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.

[hollosch]

Email sending not working. What can be the problem ?
Newsletter creation in a forum works...

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by javivi0

Thank djbaxter, I have 4.2 version, but this version works fine with vbulletin 4???

Try it. I have 4.5 working with vBulletin 4 so there's a reasonable chance it will work for you with the modifications in the first thread here.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by hollosch

Email sending not working. What can be the problem ?
Newsletter creation in a forum works...

For problems with CommBull 5.1, please post at https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=230359

[katoom400]

Originally Posted by hollosch

Email sending not working. What can be the problem ?
Newsletter creation in a forum works...

same problem here, I send 30 at a time and it rips right thru them.....but no mail goes out, not sure what's happening?

[ArchAngelz]

It seems from the comments here that CommBull v4.5f is much better that 5.1. Since CommBull as a whole is no longer a commercial product; is there any way for us to get CommBull v4.5f?

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by ArchAngelz

It seems from the comments here that CommBull v4.5f is much better that 5.1. Since CommBull as a whole is no longer a commercial product; is there any way for us to get CommBull v4.5f?

You would have to contact the author, grandeur_69.

[asuccar]

Does anyone have any idea what this error is?.

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at [path]/admincp/commbull.php:35) in [path]/includes/functions.php on line 3781

I get it when i click on 'send' in admincp.

[docvader]

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 guess that it is safe to assume that these directions above, will work with a 4.5f version of Commbull??? (I found mine!)

EDIT: Installed, but I get this error:

Site error: the file /home/xxxxxx/public_html/forum/admincp/commbull.php requires the ionCube PHP Loader ioncube_loader_lin_5.2.so to be installed by the site administrator.

The test.php shows that I have Ion Cube loader installed (I've used Commbull before with vb 3.8, 3.7, etc)

EDIT again: Installed commbull 5.1. Works well for me. Now if I can only figure out how to change the html colors of the email that is sent.... (It used to pick up the forum default)

[docvader]

Commbull 4.5f can be found here:
http://www.octanedev.com/commbull_4_5_f.zip

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by volarium

Can someone tell me the URL that is supposed to be hit when this link is clicked by the recipients of the email?

To unsubscribe from the community updates, click this link

I followed the instructions, but the URL for that link is http://mysite.com/admincp/$commbull_unsubscribe, which does not get resolved.

If this is a question for the main Commbull thread, I can ask over there, but since I'm using v5.1 and the modifications included in this thread, I thought it made more sense to ask here first.

Thanks.

In the template file, admin/commbull_template_html.php for HTML newsletters, look for that line and replace mysite.com with the URL for your forum.

If that doesn't work, try using:

PHP Code:

<a href=\"http://mysite.com/profile.php?do=editoptions\">{\$lang[unsubscribelink]}</a>