Major Additions - Product Review Forums ? Research, Review & Compare Items

Version 1.4.0 has been released to remove the giftery / list it integration of the addon now that service has been discontinued. No upgrade is needed though there have been a few other bug changes since 1.3.5.

Finding Feedback Can be Like a Needle in a Haystack

The more your forum grows, the more of a challenge it becomes to sort through the history and get the full story.

Product Review Forums Brings Structure to the Chaos

As a full-featured product management addon, PRF sits on top of your forum allowing you to create defined products which, unlike individual posts, stay relevant over time. Each comment, review and even product updates filter back into this one spot allowing for a quick and comprehensive overview while the individual discussions rage on as always.

Here's just a few of the many features you'll find in PRF:

• Bring structure to products with established pages & reviews
• Reduce the number of repetitive posts from members looking up the same info
• Increase your traffic with content-rich, seo friendly, product listings
• Drive revenue by adding your own affiliate links to product listings
• Increase the activity stream's value with review integration
  
• Engage visitors with integrated wishlists from Giftery.me

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Installation is not upload & go... individualized settings are required. Read the install file.

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QUICK TIPS:
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Enabling Product Forums: To show product details and ratings, each product-forum must be enabled in the forum manager.

Adding Products: You may upload products one at a time through the admin [includes an image uploader using GD] or you can bulk import through XML. You can also enable users to add moderated products through a global and usergroup option.

Product Review Index: To access your forum's product overview go to www.yoursite.com/productforums.php - You may want to add a link to this to your navbar or as a tab.

Customization: This addon is made to be customized. To change the color schema see clientscript/vbulletin_css or dive right on in to the templates and phrases.

Powered by Giftery.me: This mod is maintained includes two integrations you should know about. Both can be controlled through the mod options.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by sacobra

The rating images are all stars-black-* whereas the folder has only stars-pink-* and stars-green-* png images.

Guess the download package needs to be updated with the black png images.

Regards,
Sumith

Don't use the black image setting then

[bertwrld]

I am getting an error whenever I try to add categories.

Warning: mysql_real_escape_string() [function.mysql-real-escape-string]: Access denied for user 'weedwatc'@'localhost' (using password: NO) in [path]/admincp/productforums.php on line 973

Warning: mysql_real_escape_string() [function.mysql-real-escape-string]: A link to the server could not be established in [path]/admincp/productforums.php on line 973

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by bertwrld

I am getting an error whenever I try to add categories.

Warning: mysql_real_escape_string() [function.mysql-real-escape-string]: Access denied for user 'weedwatc'@'localhost' (using password: NO) in [path]/admincp/productforums.php on line 973

Warning: mysql_real_escape_string() [function.mysql-real-escape-string]: A link to the server could not be established in [path]/admincp/productforums.php on line 973

The issue is with the connection between your forum and database. If this recurs while other functions work let me know.

[bertwrld]

Everything else works fine.

I have added products and reviews, and all went smooth.

This is the only problem I seem to be having with it.

[Ted S]

The issue with the db call seems to be on mysql_real_escape_string which helps to insure the data being entered isn't malicious. I'm not inclined to remove that of course... Can you try again and see if it persists?

[The Ottoman]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Since it's just threads they wouldn't be hard to add but how do you see them being used?

Just another way to provide a clearer search result and make the products themselves more complex.

Currently you can search for Mfg, Product Name, Price and Rating.

If you can use the tags, you can tag the product with other descriptors, and search against that.

Say, I have a product review forum of outdoor items for camping:

10 distinct Tents
5 distinct Coolers
16 distinct Sleeping Bags
4 distinct Stoves

All of these products are sold by multiple manufactuers. Right now, I can't currently search for "Sleeping Bags" to pull out all the sleeping bags, or I can't search for "blue" to provide me all of the blue products.


Just a thought.

[SLY LS1]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Adding a new category doesnt save the name, they all show up with a "O"

O or 0? Where do you see this?

Sorry it is a 0

It shows up in the ACP, also on the add product in the ACP, and also on the add product in the productforums.php page

On the product cat tab on the ACP the catagories titles show blank as well
I have added 5 categories
Also it wont let me delete any of the categories

Originally Posted by Ted S

Also on the forum where it displays "Manufacturer" it shows a $ sign before the name

Are you running 1.2.2 which fixes this issue?

It was my 1st install of this mod and was 1.2.2 - it seems you have both phrases in 1.2.2

I moded the Phrase and removed the $

Manufacturer: ${1}
Manufacturer: {1}

Its on line 1121 of the product_forums.xml

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Im having another little issue, when another member goes to add a review it says their post need to be more than 1 character

I have the min character set to 1 in the mod ACP

They are adding more than 1 character and still get a refusal

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Can I suggest an add new product link in the actual thread ?


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Im happy to help with testing to get this mod perfect, it has great potential

Cheers
SLY


Some images of the category issue

[Goatpod]

Originally Posted by Ted S

- fixes bug with admin not showing multiple page of reviews to edit / approve

Hi Ted, thanks again for the updates. I've still got a problem with this bit; the Next Page button shows at the bottom of the first 25 but when clicked it takes me back to the Manage Product Review Forums page instead of the next 25!

Cheers

[SLY LS1]

Line 132 of the productforums.css

Has

font-family:verdana;arial;

I think it should be

font-family:verdana,arial;

Cheers
SLY

[Domiav]

I'm having a problem; when i try to add a products with an user i will obtain this error:
"Oh great, you had to go and press THAT button. There goes the whole site. Just kidding... We had an issue posting your review, please try again or contact support and use code 164253."
forum setting have enabled "product review" in ACP
user group is allowed aswell to add product in that forum

i've also updated to the last version 1.2.2 without resolving it.
Any ideas on how fix it?