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NEW Modified RSS News Feed Hack · **Released**: 04-12-2004

Hack originally posted by: Xyphen - RSS News Feed Hack
Modified by: wolfstream - Modified RSS News Feed Hack

I am posting this up as a new hack because of the major changes made to how the script works. Also, I didn't want people to get confused as to which one to download since there were 3 different versions on the original post.

Xyphen released the original version, then wolfstream modified the script and corrected some errors. After that, I modified wolfstreams version to change how posts were inserted. Now the post count will increase, posts will be able to be searched, and similiar threads will work.

RSS News Feed Hack for vB 3.0.x. As long as vBulletin doesn't change the database structure much, this should be good for the next release also, and those to come.

Allows you to have a live RSS news feed (such as one from Google or CNET) in a forum. The user that posts it will basically be a bot, which *should* only be used for posting the news, but you can even make it for a regular user.

Comments are welcome! Support provided through this thread.

Latest Version:
- 1.26 - for PHP 4.3.0 & above
- 1.26a - for PHP prior to 4.3.0

vBulletin Versions:
- 3.0.0
- 3.0.1

PHP Versions:
- > 4.3.0
- < 4.3.0

Installation Overview:
- Files to edit: (2) /admincp/index.php, /includes/functions_newpost.php
- Files to upload: (4) rss.php, admincp/rss_admin.php, includes/RSS/class.RSS.php, includes/RSS/rss_update.php
- Queries to run: (4) in rss_install.php

History:
Version 1.26 (23 June 2004 - Slapyo, Natch)
- listing of bot's more intuitive (Natch)
- hopefully fixed duplicate problem (Slapyo)
- stripped html tags from title and description (Slapyo)

Version 1.25 (12 May 2004 - Slapyo)
- fix for " showing up
- logs action in scheduled task log if turned on

Version 1.24 (20 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- posts now deleted with delete_thread function
- post counts updated when using delete all news

Version 1.23 (14 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- added ability to delete bots
- cleaned up includes
- fix for PHP versions prior to 4.3.0 calling html_entity_decode()

Version 1.22 (13 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- duplicate posts problem fixed
- fix for problem with ' appearing as \'

Version 1.21 (12 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- bot will not be subscribed to posts now

Version 1.2 (11 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- posts now inserted with build_new_post function

Version 1.1 (28 March 2004 - wolfstream)
- file edits taken down to 1
- cron script included

Version 1.0 (28 January 2004 - Xyphen)
- original release

Common RSS Feeds:
- Yahoo!
- CNET.com
- BBC
- Wired News
- The Register
- Ars Technica
- All Headline News

mharmon · #2 04-13-2004, 02:10 AM

I tried it this evening and had it working in 5 minutes.. AWESOME!

dethfire · #3 04-13-2004, 03:57 AM

yep, this works! only problem is that it doesn't check if news item already exist, so for all my cron I had to set it to 24h to make sure the rss files were completely changes with new items, otherwise it's a charm!

achtungbaby · #4 04-13-2004, 03:59 AM

I have a problem. First, I got this error after uploading the new files:

Code:

Database error in vBulletin 3.0.0:

Invalid SQL: CREATE TABLE `rss_settings` (`enabled` tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '1' ); mysql error: Table 'rss_settings' already exists

mysql error number: 1050

Date: Monday 12th of April 2004 09:46:35 PM
Script: http://forums.yellowworld.org/rss_install.php
Referer: 
Username: achtungbaby

I assumed maybe it was cause I'd accidentally left the old RSS files. So then I run the upgrade and get this error:

Code:

Database error in vBulletin 3.0.0:

Invalid SQL: ALTER TABLE rss_settings DROP forumid, DROP userid, DROP source mysql error: Can't DROP 'forumid'. Check that column/key exists

mysql error number: 1091

Date: Monday 12th of April 2004 09:46:51 PM
Script: http://forums.yellowworld.org/rss_upgrade.php
Referer: 
Username: achtungbaby

And now it appears that much of my forums has disappeared. What happened?

achtungbaby · #5 04-13-2004, 04:17 AM

Nevermind. I think I figured it out. The script was conflicting with another hack I installed earlier -- the welcome PM hack.

Slave · #6 04-13-2004, 04:27 AM

Whoo .. cool hack/add on

..

I've been having a play on my dev board .. a few things jump out at me ..

(I'm using a BBC rss news feed btw)

1/ I'm getting \ in front of ' .. any way to stop that?

2/ Any reason for the bot to subscribe to the thread? as it seems to do it .. if not needed how would you stop that?

3/ I've run the rss cron job 3 times in the last few mins to test it .. and it doesn't seem to know that it's already posted a story and therefore reposts it. Is the subscription to the thread meant to stop that? Is there any way to get the bot to know it has already posted about a subject?

I'll continue playing and post if anything else seems amiss ..

Good job though

Slapyo · #7 04-13-2004, 04:55 AM

<a href="http://www.sportsbabble.net/showthread.php?t=570" target="_blank">http://www.sportsbabble.net/showthread.php?t=570</a>

there is a link to a post made by my news bot and it has ' in it ... but without the leading \, what is the link to the rss feed you are using?

i just uploaded a new version that fixes the bot subscribing to the threads. it should no longer subscribe to threads. the change was in rss_update.php so you can upload just that file if you want.

i can't see what is causing the problem with stories being posted multiple times. on mine i don't get the multiple stories, but every once in a while. the original author included a check in the program, but it is obviously not working properly. the code for this is in rss_update.php. i will look at it more.

Slave · #8 04-13-2004, 05:34 AM

The news feed I'm using at the mo is ..

Quote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/front_page/rss091.xml

Cheers for the subscribing fix ..

As for the double posting .. I guess it might be to do with the feed I'm using .. I'm sure you'll see it when you have a play if it is ..

Just added a screenshot of the \' problem .. it's happening in both titles and messages ..

rocket98 · #9 04-13-2004, 06:27 AM

Hi,

Very interesting hack. I have installed it but got this error when I ran it to see what it would pull down.

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: html_entity_decode() in /homepages/23/d95339147/htdocs/public_html/forum/includes/RSS/rss_update.php on line 70

Thanks

PranK · #10 04-13-2004, 06:33 AM

The last one sent my server load through the roof - is this likely to happen with this one?

Thanks!

Christian

mirdin · #11 04-13-2004, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PranK

The last one sent my server load through the roof - is this likely to happen with this one?

Thanks!

Christian

Not likely. I believe the old hack would fetch the rss feed every time someone would enter the forum.

For this one you have to set a cronjob.

jluerken · #12 04-13-2004, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocket98

Hi,

Very interesting hack. I have installed it but got this error when I ran it to see what it would pull down.

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: html_entity_decode() in /homepages/23/d95339147/htdocs/public_html/forum/includes/RSS/rss_update.php on line 70

Thanks

I get the same error
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: html_entity_decode() in /home/www/web1/html/forum/includes/RSS/rss_update.php on line 70

mirdin · #13 04-13-2004, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jluerken

I get the same error
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: html_entity_decode() in /home/www/web1/html/forum/includes/RSS/rss_update.php on line 70

This function is only present in PHP 4.3.0 and later, which version are you running?

http://www.php.net/manual/en/functio...ity-decode.php

jluerken · #14 04-13-2004, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mirdin

This function is only present in PHP 4.3.0 and later, which version are you running?

http://www.php.net/manual/en/functio...ity-decode.php

I am running PHP Version 4.2.2

And what now?

mirdin · #15 04-13-2004, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jluerken

I am running PHP Version 4.2.2

And what now?

You'll have to ask your host to upgrade to a more recent version of PHP.

Or if you follow the link to the php function I posted before, it shows this code:

PHP Code:


			
// For users prior to PHP 4.3.0 you may do this:

function unhtmlentities($string) 

{

   $trans_tbl = get_html_translation_table(HTML_ENTITIES);

   $trans_tbl = array_flip($trans_tbl);

   return strtr($string, $trans_tbl);

}



$c = unhtmlentities($a);



echo $c; // I'll "walk" the <b>dog</b> now



?>

If upgrading PHP is not possible for you then you could try to replace the html_entity_decode function using this example.

By the way, has anyone managed to fix the double post issues? I have these issues with both yahoo and bbc feeds.

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