Show Thread Enhancements - Basic QR Intergraton (2D Barcodes) for VB Threads (QR Pages by BOP5) VB4

Brought to you by BirdOPrey5 / Qapla.com

Note: Updated to version 1.5- added QR codes for attachments and profiles as well as threads.

This isn't a polished mod, its purpose is to bring 2D Barcode (QR Code) integration to vBulletin. I will be marking it unsupported as I do not recommend users without some basic HTML or coding experience attempt to use the mod. I will NOT be answering basic setup questions. Instructions for the manual template edits are included in the zip. you may use them if you wish but I strongly suggest you work on a custom solution.

Live Demo: Qapla.com Thread

This mod will allow a uniqe QR Code to be generated and displayed for every thread on your forum.

Users with Android, iPhone, and other advanced phones can easily scan these QR Codes and share links with friends via email, text, and other social networking platforms.

The QR generation is handled by a free open-source project called phpqrcode which has its own GNU Lesser General Public License.

I have created the vBulletin interface needed to generate codes for individal threads, attachments, and/or profile pages.

The mod will check if the QR Code has already be generated for a thread (or profile, or attachment) and if so will simply display the png file previously created. If this is the first time someone has viewed the thread (since installing this mod) it will generate and save the QR Code for future use.

All QR Codes are stored in .png format in a new folder called /images/qr/ which you must create and must be writable. (chmd 755 is usually sufficient but if you have problems go to 777).

A utility included in the Admin CP settings will allow you to delete all these images if necessary.

Other Admin CP settings include the ability to set the size, quality, and border size around the QR Code.

What isn't finished is the best way to intergrate this onto your SHOWTHREAD pages and attachment template. I have instructions for a manual template edits that will give you a basic "box" that you can mouse-over and get the full image to pop-up over the rest of your page.

I am aware this isn't an ideal setup but I am more of a coder than a designer. If anyone has some suggestions (with code) for a better implementation I am open to suggestions.

This mod could be expanded to show QR Codes on all pages, not just threads, but until a better way is found to display the code on the page I didn't bother.

Server Load- In general the mod only generates a code on the first view of the thread- this will usually be when a new thread is first submitted so in the long run I don't anticipate any major server load by this mod. However if you have a very large and very busy forum you can expect a temporary increased load after installation as members visit hundreds of threads which have never had a QR Code generated before. This increased load should decrease after the surge of new generations end.

Disk Usage - The smaller the QR Code you generate the smaller the file size per image. In my experience the average size of each QR code png file was 600 bytes. This would mean about 586 KB per 1,000 threads or 58 Megabytes for 100,000 threads. You can extrapolate from there.

Please Mark as Installed if you use this.

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by Alan_SP

Excellent mod, but I have problems with deleting images. For some reason it doesn't delete images.

Any error message?

[Alan_SP]

No, I don't see any error messages, it looks like it just hangs there, white screen (with text "Delete QR Images"), nothing happens, no images are deleted. I can manually delete them, but this is just workaround.

[Jman423]

I'm trying to figure out what the change in order to get these to show up in the VBCMS pages. We have a lot of automotive how-to articles that, with the help of this, people would be able to quickly load it up on their phone or tablet to view it on the go.

Is it as simple as copying the plugin and changing some code, or is it a whole lot more complicated?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I did get it working properly in threads. I was having trouble with the photos getting deleted too, even set to 777, so I just deleted them via FTP. No error message here either, just a blank screen.

[BirdOPrey5]

I think for CMS articles it will be a little more complicated then threads or attachments. Threads and attachments have a numeric ID so it was easy to change just a couple lines and get it working on a new hook.

CMS articles don't have IDs (best I can tell) but there must be some way of getting the URL. I don't think it is impossible but I don't have any ideas on how at the moment.

[Alan_SP]

Could you make this to work with users profiles? Users profiles have numeric ID, so it could be made that every user has QR code for his profile. And that could be very useful for certain types of communities, enabling users to use this QR code in their business cards or something similar as their internet location. And of course, in this way our forums get advertised also.

And as locations for putting QR code in profile, either in About me tab somewhere at the end, or completely new tab in profile.

Anyway, I thing that this would be very useful to more than one type of community.

[BirdOPrey5]

Profiles seem like a good idea Alan, will try.

[OldSchoolDSL]

Originally Posted by OldSchoolDSL

For those of you who dislike editing templates or files, but want to use the above alternative

This file will do it for you and you will not need to edit anything.

I'm a little puzzled as to why this seems not to be working in 4.1.10 Alpha 2

I know there were a lot of style templates that were renamed, moved, or deleted in this version. And I'm honestly losing track of which one is which any more.

Any idea on this?

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted by OldSchoolDSL

I'm a little puzzled as to why this seems not to be working in 4.1.10 Alpha 2

I know there were a lot of style templates that were renamed, moved, or deleted in this version. And I'm honestly losing track of which one is which any more.

Any idea on this?

works for me.you can go to my site and see it..4.1.10 alpha 2 .I used the xml you provided Then manually went in and added the info into the ACP->Advertising section..

[OldSchoolDSL]

Originally Posted by Papa Bear

works for me.you can go to my site and see it..4.1.10 alpha 2 .I used the xml you provided Then manually went in and added the info into the ACP->Advertising section..

Resolved.

It was all there, but I found re-installing this modification and re-confirming the advertising, fixed the issue. No idea why. But it worked.

[Seductor]

Hi @BirdOPrey5. Do people really use QR codes? I mean, I have asked my friends and they know it, but they don't use it very often.