vbArticles v0.4 -- For your repository of Articles/Tutorials/FAQs etc.

UPDATES
version 0.4 is out

- Now allows for basic VBCODE input.
- Fixed somemore bugs.


Background
Required a section on my site to display articles/tutorials
No such hack in the Hacks Database
Decided to try my hand at it

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This hack uses a lot of code from Arunan Sridharan's vB Links Directory v2.0
I use that hack too and was inspired to code something around that
A big thank-you must go out to him for coding the Links Directory in the first place (I merely modified much of the code to suit my needs for this hack)

Appreciation also goes out to Kars10 for aiding me in this hack
He coded the portion in version 0.3 on number of articles count as well as article hits count
He also suggested several template changes which have been incoporated into version 0.3
A great big special shout out to TheComputerGuy, 97cobracpe, dontpanic for stamping out the bugs with your fixes. Thanks guys


WHATS IT DO ?
This hack allows you to have a database of articles/tutorials etc on your site/forums.

FEATURES

AdminCP
Installer script

Admin options

View Categories
Edit Categories
Add Categories ( category name, category icon, category order, category description )
Delete Categories
Add new article ( title, description, author, date, content )
Edit article
Delete article
View ALL articles in database
Option in vB options to turn validation of articles on/off
Fully template based as to how you wish to display the articles,categories and main article home page.
Addition of articles accepts basic VBcodes

Member options

View Categories
Browse Categories
View articles
Submit new article
Submission of articles accepts basic VBcodes


INSTALLATION & UPGRADING
This Hack should work on ALL 2.2.x versions and v2.3.0
Please read the install_readme.txt file in the package for fresh installation instructions
IMPT: If you installed a previous version pls read the upgrade_readme.txt file carefully for upgrade instructions

HACK DOWNLOAD

Version 0.4 of this hack can be downloaded here

ADD-ONS
i) Add-on for vbHome
ii) Add-on for ForumHome
iii) Add-on to enable only registered members to be able to view the article section


DEMO SITES
http://www.runaked.com/forums/articles.php ( running v0.4 ) - TheComputerGuy's site

http://www.mcseworld.com/forums/infocenter.php ( running v0.3 ) - dontpanic's site


Feel free to submit your sites if u installed this hack so it can be listed as another live demo site

SUPPORT
I cannot promise any support on this as i am pretty new to this but I will try my best.
If you are using this hack , pls click the INSTALL button
to be kept in the loop of any bug reports, add-ons and hack version updates.

Thanks everyone

[FleaBag]

After years of coming to this site I finally enter the Beta forum... To find this baby waiting for me!

Nice work.

[cindyd]

cinq: I would test this for you, but I would have to do it on a live board.

[corsacrazy]

if this is used for tutorials it wood be a gr8 addition to allow adding of images

[cinq]

Today at 04:30 AM cindyd said this in Post #174
cinq: I would test this for you, but I would have to do it on a live board.

That would be great cindy, thank you in advance.
It should not affect whatever articles you currently have in place. But do a db backup anyways ( not neccessarily the whole db, just the vbArticles tables - cat and content ).

Do feedback to me if it works.
Btw has your old problem been nicked yet ?

[cinq]

Today at 04:53 AM corsacrazy said this in Post #175
if this is used for tutorials it wood be a gr8 addition to allow adding of images

corsacrazy , personally i prefer to allow the user to have the versatility of linking their own images.
So at least you can control the layout of the article view.

The feature i am currently working on is allowing for vbcode for article input ( which i am getting someone to test above ), so a simple vb [img ] will allow linking of images which can either be stored in a directory on your server to your liking or from somewhere on the internet

[cinq]

Yesterday at 10:43 AM FleaBag said this in Post #173
After years of coming to this site I finally enter the Beta forum... To find this baby waiting for me!

Nice work.

Thanks for the kind comments, FleaBag.
Do click the install button to be informed of any new updates to this hack.

Right now i am just taking things slow to add up on the features I had hoped to include, once done i will make it a Full release, of cos first ensuring no more known bugs are experienced.

Once again, thanks so much to all who have already installed and tried this hack and feedback your findings/bugreports and provided fixes , i really appreciate it

[cindyd]

Today at 08:16 PM cinq said this in Post #176
That would be great cindy, thank you in advance.
It should not affect whatever articles you currently have in place. But do a db backup anyways ( not neccessarily the whole db, just the vbArticles tables - cat and content ).

Do feedback to me if it works.
Btw has your old problem been nicked yet ?

OK, I don't have anything to lose on this hack right now, since I have to do a lot of deletions, anyway.

I still cannot get past those errors I reported earlier.

I will do this either tonight or tomorrow for sure.

[PurpleCow]

cinq - I just installed this hacka nd ofcourse clicked on the installed button...!

However, i have a very minor problem...that when i load the page mydomain.com/articles.php , the main page has this list of categories and the next table with Recently Added Articles.

The Recently Added Articles section ( entire table ) is not aligned to the center of the actual width..rather its aligned to the left. Which template do i edit to align the same to center.

Thank you

[cinq]

Where's your site ?

[PurpleCow]

cinq - I have just PM-ed you the link to my forums under development.

Thanks