Import Unread News from a Forum

This hack will allow you to specify one or more forum IDs in your Admin CP as "news forums". Every time a thread is created in these forums, all users will see an "Unread news" notification at the top of every page of the forum until they view the unread news thread. If many news threads are unread, they will all be shown in the notification and removed one by one as each thread is viewed.

This hack both serves to make sure all users are aware of posted news and to give users who return after a long absence a quick rundown of what has been going on in the forums since they last were there.

As of version 2.0, it is possible to specify:

- Time cutoff: all news older than x days will count as read
- Only check for read status on latest x threads: only the latest x news will be shown if unread; all older news will always be treated as read
- Maximum number of news to display at one time: if a user has more unread news (after the time cutoff and latest x filter) than the number specfied, only that number will actually be displayed on the page
- Whether to make users see news created before they joined as unread
- Whether to show the date and time when each news thread was made or just the date

Please note that you must have Paul_M's Display who has read a thread hack installed for this to function correctly! You don't need to actually have the people who have read the thread shown for anybody at all (heck, if you're completely uninterested in what that hack does, you don't even need to make the template edit for it), but as long as it's installed, this hack will work.

Version 3.0 adds the ability to have more than one news forum and to set a PHP condition for each forum which must be met in order for news from that forum to be imported.

Installation

Simply download the product attached to this post and import it via the Admin CP Product Manager. Then make one template edit: add

$unreadnews

to the bottom of the header template.

------------------------------------

If using PHP version 4.x (or if you are getting an error message that looks something like Fatal error: Call to undefined function: array_combine() in /public_html/global.php(359) : eval()'d code on line 139), you additionally need to find this line in the Import News plugin on the hook global_start:

PHP Code:

   $newsarray = array_combine($newsids, $newsinfo); 


Replace it with

PHP Code:

   $newsarray = array();
foreach ($newsids AS $key => $id)
{
   $newsarray["$id"] = $newsinfo["$key"];
} 


If using PHP 5 or later (which is the case if you don't get that error message), you will not need to make this edit.

------------------------------------

Afterwards, go to your vBulletin options, find the News Import System setting group, specify your news forum(s), set the other settings if you want, and turn the system on.

Don't forget to click Install if it's working for you. Enjoy!

Version 3.0: Added ability to have multiple news forums and use conditionals.
Version 2.23: Important bugfix from version 2.22
Version 2.22: Bugfixes
Version 2.21: Cutting off on the user's join date has been made an optional feature specified in the admin CP, and some unnecessary code has been removed. Also added alternative templates for no particular reason.
Version 2.2: Fixed uncached template, added "More..." link that links to the news forum when unread news are cut off by "Maximum number of news to display at one time" option, and all news created before the user registered will now count as read for that user. (Imagine registering and having twenty "unread news" notifications you have to plough through...)
Version 2.01: Added template edit information (I'm an official idiot for forgetting that) and fixed table prefixes.
Version 2.0: Added functionality (see above)

----------------------------

EXTRA: Alternative templates

If you don't like the way the current unread news box looks, I've got some more standard-looking templates you can use instead if you want. This also allows you to collapse the unread news, which might be useful. Just replace the templates, see how it looks, and revert the templates again if you liked the other look better.

Alternative custom_unreadnews template:

<if condition="$show['unreadnews']">
<br />
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
   <thead>
      <tr>
         <td class="tcat"><a href="#top" style="float:$stylevar[right]" onclick="return toggle_collapse('unreadnews')"><img id="collapseimg_unreadnews" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_tcat$vbcollapse[collapseimg_unreadnews].gif" alt="" border="0" /></a> Unread News</td>
      </tr>
   </thead>
   <tbody id="collapseobj_unreadnews" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_unreadnews]">
      $newsitems
      <if condition="$show['importnewscutoff']">
      <tr>
         <td class="alt1"><a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f={$vbulletin->options['importnewsforum']}" class="smallfont">More...</a></td>
      </tr>
      </if>
   </tbody>
</table>
</if>

Alternative custom_newsbit template:

      <tr>
         <td class="alt1">$timestamp: <strong><a href="showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=$id">$info[title]</a></strong></td>
      </tr>

[username12]

Database error in vBulletin 3.5.3:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT threadid, title, dateline
FROM thread
WHERE forumid =;

MySQL Error : You have an error in your SQL syntax near '' at line 5
Error Number : 1064

Sticks around when I disable and uninstall the hack as well.

Edit: got my forums back online by disabling plugin accelerator, though I can't seem to get this to work with or without that.

[antialiasis]

It looks like you haven't set the News forum option. Can you make sure it's set?

Although of course, I should update the hack to make sure it doesn't try to do anything unless it's set to something...

[DrewM]

look at the xml there is no vb options!

[antialiasis]

Hmm, that is odd... I'll fix it. Just a moment. Sorry about that.

[DrewM]

Originally Posted by antialiasis

Hmm, that is odd... I'll fix it. Just a moment. Sorry about that.

it's fine I've done stuff like that before but worse..

[antialiasis]

Okay, it should be functional now. Sorry again. (Just import the new product instead of the old one.)

[FleaBag]

Can I set this so it shows a maz amount of recent items? I know a lot of my users won't read the news and don't want them mounting up for them forcing them to read.

[antialiasis]

Hm, yes, that should be possible. Just open the plugin "Import news" on the hook global_start and find:

PHP Code:

$newsthreads = $db->query_read("
   SELECT threadid, title, dateline
   FROM thread
   WHERE forumid = $newsforum
"); 


Replace that with

PHP Code:

$newsthreads = $db->query_read("
   SELECT threadid, title, dateline
   FROM thread
   WHERE forumid = $newsforum
   ORDER BY dateline DESC
"); 


Then find this:

PHP Code:

while ($news = $db->fetch_array($newsthreads))
{
   $newsinfo[] = array('title' => $news['title'], 'date' => $news['dateline']);
   $newsids[] = $news['threadid'];  
} 


Below that, add this bit:

PHP Code:

array_splice($newsinfo, MAX_NUMBER_HERE);
array_splice($newsids, MAX_NUMBER_HERE); 


Obviously, replace MAX_NUMBER_HERE with your maximum number of unread news items that should be shown. This should take only the latest x threads from the news forum and check if they are unread, which I believe is what you were asking for.

(If you'd rather have it cut off all news older than x or simply display only the latest x unread news so a new one is added to the list if one of them is read, just ask.)

[Skaterscafe.com]

I get this when I install, happens during the install:

Database error in vBulletin 3.5.2:

Invalid SQL:

INSERT INTO setting
(varname, grouptitle, value, defaultvalue, datatype, optioncode, displayorder, advanced, volatile, product)
VALUES
(
'importnews',
'newsimporting',
'',
'',
'boolean',
'yesno',
1,
0,
1,
'import_news'
),
(
'newsforum',
'newsimporting',
'5,197,39',
'1',
'numeric',
'',
2,
0,
1,
'import_news'
);

MySQL Error : Duplicate entry 'newsforum' for key 1
Error Number : 1062
Date : Tuesday, May 9th 2006 @ 10:33:04 PM
Script : ......./admincp/plugin.php
Referrer : /admincp/plugin.php?do=productadd
IP Address : ********
Username : *******
Classname : vb_database