I recently finished a standalone PHP script that fetches similar threads from vBulletin with custom URL support. It does not need global.php or other vBulletin system files, which was one of my requirements from the start.
It's working pretty well on one of my sites. I wanted to share the code with others, and I'm also wondering how the script can be improved.
Here's the post with a lot of background on the code and full source. If I make revisions they'll be updated here:
http://www.gabrielharper.com/2009/04...hreads-in-php/
Here is the full source code for the script:
PHP Code:
<?php
/**
* functions_vb_similarthreads.php - Fetch related threads from a vBulletin forum
*
* This file contains portable functions for fetching vBulletin threads
* w/ score-based phrase matching. It does not require any vBulletin files to
* work as it connects directly to the vBulletin database.
*
* You can use this code for any purpose but keep this notice & copyright intact.
*
* Disclaimer: This code offers no warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk!
*
* @author Gabriel Harper (http://www.gabrielharper.com/)
* @copyright (c) 2009 Gabriel Harper
* @version 1.0
*
* INSTRUCTIONS
*
* The main functionality is provided by vb_get_similar_threads(). This function
* accepts a string to match against, a settings array containing database
* details, thread URL format, and an optional list of forum IDs to exclude.
*
* You must define the thread URL format for your forum in your settings. This
* URL format can contain these special variables:
*
* {thread.threadid} - The unique thread ID
* {thread.title} - URL friendly thread title
* {forum.title} - URL friendly forum title
*
* The standard vBulletin URL format is:
*
* http://myforum.com/showthread.php?t={thread.threadid}
*
* vBSEO and custom URL formats can be formed, for example:
*
* http://myforum.com/{forum.title}/{thread.threadid}-{thread.title}.html
*
* vb_get_similar_threads() returns an array of thread details sorted by ID.
*
* USAGE EXAMPLE
*
* <?php
* // Include this file
* include('functions_vb_similarthreads.php');
*
* // Define settings for the vBulletin forum
* $settings = array(
* 'hostname' => 'localhost',
* 'name' => 'dbname',
* 'username' => 'username',
* 'password' => 'password',
* 'threadurl' => 'http://myforum.com/showthread.php?t={thread.threadid}',
* 'forumsbl' => '24,14,15,16,17'
* );
*
* // Fetch 10 threads matching some phrase
* $threads = vb_get_similar_threads('Gadgets and gizmos', $settings, 10);
*
* // Loop through threads and print out links
* foreach($threads as $threadid=>$thread) {
* echo '<a href="' . $thread['url'] . '" title="' . $thread['title'] . '">' . $thread['title'] . '</a>';
* }
* ?>
*
*/
/**
* function vb_get_similar_threads(string $text, mixed $foruminfo, int $limit)
*
* Connects to the vBulletin DB, finds matching threads, and returns them all.
*
* @param $text string // Any string of text to match against
* @param $foruminfo array // Database info & settings
* @param $limit int // How many threads to return
*
*/
function vb_get_similar_threads($text, $foruminfo, $limit = 5)
{
$text = addslashes($text);
if(mysql_connect($foruminfo['localhost'], $foruminfo['username'], $foruminfo['password']))
{
if(mysql_select_db($foruminfo['name']))
{
$forumsbl = '';
if(!empty($foruminfo['forumsbl']))
{
$forumsbl = explode(',', $foruminfo['forumsbl']);
$forumsbl = 'AND forum.forumid != ' . implode(' AND forum.forumid != ', $forumsbl) . ' ';
}
// Construct vBulletin SQL for score-based thread title matching
$sql = 'SELECT thread.threadid,thread.title AS threadtitle, forum.title AS forumtitle, MATCH(thread.title) AGAINST ("' . $text . '") AS score ' .
'FROM ' . $foruminfo['prefix'] . 'thread AS thread ' .
'INNER JOIN ' . $foruminfo['prefix'] .'forum AS forum ' .
'ON ' . $foruminfo['prefix'] . 'forum.forumid = ' . $foruminfo['prefix'] . 'thread.forumid ' .
'WHERE (MATCH(thread.title) AGAINST ("' . $text . '")) ' .
'AND thread.open <> 10 ' .
$forumsbl .
'LIMIT ' . $limit;
$result = mysql_query($sql);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
$url = $title = '';
// this is an arbitrary number but items less then 4 - 5 seem to be rather unrelated
if ($row['score'] > 4)
{
$url = str_replace('{thread.threadid}', $row['threadid'], $foruminfo['threadurl']);
$url = str_replace('{thread.title}', vb_format_urlsafe($row['threadtitle']), $url);
$url = str_replace('{forum.title}', vb_format_urlsafe($row['forumtitle'], array('and','the')), $url);
$title = $row['title'];
$threads[$row['threadid']]['url'] = $url;
$threads[$row['threadid']]['title'] = $row['threadtitle'];
}
}
mysql_free_result($result);
return $threads;
}
}
return false;
}
/**
* function vb_format_urlsafe(string $string, mixed $badwords)
*
* Makes a string URL safe, and optionally strips an array $badwords
* (vBSEO removes 'the','and',etc.). Removes invalid characters and replaces
* spaces w/ dashes. May need to be modified for highly customized URL formats.
*
* @param $string string // A string of characters to clean up
* @param $badwords array // An array of words to strip
*
*/
function vb_format_urlsafe($string, $badwords = false)
{
// Remove forbidden words
if($badwords)
{
foreach($badwords as $key=>$word)
{
$string = str_replace($word, '', $string);
}
}
// Convert HTML entities to characters
$string = html_entity_decode($string);
// Remove all characters except letters, numbers, dashes, underscores, and spaces
$string = ereg_replace("[^A-Za-z0-9_ -]", "", $string);
// Replace multiple spaces with a dash
$string = ereg_replace(" +", "-", $string);
// Replace multiple dashes with a single dash
$string = ereg_replace("-+", "-", $string);
// Make lowercase
$string = strtolower($string);
return $string;
}
?>
04-19-2009, 04:08 PM
Fetching vBulletin Similar Threads in PHP
Threaded Mode