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;
} 


[Pro-eSports.com]

I got this error message after submitting a thread:

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 on line 141
{ "errorCode": 0, "errorMessage": "", "results": { "http://www.pro-esports.com/showthread.php?t=22": { "hash": "d6TEBY", "shortCNAMEUrl": "http://bit.ly/cn4qlP", "shortKeywordUrl": "", "shortUrl": "http://bit.ly/cn4qlP", "userHash": "cn4qlP" } }, "statusCode": "OK" }Invalid JSON-response on line 196 in /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php
#0 /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php(382): Bitly->doCall('shorten', Array)
#1 /.../pro-esports.com/forums/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code(19): Bitly->shorten('http://www.pro-...')
#2 /.../pro-esports.com/forums/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 /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php , /.../pro-esports.com/forums/vb/vb.php, 284, Array ([exception] => BitlyException Object ([] => Invalid JSON-response,[] => ,[] => 0,[] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php,[] => 196,[] => Array ([0] => Array ([file] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php,[line] => 382,[function] => doCall,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => shorten,[1] => Array ([longUrl] => http://www.pro-esports.com/showthread.php?t=22,[history] => 1))),[1] => Array ([file] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code,[line] => 19,[function] => shorten,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => http://www.pro-esports.com/showthread.php?t=22)),[2] => Array ([file] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/newthread.php,[line] => 262,[function] => eval))),[code] => 256)) #1 trigger_error(Invalid JSON-response on line 196 in /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php , 256) called at [/.../pro-esports.com/forums/vb/vb.php:284] #2 vB::handleException(BitlyException Object ([] => Invalid JSON-response,[] => ,[] => 0,[] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php,[] => 196,[] => Array ([0] => Array ([file] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php,[line] => 382,[function] => doCall,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => shorten,[1] => Array ([longUrl] => http://www.pro-esports.com/showthread.php?t=22,[history] => 1))),[1] => Array ([file] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code,[line] => 19,[function] => shorten,[class] => Bitly,[type] => ->,[args] => Array ([0] => http://www.pro-esports.com/showthread.php?t=22)),[2] => Array ([file] => /.../pro-esports.com/forums/newthread.php,[line] => 262,[function] => eval))))

I got rid of the red code after changing from "true" to "false". The first error message is a problem which you explained in your mod post but I don't know where to add the code from there. It says on line 136 but the code only has about 30 lines. :S

[steeler7]

Ok... I had my host upgrade my PHP. I'm now running 5.2.12 . I have curl, json enabled, I have Mcrypt (which was a requirement for another twitter mod)..

This is what I get now when I post a thread...



{ "errorCode": 0, "errorMessage": "", "results": { "http://www.pittsburghsportstavern.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3106": { "hash": "ccJT9V", "shortCNAMEUrl": "http://bit.ly/d5LAZT", "shortKeywordUrl": "", "shortUrl": "http://bit.ly/d5LAZT", "userHash": "d5LAZT" } }, "statusCode": "OK" }



That code is now on the white screen. Post still goes through on the forum, makes its way to Bit.ly, doesn't get to Twitter

[Pro-eSports.com]

For some reason I still get this error after adding the code on line 136 in the bitly.php file.

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 on line 141
{ "errorCode": 0, "errorMessage": "", "results": { "http://www.pro-esports.com/showthread.php?t=22": { "hash": "d6TEBY", "shortCNAMEUrl": "http://bit.ly/cn4qlP", "shortKeywordUrl": "", "shortUrl": "http://bit.ly/cn4qlP", "userHash": "cn4qlP" } }, "statusCode": "OK" }Invalid JSON-response on line 196 in /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php
#0 /.../pro-esports.com/forums/bitly.php(382): Bitly->doCall('shorten', Array)
#1 /.../pro-esports.com/forums/newthread.php(262) : eval()'d code(19): Bitly->shorten('http://www.pro-...')
#2 /.../pro-esports.com/forums/newthread.php(262): eval()
#3 {main}

[sqzdog]

Steelers7 and others- I have deleted this mod and installed a new one that was just released here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=236278

Much easier to configure and lets you tweet post replies as well. I set it up on my 2 sites with no problems. If you need help, let me know.

-Gary

[Xboxinsider]

Is there anyway to make it put some like "New forum thread:" before each twitter post? I find im loosing follows, probably because they think it's spam? Cheers! Otherwise, it's a great mod!

[Bob_R]

Any way to get replies to be tweeted?

[pericolosogr]

Tried everything went many times through the thread, everything is enabled from my servers side, kept getting JSON issues and then twitter auth problems!

Uninstalled and total waste of time for me!

[Oasismad]

is there anyway of adding a #hashtag prefix so that

Barnsley FC v Blackpool 27/02/2010 Match Thread - http://bit.ly/bD0SKL #Barnsley Football Club

etc

[masons]

I got all working, no errors!
but..
No tweets! So I guess not all working after all!

[Videx]

Well, I finally got around to hacking the heck out of it and here's my version that uses is.gd instead of bit.ly (which I could never get to work). A shame there isn't some way to test this besides LIVE.

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 (!in_array($foruminfo[forumid], $excludedForums)) {
    $myUrl = 'http://www.myforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t='.$newpost[threadid];
    
    $cURL_resource = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($cURL_resource, CURLOPT_URL, 'http://is.gd/api.php?longurl=' .  $myUrl);
    curl_setopt($cURL_resource, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    $shortUrl = curl_exec($cURL_resource); 
    curl_close($cURL_resource);
        
    $tweet = '';
    if (isset($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('MyTwitterName','MyTwitterPassword');
    $twitter->updateStatus($tweet);
}