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!

[teedizz]

Originally Posted by CyberRanger

Well, I gotta say VisionScripts is passing the buck. I don't know what the product is but apparently they've had you change a vbulletin file. The create threads feature in abouttoday uses the datamanager. For it to fail, it sounds like you've modified (or the VisionScript program) has modified a file used to create threads.

I'm afraid the error clearly belongs to them, as it is being caused by a call to one of their functions (verify_bs_opponent). What you need to find out is what file contains the function that is being called, then I can help you with placing an include for that file.

Hey cyber, I contacted vision scripts & this is what the response was:

Ok. Please tell him to place the following code before initializing the datamanager:

PHP Code:

if (file_exists(DIR . './includes/visionscripts/psionic_bsh/newthread_start.php'))
{
    require(DIR . './includes/visionscripts/psionic_bsh/newthread_start.php');
} 


That file contains the needed function, and it's not going to obstruct the functionality of his hack while allowing for the functionality of the battle hack.

Can you please let me know any info to get it working correctly. Thanks.

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by teedizz

Ok. Please tell him to place the following code before initializing the datamanager:

PHP Code:

if (file_exists(DIR . './includes/visionscripts/psionic_bsh/newthread_start.php'))
{
    require(DIR . './includes/visionscripts/psionic_bsh/newthread_start.php');
} 


Can you please let me know any info to get it working correctly. Thanks.

Okay, in abouttoday.php, look for this around line 100:

PHP Code:

require_once(DIR . '/includes/functions_newpost.php'); /* included to build editor for description  */  
require_once(DIR . '/includes/functions.php'); /* included to strip bbcode */ 


Add the visionscript code BELOW that.

In ./includes/cron/cron_abouttoday.php, look for this around line 24:

PHP Code:

require_once('./includes/class_abouttoday.php');
require_once('./includes/functions_wysiwyg.php'); 


Add the visionscript code BELOW that.

We could place it more exactly so it's not always called but this will ensure the job gets done (I hope!)

[CodeRed]

CyberRanger you got mail... well a PM more like it. hehe

Im interested in hiring you to make a couple of minor tweaks that are specific to our forum...

Thanks

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by CodeRed

CyberRanger you got mail... well a PM more like it. hehe

Im interested in hiring you to make a couple of minor tweaks that are specific to our forum...

Thanks

Got it, let me check it out and I'll get back to you later tomorrow.

[CodeRed]

sounds good...

i cant wait...

[teedizz]

Originally Posted by CyberRanger

Okay, in abouttoday.php, look for this around line 100:

PHP Code:

require_once(DIR . '/includes/functions_newpost.php'); /* included to build editor for description  */  
require_once(DIR . '/includes/functions.php'); /* included to strip bbcode */ 


Add the visionscript code BELOW that.

In ./includes/cron/cron_abouttoday.php, look for this around line 24:

PHP Code:

require_once('./includes/class_abouttoday.php');
require_once('./includes/functions_wysiwyg.php'); 


Add the visionscript code BELOW that.

We could place it more exactly so it's not always called but this will ensure the job gets done (I hope!)

Thanks for trying to help me, for some reason Im still getting the same error.

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by teedizz

Thanks for trying to help me, for some reason Im still getting the same error.

Bummer! If you want to PM me your site URL plus a vb admin login and password AND an ftp login and password I'll take a peek at it.

[friendly]

Yay! CyberRanger is my hero! I love it when this 40 something year old
non-programmer can install a plugin so easily. Thank you so very much! Seems like a great guy too! His response to my questions were prompt, patient and kindly.

In the meantime, is there a way to correct this? I get posts like:

"Daniel Baldwin busted in hot SUV, police say
Read full story for latest details.http://rss.cnn.com/~a/rss/cnn_showbiz?i=6Rego2</img>"

Cheers!

[friendly]

I removed CNN. Other feeds look great.

[teedizz]

Thanks for your help cyberranger. vision actually got everything worked out for me but I appreciate the time you did take to help me bro.

** Hey Cyberranger, i was wondering if this was possible. Right now when I create a thread from the feed in a specific forum, I see inside the thread it has a short description & a link that will re-direct users to the outside feed site. My question is how can I make it to when someone goes to create a thread from a feed, that the link in the feed in automatically posted inbetween [*frame]link from the feed goes here[*/frame]? **