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]

I could give it a try but I'm using 4.5f. I was never as happy with the later versions. Do you have an earlier version?

[Nelson58]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

I could give it a try but I'm using 4.5f. I was never as happy with the later versions. Do you have an earlier version?

I contacted Grandeur and got no response.

So many people want a newsletter, myself included, it really does energize the less active members of the forum.

If you or someone could get 5.1 working, I would be very appreciative and send you some money via Paypal.

Nelson
www.Hobby-Machinist.com

[djbaxter]

If you PM or email me the following, I'll see what I can do:

• FTP access
• Admin CP access with admin privileges

[Nelson58]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

If you PM or email me the following, I'll see what I can do:

• FTP access
• Admin CP access with admin privileges

Do you want me to reinstall 5.1a first?

Thanks,

Nelson

[djbaxter]

Up to you. I can do that if you wish.

[PakGamerz]

hey can anybody share the plugin 4.5f, because i need to run a cron job for community bulletin, i am willing to pay also. I tried to download the package from the developers site but the link is down, Please share the cron file.php with me asap.

Thanks

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by PakGamerz

hey can anybody share the plugin 4.5f, because i need to run a cron job for community bulletin, i am willing to pay also. I tried to download the package from the developers site but the link is down, Please share the cron file.php with me asap.

Thanks

That would be a copyright violation because the 4.x versions were all paid add-ons. Try contacting the developer, grandeur_69, via PM from this site.

[Majora]

I still get this error when i open /admincp/commbull.php to send the E-Mail:

Invalid SQL:
ALTER TABLE user ADD receivebulletin SMALLINT (5) UNSIGNED DEFAULT '1' not null;

MySQL-Fehler : Duplicate column name 'receivebulletin'

I already used the 3 querys:

ALTER TABLE user DROP receivebulletin;
ALTER TABLE user DROP INDEX receivebulletin;
ALTER TABLE user DROP receivebulletin_type;

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by Majora

I still get this error when i open /admincp/commbull.php to send the E-Mail:

Invalid SQL:
ALTER TABLE user ADD receivebulletin SMALLINT (5) UNSIGNED DEFAULT '1' not null;

MySQL-Fehler : Duplicate column name 'receivebulletin'

I already used the 3 querys:

ALTER TABLE user DROP receivebulletin;
ALTER TABLE user DROP INDEX receivebulletin;
ALTER TABLE user DROP receivebulletin_type;

I'm sorry but I don't use that version of Commbull and I cannot provide any support for it.

[Big Kahuna]

This is the feature I most miss from VB3 -- and I sure wish there was a version for VB4. Too many people having too many problems trying to modify the VB3 version to work with VB4 for me to want to jump in.