Social Group and Album Enhancements - Watermark Generator

Quick Info

This mod adds a watermark to album and attachment images.
The watermark is customizable via image files or specified text.
Processed images are cached and the original files remain untouched, so you can modify or remove the watermark anytime you want.


Features

- Intelligent Caching
- Uses standard vBulletin methods, therefore no file modifications necessary
- Settings-Preview with a sample image in Adminpanel
- Generative plugin behaviour, works with most other mods which use the same hooks or use attachment images elsewhere

Installation

Step 1)

Upload files inside upload directory according to their structure:

> forum root
	> admincp
		+ pl_watermark_admin.php
	> images
		> misc
			+ plwm_sample.jpg
	> includes
		> cron
			+ pl_watermark_cron.php
		> xml
			+ cpnav_plwatermark.xml
		+ pl_watermark_functions.php
		+ pl_watermark_imagemanipulation.php


Step 2)

Import "product-plwatermark.xml" as addon into your vBulletin AdminCP


Step 3)

Navigate in your vBulletin AdminCP to PL Watermark Generator -> Plugin Settings.
Define the settings how you see fit. The options should be self-explanatory, if you need help with certain things, ask in the modification thread.

Changelog

v1.1
- Fixed potential security flaw on certain webserver configurations
- Improved install/updatescript
- (hopefully) fixed the grey-bar bug which occured on certain webserver configurations

v1.0
- Initial Beta Release

Additional Info

The Mod is currently in BETA. This means, that we tested it on a test environment (vb 4.0.x to 4.1.3) but has not yet undergo excessive stress test.
Keep an eye out for updated versions until the final release!
If you encounter any bugs, missing or misplaced features, let us know!

F.A.Q

- I don't see changes in my live images!
> To see changes on the image files you have to clear your browser's cache!
In firefox it's enough to force a fresh reload via STRG+F5 and on other browsers STRG+F5 or SHIFT+F5 should work.
If you don't perform this step, your browser will show the old cached version and maybe the watermark won't show or changes won't apply.

- My png/gif watermark isn't transparent, instead I get a black background!
> PNG-8 is known for having transparency problems, GIF in some cases as well.
Fall back to PNG-24 with Alpha channel (all modern image tools should be able to save as PNG-24)
If you have trouble creating a working png-24 with alpha channel, you can send me a PM with a link to your watermark and I'll convert it to png-24 for you.

- I have trouble with special characters or non-latin charactersets!
> The addon is using standard php functionalities for the text. If for any reason you have trouble with special chars, I suggest using a transparent png-24 with the text from an external image tool instead.

Support / Branding

We provide quality vbulletin software modifications for zero costs. To help our mod to be well-known, a backlink is added to your forum footer by the plugin, where the plugin is used in any way.
You must not remove the copyright/backlink code!
However, if you like to support us, you are allowed to remove the footer note with a small donation (10$ minimum).
If you choose to do so, we'll contact you via the email provided by paypal with instructions on how to remove the footer note.
A link to paypal donation service can be found on the top right area of this post.

Feel free to contact an author of the mod if you have any questions or suggestions.

[Disasterpiece]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

Thanks for the detailed answer .. appreciate it ....that was very helpful ... :up:

I think I might try to move this to the live forums, but I'm a little worried that table didn't get created and added to the database during the install. Should I wait until you've finished your beta testing?

Regards,
Doug

Right now there isn't anything I'd be able to do to fix this behaviour. It's odd, but not really a reproduceable error/bug on my end. As long as it works afterwards, it may be just a little bug in the installscript which isn't critical, because it just has to run once...

I suggest to install the mod on your live system too, if the same issue occurs, just execute the same SQL queries again and it should work. There's nothing which could break by that.

[AnabolicResourc]

Can't get this to work, no attachment is showing and the watermark is not showing neither only a red x instead.
In admincp i can see the watermark on the preview picture, although it still says: watermark file not found with a yellow triangle.

Can I pm you with some details to get some help ??

Thanks in advance...

[Disasterpiece]

Originally Posted by AnabolicResourc

Can I pm you with some details to get some help ??

Sure

[BadgerDog]

I have a slightly special requirement for our site, potentially using this mod ...

Would you be interested in some contract work to modify this slightly to meet our needs?

Thanks for your work... appreciated as always ... :up:

Regards,
Doug

Edit: BTW, forgot to mention that I installed this on our "live" 4.1.3 forums and it's working fine. The install there added the plwm table that was missing when we installed it on our devforums. For whatever reason, the table inserted correctly on the "live" forums install, so I didn't have to do the manual SQL thing. So far, is working well .... :up:

[Disasterpiece]

Nice to hear!

You can send me a pm with your requirements, we'll work something out

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Disasterpiece

Nice to hear!

You can send me a pm with your requirements, we'll work something out

Sounds good .... :up:

Update: Been testing on our live system and there are no crashes or show stopper errors, but we are experiencing a pic anomaly that I can't explain.

Look at the two pics attached.

I happened to check a pic and noticed that it had a solid grey bar along the bottom (see left pic) which looked odd to me, since I didn't remember it that way before I installed the watermark mod. I then checked some other pics and some were fine, while others also had the grey bar along the bottom.

So, I went into AdminCP and looked at the options for the mod to see if there was anything obvious there. It looked fine and the watermark was showing, as well as your sample dog pic with it on it. So, I simply hit the submit button, then some activity at the top of the screen occurred, showing some files being handled by the mod.

Now, the surprising thing. I went back and looked at the same pics that had the grey bar and now they had the watermark appearing just fine, as shown in the right pic with the correct watermark in bottom right corner of pic.

Since then, I've been monitoring the attachment pics and every once and a while, pics start appearing when selected with the grey bar again. If I repeat the AdminCP process of doing nothing more than hitting the submit button, it fixes the problem with all the pics again.

I can't explain what's happening, or how to fix the problem permanently. Any ideas?

By the way, I've also attached the watermark PNG file.

Regards,
Doug

[BadgerDog]

Another follow up ....

This grey bar thing seems to be happening a lot more ....

I selected a pic from a post that had the bar, which was supposed to be a watermark. I then physically went into the server via FTP and looked at the pic as it's stored in the mod's cache file and it looks fine (see pic below). However, if I look at it through vBulletin's attachment view function it has the grey bar.

So, I went into the mod's Cache Stats function in AdminCP and checked the "yes" box, then ran it. A bunch of processing of files occurred saying "Ok", then it returned to the AdminCP. Upon viewing the pic now through the vBulletin attachment capability, the pic now had the watermark and the grey bar was gone.

Regards,
Doug

[Disasterpiece]

The grey bar can be explained like this:
If the watermark gets applied and the image saved in the cache, the filesizes differs, because the watermark consumes more file size.
Now, vbulletin queries the file size from the original files and sends them in the HTTP Header so the browser knows how many bytes will be transferred. The Mod modifies this number with the cached file, so the whole image from the cache gets transferred completely. In the earlier development states i forgot this step, so grey bars appeared.
However, it's very odd that you experience grey bars, this shouldn't happen anymore.

Possible explanations are scripts and/or other mods who compress image files or use their own caching methods. Do you use any of those?

Always remember to clear your browser cache while testing the watermark behaviour. STRG+F5 should work as a clean reload.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Disasterpiece

Possible explanations are scripts and/or other mods who compress image files or use their own caching methods. Do you use any of those?

Not to my knowledge .... :erm:

Originally Posted by Disasterpiece

Always remember to clear your browser cache while testing the watermark behaviour. STRG+F5 should work as a clean reload.

Roger that ... :up:

Well, if you have any debug method of testing this for you, I'd be happy to give it a try ...

Until then, I'd better turn off the mod, as members are sending emails about why their pics they uploaded have a grey bar on the bottom.

Thanks for your help ...

Regards,
Doug

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Disasterpiece

Possible explanations are scripts and/or other mods who compress image files or use their own caching methods. Do you use any of those?

Follow up ...

I was thinking about your question. We do use "Memcache" as a basic Linux add-on, which in-turn uses vbOptimize

It's a great add-on that dramatically speeds up our forums, but I don't know why it would affect your mod, if at all.

Regards,
Doug