Miscellaneous Hacks - vBulletin to Twitter, live tweets of new threads

This should work on all 4 and 3 versions of vBulletin as it's trivial.

Description:

You start a new thread, this hack makes a tweet about it on your twitter account.

This are live updates... not delayed, not based on RSS... the instant the thread is started, a tweet is made. This is how this hack differs from other hacks.

Why:

Mostly for SEO, but also as an alert system.

For SEO the idea is simply that search engines are drinking from the Twitter firehose and are indexing the links that are tweeted. Faster and increased indexing of your site benefits you by helping it be found.

For alerts it means that users are able to use whatever twitter client they wish to obtain updates. A lot of these provide filtering capabilities, so they're able to get a live filtered stream of updates that interest them. This works very well when you also use thread prefixes.

Pre-requisites:

You should have an account on bit.ly for URL shortening, and you should have an account on Twitter.

Go and register if you haven't yet:
http://bit.ly/
http://twitter.com/

Installation:

NOTE: Most problems are related to not putting your bit.ly or twitter user details in the plugin. Follow the instructions carefully!

Upload the two attached files to your forum root. These are twitter and bitly classes that enable the hack to work, you can also download these from the author:
http://classes.verkoyen.eu/bitly
http://classes.verkoyen.eu/twitter/

Go to the plugin manager and create a new plugin with the following details:
Product: vBulletin
Hook: newthread_post_complete
Title: Tweet to Twitter

PHP Code: [See below]

To configure the PHP code you need to know your bit.ly API key (go get it from bit.ly/account) and your username and password for twitter.

You also should make a list of the forumIds that are non-public as you will want to put these in the array provided.

i.e. if your admin forum is forumId = 7 and you also have a private forum for regular members which is forumid = 12, then you will want this:
$excludedForums = array(7, 12);

The PHP code should be this, with all of the relevant values for your forum inserted (replace everything bolded, including the < and > bits):

PHP Code:

// The array below are the ids of non-public forums, update these to be your admin forum ids or anything non-public by default
$excludedForums = array(0);

// If you are having trouble getting bitly URL shortening to work... disable it!
$useBitly = true;

if (!in_array($foruminfo[forumid], $excludedForums)) {
    $shortUrl = 'http://www.yourforumsdomain.com/showthread.php?t='.$newpost[threadid];

    if ($useBitly) {
      // http://classes.verkoyen.eu/bitly
      require_once 'bitly.php';
      $bitly = new Bitly('<bit.ly username>', '<bit.ly API key>');
      $shortUrl = $bitly->shorten($shortUrl);
    }

    $tweet = '';
    if (isset($newpost['prefixid']) && $newpost['prefixid'] != '') {
        $tweet = $vbphrase['prefix_'.$newpost['prefixid'].'_title_plain'].' ';
    }
    $tweet .= $newpost['title'].' '.$shortUrl;

    // http://classes.verkoyen.eu/twitter/
    require_once 'twitter.php';
    $twitter = new Twitter('<twitter username>','<twitter password>');
    $twitter->updateStatus($tweet);
} 


So the bit.ly line might look like this after you've put your values in:
$bitly = new Bitly('testUser', 'R_hj3456hgf3hig56hi2gf6');
NOT
$bitly = new Bitly('<testUser>', '<R_hj3456hgf3hig56hi2gf6>');
See? Remove those <> bits, they just show what to replace.

The shortUrl line might look like this:
$shortUrl = 'http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t='.$newpost[threadid];

The Twitter line might look like this:
$twitter = new Twitter('stephenfry','op1umisn1ce');

All make sense?

And that's it. Save and activate the plugin and create a test thread.

Now whenever a new thread is started, a tweet will be made to twitter instantly.

You can see this in effect here:
http://twitter.com/lfgss

That is being pushed new threads for http://www.lfgss.com/ and it's working perfectly.

Any questions?

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: It doesn't work!

A: That's not a question, however if it doesn't work then it's extremely likely you got your username and passwords wrong or left the < > signs in there. Double-check and do it again.

Q: I see an "INVALID_JSON" error

A: Disable bitly by setting $useBitly to false.
Q: I see an "You must be authenticated to access shorten" error

A: The credentials that you entered are either wrong, or you made a mess of the syntax. You did remove the < > when you put your values in right? Did you check the example given above?

Q: I see an error that says "Warning: curl_setopt_array() [function.curl-setopt-array]: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION cannot be activated when in safe_mode or an open_basedir is set in [path]/bitly.php"

A: Wow, that's a good one... but easily fixable. Insert this at line 136 (just after the CURL options) in bitly.php:

PHP Code:

$no_hack_needed = (ini_get('safe_mode') !== '1' && ini_get('open_basedir') === false);
if ($no_hack_needed) {
  $options[CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION] = true;
} else {
  $options[CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION] = false;
  $options[CURLOPT_HEADER] = true;
} 


[LbR]

I am getting this error

PHP Code:

{ "errorCode": 0, "errorMessage": "", "results": { "http://www.forums.emonx.com/showthread.php?t=16361": { "hash": "alhONj", "shortCNAMEUrl": "http://bit.ly/atZtHs", "shortKeywordUrl": "", "shortUrl": "http://bit.ly/atZtHs", "userHash": "atZtHs" } }, "statusCode": "OK" }Invalid JSON-response on line 196 in /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php
#0 /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php(382): Bitly->doCall('shorten', Array)
#1 /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code(10): Bitly->shorten('http://www.foru...')
#2 /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/newthread.php(262): eval()
#3 {main}


Fatal error: Invalid JSON-response on line 196 in [path]/bitly.php in [path]/vb/vb.php on line 284
#0 vb_error_handler(256, Invalid JSON-response on line 196 in /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php , /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/vb/vb.php, 284, Array ([exception] => BitlyException Object ([] => Invalid JSON-response,[] => ,[] => 0,[] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php,[] => 196,[] => Array ([0] => Array ([file] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php,[line] => 382,[function] => doCall,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => shorten,[1] => Array ([longUrl] => http://www.forums.emonx.com/showthread.php?t=16361,[history] => 1))),[1] => Array ([file] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code,[line] => 10,[function] => shorten,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => http://www.forums.emonx.com/showthread.php?t=16361)),[2] => Array ([file] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/newthread.php,[line] => 262,[function] => eval))),[code] => 256)) called at [(null):0] #1 trigger_error(Invalid JSON-response on line 196 in /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php , 256) called at [/home/admin/emonx.com/forum/vb/vb.php:284] #2 vB::handleException(BitlyException Object ([] => Invalid JSON-response,[] => ,[] => 0,[] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php,[] => 196,[] => Array ([0] => Array ([file] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/bitly.php,[line] => 382,[function] => doCall,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => shorten,[1] => Array ([longUrl] => http://www.forums.emonx.com/showthread.php?t=16361,[history] => 1))),[1] => Array ([file] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code,[line] => 10,[function] => shorten,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => http://www.forums.emonx.com/showthread.php?t=16361)),[2] => Array ([file] => /home/admin/emonx.com/forum/newthread.php,[line] => 262,[function] => eval)))) called at [(null):0] 


[DoubleGlasses]

I installed this today on Vbulletin 4.0.1 and it worked flawlessly. This is the first time that I've added a plugin that I didn't just upload a file for. I have one tiny suggestion - and I recognize that this might be a significant suggestion - but it would be great if it could take the post tags and make them hash tags with the post to twitter.

[argothiusz]

Installed and work perfectly fine. Although, I would love to to use $includeforums function instead of $excludeforums. Such a pain to go over 200+ forums to exclude them lol

[Videx]

Originally Posted by LbR

I am getting this error... Invalid JSON-response

This has been covered; it's a server issue. You need to read this entire thread.

[DUI_]

Originally Posted by TyPenn613

Anyone have any clue why I would get this error?

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /home/sboards/public_html/forums/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code on line 27

I get the same error!

[wolfyman]

I can't believe I'm the only one who gets the empty thread id. Why is god picking on me?!

[GameExploiters]

I have a big forum and i installed this but sometimes when making a new post happens sometimes not always but twitter has limits for 150 tweets now I have exceeded this i guess so I have to disable it every now and then. Is there a way to edit this to allow people to create threads but if the thread doesn't work to skip this and still allow them to post the thread.

Fatal error: User is over daily status update limit. on line 204 in [path]/twitter.php

I'd love to have a fix for this as this twitter idea is very good for advertising. Thanks

[kall]

Originally Posted by wolfyman

I can't believe I'm the only one who gets the empty thread id. Why is god picking on me?!

This might be a silly question, but.. do you maybe have your URLs set to something other than Standard URLs?

[LbR]

It makes bitLY links but doesn't post up on twitter now

[icarusforde]

Not having much luck with this atm.... Anyone able to give me hand/spot whats off with my code?

PHP Code:

// The array below are the ids of non-public forums, update these to be your admin forum ids or anything non-public by default
$excludedForums = array(9,10,55,40,62,36,61,19,50,12,27,28,71,72,73,74,29,30,31,32,33,34,39,49,54,65,70,78,75,76,47,45,81,82,6,7,80);

// If you are having trouble getting bitly URL shortening to work... disable it!
$useBitly = true;

if (!in_array($foruminfo[forumid], $excludedForums)) {
    $shortUrl = 'http://www.collegetalkspot.com/showthread.php?t='.$newpost[threadid];

    if ($useBitly) {
      // http://classes.verkoyen.eu/bitly
      require_once 'bitly.php';
      $bitly = new Bitly('<collegetalkspot>', '<R_********************************>');
      $shortUrl = $bitly->shorten($shortUrl);
    }

    $tweet = '';
    if (isset($newpost['prefixid']) && $newpost['prefixid'] != '') {
        $tweet = $vbphrase['prefix_'.$newpost['prefixid'].'_title_plain'].' ';
    }
    $tweet .= $newpost['title'].' '.$shortUrl;

    // http://classes.verkoyen.eu/twitter/
    require_once 'twitter.php';
    $twitter = new Twitter('<collegetalkspot>','<**************>');
    $twitter->updateStatus($tweet);
} 


This is the error i keep getting:

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'BitlyException' with message 'You must be authenticated to access shorten' in /home/srorg/public_html/collegetalkspot.com/bitly.php:193 Stack trace: #0 /home/srorg/public_html/collegetalkspot.com/bitly.php(382): Bitly->doCall('shorten', Array) #1 /home/srorg/public_html/collegetalkspot.com/global.php(28) : eval()'d code(30): Bitly->shorten('http://www.coll...') #2 /home/srorg/public_html/collegetalkspot.com/global.php(28): eval() #3 /home/srorg/public_html/collegetalkspot.com/forum.php(69): require_once('/home/srorg/pub...') #4 {main} thrown in /home/srorg/public_html/collegetalkspot.com/bitly.php on line 193

I've got all the files in the right places, in the root directory. I'm currently running with all plugins disabled, because if i even attempt to delete the plugin and the files then it just throws that error and won't go away...