Major Additions - DTO Garage - free garage features for all your members (vB 3.8.X)

Drive Thru Online ? Garage

Overview

DTO Garage is a free product allowing all members of a site to show off their car, truck, motorcycle or other powersports toy. Site owners can easily adapt the section and subsection titles to suit the attributes to the site's focus. Images are stored locally preventing broken links and over limit displays common with images linked offsite. Drive Thru Online has made upgrading to the paid version of DTO Garage Plus easy, all user data stored in DTO Garage is retained for a seamless transition.

For users, management of their vBulletin garage is conveniently handled through their user control panel. The intuitive user interface encourages even the most challenged to create a compelling Garage. Images are added via a wizard from either the users own computer or a specified URL. Thumbnails are dynamically created with high-resolution images displayed in a navigable Lytebox. Users can designate whether a garage is visible to the rest of the site members or hidden until they have time to polish the information and give it the debut it deserves. Other users can view garages using interactive pop-up menus embedded in each post or through the Garage owner's profile.

Key Features

• vBulletin Options-based customization of information collected and presented in garages
• User management of garages via User Control Panel
• Simple-to-use image uploads per garage
• Lytebox presentation of high resolution garage images
• bbCode supported in information areas
• Additional image placement in information area supported
• Dynamic presentation of garages in postbit and user profile
• Embedded full featured searchable and indexed Help
• Fully documented
• Fully supported

Language Translation
As of version 1.1.3 DTO Garage has not been fully phrased and only supports English. With a future release it is our intent to offer a fully phrased version to support language translation of the product. When the fully phrased version is available we will provide documentation and tools to speed translations of the product for use on your site. We will also encourage those who have performed a translation to contribute it for distribution to other members. Any contributed languages will be included with this thread and credit given to the author. Site owners are free to translate the product either in its current state or future releases as they see fit given that the note found in the following Upgrade section is followed when upgrading. While Drive Thru Online will provide information to translators regarding the context of wording we can not provide support to facilitate the actual translation itself.

Compatibility

• Fully compatible with vBulletin 3.6.8 through vBulletin 3.8.x
• PHP 5.X or later (compiled with GD support) and MySQL 5.X or later is required.

Upgrading from a previous version of DTO Garage

1. Prior to installation/upgrade we recommend that you perform a back up of your site's database and files.
2. After unzipping the attached package open readme.html in your browser.
3. Click on the ?Documentation & installation instructions? to view the complete documentation for Garage.
4. Note: If you have customized the DTO Garage templates in a previous release it is recommended that you make a copy of your changes, revert to the version of templates included with the new release and migrate your changes into the new version's templates. Failure to do this may cause the product to operate improperly and/or support new features that may have been added to the product.
5. If you use a custom style for your site you may have to modify the garage templates. For more information refer to this how-to written to address the most common modifications required.

Installation & Configuration for vB 3.6.x through vb 3.8.x

1. Prior to installation/upgrade we recommend that you perform a back up of your site's database and files.
2. After unzipping the attached package open readme.html in your browser.
3. Click on the ?Documentation & installation instructions? to view the complete documentation for Garage.
   
   Alternatively, you can also access documentation by visiting our web site under the Support tab.

Copyright & Licensing

• DTO Garage is copyright protected by Drive Thru Online, Inc.
• You are free to download and install this plugin on any vBulletin forum for which you hold a valid vB license.
• Unauthorized distribution of any code and/or documentation, whole or in part, included here is strictly prohibited.
• In addition, the supplied copyright notice must be maintained.

Other Drive Thru Online Products

• DTO Garage and Garage Plus vBadvanced Modules ? free vBadvanced modules for Garage and Garage Plus
• DTO Garage Plus ? paid version with vBSEO sitemap generator add-ons, usergroup permissions, and advanced search features. Click here for a comparison of Garage and Garage Plus.
• DTO Clubs, ShowCase, and Vendor Tools - paid products designed to grow your membership and create revenue from your site

Support

We will provide support in this thread on an as-needed basis to members that have marked this modification as Installed. Additional support resources can be found on our site under the Support tab.

Release and Version History
1.1.3 - October 7, 2009
New feature and bug fix release

New Features

• Changed orientation of images in garage display from vertical to horizontal orientation for cleaner display.
• Modified index page to provide paged display of most recently added garages.
• Added error handling for upload of unsupported image formats when adding a picture to a garage.

Fixes

• Added caching of garage-related templates for use in private message postbit display.

1.1.2 - August 21, 2009
New feature and bug fix release

Note: This release did not include updated documentation to reflect the new features below. As this is an interim release we will be updating documentation with the next 1.2.0 release of Garage and Garage Plus.

New Features

• Garage index page - index page accessible from breadcrumb when viewing a members garage. Displays a random selection of up to 25 member garages.
• Navbar menu - Added "My Garage" link when user is logged in
• Navbar menu - Added "Garages" to take user to garage index page
• With a garage index page member garages are no longer display in a new browser window (the only exception is if you preview your own garage when managing it).

Fixes

• Users currently not logged in are prevented from managing or adding a garage.
• When using quick reply the Garage link is shown in the user's postbit given that the user has a visible garage configured.

1.1.1 - July 6, 2009
Fix release

• Correct alignment of Garage/Garage Plus navbar pop-up menu.
• SQL error when rendering Garage postbit links for guest users - no longer attempts to render a link for Guest users.
• Corrected issue for sites using database table prefixes where a SQL error was generated when attempting to insert an image into a garage.

1.1.0 - June 19, 2009
Initial release

[mferguson]

Originally Posted by zeus_r6

So there is only room for one vehicle in the free version?

That is correct. With the paid version you can set any number of garages on a usergroup-by-usergroup basis. For a full list of differences between the versions click here.

Please keep in mind that there are a couple of features noted in the free version (ie - edit/delete member garages as an admin) that have not yet been updated in the version on vb.org. I expect that to be released in the next few weeks.

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Best regards,

Mark

[zeus_r6]

It's a cool mod, but $95?

Finding it very hard to justify that amount for a hack

[mferguson]

No problem. We offer very prompt support, documentation, and actively develop our products. To offer a product with these services it costs a bit more. If those aren't critical to your site then I completely understand and we probably aren't the best solution for you. If, however, you do I think you find that we're a great group of people to work with.

Regardless try out the free version and let me know if there are any additional questions I can address for you.

Best regards,

Mark

[audis3]

Is there a chance for a better price?

Because i'm interested too, but 95$ i think it's a little bit expensive.

If you make a discount due to Christmas days...

[mferguson]

We actually have a 15% off sale running on all our products now through the end of the December 2009. On January 1, 2010 our prices will be back to normal and no discounting will be available unless multiple copies are purchased. If this interests you just order through our site using Paypal. Once the purchase is complete I'll review the order and issue you a 15% refund via Paypal off your total purchase.

Thanks!

Mark

[SMosher]

Installed and loving it! Thanks for all the help Mark!

95 bucks is worth the service you get. I wish other coders had the support Mark has.

[mferguson]

Glad to help Steve. Let me know if you need any additional assistance.

Happy holidays!

Mark

[Hostboard]

Mark, I am getting complaints from one of my sites reporting at least 1 PM by you pushing Garage Plus. I do not welcome your tactics nor does my user(s)

I was planning on upgrading to Plus but now I am having real reservations about doing business with a company that blatently SPAMS a sites members.

UserID: mark5280
Email: mark@drivethruonline.com
IP: 67.166.32.164

Your account has been suspended on my site.

From: xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Reported PM from xxxxxxxxxx
To: xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2009, 12:42 AM


xxxxxxxxxx ( mailto:xxxxxxxxxx ) has reported this private message:
 
 
From: mark5280
Upgrade to DTO Garage Plus?

Happy Holidays,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for using our DTO Garage product. Hopefully you've found Garage, our documentation, and support heIpful in further building traffic for your site. *We are currently offering DTO Garage customers the opportunity to upgrade to DTO Garage Plus at a 15% discount off of our regular price of $95.00 (USD). With Garage Plus you get the following additional features:

+ Multiple garages per user definable on a usergroup-by-usergroup basis
+ Advanced search
+ Ability to browse garages by name, recently added, and recently modified
+ vBSEO and vBSEO Sitemap Generator integration to leverage the garage user content into search engine results for your site
+ Branding free option (additional fee applies)

For a complete comparison between Garage and Garage Plus please use the following URL:

http://<a href="http://bit.ly/5pA2yh....ly/5pA2yh</a>

The 15% sale also applies to any of our other products but is good only now through December 31, 2009. *If you would be interested in upgrading to Garage Plus or purchasing any of our other products just reply to this message with the products and URLs that you will be using them on. *I'll then send an invoice and Paypal payment request to complete the purchase. *This offer is not available through our normal checkout process.

I've also included several testimonials from our other customers below as it may help to see how others view our products and the service we offer.

Thanks again for your interest in Garage and I look forward to working with you further.

Sincerely,

Mark Ferguson
President - Drive Thru Online, Inc.
Drive Thru Online ? Turning Passion into Profit*
http://<a href="http://www.drivethru...online.com</a>
720.249.4072 office
866.939.8844 toll free


Customer Testimonials
-----
"Just wanted to let everyone know that we just purchased Garage Plus and had it installed in under 15 minutes."

"The documentation was great and the product worked exactly as advertised. We did not run into a single issue during installation and the product is now on a live site and working flawlessly."

"Kudos to the DTO team for making a turn-key product that feels really polished."*

"Wow! I'm totally impressed with your company. I have people ask me all the time to recommend software and hosts for forums. I'll make sure to put DTO at the top of my list to recommend from now on. I'll also be adding your software to some of my other forums very soon."

"I would heavily recommend software from Drive Thru online not solely based*on their products although they are obviously extremely good, it's the*fanatical support you receive when you need urgent help or just need to ask*what I deemed to be urgent questions. Every time I have dealt with these*guys they have been professional and respectful to my demands. The guys will*have me coming back for software time and time again."

"95 bucks is worth the service you get. I wish other coders had the support DTO has."


You can view the sender's profile and optionally apply infractions or bans by following the link below
http://www.monstermayhem.org/forums/member.php?u=2970

[mferguson]

Steven,
My apologies for not being able to reach you directly. Since there is no way to determine who has been using our free products via vb.org I had attempted to reach you after finding your site via Google. I obviously did not find the correct admin to message and for that I offer my sincere apologies. If you no longer wish to upgrade because of this I completely understand and I will continue to support you with the free version the best that I can.

Again, my apologies.

Sincerely,

Mark

[Hostboard]

Mark, the person you PM'd was not even an admin, he is just a member. There is a legend at the bottom of all my sites that color define user groups and the IDs of each that are online.

Users online at the moment...

TeamBlackWidow, Bigtruck1217, Buckeye, burrows1990, chad4208, CPE MT, Dave Collard, FlyinBryan+, Furious Rodimus, green monster man, HighFlyer, InsanoRacer*, JasonCA+, madnessezra, MichiganMonstersElliott, monstertruckkid, Nocartilagehere, Outlaw, regevig, RyanRoberts, Steel Dragon, VVITch, wrecker1

Legend: Administrators, Moderators, RaceTeam, Industry Related, Promotor, Event Reporter, Registered Users


Appology accepted