AboutToday - Bring RSS Feeds and Daily Events to Your Site!

What is AboutToday?

AboutToday provides a central place to bring daily items of interest to your forum visitors. It includes two main components: an RSS Reader System and Local Events database System.

Please NOTE: This mod has been modified for vb ver 3.6.4. It should work on vb ver 3.5.4 and 3.6.x.

1. An RSS Reader system where the admin can enter RSS feeds that will then be displayed on the page. RSS feeds can be set to AUTOMATICALLY create threads or be set so that users can easily create a thread from a feed.. Feeds can be read via fopen or cURL.
   
   
   
   
   
   The RSS Feeds are fully intergrated with vbAdvanced and could actually be placed anywhere you want!!
   
2. A database system that can hold unlimited categories of "AboutToday" events. For example, you could have a history category (like a Today in History) with sub-categories for different eras in history. Or, you could have a daily joke or software tip of the day, etc.
   
   The "Add Event" feature is intended to help you if you want for example - Sports: Today in History. With the vb calendar, you cannot have categories and you are restricted with how far back the dates can go.
   
   
   
   
   So with the "Add Event" feature, you could have a category tree like:
   • Hockey
     • Professional
     • College
     • High School
   • Football
     • American Football
     • The Rest of the World (Soccer)
   • Baseball
   
   with the normal calendar feature, you cannot have categories. And with "Add Event" you can have any date. So, if you want an event like "Jan 1, 132 B.C. - the first ball was invented", you can do that. But, that isn't possible in the normal calendar. Also, the events in "Add Event" are fully searchable.

Installation

Copy the following files to your server in the forums directory:

abouttoday.php
includes/class.csv.php
includes/class_abouttoday.php
includes/cron/cron_abouttoday.php
includes/xml/bitfield_abouttoday.xml
includes/xml/cpnav_abouttoday.xml
admincp/abouttodayadmin.php

From the admincp, import the product file product-abouttoday.xml (Manage Products - Add/Import Product).

REFRESH your admincp window. You should now see a listing in the left column of the admincp for "AboutToday".

Getting Started

NOTE - if this is a new install, a Yahoo RSS Feed and CNN Entertainment Feed have been automatically added to give you a feel for how the product looks.

If you plan to use the RSS Feeds:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - RSS Feeds. Add an RSS Feed.
2. From the admincp, select Usergroups - Usergroup Manager. Add permissions so the Administrator group can use the product.
3. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php.
4. If you want the feeds to AUTOMATICALLY create threads, go to admincp - abouttoday - settings. There you must set the userid of the account to use to create the thread. Then, edit the RSS Feed with the forumid of where the threads for that feed should be created!

If you plan to create your own "today in history" type of database:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - Categories. Add a category.
2. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php. "Add" your first event to the category you have created!

Version Status
I've tested this product extensively but ... use this totally at your own risk!

Credits
I learned a lot about how to code this and used a lot of the code from what Ron1n did with ecDownloads. What I've learned from his code while helping to support ecDownloads has been invaluable.

Sites Using this Product
Visit www.armchairgeneral.com to see this product in action.

Click Install!
Please Click Install if you are using this product. Thanks!

[ohgenki]

showing when clicked what's new problem

erm, is there a way not to let these news be shown when threads are created on the what's new? or at least restrict the threads to be shown on what's new based on the userid we keyed in to "automatically create the threads"?

it is overwhelming for my users and they're upset over it.

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by ohgenki

showing when clicked what's new problem

erm, is there a way not to let these news be shown when threads are created on the what's new? or at least restrict the threads to be shown on what's new based on the userid we keyed in to "automatically create the threads"?

it is overwhelming for my users and they're upset over it.

Okay, here is a product file for you to test. It adds a plugin that will hide the posts auto-created by the AboutToday userid when the "New Posts" or "Today's Posts" searches are used. Download and unzip the file, then import the product.

Once that is done, go into admincp->About Today->Settings. Look for the option pictured below and set it to 'Yes'. Let me know how it goes!

[high]* Guest210212002 clicks install
[/high]

I'd like to drop the "Talk About It!" button in lieu of a plain text link. I've looked in the templates, but I don't see it. Where's that code at?

[thenetbox]

When I add/import the plug in I get:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT MAX(`phrasetypeid`) + 1 AS `max` FROM `phrasetype` WHERE `phrasetypeid` < 1000;

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'phrasetypeid' in 'field list'

Error Number : 1054

I'm using 3.6 RC 1

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by thenetbox

I'm using 3.6 RC 1

I've not tested or tried this in any way, shape, form, etc with 3.6

[thenetbox]

ok Thank you for the reply.

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by Chris-777

I'd like to drop the "Talk About It!" button in lieu of a plain text link. I've looked in the templates, but I don't see it. Where's that code at?

oh ... that code is hardcoded buried deep, deep, deep down. If you really want to take a crack at it, change the template 'histtd_talkit_bit'. You will have to also make the changes in cron_abouttoday.php. (Search for histtd_talkit_bit in that file)

[thenetbox]

I removed that block of code
and then where ever it was looking for TITLE in cron I changed title to varname.

and it installed and it's running. I have no idea if everything will blow up now I'll test it and post results hehe

edit: Works great

edit edit: Should I paste it as an attachment? It's only been tested for about half an hour though.

[ohgenki]

Originally Posted by westpointer

Okay, here is a product file for you to test. It adds a plugin that will hide the posts auto-created by the AboutToday userid when the "New Posts" or "Today's Posts" searches are used. Download and unzip the file, then import the product.

Once that is done, go into admincp->About Today->Settings. Look for the option pictured below and set it to 'Yes'. Let me know how it goes!

PERFECT! that can be 2.0.4 now! lols! (read your pm, i sent you something)

[dinodonk]

installed in localhost, get error login, i can not login to vb.
i have installed many hack so do not know which one conflict with this.