Miscellaneous Hacks - Instant New Thread Notification

= New Thread Notification =

Description

Very simple, it adds instant email notification for forums. If you are subscribed to a forum using instant email notification, whenever a new thread is posted you will be sent an email containing the details and the thread text.


Options: (AdminCP > vBulletin Options > New Thread Notification)

Enable new thread notifications?
Choose Yes to enable instant email notification for new threads.

Allow new thread notification for Usergroups:
Enter the IDs of the usergroups you want to allow to subscribe to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3)

If you only want to exclude usergroups instead of including them, leave this blank to allow everyone to subscribe to instant new thread notifications except those listed below.

Do NOT allow new thread notification for Usergroups:
Enter the IDs of the usergroups you want to exclude from subscribing to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3) Leave blank to not exclude usergroups.

Allow new thread notification for Forums:
Enter the IDs of the forums you want to allow subscribing to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3)

If you only want to exclude forums instead of including them, leave this blank to allow instant new thread notifications in every forum except those listed below.

Do NOT allow new thread notification for Forums:
Enter the IDs of the forums you want to exclude from subscribing to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3) Leave blank to not exclude forums.

Use mailqueue?
Choose Yes for new thread notifications to use mailqueueing as per your settings (Recommended for all except very low traffic forums). Choosing No will bypass mailqueueing and send all emails instantly.


Installation Instructions:
1. Go to AdminCP > Plugins & Products > Manage Products > Add/Import Product.
2. Upload the new_thread_subscription_xxx.xml file.
Done!

To subscribe to new thread notifications just subscribe to a forum as normal. The new option has been added to the list.


Donations

If you have a pressing wish to donate money to me (and of course, you do) to say thank you and to possibly encourage more future work then you can do via the link below. Also, you will go to heaven.

http://redtyger.co.uk/donations.php

Don't panic! The donations link is only hosted on my website so it can be encrypted and not open my email address to spammers.


Changelog
v1.00 Initial release
v1.01 Fixed bug where Instant Email Subscription would appear twice.
v1.02 Fixed bug where a database error would occur when nobody is subscribed to the forum the thread is being posted in.

[upnorth]

Actually Tralala that is not 100% correct. yes it will email notifications for new post or new threads but the problem arise if you use these fields for something other then for moderators when a forum is under moderation. Reason being is if I place an email address in one of these fields and a notice is sent out to a group of users but the thread or post hasn't been approved by the moderator then the users get an error when they click on the link saying that the thread doesn't exist. It doesn't exist because it hasn't been approved. Then when the moderator approves the thread or post a new email is not generated and sent to the users. This becomes very confusing to the users.

I use this feature for that very reason in forums that I am not using moderation as its a great way to send notifications out immediately. Problem arises when you use it for this reason and the forum is being moderated.

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by upnorth

Actually Tralala that is not 100% correct. yes it will email notifications for new post or new threads but the problem arise if you use these fields for something other then for moderators when a forum is under moderation. Reason being is if I place an email address in one of these fields and a notice is sent out to a group of users but the thread or post hasn't been approved by the moderator then the users get an error when they click on the link saying that the thread doesn't exist. It doesn't exist because it hasn't been approved. Then when the moderator approves the thread or post a new email is not generated and sent to the users. This becomes very confusing to the users.

I use this feature for that very reason in forums that I am not using moderation as its a great way to send notifications out immediately. Problem arises when you use it for this reason and the forum is being moderated.

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. Yes, that feature is best used for Admins only, and I suspect that's why it's hidden in the AdminCP. It's not ideal for end-user mailings. And since it pays no attention to the moderation queue... yeah, some other solution is obviously necessary for a forum that employs post/thread moderation.

[AyeCapn]

Also, those fields are limited to some small number of characters, so you can't send to more than 10-15 email addresses before it starts to truncate the field

[Viking Monkey]

Hi,

What I would like is to auto subscribe registered users and above to every forum without them having to do anything so they will always hear about all posts.

Is that possible with this?

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by Viking Monkey

Hi,

What I would like is to auto subscribe registered users and above to every forum without them having to do anything so they will always hear about all posts.

Is that possible with this?

I'd like the same, as an option is that's possible. Asking each user to go in and manually subscribe to each is asking too much. I'd like to auto subscribe them by default!

[RedTyger]

That is also something I'm looking into.

[Cyricx]

Hmm I should have read through this whole thread before sending you a PM

I actualy have a working alpha script that interacts with the forums just like yahoo groups.

The email posts look like crap, and I'm currently working on the preg matches to clean that up. But I'm in the alpha already.

Perhaps we should get together and see what we can come up with?

I've got the email catch working, cron job runs every 10 minutes.

For forums that are enabled for the email integration and that a user has subscribed to when a new thread or new post is posted from the forums, an email is sent.

From email, a user can post a new thread, or replies to one of the emails they receive.

When the cron runs every 10 minutes, it'll grab those emails post them, and email the user the post just as if it had been posted from the forum.

Completely interacting just like yahoogroups

Just gotta clean up the install and stuff so a noob can install it, and clean up the emails a TON. Damn line breaks are driving me nutz on that

[AyeCapn]

Cool... the scope for the thing I am having built did not include posting via email. I would tongue kiss you to get in on that alpha test.

[Cyricx]

I've still got alot of bugs to fix, and I'll need RedTygers permission too as I used some of his code for parts of it.

(I've already got Colin F's permission as I used his vbmail reply as the skeleton)

Once the code is posted in beta, I'm sure I'll get a few chime ins on how to code it better and reduce some queries as my php expertise is stumbling

[Viking Monkey]

This sound incredibly cool. Even better than I was looking for.

Please keep us informed on progress.

I so need this functionality