y2ksw

In fact, the banner should behave the same way it does inside the wrapper, but it doesn't. Since I have no debugging environment for Flash, I can't tell what is wrong. It might be the wrapper as well, although there is no code which would run a second instance of a browser, but it may be there is hidden code which is compiled into the Flash at some circumstances and we never know ... this applies also to your banner.

At this point, you may still show your banner as HTML, pasting the code into the Text field, but of course, the landing page must be compiled into your banner in order to reply to a click.

Thanks for getting back to me and it's a strange one. I have been playing around with different settings and things to no avail .

I even tried some different programs to create banners but the same thing still happens.

I was thinking my next step would be to paste the code into the Text Field of the configuration page and put a landing page inside the banner.

But if I do this is there anyway that the clicks can still be tracked?

Thanks.