Administrative and Maintenance Tools - Commbull (Community Bulletin) 5.1a for vBulletin 4.01

This not the CommBull product itself. This is simply instructions for adapting it to work with vBulletin 4.x.

Download CommBull from: Commbull (Community Bulletin) 5.1a for vBulletin 3.8x

grandeur_69 has released his latest version of CommBull as a free add-on, indicating that he no longer has time to continue developing it. I am posting this here for the benefit of other vBulletin 4.x who don't want to lose the newsletter feature (grandeur_69 has approved this).

At https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....6&postcount=71 a member asks:

Hi, the version 5.1a work fine with vbulletin 4.0.1 ?

My response is posted at https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....5&postcount=72 and reproduced here...

I have the previous (commercial) version, 4.5f, which does run successfully via a cron job, running on 4.01. It required some modification of the installation instructions but it does work. I expect you should be able to get this version running as well, although as the coder noted the cron capability won't work.

1. Edit product-Commbull.xml and find the following line:

PHP Code:

        <dependency dependencytype="vbulletin" minversion="3.6.0" maxversion="3.8.99" /> 


Change to:

PHP Code:

        <dependency dependencytype="vbulletin" minversion="3.6.0" maxversion="4.99" /> 


2. Upload the files and import the product.

3. Now you need to do the template edits so that members can opt-in or opt-out of your newsletter. The current instructions are as follows:

4. Template modifications
--------------------------------------

Template: "Modify User Option" -> "modifyoptions"

After:

PHP Code:

                    <tr>
                        <td><label for="cb_adminemail"><input type="checkbox" name="options[adminemail]" value="1" id="cb_adminemail" $checked[adminemail] />$vbphrase[receive_email_from_bulletin_board_staff]</label><input type="hidden" name="set_options[adminemail]" value="1" /></td>
                    </tr> 


Add:

PHP Code:

                    <tr>
                        <td><label for="commbull"><input type="checkbox" name="commbull" value="1" id="commbull" $checked[receivebulletin] />$vbphrase[receive_email_from_commbull]</label><input type="hidden" name="set_options[receivebulletin]" value="1" /></td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td><br />$vbphrase[newsletterformat]<br /><label for="commbull_type"><input type="checkbox" name="commbull_type" value="1" id="commbull_type" $checked[receivebulletin_type] />$vbphrase[type_email_from_commbull]</label>
<input type="hidden" name="set_options[receivebulletin_type]" value="1" /></td>
                    </tr> 


Now, obviously this won't work in 4.x. These need to be modified as follows:

1. Edit Template: "Modify User Option" -> "modifyoptions"

FIND:

PHP Code:

<vb:if condition="$show['friend_email_request']">
                    <li>
                        <label for="cb_receivefriendemailrequest"><input type="checkbox" name="options[receivefriendemailrequest]" value="1" id="cb_receivefriendemailrequest" tabindex="1" {vb:raw checked.receivefriendemailrequest} /> {vb:rawphrase receive_friendship_req_email}</label>
                        <input type="hidden" name="set_options[receivefriendemailrequest]" value="1" />
                    </li>
                </vb:if> 


ADD AFTER:

PHP Code:

<vb:if condition="$show['receiveemail']">
<li>
    <label for="commbull"><input type="checkbox" name="commbull" value="1" id="commbull" tabindex="1" {vb:raw checked.receivebulletin} />{vb:rawphrase receive_email_from_commbull}</label>
    <input type="hidden" name="set_options[receivebulletin]" value="1" />
</li>
</vb:if> 


That first part (above) is the option to receive or not receive the newsletters.

Next would be the option for HTML or plain text emails, which should be:

PHP Code:

<vb:if condition="$show['receiveemail']">
<li>
    <label for="commbull_type"><input type="checkbox" name="commbull_type" value="1" id="commbull_type" tabindex="1" {vb:raw checked.receivebulletin_type} />{vb:rawphrase type_email_from_commbull}</label>
    <input type="hidden" name="set_options[receivebulletin_type]" value="1" />
</li>
</vb:if> 


Update:

This now works. I had a ( instead of a { on the previous code. Thanks to grandeur_69 for pointing this out!

Notes:

1. The product is not mine so I can't offer any support for CommBull itself. However, I have been using the paid versions of this mod for some time and I'm happy to offer what support I can for making the changes necessary to get it running on 4.x.
   
   
2. I have been in communication with grandeur_69. He has indicated that he has no objections to this thread and that as he gets time he will be trying to develop this add-on further as a free product.

Update July 12, 2010: Product XML file provided by grandeur_69 for vBulletin 4.x.

NOTE:

1. If you have already done the manual edits, do NOT use the XML file. And if you import the XML file, you should not need to do the manual edits.
   
2. Some people are encountering problems using the XML file. If you are one of them, uninstall the product and use the manual edits. Those seem to work just fine.

Update July 14, 2010: Error in XML file corrected.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by docvader

No. You get this error when you try to install it, using the xml file in this thread.


Shame, it was a good product. Used it for years.

Just edit that line in the XML file.

[docvader]

My bad. I wrongly assumed that the xml file change had to do with the original file, not the one amended to this thread.

Yes, it installs, it appears to work as usual, it creates the html email, and it "sends". But, unfortunately, the email never gets out (never receive it). Running the commbull task does not cause the email to send; vbulletin has no problem sending out test emails.

Get this jibberish when the commbull task is run:

commbull_newsletter_send_task
????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????etc, etc, etc....
?ƒ? ?ƒ£ ?ƒ?€??ƒ¡?ƒ? ?ƒ?œ?ƒ?†?ƒ?+?ƒž

Not sure what's going on; had always worked great on the 3.x series. Did something change mail wise with this and 4.x? Checked the email settings in options as suggested above, everything looks fine. (not using smtp, using php for mail, and it works for vbulletin tests. Do I need to use smtp mail for commbull??? This worked for as long as it existed, on my server, something happened with the 4 series. )

[docvader]

Found it.

It's the "Use Cron Based Sending" in the Vbulletin email options section. It's set to "yes" by default with the upgrade to 4.2; turn it off so commbull can send the email through vbulletin when it wants, not when vbulletin's cron email job runs.

But good lord, the css is a bit "blue" with the email; it doesn't take any cues from the forum theme (I seem to remember that it did in the past, maybe). Anyone have any good suggestion for colors for the commbull template htmlnew? Thanks!

[djbaxter]

What version of Commbull are you using, docvader?

[docvader]

DJ, 5.1a.
Was it the older version that took the theme from vbulletin?? Does that one still work? Same features?

[djbaxter]

Yes I'm still using version 4.5f. Still working on vBulletin 4.20.

[docvader]

Thanks DJ, I'll try it. I'll dig through my laptop and find it.

[420]

Just upgraded VB 4.1.12 to VB 4.20 PL 2 and now Commbull doesn't work.

Any ideas?

[Nelson58]

So this does NOT work with 4.2?

Please advise if this can be upgraded.

Thanks!

Nelson

[Nelson58]

No response? I will assume the newsletter does not work with 4.2 and will not work with 5.0 .

Nelson