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AboutToday - Bring RSS Feeds and Daily Events to Your Site! · **Released**: 02-05-2006

What is AboutToday?

AboutToday provides a central place to bring daily items of interest to your forum visitors. It includes two main components: an RSS Reader System and Local Events database System.

Please NOTE: This mod has been modified for vb ver 3.6.4. It should work on vb ver 3.5.4 and 3.6.x.

An RSS Reader system where the admin can enter RSS feeds that will then be displayed on the page. RSS feeds can be set to AUTOMATICALLY create threads or be set so that users can easily create a thread from a feed.. Feeds can be read via fopen or cURL.

The RSS Feeds are fully intergrated with vbAdvanced and could actually be placed anywhere you want!!
A database system that can hold unlimited categories of "AboutToday" events. For example, you could have a history category (like a Today in History) with sub-categories for different eras in history. Or, you could have a daily joke or software tip of the day, etc.

The "Add Event" feature is intended to help you if you want for example - Sports: Today in History. With the vb calendar, you cannot have categories and you are restricted with how far back the dates can go.

So with the "Add Event" feature, you could have a category tree like:
- Hockey
  - Professional
  - College
  - High School
- Football
  - American Football
  - The Rest of the World (Soccer)
- Baseball
with the normal calendar feature, you cannot have categories. And with "Add Event" you can have any date. So, if you want an event like "Jan 1, 132 B.C. - the first ball was invented", you can do that. But, that isn't possible in the normal calendar. Also, the events in "Add Event" are fully searchable.

Installation

Copy the following files to your server in the forums directory:

abouttoday.php
includes/class.csv.php
includes/class_abouttoday.php
includes/cron/cron_abouttoday.php
includes/xml/bitfield_abouttoday.xml
includes/xml/cpnav_abouttoday.xml
admincp/abouttodayadmin.php

From the admincp, import the product file product-abouttoday.xml (Manage Products - Add/Import Product).

REFRESH your admincp window. You should now see a listing in the left column of the admincp for "AboutToday".

Getting Started

NOTE - if this is a new install, a Yahoo RSS Feed and CNN Entertainment Feed have been automatically added to give you a feel for how the product looks.

If you plan to use the RSS Feeds:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - RSS Feeds. Add an RSS Feed.
2. From the admincp, select Usergroups - Usergroup Manager. Add permissions so the Administrator group can use the product.
3. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php.
4. If you want the feeds to AUTOMATICALLY create threads, go to admincp - abouttoday - settings. There you must set the userid of the account to use to create the thread. Then, edit the RSS Feed with the forumid of where the threads for that feed should be created!

If you plan to create your own "today in history" type of database:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - Categories. Add a category.
2. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php. "Add" your first event to the category you have created!

Version Status
I've tested this product extensively but ... use this totally at your own risk!

Credits
I learned a lot about how to code this and used a lot of the code from what Ron1n did with ecDownloads. What I've learned from his code while helping to support ecDownloads has been invaluable.

Sites Using this Product
Visit www.armchairgeneral.com to see this product in action.

Click Install!
Please Click Install if you are using this product. Thanks!

CyberRanger · #**812** 11-06-2007, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basilrath

any ideas on this

ive add $myfeeds to a sidebar nothing shows in it at all
...

any ideas

3.6.8 and vbadvanced

Can you PM me your site url along with a vbulletin admin login? I'll take a peek at it.

Fungsten · #**813** 11-06-2007, 07:24 PM

Newbie question. What are the $myfeeds variables? What do they do? Sounds obvious, but what are they? Thanks.

CyberRanger · #**814** 11-07-2007, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fungsten

Newbie question. What are the $myfeeds variables? What do they do? Sounds obvious, but what are they? Thanks.

The $myfeeds variables let you place summary information from your RSS feeds on ANY page and ANY place you want if that page is vb powered (ie global.php is called). Here is a good example of what you can do: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=215

I really should have called that "columns" across. If you set it to two and you have two feeds assigned to $myfeeds, you'd get this:

feed1 feed2

If you had it set to 1, you'd get:

feed1
feed2

sean289855 · #**815** 11-08-2007, 03:13 AM

When I try to force my feeds then I get this error

Warning: set_time_limit(): Cannot set time limit in safe mode in /abouttoday.php on line 1463

Any help woudl be good I love the mod.

http://www.faceoffhockeyshow.com/forum/abouttoday.php

CyberRanger · #**816** 11-08-2007, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean289855

When I try to force my feeds then I get this error

Warning: set_time_limit(): Cannot set time limit in safe mode in /abouttoday.php on line 1463

Any help woudl be good I love the mod.

Hmmmm .... with safe mode on the only option is to remove that line. Go into abouttoday.php, find

PHP Code:


			
set_time_limit(0);

and delete it. Under most circumstances, the program will still work okay.

Fungsten · #**817** 11-08-2007, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberRanger

The $myfeeds variables let you place summary information from your RSS feeds on ANY page and ANY place you want if that page is vb powered (ie global.php is called). Here is a good example of what you can do: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=215

I really should have called that "columns" across. If you set it to two and you have two feeds assigned to $myfeeds, you'd get this:

feed1 feed2

If you had it set to 1, you'd get:

feed1
feed2

Thank you! Could you please mention that in the next update?

On Edit:

Where do you change the variable?

sean289855 · #**818** 11-09-2007, 04:47 AM

Perfect Fix.

rwoscott · #**819** 11-30-2007, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberRanger

The $myfeeds variables let you place summary information from your RSS feeds on ANY page and ANY place you want if that page is vb powered (ie global.php is called). Here is a good example of what you can do: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=215

I really should have called that "columns" across. If you set it to two and you have two feeds assigned to $myfeeds, you'd get this:

feed1 feed2

If you had it set to 1, you'd get:

feed1
feed2

Hi mate. Installed it and got it all working easy enough.

I've just trawled through all 50 odd pages trying to work out how to get multiple columns.
I've set the $myfeeds to 2 in the settings and I've set the $myfeeds variable to "yes" in each of the feeds as suggested, but I still only get a single column.

I've tried the fix to the navbar, but I got nothing up top.

I'd like 2 (or even 3 columns) across the top of the fourmhome page under the navbar.

Any suggestions??

CyberRanger · #**820** 11-30-2007, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwoscott

I'd like 2 (or even 3 columns) across the top of the fourmhome page under the navbar.
Any suggestions??

The $myfeeds settings don't impact what you see at the bottom of the forumhome.

To have a two column display of your selected feeds on forumhome, you need to add the $myfeeds variable to the FORUMHOME template. So, FORUMHOME would look like this:

PHP Code:


			
$stylevar[htmldoctype]

<html dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">

<head>

    <!-- no cache headers -->

    <meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />

    <meta http-equiv="Expires" content="-1" />

    <meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache" />

    <!-- end no cache headers -->

    $headinclude

    <title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title>

</head>

<body>

$header

$navbar

$myfeeds

<if condition="$show['guest']">

.....

I have cnn and yahoo set to display with $myfeeds so my forumhome looks like the attached image.

rwoscott · #**821** 12-01-2007, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberRanger

The $myfeeds settings don't impact what you see at the bottom of the forumhome.

To have a two column display of your selected feeds on forumhome, you need to add the $myfeeds variable to the FORUMHOME template. So, FORUMHOME would look like this:

PHP Code:


			
$stylevar[htmldoctype]

<html dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">

<head>

    <!-- no cache headers -->

    <meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />

    <meta http-equiv="Expires" content="-1" />

    <meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache" />

    <!-- end no cache headers -->

    $headinclude

    <title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title>

</head>

<body>

$header

$navbar

$myfeeds

<if condition="$show['guest']">

.....

I have cnn and yahoo set to display with $myfeeds so my forumhome looks like the attached image.

OK thanks CR. (for the quick response as well.
Done that, and now I get the 2 columns as you have your 2.
BTW, it is a most excellent mod, some posters get sick of the std vb rss feeds creating threads when no one is really interested in the topic. This way they can decide if it is worth chatting about!!.

just 2 more silly qns.

1) in the above how do I only show the $myfeeds for the users I have selected in the admincp settings?

2) Can I do 3 (or more) columns??

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.11102 seconds Memory Usage 2,349KB Queries Executed 25 (?)
More Information
Template Usage: (1)SHOWTHREAD (1)ad_footer_end (1)ad_footer_start (1)ad_header_end (1)ad_header_logo (1)ad_navbar_below (1)ad_showthread_beforeqr (3)bbcode_php (7)bbcode_quote (1)footer (1)forumjump (1)forumrules (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (1)modsystem_post (1)navbar (6)navbar_link (120)option (1)pagenav (1)pagenav_curpage (4)pagenav_pagelink (2)pagenav_pagelinkrel (11)post_thanks_box (11)post_thanks_button (1)post_thanks_javascript (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (11)post_thanks_postbit_info (10)postbit (11)postbit_onlinestatus (11)postbit_wrapper (1)spacer_close (1)spacer_open (1)tagbit_wrapper Phrase Groups Available: global inlinemod postbit posting reputationlevel showthread	Included Files: ./showthread.php ./global.php ./includes/init.php ./includes/class_core.php ./includes/config.php ./includes/functions.php ./includes/class_hook.php ./includes/modsystem_functions.php ./includes/functions_bigthree.php ./includes/class_postbit.php ./includes/class_bbcode.php ./includes/functions_reputation.php ./includes/functions_post_thanks.php Hooks Called: init_startup init_startup_session_setup_start init_startup_session_setup_complete cache_permissions fetch_threadinfo_query fetch_threadinfo fetch_foruminfo style_fetch cache_templates global_start parse_templates global_setup_complete showthread_start showthread_getinfo forumjump showthread_post_start showthread_query_postids showthread_query bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create showthread_postbit_create postbit_factory postbit_display_start post_thanks_function_post_thanks_off_start post_thanks_function_post_thanks_off_end post_thanks_function_fetch_thanks_start post_thanks_function_fetch_thanks_end post_thanks_function_thanked_already_start post_thanks_function_thanked_already_end fetch_musername postbit_imicons bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete postbit_display_complete post_thanks_function_can_thank_this_post_start pagenav_page pagenav_complete tag_fetchbit_complete forumrules navbits navbits_complete showthread_complete
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