Show Thread Enhancements - Download Thread as PDF

Keywords: SHOWTHREAD, PDF, Abobe, export, download, thread

Description:
Allows you to download an entire thread in PDF format, viewable in any PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat or Foxit Reader.

Details:
Previously, there was a modification that performed this task however that modification is no longer supported and the backend used was seriously out-of-date and suffered from quite a few bugs. I've gone ahead and created this modification around an entirely different backend, one which works quickly and flawlessly.

Requirements:

• PHP Version 4.0.4 or greater
• html2ps (link)
• ps2pdf (link)

Notes:
Please note, these prerequesits may already be installed on your system. If you're unsure, simply install the modification and upon usage it will inform you if something is missing.

If you happen to be fortunate enough to be using Debian, the above requirements can be installed with the following packages:

# apt-get install html2ps

# apt-get install gs-common

[hr]-[/hr]
Usage:
Under "Thread Tools", simply select "Download as PDF" which will be located under "Show Printable Version". Easy, eh?

[hr]-[/hr]
Installation:

1. Download and unzip the pdfthread101.zip archive.
2. Upload necessary files to their respective locations.
3. Import the product-pdfthread.xml via the Product Manager.
4. ???
5. Profit!

Notes:
All template modifications are made automatically. They attach to pretty common text locations, so modified styles shouldn't* be a problem.

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Comments:
As with all my hacks, this modification is provided free of charge. However, if you find this product useful and have money burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to make a small donation, I won't mind.. really.

Version History:

• 1.0.1 - Initial release, here's to hoping...

Currently Known Bugs:

• None

* Please note that this modification was developed on a forum with a userbase of 1 (myself). I've tested it for basic functionality but I cannot guarantee functionality or behavior on your forum. So, please -- make backups before installing this product!

[Quantnet]

i'm on a VPS so i have full control over my server. Here is the step i used

wget http://user.it.uu.se/~jan/html2ps-1.0b5.tar.gz
tar xvfz html2ps-1.0b5.tar.gz
cd html2ps-1.0b5
./install

Click yes and set directory..it get installed in /usr/local/bin/

cd /usr/local/bin/
chmod 755 html2p*


Still the same error...did i chmod correctly ? What do i miss ?

[soletrader]

anyone have the link to the older version of this hack?

[ragtek]

Originally Posted by FleaBag

I have printthread completely removed for SEO purposes. This is just the alternative I've been waiting for! Thanks.

this is unnecessary.

this link is marked with

rel="nofollow"

so the bots aren't indexing it and so you woun't have double content

[SuperTaz]

Is there a screenshot of this?

[Lizard King]

Originally Posted by ragtek

this is unnecessary.

this link is marked with

rel="nofollow"

so the bots aren't indexing it and so you woun't have double content

Every search engine bot doesn't rely on rel="nofollow" .

[ragtek]

hm
i havnt heard that before, but ok
have to belive you, because i'm not very interessted in this subject/topic(don't know how to say for that)

in my eyes i make a site for the people and not for the bots.... but back to topic

and isn't it right that google can look pdf files to?
so wount it be double content?

[irantk]

HTML_ToPDF Error: html2ps [/usr/bin/html2ps] not executable ???????????????????????

[FleaBag]

As my firend says, not all engines use the attribute. Also, while Google not double listing content in this way, other engines may do so - and Google will not take kindly to you have duplicate content indexed elsewhere (at least, this is what I believe). I also have no desire to allow a printable thread, if they wish to print the thread so much they can print the normal page (or now, use this).

Also, I intend to allow only members access to this - so no duplicate content issues there.

[projectego]

Awesome!

[high]* projectego clicks install[/high]

[magnus]

Originally Posted by Warden-B-

Is there a screenshot of this?

Uh, a screenshot of what a PDF file looks like?