Add-On Releases - CES Site News

CES Site News
Version: 1.6.3
vBulletin 3.7.x, 3.8.x supported

*** NEWS ***
5/15/2008 - v1.6.3 released
5/5/2008 - v1.6.2 released
5/2/2008 - v1.6.1 released
4/17/2008 - v1.6.0 released
11/7/2007 - v1.5.1 released
9/9/2007 - v1.5.0 released
4/12/2007 - v1.4.1 released
4/5/2007 - v1.4.0 released
4/1/2007 - 4/2/2007 - v1.3.1 through v1.3.2 released
3/30/2007 - v1.3.0 released
3/23/2007 - 3/26/2007 - v1.2.0 through v1.2.4 released
3/14/2007 - v1.1.1 released
3/12/2007 - v1.1.0 released
2/9/2007 - v1.0.8 released
1/29/2007 - v1.0.7 released
1/23/2007 - 1/27/2007 - v1.0.0 through v1.0.6 released

Known Issues:
- none

What It Does:
This allows you to turn one of your forums into a news blog.

Live Installation: http://www.crackedeggstudios.com/news.php
This site is usually an update or two ahead of what's available in this thread, because that's where we do all our testing.

Products to Install: 1
Plugins Included: 14
Files to Upload: 7
Files to Edit: 0
New Templates: 8
Template Edits: 0

Mod Features:
- adds options to the Forum Manager
- uses forum permissions
- threads in the given forum become articles
- pull articles from other forums
- full-text articles are displayed in a customized forumdisplay
- post replies are added as comments
- set number of articles and comments per page
- turn on/off announcements in news display
- turn on/off attachments in news display
- turn on/off last comment in news display
- ajax quick edit in news display (basically, quick edit in forum display)
- display articles on every comments page
- limit size of article preview
- additional BB-Code tags for articles

BB-Code Tags:
[previewlength]value[/previewlength]
Placing this anywhere in an article overrides the preview limit for that article only. Multiple [previewlength] tags are cumulative. A "Read More..." link will appear if this tag is used.

[preview]value[/preview]
Placing this anywhere in an article defines text that will only show on Newsdisplay. Text contained in this tag completely replaces the post text on Newsdisplay. Multiple [preview] tags are cumulative. A "Read More..." link will appear if this tag is used.

[more]value[/more]
Placing this anywhere in an article defines text that will only show on Shownews. Text contained in this tag does not replace the post text on Shownews. It only hides text from Newsdisplay.

*** Changelog ***
As of Version 1.6.3:
- bug fix: preview functions do nothing since alias support added
- bug fix: preview functions never worked on editpost or newthread
- bug fix: inconsistent postbit after quick edit
- updated files: news.php, shownews.php, ces_news_bbcode.php,
ces_news_quick_edit.js

As of Version 1.6.2:
- bug fix: more database errors in vB 3.6.x
- bug fix: post controls hide on news display in IE7
- bug fix: threadbit and postbit widths inconsistent
- updated templates: ces_news_postbit, ces_news_threadbit
- updated files: shownews.php

*** Screenshots ***
1. New Forum Manager Option
2. Site News Settings
3. News Articles (forumdisplay)
4. Comments (showthread)

[TheMilkCarton]

Still doesn't work.

It still tries accessing "mydomain.com/news.php" instead of "mydomain.com/forums/news.php"

It works now if I manually enter "mydomain.com/forums/news.php" into my browser. But there are lots of graphical errors. "Posted by:" and "Comments:" use an Alt1 or Alt2 style, but they're on a thead style background, so it's unreadable.

When I click on Comments to view the thread it sends me to "mydomain.com/shownews.php?t=24" for example, instead of "mydomain.com/forums/shownews.php?t=24". So I manually enter the "forums" into the URL and is has the same graphical errors. "Posted by:" "Comments:" etc. are unreadable.

Also, in shownews.php it says "Comments:2" on every single post, and it shouldn't really say it at all, only on news.php.

When viewing news.php, your hack is incompatible with Allow Usergroups to Post HTML hack. I have it set up so that admins can post HTML in any forum they want, but HTML doesn't parse when viewing news.php.

Sorry, I'm uninstalling this because it's not usable at all. It at least works this time around, though. I tried it a week ago with no luck. At least you're making progress!

Good luck.

[RFViet]

installed, just for future use !!!

[thincom2000]

TheMilkCarton, sorry nothing worked for you. All of the features you mentioned not working on your forum work without fail on mine. However it is unlikely this is all due to conflicts with other products. The only reason I can think that your pages still weren't forwarding properly was because you don't have $vboptions[bburl] properly set in your AdminCP.

As for not parsing HTML, HTML does indeed parse if the forum allows - this may also be a result of not having your bburl properly set. I am unfamiliar with the hack of which you speak, but news.php uses forumdisplay hooks rather than showthread/postbit hooks, so the hack would need to be tweaked to work correctly with it. You may not know this, but that hack is a 3.5.x hack (this is a 3.6.x addon), and in 3.6.0, vBulletin Usergroup Permissions include an option to allow HTML by default.

As for the comment numbers appearing on every single page... well, that just shouldn't be happening. Sounds like you were using either v1.0.5 or earlier shownews.php with a v1.0.7 product installed (a number of plugins were hardcoded since then), or you were using showthread.php somehow.

Your readability issues just have to do with your forum's style. In my forum, it's possible to mix and match classes quite easily. You may have had to do some manual tweaking with the <span> tags.

Originally Posted by TheMilkCarton

Sorry, I'm uninstalling this because it's not usable at all. It at least works this time around, though. I tried it a week ago with no luck. At least you're making progress!

Speaking of making progress, I think this mod is as complete as it's going to get. There have been no confirmed bugs since the last release, and there's actually a lot you can do with it. It's unfortunate that you had to uninstall.

In a few days I was going to release a Download Forum mod that was basically just an extension of this with the word "Article" changed to "Download" and a few interface changes.

[TheMilkCarton]

Originally Posted by thincom2000

You're right. This was a bug in the code. Thanks for reporting this, I will include it in the next update.

You confirmed that this was in fact a bug, but now you're saying I don't have $vboptions[bburl] set properly? Everything is set fine.

Originally Posted by thincom2000

As for not parsing HTML, HTML does indeed parse if the forum allows - this may also be a result of not having your bburl properly set. I am unfamiliar with the hack of which you speak, but news.php uses forumdisplay hooks rather than showthread/postbit hooks, so the hack would need to be tweaked to work correctly with it.

This seems to be the problem. However, I'm not sure there would be any reason to tweak the HTML hack to display HTML in forumdisplay, since the only use would be for your hack. Can't you incorporate the showthread hooks into news.php?? As for shownews.php using showthread AND postbit hooks... The actual posts do NOT have postbits when viewing replies in shownews.php and was wondering if this was intentional?? It makes it very hard to see who posted the reply as there is only a very small "Posted By" in the top of the post (which ends up being unreadable white text on a white background), instead of a very large Username and Avatar in the postbit.

Originally Posted by thincom2000

You may not know this, but that hack is a 3.5.x hack (this is a 3.6.x addon), and in 3.6.0, vBulletin Usergroup Permissions include an option to allow HTML by default.

I'm running 3.6.4 and the only options for HTML in Usergroup Permissions is under "Signatures". The HTML hack I'm using is still very much needed to enforce HTML permissions per Usergroup.

Originally Posted by thincom2000

As for the comment numbers appearing on every single page... well, that just shouldn't be happening. Sounds like you were using either v1.0.5 or earlier shownews.php with a v1.0.7 product installed (a number of plugins were hardcoded since then), or you were using showthread.php somehow.

Wrong again. I completely uninstalled and re-downloaded and installed your hack after you posted about a "small update" a few days ago. The small update at least got it running on my forums, since it didn't work at all before.

Originally Posted by thincom2000

Your readability issues just have to do with your forum's style. In my forum, it's possible to mix and match classes quite easily. You may have had to do some manual tweaking with the <span> tags.

Uh, well.. if you're releasing a hack, you might want to make it so that it works on others' forums.. not just yours. That's why I've been posting in this thread letting you know all the problems I've been having. In shownews.php, there's no logic in having Alt1 text in a Thead table cell, it should all just be one or the other.

Sorry if this post is coming across as harsh.. I had posted several days ago about a few of these problems and you had admitted there was a bug and that a fix was on the way, but now you're saying there's absolutely nothing wrong with your hack and it's all my fault, so what gives?

You wanted feedback and I gave it. Instead of first dismissing my bugs as user error, could you please look into it? Just because I have a low postcount and just recently joined doesn't mean I'm incompetent. Your hack didn't even work on my forum until your most recent update, so is it out of the realm of possibility that your product still has bugs?? I have a working forum with a non-working hack, and that's confirmed enough for me.

I apologize in advance for the tone of this post. It's probably coming across more harsh than I mean it to.

[thincom2000]

The bug I confirmed was that some redirects used $vboptions[bburl] while others did not. I thus changed all the redirects to match. The paths are not hardcoded, so the only way you would still have redirect issues is if news.php and shownews.php are not in the $vboptions[bburl] directory as you have it set.

Originally Posted by TheMilkCarton

The actual posts do NOT have postbits when viewing replies in shownews.php and was wondering if this was intentional?? It makes it very hard to see who posted the reply as there is only a very small "Posted By" in the top of the post (which ends up being unreadable white text on a white background), instead of a very large Username and Avatar in the postbit.

What you are describing is the template for the article being used on the rest of the comments. This should not be happening since the posts SHOULD have their own postbits, however, if you are not missing any plugins, it may be the result of a postbit check the script runs (that I have removed for 1.0.8) even though this did not cause any problems during testing.

In shownews.php find the line:

PHP Code:

$lastcheck = ($lastfetchtype == $fetchtype) ? true : false; 


and change it to:

PHP Code:

// $lastcheck = ($lastfetchtype == $fetchtype) ? true : false; 


I apologize for the alt1 / thead issues, this is easily fixed by a template modification. Just pick 1 or the other, as you said.

As for incorporating the showthread hooks into news.php, this would require including class_postbit.php, which is completely unnecessary on that page.

You seem to be right about the Allow HTML permission. I confused this with the Forum Permissions Allow HTML field, which is much more general. As news.php currently stands, the bbcode_parse_start hook is called, so it is compatible with the hack in that way. Unfortunately, the reason it's not parsing is because the hack uses $post, whereas on news.php, much like on forumdisplay.php the array used is $thread. Original versions of my hack had used $post, but it conflicted with many more hacks that way.

You can modify news.php to work with the Allow Usergroups to Post HTML by doing the following edits...

Find:

PHP Code:

            $thread['message'] = $bbcode_parser->parse($thread['pagetext'], $foruminfo['forumid']);
            
            $post = $thread; 


Replace with:

PHP Code:

$post = $thread;
$post['message'] = $bbcode_parser->parse($post['pagetext'], $foruminfo['forumid']); 


[TheMilkCarton]

Awesome. I'll give all those modifications a shot when I see 1.0.8 released.

I might just test this hack out on a clean and shiny Test forum, and try to narrow down which one of my bajillion hacks is causing all these problems with it.

*keeping my fingers crossed*

Thanks for all your help. You made modifying that news.php to work the HTML hack look like a piece of cake. :up:

[thincom2000]

I doubt your white on white "Posted by:" has anything to do with combining alt1 and thead classes since that would just mean one of those classes is foolishly white on white itself.

This is likely caused by a conflicting setting in the Usergroup Manager:

Username HTML Markup (Specify an opening and closing HTML tag with which to display the names of users in this group. This applies to names that appear on Logged-in Users, Who's Online, Users Browsing Forum, Users Browsing Thread, Posts, Member List etc.)

If this is set to white, that's why usernames are appearing that way. A template edit to change $post[musername] to $post[username] would fix this problem.

[Chadi]

Is there a way to allow comments that do not count as posts?

Also, how do I modify the background color (or even remove) under my name when viewing the news forum?

Thank you

[thincom2000]

That's a template edit. Just modify the class for the tag surrounding $post[musername].

For making comments not increase post counts, you can accomplish this with a vBulletin stock feature.

Open your news forum in AdminCP -> Forums & Moderators -> Forum Manager. Under "Enable / Disable Features," there is an option "Count Posts Made in this Forum Towards User Post Counts." Set this to no.

If on the other hand, you just don't want comments in the news to be returned as post search results or something, that is beyond the scope of this mod, since it was designed as an alternative to journal hacks that didn't count comments as posts.

[Chadi]

Just got this email notification:

  Database error in vBulletin 3.6.4:
    
   Invalid SQL:
    
               SELECT COUNT(*) AS threads, SUM(IF(thread.lastpost > 1171502620 AND open <> 10, 1, 0)) AS newthread
               
               FROM thread AS thread
               
               WHERE forumid = 72
                      AND visible = 1 
                     
                     
                     1171499020;
    
   MySQL Error  : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '1171499020' at line 9 Error Number : 1064
   Date         : Wednesday, February 14th 2007 @ 07:23:40 PM
   Script       : http://www.talkjesus.com/news.php?f=72
   Referrer     : 
   IP Address   : 66.249.65.3
   Username     : Unregistered
   Classname    : vb_database