Portal Software - vBISpy module - live AJAX feed of new threads - for vBAdvanced CMPS

This is my first module for vBAdvanced, but its a simple one, so I don't expect any installation problems.

You can see an example of this working on:

ViperAlley.Com

You must already have a working copy of the vBIspy client v1.0.7 or better in place. (vB 3.5 users need v1.06 or better)

INSTALLATION

Add the vbispyblock.module to your vBAdvance portal - keep in mind the size of the block when you choose it's placement - if you use three columns, then really only the center column will work.

To install you should have a working copy of the VBIspy client already working on your system. Once you have one of the clients working adding vBIspy blocks to other pages becomes easier.

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STEP 1

Because vBAdvanced CMPM usually resides outside of the forum directory, you will need to make one change to the clientscript/va_spy.js script that comes with vBIspy.

In va_spy.js, find:

var vburl = '';

and change this to read:

var vburl = '/forum/';

using the name of the directory your forums are in in place of "forum". This is important as otherwise the links from the vBIspy block will not resolve to the forum directory.

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STEP 2

You will need to modify the 'adv_portal' template to add a few lines:

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Find:

$headinclude

Add after:

<script language="javascript" src="{$vbulletin->options['bburl']}/clientscript/va_prototype.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" src="{$vbulletin->options['bburl']}/clientscript/va_effects.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" src="{$vbulletin->options['bburl']}/clientscript/va_spy.js"></script>
<script language="javascript">
    spymax = 10;
    highestid = 0;
</script>

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Find:

$footer

Add after:

<script language="javascript">
    spyinit();
</script>

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You are done. Activate the module and you should start seeing a live feed of threads on your portal page.

If you do not see an updating list of threads:

1) Double check that your vBIspy.php script is working properly!
2) Make sure you followed the above instructions.
3) If all else fails, open the JavaScript Console in Firefox and see what errors you might be getting.

1.0.1 - 9.28.06
Modified template for module to support 1.0.12 release of vBIspy (you can modify your template manually from this post; but you also need to note the changes to the spymax and addition of the highestid variable to be changed in your adv_portal template).

[ib-jason]

Fixed a problem! The page had to be manually refreshed until I figured out that this plugin utilizes the Prototype library and my vBulletin template happened to utilize the jQuery library too. These javascript libraries collided, which caused the updates to stop displaying live. I know this is the case because I was getting a javascript error saying the following:

"element.dispatchEvent is not a function"

Further research revealed that this error occurs because Prototype is being called but jQuery is interfering. Maybe because both libraries utilize the $ character.

In my case jQuery was being called from the footer, so I created a custom vBulletin template called footerNoJQuery from which jQuery was removed. In the PHP file, I swapped out the existing PHP call to $footer, replacing it with $footerNoJQuery, and this fixed the problem since jQuery was no longer on the page.