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

[bsalu]

Hi,

I have installed this Mod. I followed the instruction and watched the video few times. But i cant just get this mod work with my banners.

It shows adsense banners but it goes blank when it suppose to show the image banner i have added.

I checked the link for image banner and it is correct but it just doesnt show in banner rotator.

Thanks for help

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by bsalu

Hi,

I have installed this Mod. I followed the instruction and watched the video few times. But i cant just get this mod work with my banners.

It shows adsense banners but it goes blank when it suppose to show the image banner i have added.

I checked the link for image banner and it is correct but it just doesnt show in banner rotator.

Thanks for help

Please make sure that you actually can access the banners you have specified, in a test page. There is no way to show a banner which isn't available on a normal HTML. Though you may use relative paths relative to your forum home, it is far better to use full paths to your images and links, since other products benefit from it (e.g. vbadvanced).
Starting with version 2.2.3 you may clone a banner by klicking the "Duplicate" button. This way you may modify a working banner slightly. In this case, you may clone one of the working adsense banners and paste your image and destination URL, remove the adsense and save. If your images are there, the banner must show up (in rotation)

[dimthan]

Originally Posted by y2ksw

Maybe you need to use full paths to the flash, and replace the paths with your own file data.

The sample is intended to give only an idea about implementing a Flash banner and is for no reason complete or with "absolute" values.

even if i use the full path i dont have any result with the flash . i can see only the transparent gif and if i click on it , goes to the advertised domain . but finally i cant see the flash banner

[speedracer68]

Can I get this to rotate banners on the right side of my forum in a random order?

See http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/ for my old site example

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by speedracer68

Can I get this to rotate banners on the right side of my forum in a random order?

See http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/ for my old site example

Yes. You would have to add for at least each item a record, and in your template a finite number of placeholders, e.g. for 3 random banners of the same kind:

<!--vbbanners:0@--><br />
<!--vbbanners:0@--><br />
<!--vbbanners:0@--><br />

If you like to show groups of banners in a certain order, you may do this:

<!-- position 0 banners -->
<!--vbbanners:0@--><br />
<!--vbbanners:0@--><br />
<!--vbbanners:0@--><br />

<!-- position 1 banners -->
<!--vbbanners:1@--><br />
<!--vbbanners:1@--><br />
<!--vbbanners:1@--><br />

and so on, with up to 10 different groups.

[speedracer68]

Hmm, might be over my head. At times I might have 80 or more banners rotating on the right.

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by dimthan

even if i use the full path i dont have any result with the flash . i can see only the transparent gif and if i click on it , goes to the advertised domain . but finally i cant see the flash banner

I have noticed there are some differences between browsers. This is why I am actually at developing a flash wrapper which will solve this problem for all.

I attach it here and you may try it at your own. Until it will get publically released, the flash banner insertion will work only by filling the code by hand to fit your needs. I suggest to use only full paths.

Since it is a work in progress, I can't guarantee it will work on all systems and browsers.

Sample:

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" border="0" width="your_banner_width" height="your_banner_height">
 <param name="movie" value="http://www.your_domain.tld/rbs_wrapper.swf"/>
 <param name="FlashVars" value="banner=http://www.domain.tld/your_flash_file.swf&jlink=http://www.domain.tld/your_destination_link&bwidth=your_banner_width&bheight=your_banner_height"/>
 <embed src="http://www.your_domain.tld/rbs_wrapper.swf" FlashVars="banner=http://www.domain.tld/your_flash_file.swf&jlink=http://www.domain.tld/your_destination_link&bwidth=your_banner_width&bheight=your_banner_height" loop="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/get/flashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="your_banner_width" height="your_banner_height"></embed>
</object>

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by speedracer68

Hmm, might be over my head. At times I might have 80 or more banners rotating on the right.

That's quite a number ...

[dimthan]

Originally Posted by y2ksw

I have noticed there are some differences between browsers. This is why I am actually at developing a flash wrapper which will solve this problem for all.

I attach it here and you may try it at your own. Until it will get publically released, the flash banner insertion will work only by filling the code by hand to fit your needs. I suggest to use only full paths.

Since it is a work in progress, I can't guarantee it will work on all systems and browsers.

Sample:

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" border="0" width="your_banner_width" height="your_banner_height">
 <param name="movie" value="http://www.your_domain.tld/rbs_wrapper.swf"/>
 <param name="FlashVars" value="banner=http://www.domain.tld/your_flash_file.swf&jlink=http://www.domain.tld/your_destination_link&bwidth=your_banner_width&bheight=your_banner_height"/>
 <embed src="http://www.your_domain.tld/rbs_wrapper.swf" FlashVars="banner=http://www.domain.tld/your_flash_file.swf&jlink=http://www.domain.tld/your_destination_link&bwidth=your_banner_width&bheight=your_banner_height" loop="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/get/flashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="your_banner_width" height="your_banner_height"></embed>
</object>

Great support !!!!!!
this worked without using ur file rbs_wrapper.swf , only with entering the code !
thx men !

[y2ksw]

Originally Posted by dimthan

Great support !!!!!!
this worked without using ur file rbs_wrapper.swf , only with entering the code !
thx men !

You're welcome

Also you may now try the integrated flash banner support (still beta) of version 2.2.4.