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

[Reef Man]

Originally Posted by y2ksw

have the banners expired?

Nop, no of them are expired.

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by Samsine

ok, the banner will run.
The date and time were not saved as I had set it.

Regards
Samsine

Right. This is one of the most frequent problems, glad you worked it out

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by Reef Man

Nop, no of them are expired.

please send me via PM the credentials for an admin account (+ url) in order to look into the problem. I'm pretty much sure something insignificant was just overseen

[dog-tag]

I'm totally exhausted trying to fix this...

My ads won't show at all, even though they work fine with VB adverts feature.

Can someone run over what exact code should be inserted into the ad_navbar_below

For example this

<!--@vbbanners:%d@-->

is my banner options.
If I place the above code into it, it won't work.

If I place any of the above variations it also won't work. (I've read back about 20 pages now)

FYI - I'm in the middle of an argument here with GF over why my hair has been torn out over our bed sheets.... im serious too.

The tutorials are all very nice looking, and time has been put into them, but at the end of the day I've watched and read everything and man I am clueless as to what is going wrong.

I'm on 4.2.0 by the way. And thanks for any replies to my question... now back to arguing with my gf.

[Alan_SP]

This could be something very simple you overlooked. But, on the other hand, it could be very complex why it doesn't work. Just saying that it don't work couldn't give any clue.

You should say what you did, from installing this mod, settings you used, code you used for your banner etc. You mention that you placed banner code that will be replaced with actual banner. Well, this is just one step in successfully using this mod and one that is at the very end of installation process.

My best bet is that you go from the beginning, upload all files, install product, check all settings etc.

[dog-tag]

Hi

I have tried many different ways.. here is one example of using HTML with images from an external site -

<center><a href="http://www.afas.org/"><img src="http://imgur.com/osde8.jpg" /></a></CENTER>

It's not a case of what have I not done, it's more a case of what I haven't.

I'm focusing on this side of the problem, but I have tried them all (my site caches fine BTW)

In order to catch all possible errors, please make sure, your placeholder in the options looks
like <!--@vbbanners:%d@--> or like @vbbanners:%d@ (if you have vbSEO or other software
which cleans HTML). It may have any other combination of characters, as long as a %d
appears inside. %d is replaced with numbers between 0 and 9 at runtime.

vbSEO or HTML cleaning software users:
vBulletin Options - Rotating Banner System Options - Nth Placeholder: @vbbanners:%d@

All other users:
vBulletin Options - Rotating Banner System Options - Nth Placeholder: <!--@vbbanners:%d@-->

(2)
Now put a:
vbSEO or HTML cleaning software users:
<div align="center">@vbbanners:0@</div>
<div align="center">@vbbanners:1@</div>

All other users:
<div align="center"><!--@vbbanners:0@--></div>
<div align="center"><!--@vbbanners:1@--></div>
in the template: ad_navbar_below


(3)
and enable the default banners, moving the second banner to position 1. Both banners should
appear, one below the other.
---
On a standard installation, this combination of settings works 100% guaranteed on 4.x. I
have set it up once again from scratch just to be sure. If it doesn't work for you, I'll install a
test board with these settings on, in order to demonstrate the facts.

Possible issues:

- You are using a style which does not implement ad_navbar_below, or which comments out
that template. In this case, no banner appears.

- Your system caches pages (e.g. Apache mod_cache). Unless you refresh the page
explicitly, the banners don't seem to rotate or won't even appear. 24 / 25

- Your vBulletin Options - Rotating Banner System Options - Nth Placeholder is setup like:
<!--@vbbanners:0@--> or @vbbanners:0@. In this case, only banners at location 0 appear.
You should have set: <!--@vbbanners:%d@--> or @vbbanners:%d@ instead.

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by dog-tag

I'm totally exhausted trying to fix this...

My ads won't show at all, even though they work fine with VB adverts feature.

Can someone run over what exact code should be inserted into the ad_navbar_below

For example this

<!--@vbbanners:%d@-->

is my banner options.
If I place the above code into it, it won't work.

If I place any of the above variations it also won't work. (I've read back about 20 pages now)

FYI - I'm in the middle of an argument here with GF over why my hair has been torn out over our bed sheets.... im serious too.

The tutorials are all very nice looking, and time has been put into them, but at the end of the day I've watched and read everything and man I am clueless as to what is going wrong.

I'm on 4.2.0 by the way. And thanks for any replies to my question... now back to arguing with my gf.

You could watch the movie (very first post), or the quick starter help (included PDF), to exhaust less

1. make sure you have a banner. if you deleted the default banners, reinstall the product and keep them; after testing, disable them
2. don't change options unless you have to
3. use <!--@vbbanners:0@--> in your templates unless you have banners at other locations and unless you haven't changed the options
4. use the placeholder in a template where you can see it at once, decide later where to put it definitively
5. change banners after you have made sure they actually do show up
6. verify changes
7. please think simple ... most of the fuzz arises when hurry comes in and no reading of the included help and believing everything must work in a way you already know ...

[salvador21]

Originally Posted by dog-tag

For example this

<!--@vbbanners:%d@-->

is my banner options.
If I place the above code into it, it won't work.

It won't, you need to replace %d with a banner location (0 - 9)

e.g. you replace the %d with 0 and place that code in an ad position (either in Options:>manage ads or in an ad position template)

Then you go the RBS control panel in the Admin options menu, click on manage banners and create a banner (New).

Choose position 0
In the text box you put either Google adsense code, an html link top your banner, or just plain text if that's what you want to appear

Do the same for any of the other possible positions (1 - 9)

[dog-tag]

Hey guys, thanks a million for your tips, I wish I had all that info ages ago.

I un-installed it, and used this one here instead - VSA flash image banner

When I setup the new one just today, I spotted what I did wrong. It was SO stupid, but the hurry really ruined my head....

OK here is the embarrassing thing I did. When setting usergroups for the adverts to show, I viewed all my usergroups. Seen "admin" was #1 and set it that only #1 can see it. Looking back, admin is actually #6, and instead I was showing adverts to users who were not logged in.

I seen #1, but it really meant that was that amount of users who were admins. Feeling damn stupid now, I'm usually good with these things! I was so sure of myself too.

Thanks very much for clearing this up for me and others Salvador21 and Y2ksw

[y2ksw]

No problem, I felt you were in kind of a hurry