Major Additions - Product Review Forums ? Research, Review & Compare Items

Version 1.4.0 has been released to remove the giftery / list it integration of the addon now that service has been discontinued. No upgrade is needed though there have been a few other bug changes since 1.3.5.

Finding Feedback Can be Like a Needle in a Haystack

The more your forum grows, the more of a challenge it becomes to sort through the history and get the full story.

Product Review Forums Brings Structure to the Chaos

As a full-featured product management addon, PRF sits on top of your forum allowing you to create defined products which, unlike individual posts, stay relevant over time. Each comment, review and even product updates filter back into this one spot allowing for a quick and comprehensive overview while the individual discussions rage on as always.

Here's just a few of the many features you'll find in PRF:

• Bring structure to products with established pages & reviews
• Reduce the number of repetitive posts from members looking up the same info
• Increase your traffic with content-rich, seo friendly, product listings
• Drive revenue by adding your own affiliate links to product listings
• Increase the activity stream's value with review integration
  
• Engage visitors with integrated wishlists from Giftery.me

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Installation is not upload & go... individualized settings are required. Read the install file.

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QUICK TIPS:
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Enabling Product Forums: To show product details and ratings, each product-forum must be enabled in the forum manager.

Adding Products: You may upload products one at a time through the admin [includes an image uploader using GD] or you can bulk import through XML. You can also enable users to add moderated products through a global and usergroup option.

Product Review Index: To access your forum's product overview go to www.yoursite.com/productforums.php - You may want to add a link to this to your navbar or as a tab.

Customization: This addon is made to be customized. To change the color schema see clientscript/vbulletin_css or dive right on in to the templates and phrases.

Powered by Giftery.me: This mod is maintained includes two integrations you should know about. Both can be controlled through the mod options.

[IGCEMA]

Ted,
Nice mod first off. I wanted to ask where you have the photos is it possible to embed a video in place of that image? The reason I ask is I want to use this mod as a way to review our communities live stream broadcasts. Each person has their own embed code which I think would work well if it were embeded in the photo area. Let me know what you think and if this is possible.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by IGCEMA

Ted,
Nice mod first off. I wanted to ask where you have the photos is it possible to embed a video in place of that image? The reason I ask is I want to use this mod as a way to review our communities live stream broadcasts. Each person has their own embed code which I think would work well if it were embeded in the photo area. Let me know what you think and if this is possible.

Sure...

Basically you'd ignore the thumbnail image fields and rename the input for the main image to video url then change the detail template to call that as an embed link. The script checks that field for a valid url so you'd either have to change that to allow HTML or just use a youtube style link [or such].

Basically you're looking at template edits with the possibility of one or two small code changes depending on where videos are stored.

[imported_dfmafia]

Looks like I lost the prefixes. I'm getting the same error as last time. I tried to add a product today for review and it's not letting me as a user.

I do not have an option to select a prefix anymore.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by imported_df+++++

Looks like I lost the prefixes. I'm getting the same error as last time. I tried to add a product today for review and it's not letting me as a user.

I do not have an option to select a prefix anymore.

Did you upgrade your version or change any prefix settings?

[imported_dfmafia]

I updated it. Guess I'll revert to the one that was working.

[imported_dfmafia]

upgraded to latest. i just disabled require prefix to post and it works. though cant add a prefix to reivew or product. can select a category but I'd have to make new categories to match the prefixes already established. categories are useless to me as I am unable to use them to sort through a mass of products or reviews. whereas I can with the clickable prefixes mod

also i create product and it posts to forumid 88 as an inactive product. when i activate it via the admincp it disappears...now is in forumid 45
create a review and it posts to forumid 45

but when I activate the product it posts to the review forumid 45 and disappears from the forumid 88 for product displays.

I'd like to keep the products seperate from the reviews or reviews as reply posts under the product thread. at this time this is not happening. a review is made and creates a new thread.

my current settings are:

Review Thread Forum ID
Required only if "Create Thread On Review" is enabled. Specify which forum [by id] product reviews should be posted too. You may want to disable posting new threads to this forum. forumid 88

and
New Product Forum ID
The forum where user-created product threads are placed by default. forumid 45

88 is my product reviews forum topic
45 is my product display forum topic

the attached image may shed some light on what is happening. the prefixed threads are threads made before the mod. this was our old system and I haven't removed it...yet. Once this works I will remove these posts.

http://mrdeids.com/forums/forumdispl...roduct-Reviews

[Ted S]

Reviews will always make a post reply, there's no setting or function to disable this... the thread is the option which you can turn on or off.

Approving a product lets you change the forum [the first option] so be sure the area you want it to be in is the same as what's selected.

As far as prefixes, nothing should have changed but we'll figure it out.

[Phrost]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Yes, you can add multiple rating attributes to products using a 5-star, yes/no or free-form attribute. The option is global [all ratings for all products] and will be for the time being.

Take a look at the screenshots or try the beta and let us know if this cuts it.

Thanks Ted, going to give this a whirl.

[imported_dfmafia]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Reviews will always make a post reply, there's no setting or function to disable this... the thread is the option which you can turn on or off.

Approving a product lets you change the forum [the first option] so be sure the area you want it to be in is the same as what's selected.

As far as prefixes, nothing should have changed but we'll figure it out.

am I able to stick the products to top of thread display? I'd like to keep the thread display clean with products on top and reviews below if I am unable to have products in one forum and reviews in another.

currently I am only able to select one forum. the review forum. I tried to enter more than one forumid but that didnt take. ie. 45,88

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by imported_df+++++

am I able to stick the products to top of thread display? I'd like to keep the thread display clean with products on top and reviews below if I am unable to have products in one forum and reviews in another.

Product threads can be created in multiple forums you want. Simply enable the option per forum and either create a product their in your ACP or move a user submitted product there also via your ACP.

Review threads can go in any one forum you want. If you chose to enable them at all.

Review replies always go into the product thread and are not an option.

You can do whatever you want with the threads themselves, just be sure product threads stay in a forum that's product review enabled.

An example structure can be found in the main post of this mod showing 4 different product areas and one review discussion area.