The Arcive of Official vBulletin Modifications Site.

CommBull (Community Bulletin) · **Released**: 06-19-2004

vb3.5 Commbull
vb3.6 Commbull

Note:
The 3.6 version is a commercial product, any queries on it should be submitted to: vb3.6 Support Site

THIS THREAD IS FOR SUPPORT FOR 3.0 VERSIONS ONLY. PLEASE VISIT THE APPROPRIATE FORUMS (links above) FOR THEIR SUPPORT

[valid point]
it's been brought to my attention that not everyone knows what this is ... fair enough: This hack is considered a "weekly newsletter" by the fact that it will email members (only sent by an admin) who have opted to receive it new posts, hot threads, etc ... basically a summary of what has been going on since the last time the newsletter was sent out. However there is a vast number of options, and I won't go into detail of all of them ... you can view the the images that I've attached, but u will only get a full idea by installing it.
I would say that there is 0 risk of this installation doing any damage to your current install as these are the changes that it does (manually and automatically):
- change profile.php and admincp/index.php
- add a couple columns to user table (receivebulletin and receivebulletin_type)
- add some phrases to phrase table (receive_email_from_commbull, type_email_from_commbull, newsletterformat, commbul)
- add a row to datastore table (commbull)
- add some html to nav template for admin side
So, if you are unhappy with the install. you can just ignore that it's there and it'll never cause any problems ... your next upgrade will overwrite any changes to the index and profile pages and the extra columns in the DB won't be an issue

[mods that i've added from vB2 version]
- to change languages, comment/uncomment line 22 and 23 to switch from English to German
- save prefs (option)
- skip to page X in case of mailout freeze
- auto redirect to next page (option)
- adding personalized text to top of newsletter w/out searching through the two text & html fields ... u'll c what i mean :ermm:

[INSTALL]
drop the 3 files into the admincp directory and then go to admincp/commbull.php ... follow the instructions and you are good to go.
If you find that the option isn't showing up on the control panel after the install, then it's because you aren't using the default phrases. Go into phrase manager, search for 'commbull' and update the fields appropriately.

If something goes wrong, don't worry .. it checks for already completed updates to the database to avoid redundancy ... enjoy!!

jluerken · #**202** 12-30-2004, 01:37 PM

Ok I found the problem.

If you have photopost installed DO NOT include this part into your global.php
http://www.photopost.com/members/for...ght=stylesheet

wirewolf · #**203** 12-30-2004, 02:06 PM

Guys, don't mess with your forum stylesheets for the commbull html mail. Leave your current storage alone system for your forum. (uness you want to change it for your forum itself). As for the commbull email html calling for a stylesheet, you make a copy of your default stylesheet, rename it (something like - vb.css, as I did), place it in a different folder outside of your forum's directory ( I out it in a folder in my site root, also did the same for my forums' logo), and then in the html preview section of the commbull.php file, type in the full url path to these two files.:
example:
http://yoursite.com/bulletincssfolder/vb.css
http://yoursite.com/bulletincssfolder/logo.gif
Around line 318:

Quote:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://yoursite.com.net/bulletincssfolder/vb.css" /> //hard code in your stylesheet - I copied my defalut forum sheet, renamed it as vb.css, and placed it in a different folder - note full url - did same with full url to my logo too - see below
</head>
<body> 
<img border="0" src="http://yoursite.com/bulletincssfolder/logo.jpg" width="80" height="80">  <a href="{$vboptions['bburl']}">
{$lang['mailsubject']}</a>

Once you have established your site sytlesheet enough, you shouldn't have to make too many changes to this commbull email html sheet. Even if you do, just recopy your new forum sheet, naming it as the vb.css, and replace the old vb.css one.
I played enough with this stylesheet and logo thing, and I found this to be the easiest answer. You have to remember, the user is calling for the stylesheet and logo from their email client, not directly from your site.
John

sabret00the · #**204** 12-30-2004, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jluerken

Is there a way to send out a newsletter automatically once every 1 of a month?

The template says: Currently, community updates are sent weekly.
Is this really done automatically or do I have to change this text?

where does it say that? it is hardcoded though and not automatically.

sabret00the · #**205** 12-30-2004, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jluerken

Ok I found the problem.

If you have photopost installed DO NOT include this part into your global.php
http://www.photopost.com/members/for...ght=stylesheet

i've got zachery's version of that installed, hence why i could use css at files even for this.

sabret00the · #**206** 12-30-2004, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wirewolf

Guys, don't mess with your forum stylesheets for the commbull html mail. Leave your current storage alone system for your forum. (uness you want to change it for your forum itself). As for the commbull email html calling for a stylesheet, you make a copy of your default stylesheet, rename it (something like - vb.css, as I did), place it in a different folder outside of your forum's directory ( I out it in a folder in my site root, also did the same for my forums' logo), and then in the html preview section of the commbull.php file, type in the full url path to these two files.:
example:
http://yoursite.com/bulletincssfolder/vb.css
http://yoursite.com/bulletincssfolder/logo.gif
Around line 318:

Once you have established your site sytlesheet enough, you shouldn't have to make too many changes to this commbull email html sheet. Even if you do, just recopy your new forum sheet, naming it as the vb.css, and replace the old vb.css one.
I played enough with this stylesheet and logo thing, and I found this to be the easiest answer. You have to remember, the user is calling for the stylesheet and logo from their email client, not directly from your site.
John

you shouldn't even need to do that, if you're storing css as files and have a large enough image, then your email client will download the stylesheet (with the help of zachery's hack) automatically, else it will use it as part of the page generation at which rate you get it anyway.

jluerken · #**207** 12-30-2004, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabret00the

where does it say that? it is hardcoded though and not automatically.

Its in the commbull phrases file but I don't see a sheduled task or something like this which will run the commbull really once a week.

wirewolf · #**208** 12-30-2004, 04:20 PM

Editing the html email in the commbull.php file.
In the commbull.php file look for (line numbers are approx.):

Quote:

// line 44
// get css file// comment out
//$sql = "SELECT * FROM ". TABLE_PREFIX."style WHERE userselect > 0 LIMIT 1";
//$cssrow = $DB_site->query_first($sql);
//$css = $cssrow['css'];
// add full site url to gradients, etc in css
//$css = str_replace(' url('," url({$vboptions['bburl']}/",$css);

//line 309
//$uselogo = $cbgLogo ? "<img src=\"$cbgLogo\">" : ''; // comment out

// line 317
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> // start here!!
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://yoursite.com.net/folder/vb.css" /> //hard code in your stylesheet - I copied my defalut forum sheet, renamed it as vb.css, and placed it in a different folder - note full url - did same with full url to my logo too - see below
</head>
<body> 
<img border="0" src="http://yoursite.com/folder/logo2.jpg">  <a href="{$vboptions['bburl']}">
{$lang['mailsubject']}</a> 
<table class="tborder" width="80%" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1"> // note table width - you have to set this in about four places as you will see in the other tags below
<tr>
<td class="alt1Active">$extramaterial_parsed</td>
</tr>
</table>
 
<table class="tborder" width="80%" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1">
<tr>
<td class="tcat" colspan="2">
Current Forum Activity</td> //typed this phrase in directly - planning to add a phrase variable
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1Active">$lang[todaysdate] $todaysdate1. {$lang['activitysincede']} $todaysdate2 $lang[activitysince]</td>
</tr>
</table> 

// line 359
$HTML_footer = "$lang[tounsubscribe]
<a href=\"{$vboptions['bburl']}/profile.php?do=editoptions\">{$lang['unsubscribelink']}</a>. //didn't change anything here except for language
$lang[changeprofile]
 
$lang[bestregards] </body></html>";

// line 513 - the other sections - most replies, most views, etc. follow this format. it's the table width that counts here.
<table class="tborder" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="6" width="80%">
<tr>
<td class="tcat" colspan="7">{$lang['latestthreads']}</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt1Active">
<td>{$vbphrase['title']}:</td>
<td>{$vbphrase['thread_starter']}:</td>
<td>{$lang['threadstartdate']}:</td>
<td>{$vbphrase['replies']}:</td>
<td>{$vbphrase['views']}:</td>
<td>{$vbphrase['last_post']}:</td>
<td>Last Post by:</td> // typed in directly. planning to add a phrase variable
</tr>

// line 918
<table class="tborder" border="0" width="80%"> // note width
<tr class="tcat">
<td>{$lang['upcoming_events']}: <a href="http://yoursite.com/forum/calendar.php?">Click here to
view this Months' Calendar</a></td> // note hard code to calendar
</tr>

// line 1064
<table border="0" class="tborder" width="80%"> // note width
<tr class="tcat">
<td colspan="2">{$vbphrase['user']} {$vbphrase['info']}:</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt1">
<td>{$lang['userdetails']}</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt1">
<td>{$lang['yourusername']}: "\$username"</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt1">
<td><a href="{$vboptions['bburl']}/login.php?do=lostpw">{$lang['forgotpass']}?</a></td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt1">
<td>{$lang['youhave']} \$posts {$vbphrase['posts']}</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt1">
<td>{$lang['youregistered']} \$joindate</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt1">
<td>{$lang['yourlastactivity']} \$lastactivity</td>
</tr>
</table>

Try to keep the html email simple and as small (file size) as possible. Users get pissed (as I do) with over sized html emails. Mine is only about 15 kb's
I didn't mess around with the poll sections. I only have three on my forum, and thay don't update much. But if you want to edit the html for these, or any part of the html, just look in the commbull.php file for any <table>, <tr>, <td> start tags.
Basically, the html output is a bunch of table structures, but they are spread out in the commbull.php file. I'm going to experiment with making a commbull html email template with the variables in it, and just have the commbull.php script call it up. Language changes are easy, just go to the commbull_phrase.php file (thinking of switching that over to phrase variables too!)
As always, MAKE and save a copy of the file prior to editing. Make your changes a little at a time, then send the bulletin to yourself (admin) and take a look. I must have sent myself at least twenty before I was satisfied.

Here's my how my final edit html email bulletin looks like:
http://shipmodeling.net/forumnewsletter.html

wirewolf · #**209** 12-30-2004, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabret00the

you shouldn't even need to do that, if you're storing css as files and have a large enough image, then your email client will download the stylesheet (with the help of zachery's hack) automatically, else it will use it as part of the page generation at which rate you get it anyway.

Haven't seen zachery's hack. What does it do?
I didn't feel like muking around with other files. This works quite nicely. I do have my froum css's stored as in file (s). My image is small too.

CtrlAltDel · #**210** 01-02-2005, 01:36 AM

thanks man, great to have this back on the vb3 board

rex_b · #**211** 01-03-2005, 05:38 PM

I have this hack installed and it has been working but now whenever I send something it thinks for a minute then brings up a page saying "The page cannot be displayed" . Any ideas on what is going wrong?

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.06041 seconds Memory Usage 2,328KB Queries Executed 25 (?)
More Information
Template Usage: (1)SHOWTHREAD (1)ad_footer_end (1)ad_footer_start (1)ad_header_end (1)ad_header_logo (1)ad_navbar_below (1)ad_showthread_beforeqr (7)bbcode_quote (1)footer (1)forumjump (1)forumrules (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (1)modsystem_post (1)navbar (6)navbar_link (120)option (1)pagenav (1)pagenav_curpage (4)pagenav_pagelink (2)pagenav_pagelinkrel (11)post_thanks_box (11)post_thanks_button (1)post_thanks_javascript (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (11)post_thanks_postbit_info (10)postbit (11)postbit_onlinestatus (11)postbit_wrapper (1)spacer_close (1)spacer_open (1)tagbit_wrapper Phrase Groups Available: global inlinemod postbit posting reputationlevel showthread	Included Files: ./showthread.php ./global.php ./includes/init.php ./includes/class_core.php ./includes/config.php ./includes/functions.php ./includes/class_hook.php ./includes/modsystem_functions.php ./includes/functions_bigthree.php ./includes/class_postbit.php ./includes/class_bbcode.php ./includes/functions_reputation.php ./includes/functions_post_thanks.php Hooks Called: init_startup init_startup_session_setup_start init_startup_session_setup_complete cache_permissions fetch_threadinfo_query fetch_threadinfo fetch_foruminfo style_fetch cache_templates global_start parse_templates global_setup_complete showthread_start showthread_getinfo forumjump showthread_post_start showthread_query_postids showthread_query bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create showthread_postbit_create postbit_factory postbit_display_start post_thanks_function_post_thanks_off_start post_thanks_function_post_thanks_off_end post_thanks_function_fetch_thanks_start post_thanks_function_fetch_thanks_end post_thanks_function_thanked_already_start post_thanks_function_thanked_already_end fetch_musername postbit_imicons bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete postbit_display_complete post_thanks_function_can_thank_this_post_start pagenav_page pagenav_complete tag_fetchbit_complete forumrules navbits navbits_complete showthread_complete
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