Geek AutoLinker 4.02

HowdA All,

Welcome to Geek Autolinker 4.0 from the makers of Geek Autolinker 2.0 and Tang - the stuff the people in space drink.

posts for version 4.0 start here

What it does:
It allows you to specify key words to replace in posts with ANY FREAKING URL YOU COULD THINK OF. Thats right, you to can now have key words automatically url'ed to other areas of the world wide web.

Now in 4.0 you can create popups, track impressions and click-thrus, get statistics on them and specify more attributes of the links. The popups can now also use bbcode to create virtually any kind of popup you could imagine. You can limit categories of links to certain forums and also enable specific usergroups to toggle GALs on or off (by category).


This is a perfect gift for sponsors, click throughs, referal programs, definitions, instructions, birthdays and other celebrations.

Example:
If I define Bob as a keyword that I would like to automatically come up hyperlinked to bob.com all I have to do is say so (well, you put it into the admincp). Presto! As quick as that, everytime a user sees the word bob, bobs, bob! Bob bOb? etc... it comes up linked to bob.com

How much will bob love you?

If the url you want it to jump to is actually a thread on your site, you can use the nifty ignorethreadid option. Heres how that works:

If I have a thread entitled Reputation and how to use it, I can put the word reputation into the Geek AutoLinker with the URL pointing to the thread about reputation. Then everytime the word reputation appears in someones post, anyone can click on it to learn more. Since it would be stupid to have the thread Reputation and how to use it autolink to itself, I put the threadid in the ignorethreadid box. That way all matches for reputation are linked to that thread except for the reputation matches in the thread Reputation and how to use it.

Safe mode and dangerous mode.

There are now two modes of operation. Safe mode will autolink any match AS LONG AS IT HAS A SPACE BEFORE IT. That means that <br />bob or .Bob are not valid matches and wont be highlighted. The reason for this is to prevent the autolinker messing up URLs with matches in them (like www.bob.com). Safe mode will most likely end up with fewer matches, but no messed up URLS.
Dangerous mode however could care less about your cute little spaces. It will link them regardless. That means more matches, but a slight increase that an existing url might break in a post.

Here are some examples in action.
Keyword: freak

Safe mode.
Freak out whenever freaks freak about on www.freak.com
Dangerous mode:
Freak out whenever freaks freak about on www.<a href="www.freak.com">freak</a>.com

Other stuff:

• Category management - allows you to override global settings
• Limit - limit the number of replacements per link per post
• Ordinal - organise the order replacments are made
• Customize your own replacment code on a global, catergory, or individual level.
• The installer is a prototype GISH installer that does the file edits for you. Please check the readme for details on how it works - its pretty cool).

Upgrading

• Download, replace all existing files with new ones.
• Run the gal4_install.php file (in your admincp)
• Follow the upgrade path.
• The system will ahve you manullay chage any files it can not find to update.

DEMO: http://www.thenailgeek.com/showthread.php?t=11011 (note the words MMA and PREP. If you follow to MMA you will notice that MMA isnt linked in the final article thanks to ignorethreadid)

Difficulty: Easy
File mods: 4 simple ones
Added queries: 0 or greater depending on your settings

Updated 10.5.05 - Major
Massive update in functionality

Updated 13.4.05 - Major
Massive update in functionality

Update 25.03.05 - oops!
Changed readme addition to functions_showthread.php Things look good now

Updates 25.05.05 to v.204 - sneaky bug
Thanks to Razz - I found 2 minor typos that end up causing people working in safemode to actually be working in danger mode! To upgrade, simply check out this post

Updated 12.2.05 to v. 2.03 - ultra minor
Fixed a typo in readme. To upgrade, al you need to do is edit admincp/index,
do a search for
construct_nav_option($vbphrase['GAL_add_new'], 'GAL_admin.php?do=create');
and replace with
construct_nav_option($vbphrase['GAL_add_new'], 'GAL_admin.php?do=add');

Updated 11.2.05 - ultra minor
Fixed a typo in README (dont worry, it wasnt in the instructions)
Stopped phrase text spitting out during install. Some of the phrase is html so it looked confusing to new installers.
Removed reference to GAS3 settings in the install. This is because its the same installer. Just forgot to remove that line.
All in all, this was just a typo fix. There is no upgrade because there are no problems with the code.

Updated 10.2.05 - minor
Found a couple typos that affect safe mode.
Nothing major - just replace the GAL_admin.php file

Updated 10.2.05 - Major
Completely re-written.
See README for upgrade instructions.

Update 10.2.05 - minor
Updated include/geek_autolink.php as it was missing a table_prefix
To upgrade, download latest package and replace your geek_autolink file.


nJoy

[OrangeFlea]

In the demo, I noticed that the keywords had a funky looking underline. Does the hack do that this automatically?

[The Geek]

Originally Posted by OrangeFlea

In the demo, I noticed that the keywords had a funky looking underline. Does the hack do that this automatically?

Flea: The dashed underline is from the CSS addition that was in the readme. Change it how you fancy.

Symbian: How is Safe mode not working? Is that when you get the SQL error? Edit your GAL_admin.php file and search for rebuild_datastore its there that the links are built dpending on your preference to safe or dangerous mode.

HTH's

[OrangeFlea]

I'm entering my keywords (half-way done!). I noticed that there is a character limit set for the titles. How do I modify the limit?

Basically, I can enter the keywords normally -- regardless of the number of characters -- but on the display, it will only show a portion of the title if it's more than 20 or so characters. Furthermore, it will only hyperlink the text up to that point, leaving the rest of the text un-linked

[The Geek]

Originally Posted by OrangeFlea

I'm entering my keywords (half-way done!). I noticed that there is a character limit set for the titles. How do I modify the limit?

Basically, I can enter the keywords normally -- regardless of the number of characters -- but on the display, it will only show a portion of the title if it's more than 20 or so characters. Furthermore, it will only hyperlink the text up to that point, leaving the rest of the text un-linked

Edit the text column of geek_autolink using phpadmin or something similar.

[ryancooper]

Originally Posted by the nail geek

Theres an idea! Ill mull that one over for awhile.

noppid: The idea is that keywords are highlighted without them even knowing about it. Otherwise the previous suggestion would be the perfect hack.

Say you have eBay as a sponsor. Well, everytime eBay is mentioned- it will link it automatically.

Hope that makes sense.
I am mulling over adding a post field to disable it (like disabling smiles). That way if a user notices a link of theirs messed up (or knows ahead of time that it will get messed up) they can simply tick the 'do not autolink me'. Im only hesitant because I hate making DB changes to vB db's.

Ok i am still poretty new with vb but couldn;t this be done with replacements?

[The Geek]

Originally Posted by ryancooper

Ok i am still poretty new with vb but couldn;t this be done with replacements?

Hey ryan. Wish it could be, it would make life much easier.
The #1 problem with replacements is that it takes a word like bob but bobs bob's and it will take things like Bob and turn in into bob as it doesnt take the what it is replacing and merge it with a replacment value. In other words, while it may work for some mild instances, replacements are very very limiting for most situations.

HTH's

[FASherman]

Nicely done. Such a simple hack, but with a lot of benefit. Should be a hack of the month candidate.

[ryancooper]

Originally Posted by the nail geek

Hey ryan. Wish it could be, it would make life much easier.
The #1 problem with replacements is that it takes a word like bob but bobs bob's and it will take things like Bob and turn in into bob as it doesnt take the what it is replacing and merge it with a replacment value. In other words, while it may work for some mild instances, replacements are very very limiting for most situations.

HTH's

AHHHHhhh I see. . .Well then in that case. GREAT HACK!

[OrangeFlea]

Originally Posted by FASherman

Nicely done. Such a simple hack, but with a lot of benefit. Should be a hack of the month candidate.

It'll definitely get my vote. Just finished adding 800+ keywords and links. It was all worth it.

[NuclioN]

Installed...but most of the smileys are not working anymore.
--edit-- w wait... some had the url in it that whas geeked Working now.