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

[cinq]

Progress update : 27/10/2003

For next version : 0.5

Accommodated Features and Bug Fixes

Bugs Fixed

Post 202 ( bug fix )
Post 215 ( bug fix )
Post 226 ( bug fix )
Post 230 ( bug fix )
Posts 214-225 , 233-237 ( bug fix )


Feature Requests and other Additional Features that have been implemented ( completed )

- Category Icon upload
- Much easier navigation, less redundant navigation
- Posted By field for articles where the original author is different from the person who uploaded it
- In adding of article, no longer need to enter date of article, it is automatically added as a timestamp
- Adding of article in AdminCP easier
- Editing of article allows moving into another category if wrongly placed
- Easier management of View All Categories ( edit, delete, view articles in category, update order )
- Update order of categories now similar to vbulletin?s method
- Easier management of View All Articles ( edit, delete, view article )
- Author name automatically entered in AdminCP when adding article
- Cleaner code
- Print article , printer friendly.
- Email article to a friend link
- Ability to search articles by title, author and content
- Pagination of article ( pagebreak string set by admin )
- Pagination of articles under each category ( number of articles shown per page set by admin )





Features yet to be implemented

Post 229
I am trying to figure out how to put thumbnail images in front of the reviews. Like the categories currently have.
Post 213
Image lead-in to article

Ratings per article
Comments per article
1 level Subcategories
User group options
Category and article icon resizing





Feature requests that will be turned down and NOT implemented

Post 198
2. Make the "Content" field look more like the posting field in vBulletin.
3. In addition to allowing for vbCode, also have the vbcode buttons above the "Content" box
4. An option in the ACP to allow/disallow vbCode and HTML and have the suggestion #3 above show or don't show based on this setting.

Cinq : I will try to implement something else that is similar but not exactly like this. Hopefully WYSIWYG though.

Post 209
xHTML ?

Cinq : Not proficient enough, sorry.

Post 213
6) Copy an entire article or category (this is very helpful for using articles or cats as templates for future articles, or perhaps archiving old ones
10) XML RSS Feed output

Cinq : 10 - not proficient enough, sorry. 6 ? nah, don? be lazy

Post 213
7) Is it possible to select that a lead-in will link to an off-site article directly (by URL)

Cinq : think I'll skip this as well, may have copyright issues plus I'm lazy

[cinq]

Download hack here


Latest dated 01/08/2003.
All bugs and fixes in ALL posts before post 183 taken care of

[kaotic]

I know that I'm admitting to myself how lazy I am if I install/utilize this hack... but I have no problem with that. Thanks, cing! Nice modifications.

[gmarik]

Big thanks, this was what I was looking for a long time, great!

[xs1]

is it possible to add html codes ?

[Deviant Mind]

This shoudl come in handy. I'll try it out on my test board later this afternoon

[Katana Myronson]

Good job!

*clicks install*

[DrkFusion]

Very nice job

[Xyphen]

Very very nice, good idea too... good job!