Invites System

I no longer support my hacks. Please feel free to update them and release new versions elsewhere as long as I get the credit for the original modification.

/*=========================================*\
|| Invites System
||
|| Author : Anton Kanevsky
|| Works on : vBulletin 3.5.0
|| Released : Dec 19, 2005
||
|| Time required to install: 1 minute
|| Difficulty: easy
\*=========================================*/

DESCRIPTION

A complete invites system for your vBulletin board.

STATISTICS

File Uploads: 3
Template Changes: 4
Products to Install: 1


FEATURES

Configuration Options:

• The system can be turned on and off.
• Registration can be set to either require invite code to sign up or to continue allowing regular registrations when the system is on.
• Invite Expiration Period.
• Minimal Posts Required to Receive Changes in Number of Invites.
• Minimal Reputation Required to Receive Changes in Number of Invites.
• Number of Posts Required to Get One (1) Invite.
• Number of Invites Received or Subtracted per Reputation (+ for positive, - for negative).
• Initial Number of Invites Given on Registration (Sign Up).
• Usergroups that May Not Use Invite Manager.
• Usergroups that May Use Invite Manager (Optional Override).
• Initial Registration Usergroup (only pertaining to registration by invites).
• Do or Do Not make users linked by an invite mutual buddies after the completion of registration of the person invited.
• Single / Multiple Address Line Field.
• If Multiple, Number of Fields to Show.

Miscellaneous Features:

• Upon invite-based registration, the person who issued the invite is set up as a referrer of the person invited. Therefore, free specification of a referrer is restricted during such registration.
• Image (GD) Verification.
• Administrator can manually edit any user's invite count.
• If a user is permitted to issue invites (based on both the number of unused invites and the system permissions), that user has a link to invites of usercp home (says "Click here to invite new users!"). When a user has no invites left, the link does not show up. Nevertheless, as long as system permissions allow access to the Invite Manager, the usercp navlink continues to show up, so that the user would have access to his/her invite history, which is available just below the "Issue New Invite" form.
• If registration is set to require invite code to sign up, the navbar register link becomes hidden.
• If registration is set to continue allowing non-invited sign ups, the number of invites available to any single user is unlimited. Therefore, the number of invites left does not show up.
• Invite History in UserCP, on the bottom of the invite manager.
• Single-Line AddressField, with Unlimited # Of Simultaneous Recipients, within the bounds of invite tokens.
• Multiple-Line AddressField, with Limited Configurable # Of Simultaneous Recipients, within the bounds of invite tokens.
• Unregistered Users, Banned Users and Users with No Forumview Permissions cannot use invite manager. Therefore, you do not have to specify those usergroups in the list of usergroups that may not use the invite manager.
• Invite counts are automatically updated once a week, based on the admincp-configured settings.
• Per-user invite usage restriction.
• Inactive users, who do not post anything new, will gradually lose all of their invites.

VERSION HISTORY

1.5.0
A new, commercial release.

1.4.0
[+] Image verification to avoid multiple submits.

1.3.0
[+] New Config Option: Single-Field / Multiple-Field Address Line (Default: Multiple-Field)
[+] New Config Option: Number of fields to show if multiple option is chosen.
[+] User Option, which lets an administrator restrict invite system usage for that single user.
[F] Fixed Bug, which prevented a user from registration if COPPA was enabled.
[F] Fixed Bug, which prevented a user from sending out an invite if he had zero invites and dependency on registration was turned off.
[F] Fixed Bug, which continued to show the invite form after it was submitted, even if there were no more invites left.

1.2.0
[+] New Config Option: Usergroups that May Use Invite Manager (Optional Override).
[+] New Config Option: Initial Registration Usergroup (only pertaining to registration by invites).

1.0.2
[+] Ability to send unlimited simultaneous invites, within the bounds of invite count owned.
[+] Improved invite interface (see screenshot).
[F] A couple of hard-coded forgotten phrases have been moved into the phrase system.

1.0.1
[+] Amount of posts required to get one invite is now configurable
[+] When a user can issue invites, he/she has a link on usercp (which says "Click here to Invite a New User!")
[+] When invites are required to register, there is no direct "Register" link in the navbar
[+] When invites are not required to register, there is no limitation on invites, and therefore the number of invites left is not shown
[+] Administrator can now edit invite counts manually using Admin Manager
[+] Administrator can now specify which usergroups cannot use Invite Manager
[+] More descriptive AdminCP Hack Options
[F] Added TABLE_PREFIX to the Install Code
[F] Fixed a Typo in Registration Code
[F] In the Invite History, invites are now lister in a descending order, rather than ascending. In other words, the latest invites are now on the top.

1.0.0
Initial Release

The installation manual is contained within the attached file.

IF YOU LIKE MY HACK, PLEASE CLICK INSTALL

[jimbocook]

Love this system! but although I have image verification on and can see the image in the control panel it's not being used during the registration process (for regular registrations OR referrals). The registration process still works, just no image verification.

I don't know if it just broke or broke some time ago. Since I personally haven't tested it in quite some time until I installed this.

Any ideas?

[Tralala]

WRT this setting: "How many days should be allowed until an invite is marked as "expired" and can no longer be used?"

Does that "expiration" apply to the time a current member has, to use the invites they've gotten? (ie: overriding the natural loss that comes from a sinking reputation.)


Or does it apply to the time once it's sent out from a current member to a new prospective forum participant, for the new person to use it?

[Tralala]

On my board I've set the AdminCP's Invite prefs so that "Invites Change on Reputation" is disabled completely. (We prefer a small and slow-building board, so we'd rather have mods update invites manually, or give everyone one invite once a week or whatever.)

However, despite me disabling it via the prefs, the cron job kicked off today and gave everyone lots of invites.

I just deleted the cron job to counteract the bug. Just figured I'd give you a heads up. Thanks for the great hack!

[RGSMDNR]

i have my ucash set to award cash to who ever gets a referral, is there something to integrate the two?

[DJDarknez]

OK, when I send out a test invite, it works. However, the link back to register.php is wrong. Where do I change this at?

[cd1986]

Maybe this has already been asked, but is there no way to be able to limit the number of invites when registration by invite only is disabled?

There are spam worries on one of my board, but we don't want registration to only be possible through invitation.

[Mr.D]

I got a question When will the new version be of invite system and what will be ini it. Will it be the option for admin to send invites by usergroup say i want to send a 100 invites to every users in special usergroup.

[IML8RU2]

I am having a registration problem. When I send an invite out, the person clicks on the link, enters the site and goes to the Forum Rules page. Right above the Rules box you have to check their is the coding ut type="hidden" name="do" value="register" /> Then, when they click the I Agree box it takes them to a page saying that they must be invited to join.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Thanks.

Natalie

[akanevsky]

Yes. Make sure you copy and paste the WHOLE code from each window.

[IML8RU2]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've corrected the code so that I don't get the code above the Rules box anymore, but we still get the page saying that you need to be invited to join, even though they clicked on the link in the invite email.

I've made sure the Forum Permissions are put to Yes to view forums for Unregistered Users - should I be looking somewhere else. Any other suggestions?

Thanks! It's a great hack and I'm looking forward to using it fully.

**Editing to say I'm using 3.5.3

Natalie