Show RSS Feed Icon in each forum

So I wanted to add an image link to each forum for its unique RSS feed. This would allow people to subscribe to their favorite forums with their favorite News Reader instead of email. It would always be up to date and accurate.

There are three steps to doing this.

First, I decided I needed a small plugin to determine if RSS was turned on within the forumdisplay template. Go to your plugin manager and add the following code to the "forumdisplay_start" plugin.

PHP Code:

if ($vbulletin->options['externalrss'])
{
   $show['rss'] = true;
} 


Next we will be editing the forumdisplay template itself.

Find:

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="border-bottom-width:0px">
<tr>
<td class="tcat" width="100%">$vbphrase[threads_in_forum]<span class="normal"> : $foruminfo[title]</span></td>
<td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumtools" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumtools" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[forum_tools]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumtools"); </script></td>
    <if condition="$show['forumsearch']">
<td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumsearch" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumsearch" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[search_this_forum]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumsearch"); </script></td>
    </if>
</tr>
</table>

And replace with:

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="border-bottom-width:0px">
<tr>
<td class="tcat" width="100%">$vbphrase[threads_in_forum]<span class="normal"> : $foruminfo[title]</span></td>
<td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumtools" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumtools" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[forum_tools]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumtools"); </script></td>
    <if condition="$show['forumsearch']">
<td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumsearch" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumsearch" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[search_this_forum]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumsearch"); </script></td>
    </if>
    <if condition="$show['rss']">
<td class="tcat"><a href="external.php?type=rss2&forumids=$foruminfo[forumid]"><img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/feed_icon.png" height="14" width="14" alt="Feed Icon" title="Subscribe to $foruminfo[title]'s RSS Feed"></a></td>
    </if>
    </tr>
</table>

Finally the third step is to upload the attached image to represent your feed. If your site isn't set up to allow IE to view transparent backgrounds in PNG images, you will probably want to convert the image to a GIF format matted to your background.

Distibuted under the "Wayne License". You may modify to suit your needs, No Attribution Necessary, Redistribution allowed on sites which can verify legitimate vBulletin License Holders only.

[silurius]

Having probs with this, but looking forward to getting it working!

No icon is showing up as indicated above. Here's what I've done:

1. Installed fps_external.php, renaming original external.php to external.php.old and fps_external.php to external.php.
2. Made change listed in this post
3. Installed Wayne's RSS icon hack
4. Turned off RSS and turned it back on again, in admincp->options

[beano33]

Can something similar could be done to allow rss subscriptions to individual threads?

[Ignignokt]

Thanks!

[ffzeus]

Hi Wayne,

I have installed the code as you have outlined, tried a .png and .gif and get nothing to display anywhere. I have made sure RSS is turned on in the cp, I have cleared my browser cache and reloaded the page, I have gone throught the code by hand in my FORUMDISPLAY template to make sure it matches and still nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Running 3.5.4

Here is the code. I included a line before and the lines immediately following.

<if condition="$show['forumslist']">
<!-- sub-forum list  -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="border-bottom-width:0px"> 
<tr>
    <td class="tcat" width="100%">$vbphrase[threads_in_forum]<span class="normal"> : $foruminfo[title]</span></td>  
    <td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumtools" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumtools" el="nofollow">$vbphrase[forum_tools]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumtools"); </script></td>  
    <if condition="$show['forumsearch']">  <td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumsearch" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumsearch" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[search_this_forum]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumsearch"); </script></td>        </if>  
    <if condition="$show['rss']">  
      <td class="tcat"><a href="external.php?type=rss2&forumids=$foruminfo[forumid]"><img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/feed_icon.png" height="14" width="14" alt="Feed Icon" title="Subscribe to $foruminfo[title]'s RSS Feed"></a></td>  
    </if>  
</tr> 
</table>

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<thead>

[intrigue]

Originally Posted by SHANE-D-PAIN

<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="border-bottom-width:0px">
<tr>
<td class="tcat" width="100%">$vbphrase[threads_in_forum]<span class="normal"> : $foruminfo[title]</span></td>
<td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumtools" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumtools" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[forum_tools]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumtools"); </script></td>
    <if condition="$show['forumsearch']">
<td class="vbmenu_control" id="forumsearch" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="$show[nojs_link]#goto_forumsearch" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[search_this_forum]</a> <script type="text/javascript"> vbmenu_register("forumsearch"); </script></td>
    </if>
    <if condition="$show['rss']">
<td class="tcat"><a href="external.php?type=rss2&forumids=$foruminfo[forumid]"><img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/feed_icon.png" height="14" width="14" alt="Feed Icon" title="Subscribe to $foruminfo[title]'s RSS Feed" border="0" /></a></td>
    </if>
    </tr>
</table>

No Border around image now.

Saw this after i manually edited it to take away the border hehe
Can you update the first post to take away the border
matt

[silurius]

Originally Posted by silurius

Having probs with this, but looking forward to getting it working!

No icon is showing up as indicated above. Here's what I've done:

1. Installed fps_external.php, renaming original external.php to external.php.old and fps_external.php to external.php.
2. Made change listed in this post
3. Installed Wayne's RSS icon hack
4. Turned off RSS and turned it back on again, in admincp->options

Been watching the related threads to the above and still looking forward to fixing this.

I just realized that I can see the RSS feed icon in parent forums for some reason, just not for the child forums. Unfortunately the threads are all in the child forums.

[Wayne Luke]

Does the same thing happen with the default external.php? I see no reason why the other hack would affect this as it is a template edit. If your child forums use a separate style, then you have to apply the changes to that style as well.

[silurius]

Originally Posted by Wayne Luke

Does the same thing happen with the default external.php? I see no reason why the other hack would affect this as it is a template edit. If your child forums use a separate style, then you have to apply the changes to that style as well.

Yes, reverting back to the default external.php, I still see the icon in parent forums. My forums all use the default style. Incidentally, setting the parent forum's "Act as Forum" to "yes" will cause the RSS icon to disappear.

[snowman872]

Same probblem as the other guys ... only shows up on the category, but not on the actual forums (with messages). =(

[Snake]

Will this image works on dark backgrounds?