vB Easy Auction v1.1

vB Easy Auction v1.1
by yoyoyoyo

Don't let the length of this post fool you... this is actually very simple to setup... I just tend to get long-winded at times...

WHAT YOU NEED:

* vBulletin Software (for vBulletin integration - the perl files will work fine without vBulletin)
* Web server account that has CGI capabilities, and will allow you to run executable cgi files.
* Perl 5.6 or better installed on that web server. Contact your server administrator if you are unsure (most servers are running version 5.8.X, so this should not be a problem). If you do not have perl installed then read a little further below about perlsp.
* Access to either Sendmail, BLAT, or Sockets mail. No mail can be sent without at least ONE of the above. If you are using either BLAT or Sockets mail (NT users usually), you will also need access to an SMTP mail server. Contact your server administrator to find out if you do. Note: the SMTP mail server needs to allow the user to send mail without requiring them to log into the server.

OVERVIEW

This will add auctions to your site quickly and easily. Simply edit the auction.pl file and admin.pl files to reflect your server's filepaths, etc., and then upload the files to your server. Create a template and make a couple edits to your vbulletin files to allow navigation to your auctions and that is it! The core of the auction is based on a HEAVILY modified version of EveryAuction Release Version 1.53, and can be further edited or modified to suit your needs, as long as you follow the GNU public license.

SEE POST #1 OF THIS THREAD FOR INSTALL INFO, ETC.

If members of your site are interested in participating in the auctions then they need to register for them also, since this is not integrated with the vBulletin database for security reasons (since people put actual contact info, etc. in their auction registrations).

FEATURES

• a comprehensive, professional user interface that makes navigation simple
• auction classifieds or traditional auction settings
• configuration takes only a few minutes if perl is installed on your system
• colors and tables can be easily changed to match the look and feel of your system
• supports HTML front-ends
• unlimited categories and items
• category listing lists number of open items per category
• item listings list items, closing time, and current bid
• automated e-mail validation registration system keeps non-legitimate users out of your database
• system generated easy-to-remember (and user changeable) passwords sent to users via e-mail
• users must "sign" an agreement upon registration.
• optional non-registration mode allows fast posting or bidding by anyone
• users may update their contact information, password or Registration E-Mail.
• any registered user can post an item using the easy-to-use submission system
• images can be posted along with an item description and starting bid
• supports reserve prices which allow a seller to set a minimum sell price above the minimum bid
• seller determines minimum bid increment and length of the auction
• item preview before an item is actually posted
• each item is given a unique ID number and URL, so sellers can advertise their auctions in newsgroups or via a link
• item display lists bidding history and product information
• displays Closed items in a table with Radio Buttons for Selection
• bidding is easy with the minimum bid price displayed on the item page along with a quick bid form
• sellers can choose the ending time of an auction
• amount of time left in each auction is displayed in the listing
• outbid e-mails automatically sent by the system with a link back to the auction item
• sniper protection: auctions can close a configurable time after the last bid and the designated closing time, or the admin can choose to disable the sniper protection
• integrated search engine allows search by username or keyword
• users can view closed auction history and contact information depending on whether he/she is the buyer, seller, or losing bidder
• auction items may be deleted or updated by the system administrator using a password
• e-mail sent to both high-bidder and seller on auction close
• fast re-posting of items that were not sold
• data file construction allows experienced administrators to add, remove, or edit items or users by simply editing a plain text file
• everything is compressed into a single lightning-fast perl script
• advanced file locking system eliminates the risk of data corruption even during heavy bidding
• separate secure Admin Console
• pagebreaks in listings
• automatically updates the bids on the item display page
• seller can edit an auction if there are no bids.
• auto-prune of old inactive user data (admin specified length of time)
• prevents email registration from the same address more then once
• users must enter valid e-mail addresses when signing up for the auctions.
• enter e-mail addresses twice
• "e-mail auction to friend" option
• view all auctions option

LEGAL NOTICE

Version: vB Easy Auction 1.0
Last update: 07/20/2005

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU General Public License for more details.

modifications and integration with vbulletin
released at vbulletin.org by yoyoyoyo
No additional rights reserved by the author

Matt Hahnfeld DBA EverySoft expressly emphasizes that
this program is *NOT* an official release version of
EveryAuction, and that this program is *NOT* sanctioned
or distributed by Matt Hahnfeld DBA EverySoft.

Dieter Werner expressly emphasizes that
this program is *NOT* an official release version of
eAuction, and that this program is *NOT* sanctioned
or distributed by Dieter Werner.

vB Easy Auction for vBulletin is not affiliated with eBay or jelsoft or any affiliated companies.

The author of this release agrees to these statements absolutely.

VERSION 1.1: Added the optional ability to allow users to create their own auction sites using the easy-auction ezauctgn.zip script.

PLEASE CLICK INSTALL IF YOU FIND THIS USEFUL!

[icecube0045]

OK Ive got it to work but now it just points to a blank page. the reason it didnt work before is because I didnt have it in the forums directory so when it was suppose to point to "global.php" it didnt have the right file path. is it suppose to point to global.php or am i suppose to edit it and have it point to some place else?

[yoyoyoyo]

Originally Posted by icecube0045

OK Ive got it to work but now it just points to a blank page. the reason it didnt work before is because I didnt have it in the forums directory so when it was suppose to point to "global.php" it didnt have the right file path. is it suppose to point to global.php or am i suppose to edit it and have it point to some place else?

the auction.pl file is not supposed to be in the forums directory. It is supposed to be in the cgi folder, as mentioned in the instructions. If you move it to the forum directory, then you need to change the address in the iframe to match your auction.pl file, wherever you move it to. The template is just a header and a footer with an iframe pulling in content. The content is the auction.pl file. If you can see your auction.pl file and you can see the auction.php page display with no auction content then you did not edit the URL in the iframe properly. The auction.php file is supposed to go in your forum root directory, not in your cgi-bin folder.

[icecube0045]

I dont have a cgi directory in my server because I dont have a cgi_bin so what i did was, upload the auctions.php into my forums directory along with the folder called "auctions" and all of its contents.

[yoyoyoyo]

Originally Posted by icecube0045

I dont have a cgi directory in my server because I dont have a cgi_bin so what i did was, upload the auctions.php into my forums directory along with the folder called "auctions" and all of its contents.

That is fine, as long as the script runs. Then your url to your auction.pl file would look something like:

http://yoursite.com/forum/auction/auction.pl

Make sure that the file path in the iframe of the template is correct, and that you have CHMOD'ed the auction directory and files properly. The iframe will display whatever you tell it to display. You could change the URL to vb.org, for example, and it would display in the iframe - you need to change it to the URL to your auction.pl file, otherwise it will not display in the iframe.

[icecube0045]

I dont understand why the auction template file can be the reason why its not showing up. And now i uploaded the cgi-bin folder so the url is mysite.com//cgi-bin/auction/auction.pl in the auction template file.

[icecube0045]

Are you sure i dont need to edit the auction.php file such as the "require_once('./global.php');" because once its taken out of the forum directory where there is no global.php file i get an error message which says "Warning: main(./global.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in" and line 34 is the line of "require_once('./global.php');"

[yoyoyoyo]

Originally Posted by icecube0045

I dont understand why the auction template file can be the reason why its not showing up. And now i uploaded the cgi-bin folder so the url is mysite.com//cgi-bin/auction/auction.pl in the auction template file.

is that // a typo or is that really how you have it?

Originally Posted by icecube0045

Are you sure i dont need to edit the auction.php file such as the "require_once('./global.php');" because once its taken out of the forum directory where there is no global.php file i get an error message which says "Warning: main(./global.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in" and line 34 is the line of "require_once('./global.php');"

The auction.php file should never be taken out of the forum root directory. It is uploaded to your forum root, since it is part of your forum.

Upload the files as follows:

auction.php is uploaded to your forum root directory (the same directory where index.php and newreply.php reside)

the 'auction' directory, and all of it's contents are uploaded to your cgi-bin OR forum root directory.

http://yoursite.com/ <-- your base URL
http://yoursite.com/forum/ <-- your forum directory (this is where your auction.php file goes)
http://yoursite.com/cgi-bin/auction/ <-- your auction directory (where auction.pl resides)
OR
http://yoursite.com/forum/auction/ <-- your auction directory (where auction.pl resides- ONLY if you have no cgi folder, but can still run perl scripts)

The auction.pl file runs independently of the global.php file, so it is not looking for that file, only the auction.php file is looking for the global.php, so make sure you have that in the right directory (your forum folder).

[icecube0045]

Are you sure i dont need to edit the auction.php file such as the "require_once('./global.php');" because once its taken out of the forum directory where there is no global.php file i get an error message which says "Warning: main(./global.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in" and line 34 is the line of "require_once('./global.php');"

[yoyoyoyo]

Originally Posted by icecube0045

Are you sure i dont need to edit the auction.php file such as the "require_once('./global.php');" because once its taken out of the forum directory where there is no global.php file i get an error message which says "Warning: main(./global.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in" and line 34 is the line of "require_once('./global.php');"

The auction.php file should never be taken out of the forum root directory. It is uploaded to your forum root, since it is part of your forum.

see above post.

[icecube0045]

Originally Posted by icecube0045

Are you sure i dont need to edit the auction.php file such as the "require_once('./global.php');" because once its taken out of the forum directory where there is no global.php file i get an error message which says "Warning: main(./global.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in" and line 34 is the line of "require_once('./global.php');"

ignore that. im going to make sure i have it as you said