Show Thread Enhancements - Twitter - Tweet Button in SHOWTHREAD

This mod is now outdated and as a result support for new installs will be limited, if any.

-July 7, 2011-

Please instead use my new mod which offers Twitter and many more share options for VB 4.x without template edits.

WARNING - It appears vBulletin has changed the location of the Facebook Like button in version 4.1.2. As a result it is likely the code changes below will be different in 4.1.2 and beyond, I will not be able to support installs beginning with version 4.1.2 since my license stops at 4.0.8.


Twitter released their new TWEET button.

Live Demo: http://www.juot.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41185
(Note my Live Board is VB 3.8, but I have tested this on 4.0.4 and 4.0.6)
(Update I have for the time being replaced the Tweet button with the Add This share button on my live forum. See the screen shots instead.)

I have tested this in latest versions of IE / Firefox / Chrome / Safari / Opera and it should work in all.

This will show you how to add this simple code to your SHOWTHREAD template above the page navigation bar, if visible.

If you DO NOT use the built-in Facebook Like button do the following:

Go to the Admin CP -> Styles & Templates -> Style Manager
Edit your SHOWTHREAD Template

Find: (The first instance of)

		<vb:if condition="$pagenav">
			{vb:raw pagenav}
		</vb:if>

Above this add:

<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(X, Y, Z))">
<div id="mytweetbutton" align="right" style="height:27px;">
<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>
</vb:if>

Change the X, Y, Z in the first line to the forumid's of any private forums you may have. If a guest can't view a forum there is no reason to link a tweet to it. You can add as many or as few forumid's here as you need, just separate each with a comma.
Valid Examples:
<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(2, 5, 9))">
<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(7))">
<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8))">
If none of your forums are private or you want to enable this in every forum you can remove the lines:

<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(X, Y, Z))">
and 
</vb:if>

Replace "YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME" with your twitter username, it will be referenced in the tweet- but the tweet will not be from YOU, it will be from whoever hits the tweet button.

If you DO USE the built-in Facebook Like button do the following:

Find:

		{vb:raw fblikebutton}

Replace it with:

<div id="fb_likeframe" style="border: none; overflow: hidden; height: 27px; width: 95px; vertical-align: text-bottom; padding-top:1px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>{vb:raw fblikebutton}

Replace "YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME" with your twitter username, it will be referenced in the tweet- but the tweet will not be from YOU, it will be from whoever hits the tweet button.

The Tweet button will now show up next to the Facebook Like button in anytime the Facebook Like button is displayed in a thread.

----

When you hit the Tweet button you will be given a box to type a message if you're logged in. If you're not logged in you will be asked to login or join, all within the pop-up window.

This button code will count the number of tweets people have made using it. For other options including the button with no counter visit: http://twitter.com/goodies/tweetbutton

The screen shots show the Tweet button both with and without the page navigation bar, and with the Facebook Like button.

Please click Install if you use this.

Download the .txt file for a copy of the install instructions. :up:

----

Known Issues- a few people have reported a 'slash' is missing in the URL submitted to Twitter on some boards. Other people have said URL's with non-english characters cause a URL error. The solution for both of these issues is in post #143 in this thread.

Also Twitter appears to be having widespread issues with the counter not working. Some sites it works, some it don't, sometimes it stops working, sometimes it starts working for no reason. If you find your count isn't working try the solution in post #147. If that doesn't work than disable your counter completely if you want by changing the word "horizontal" to "none" in the twitter code.

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by TWood

Heh,

I also submitted this as a bug report to vBulletin and they acknowledged the bug but downgraded it from my "Major" rating to "Minor". Not being able to let your Twitter users with a large number of followers share a link to your forum is minor?

Well there is a "fix" in post # 143 that will let you use this mod- it just takes a little extra code. So I can understand why it's not major... Major is: Oh crap, the new editor doesn't work on iPhones and iPads. That's major.

[scubasteve3]

I've followed your instructions and I am getting a few errors. For some reason "[/CODE] " Shows up next to my facebook like button now. Anyway to get rid of this?
Is there anyway to make it so that the twitter link is shortened or truncated automatically? Right now its a long and nasty URL.

Unfortunately the twitter count fix in post #147 did not work for me

[Brandon Sheley]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

OK... use this code... remember to replace the username with your own...

This should remove all the special characters from your URL so it should work with twitter... please let me know.

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME" data-url="{vb:raw vboptions.bburl}/showthread.php?t={vb:raw threadid}">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Hello
I have 2 issues with this code, one it's not showing all the past "tweets" our home page has over 100..

Also the link didn't include the thread ID eg..

general-forums.com/showthread.php?t=

Thanks for the code

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by scubasteve3

I've followed your instructions and I am getting a few errors. For some reason "[/CODE] " Shows up next to my facebook like button now. Anyway to get rid of this?
Is there anyway to make it so that the twitter link is shortened or truncated automatically? Right now its a long and nasty URL.

Unfortunately the twitter count fix in post #147 did not work for me

If [/code] is showing up next to your facebook button you must have accidentally copied "[/code]" from somewhere. Search your template for [/code] and simply delete it.

The twitter link should automatically be shortened using a built in URL shortener. Can I get a link to a page with this problem?

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by Brandon Sheley

Hello
I have 2 issues with this code, one it's not showing all the past "tweets" our home page has over 100..

Also the link didn't include the thread ID eg..

general-forums.com/showthread.php?t=

Thanks for the code

This mod doesn't show tweets anywhere so I don't understand how that could be a problem. It only allows people to send tweets. And they aren't tweeting AS you, they tweet as themselves, but with a link to your forum page.

As for the no threadid is your button in the SHOWTHREAD template? The code I give ONLY works in the SHOWTHREAD template.

If it is in SHOWTHREAD what version of vBulletin are you using?

[TWood]

I see you switched to Add This as a solution. I compared that to Share This and went with them instead. Six to one half dozen of the other I suppose, but Share This just felt better, for me.

I considered adding it to the bottom of the navbar so it would be on every page, but then decided to add it to only a few templates, since there was no reason to 'share' every page.

[BirdOPrey5]

I checked out Share This- it looked good initially but what I don't like about it is that you need to give permission for Share This to interface it's own app with Facebook and Twitter whereas AddThis works directly with their API's and no special permission is needed. I for one basically never give 3rd party apps permission to work with my facebook or twitter accounts and I know that would stop a lot of people from sharing content on my site if they had to.

[Sage Knight]

Sir, I've been searching this for a while now, but I'm running 4.1.3

Do you plan on updating soon?

[TWood]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

I checked out Share This- it looked good initially but what I don't like about it is that you need to give permission for Share This to interface it's own app with Facebook and Twitter whereas AddThis works directly with their API's and no special permission is needed. I for one basically never give 3rd party apps permission to work with my facebook or twitter accounts and I know that would stop a lot of people from sharing content on my site if they had to.

Yeah, I understand what you mean. So I've placed both of them for now, using the text versions so maybe it won't confuse people too much.



What I don't like about AddThis is that is doesn't show you the actual URL that it is sharing in the interface window for Facebook or Twitter (maybe others), just the shortened version. So you have make the link then click on it in your FB/Twitter page to test it. ShareThis shows both the actual URL and the shortened one in the interface window.

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by Sage Knight

Sir, I've been searching this for a while now, but I'm running 4.1.3

Do you plan on updating soon?

I'm glad you brought this up.

Today I released this mod: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=266159

Adds the Twiitter, Google, Digg, and more share buttons to vBulletin and is compatible with all 4.0.x and 4.1.x versions.

I will be ending support for this mod as it is now out-dated.