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

[bzcomputers]

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

Coder replied like this in post # 2460 "You just copied the files without the folders. It is intended to copy the contents of the upload folder to your forum home ... including the folders."

Are you both telling same thing? I will now try to upload the contents within the "upload" directory as you said and check the status...I will update my feedback soon...thx

Yes, we are saying the same thing. For you, when looking at the "upload" directory for any mod, consider the "upload" directory the same as your "public_html" directory on your server.

You then need to copy the contents of the "upload" folder to your root folder "public_html". This includes maintaining the file/folder structure under "upload".

Sample of what is being uploaded:
upload/admincp/admin_rbs.php
upload/includes/cron/rbs_mail_cron.php
upload/rbs_banner.php

Where it should be uploaded:
public_html/admincp/admin_rbs.php
public_html/includes/cron/rbs_mail_cron.php
public_html/rbs_banner.php

[drdoc]

Originally Posted by bzcomputers

Just make sure you are selecting to upload the contents within the "upload" directory and not selecting to upload the "upload" directory itself and it should give you the results you need.

NEW UPDATE

This time i uploaded like people said here....default admincp and includes folder names were already present in my public_html.....then i uploaded admincp and includes folders of 2.4.2 "upload" to my public_html (Actually i uploaded zip of admincp and includes and extracted and later deleted zip files) and then all files with in admincp and includes folders of 2.4.2 "upload"went in to previously present default admin and includes folder....I though i replaced folders and shocked a moment but realized that uploaded 2.4.2 upload and includes files just went in to previously present default admincp and includes folder (thank god), and later uploaded rbs_banner.php,rbs_stats.php,rbs_wrapper.swf files in to public_html and now i an see following below format in my public_html

public_html/admincp
public_html/includes
public_html/rbs_banner.php
public_html/rbs_stats.php
public_html/rbs_wrapper.swf

But still i cannot see RBS in my VB cpanel...i thought some thing went wrong and disappointed....but i immediately tried to add/import and did following

Manage product=> Add/Import and then Browsed for the product's XML file (product-rbs.xml), and clicked import ....To my surprise it got imported and accepted this time...then i thought RBS may now appear in my VB cpanel and scroll down left menu.....then....hurray i did it...i can see RBS as seen in screen shot.....thanks to bzcomputers and coder...ESPECIALLY special thanks to bzcomputers, you guided me with example and i did it now....hay...thanks...i will go for next steps now...my target is adding RBS below navbar....Now i dont know next steps....just read and proceed further and update u all..

check my screenshot....big thanks to bzcomputers

[drdoc]

Regarding placing Banners "Below Navbar" location

I am looking for Rotating banners which need to Refresh after every "few seconds" below navbar location.

So far i placed 2 banner successfully below navbar with "position 0 banner list" and they are changing alternately only when i refresh...what to do to set auto rotation with few seconds gap.

How i did....i created 2 banners and saved in "position 0 banner list" and next went to RBS in settings => options...and changed <!--@vbbanners:%d@--> to <!--@vbbanners:0@-->

Next went to style manager=>edit templates=>navbar below=> template box was empty so i added this "<!--@vbbanners:0@-->" Hope i did correctly so far

next what should i do in order to add position 1-9, i mean in settings=>options=>what should i add in the place of Nth Placeholder , as i have already entered <!--@vbbanners:0@-->

pls clarify and also let me know about rotating banner with time gap automatically instead of rotation banner after refreshing page.

Thanks

[TheLastSuperman]

@bzcomputers I'd like all of your posts for helping dr.reddy if it would let me, can only like one for now until I share more "like love" so instead a shout out to you for being super nice and helping him today!

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

How i did....i created 2 banners and saved in "position 0 banner list" and next went to RBS in settings => options...and changed <!--@vbbanners:%d@--> to <!--@vbbanners:0@-->

^ Go back in settings and change that BACK to the previous value, it should always read <!--@vbbanners:%d@-->

If you currently have it set to: <!--@vbbanners:0@--> then it will not work, it must have the %d.
To explain the mod knows that the %d represents a # i.e. the banner list ID#.

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

Next went to style manager=>edit templates=>navbar below=> template box was empty so i added this "<!--@vbbanners:0@-->" Hope i did correctly so far

That is correct, that will now show the banners (all banners you have added to LIST 0) from list 0 in that location. If more than one banner they will randomly rotate in.

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

next what should i do in order to add position 1-9, i mean in settings=>options=>what should i add in the place of Nth Placeholder , as i have already entered <!--@vbbanners:0@-->

pls clarify and also let me know about rotating banner with time gap automatically instead of rotation banner after refreshing page.

Thanks

Add more banners to List 0 OR manage the other list and add in banners to those list, you only add more code to the template i.e. <!--@vbbanners:0@--> and <!--@vbbanners:1@--> if you are showing the banners from list 0 AND list 1.

Edit: Ahh and this mod rotates the banners on page load/refresh there is currently no timer function.

[bzcomputers]

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

I am looking for Rotating banners which need to Refresh after every "few seconds" below navbar location.

Not possible with this mod as it is. You would need to do some custom script writing for this. Also, if you intend to run ads from an ad publishing company, almost all of them will ban you for doing this. Rule is typically one ad to show per ad position per page load.

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

How i did....i created 2 banners and saved in "position 0 banner list" and next went to RBS in settings => options...and changed <!--@vbbanners:%d@--> to <!--@vbbanners:0@-->

Incorrect. The settings option should remain "<!--@vbbanners:%d@-->". The only place you should be placing the numbered position reference is in the templates.

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

Next went to style manager=>edit templates=>navbar below=> template box was empty so i added this "<!--@vbbanners:0@-->" Hope i did correctly so far

This is correct.

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

next what should i do in order to add position 1-9, i mean in settings=>options=>what should i add in the place of Nth Placeholder , as i have already entered <!--@vbbanners:0@-->

See answer above about what should be in settings. For your other positions just place the respective ad position reference within the template as you did for "<!--@vbbanners:0@-->".

Edit: I see you beat me to responding @TheLastSuperman. Looks like we were typing at the same time.

[drdoc]

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

@bzcomputers I'd like all of your posts for helping dr.reddy if it would let me, can only like one for now until I share more "like love" so instead a shout out to you for being super nice and helping him today!



^ Go back in settings and change that BACK to the previous value, it should always read <!--@vbbanners:%d@-->

If you currently have it set to: <!--@vbbanners:0@--> then it will not work, it must have the %d.
To explain the mod knows that the %d represents a # i.e. the banner list ID#.

Now i have changed back to <!--@vbbanners:%d@-->, but to my surprise it was working before even with <!--@vbbanners:0@-->

Thanks a lot

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by bzcomputers

Edit: I see you beat me to responding @TheLastSuperman. Looks like we were typing at the same time.

Usually my kids come in the room and everyone else beats me to the punch, for once I win! jk jk but made me laugh! See my shoutout at the top of my last post .

[drdoc]

Originally Posted by bzcomputers

Not possible with this mod as it is. You would need to do some custom script writing for this. Also, if you intend to run ads from an ad publishing company, almost all of them will ban you for doing this. Rule is typically one ad to show per ad position per page load.

I am getting only 1 Ad per page load (refresh), i think we can also place ads side by side....what Ad publishing company you are referring, i have pvt.ads on my site ( not Google Adsense)...who bans these ads??

I have for example 6 banners all at " banner location 0", below navbar .....banner 1-3 are big, so no problem, but banner 4,5,6 are very small rectangle banner ads...is there any way to make appear banner 4,5,6 side by side...order should be like this on page refresh

1=>2=>3=> 4,5,6 small ads together....so it means 6 ads in 4 batches

I tried it like described in rbs pdf instructions where they gave example with Full banner side by side , but when i load page, 2 banners are appearing randomly like 1,6 2,5, 3,6 etc, so do u have any suggestion on this...

Thanks for other suggestions and for giving opinion on my previous work

[drdoc]

can we duplicate same banner to make it appear more often than other banners on page load. ( i see that out of my 6 banners 1 banner is appearing less often)

Example banner ID is 10,12 and 13 and position is "0" for all of them targeting below navbar

[bzcomputers]

Originally Posted by dr.reddy

I am getting only 1 Ad per page load (refresh), i think we can also place ads side by side....what Ad publishing company you are referring, i have pvt.ads on my site ( not Google Adsense)...who bans these ads??

I have for example 6 banners all at " banner location 0", below navbar .....banner 1-3 are big, so no problem, but banner 4,5,6 are very small rectangle banner ads...is there any way to make appear banner 4,5,6 side by side...order should be like this on page refresh

1=>2=>3=> 4,5,6 small ads together....so it means 6 ads in 4 batches

I tried it like described in rbs pdf instructions where they gave example with Full banner side by side , but when i load page, 2 banners are appearing randomly like 1,6 2,5, 3,6 etc, so do u have any suggestion on this...

Thanks for other suggestions and for giving opinion on my previous work

For side by side change banner 4 to this:

<table align="center"><tr><td>Put what you have currently in Banner 4 here</td><td>Put what you have currently in Banner 5 here</td><td>Put what you have currently in Banner 6 here</td></tr></table>

If you want spacing between the banners add this code between each banner code above:

<td style="width: 20px;">&nbsp;<td>

Adjust "20" to any spacing width you would like.

You can then delete Banners 5 & 6.