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.

[GCC LLC]

Thanks Ted, appreciate it. Did you forget to attach the file?

[GCC LLC]

mysql> select visible from post where postid = xxxxxxx;
+---------+
| visible |
+---------+
| 1 |
+---------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

[deverill2010]

Right ted this is what mine does when it a review is pisted. I don't have moderation for reviews turned on but yet they end up in moderation as you'll see below -

This was from a review posted earlier and the pictures are all of the SAME review.

The review shows up in moderation -

Attachment 140855

The same review shows up 'unregistered' in the activity stream for some reason.

Attachment 140856

The actual review on the thread, as you can see it isn't 'moderated'.

Attachment 140857

Trying to approve the reviews and the error I get -

Attachment 140858

Attachment 140859




Regarding my request for the stars images on the view forum bit, please see the image below. It would be great if you could show the overall star rating instead of the words "Rated: 0.0 / 5". -

Attachment 140860




And I had a question. Is there a way for the 'normal' threads within the product forum to show normally. I.e don't show the Rated: 0.0 / 5 & reviews column as this looks confusing and messy. They are normal threads not products so shouldn't be interefered with. See image -

Attachment 140861

[GCC LLC]

Deverill, you could probably edit the threadbit with a conditional to check for the thread prefix - it looks like you use Book Review: as a prefix on all reviews. The conditional to look into is $thread[prefix_rich]. Possibly something like <vb:if conditional = "$thread[prefix_rich]">display threadbit with the Rated: code here <vb:else /> show regular threadbit here </vb:if>

The thing I'm not sure about, without diving in and looking at it is that these changes may need to be made inside of forumdisplay.php itself (core vb PHP file hack that you made to have it change the threadbit on product review forums in the first place). Hope this helps at least point you in the right direction!

[deverill2010]

GCC LCC that's great thank you but In reality I have no idea unless someone says find x and replace it with y lol.

Thanks any how.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by GCC LLC

Thanks Ted, appreciate it. Did you forget to attach the file?

Me, forget, never?

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by GCC LLC

mysql> select visible from post where postid = xxxxxxx;
+---------+
| visible |
+---------+
| 1 |
+---------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

1?? 1 means active, visible post. Hrmm....

Does the post show up to guests / other users and go to moderation at the same time or is treated like a normal thread and completely hidden in the queue?

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by deverill2010

Right ted this is what mine does when it a review is pisted. I don't have moderation for reviews turned on but yet they end up in moderation as you'll see below -

Try this version of upload/productforums.php

It will still put things into moderation I suspect [although i'm not sure why] but I'm wondering if you'll be able to properly approve them afterwords...

[ashimashi]

Originally Posted by Ted S

It's not insane but it's not a template edit either.

1. Add a column [int or varchar] to the product table in your database for each field.
2. Update the admin php script to include this row in adding & editing products with database hooks to match.
3. Edit the template to display it back.



Not everyone uses US dollars. But you're correct, it's a great idea to add in your local currency sign.

Thank you but sorry that is just a little too complicated for me. You lost me at step one. Where do I find the product table?

Do you think it would be possible for you to make a quick tutorial on how to do this. I Believe many others would like this too if they would like to add their own custom fields to it.

Thanks!

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by ashimashi

Thank you but sorry that is just a little too complicated for me. You lost me at step one. Where do I find the product table?

Do you think it would be possible for you to make a quick tutorial on how to do this. I Believe many others would like this too if they would like to add their own custom fields to it.

Thanks!

If you don't know where your database tables are you probably shouldn't try and do this, until you learn some mySQL & php that is. :up:

Messing around with your system at this level risks your entire forum if you do the wrong thing. Not the kind of stuff we like to document as the easier it appears, the more likely people are to jump in without paying attention to the warning system.