AboutToday - Bring RSS Feeds and Daily Events to Your Site!

What is AboutToday?

AboutToday provides a central place to bring daily items of interest to your forum visitors. It includes two main components: an RSS Reader System and Local Events database System.

Please NOTE: This mod has been modified for vb ver 3.6.4. It should work on vb ver 3.5.4 and 3.6.x.

1. An RSS Reader system where the admin can enter RSS feeds that will then be displayed on the page. RSS feeds can be set to AUTOMATICALLY create threads or be set so that users can easily create a thread from a feed.. Feeds can be read via fopen or cURL.
   
   
   
   
   
   The RSS Feeds are fully intergrated with vbAdvanced and could actually be placed anywhere you want!!
   
2. A database system that can hold unlimited categories of "AboutToday" events. For example, you could have a history category (like a Today in History) with sub-categories for different eras in history. Or, you could have a daily joke or software tip of the day, etc.
   
   The "Add Event" feature is intended to help you if you want for example - Sports: Today in History. With the vb calendar, you cannot have categories and you are restricted with how far back the dates can go.
   
   
   
   
   So with the "Add Event" feature, you could have a category tree like:
   • Hockey
     • Professional
     • College
     • High School
   • Football
     • American Football
     • The Rest of the World (Soccer)
   • Baseball
   
   with the normal calendar feature, you cannot have categories. And with "Add Event" you can have any date. So, if you want an event like "Jan 1, 132 B.C. - the first ball was invented", you can do that. But, that isn't possible in the normal calendar. Also, the events in "Add Event" are fully searchable.

Installation

Copy the following files to your server in the forums directory:

abouttoday.php
includes/class.csv.php
includes/class_abouttoday.php
includes/cron/cron_abouttoday.php
includes/xml/bitfield_abouttoday.xml
includes/xml/cpnav_abouttoday.xml
admincp/abouttodayadmin.php

From the admincp, import the product file product-abouttoday.xml (Manage Products - Add/Import Product).

REFRESH your admincp window. You should now see a listing in the left column of the admincp for "AboutToday".

Getting Started

NOTE - if this is a new install, a Yahoo RSS Feed and CNN Entertainment Feed have been automatically added to give you a feel for how the product looks.

If you plan to use the RSS Feeds:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - RSS Feeds. Add an RSS Feed.
2. From the admincp, select Usergroups - Usergroup Manager. Add permissions so the Administrator group can use the product.
3. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php.
4. If you want the feeds to AUTOMATICALLY create threads, go to admincp - abouttoday - settings. There you must set the userid of the account to use to create the thread. Then, edit the RSS Feed with the forumid of where the threads for that feed should be created!

If you plan to create your own "today in history" type of database:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - Categories. Add a category.
2. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php. "Add" your first event to the category you have created!

Version Status
I've tested this product extensively but ... use this totally at your own risk!

Credits
I learned a lot about how to code this and used a lot of the code from what Ron1n did with ecDownloads. What I've learned from his code while helping to support ecDownloads has been invaluable.

Sites Using this Product
Visit www.armchairgeneral.com to see this product in action.

Click Install!
Please Click Install if you are using this product. Thanks!

[chick]

I've just confirmed it is GARS causing this issue in RED where you cannot add your own event, does anyone have the fix for it?

[Fungsten]

I'm using VB 3.8.3. When I go to edit an RSS Feed then click "Edit" occasionaly it will not do anything, just sit there. Is anyone else having this issue?

BTW, this also occurs with "Add Feed".

[bada_bing]

Will this mod get updated to work on vb 3.8.x and 4.x ?

[busybeeburns]

I'm using 3.8.5 and it works fine?

[downloadsuk]

open for use on v. 4?

[Lexserv]

I'm trying to delete this add-on, but I keep getting the following error:

Database error in vBulletin 3.8.6:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT TITLE FROM `vb3_cron` WHERE TITLE LIKE 'AboutToday';

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'TITLE' in 'field list'
Error Number : 1054
Request Date : Friday, November 19th 2010 @ 03:24:27 AM
Error Date : Friday, November 19th 2010 @ 03:24:27 AM
Script : http://www.domain.com/admincp/plugin.php?do=productkill
Referrer : http://www.domain.com/admincp/plugin...=abouttoday&s=
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.0.77-community

Any fix to this?

[accludetuner]

Originally Posted by chick

Has anyone fixed the Fields marked in RED issue. This has to do with gars (if you have gars installed)???

I'd like to use this but the plugin needs fixing for gars allowance. Anyone?

Originally Posted by chick

I've just confirmed it is GARS causing this issue in RED where you cannot add your own event, does anyone have the fix for it?

I have vb 3.8.7 PL2 installed and GARS. I just ran across this mod and thought I'd give it a try. I'm not exactly sure what issue you're referring to but if I have the same issue then I'll try to find a fix for it. If I do I'll post it back here.

[accludetuner]

Originally Posted by Lexserv

I'm trying to delete this add-on, but I keep getting the following error:

Database error in vBulletin 3.8.6:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT TITLE FROM `vb3_cron` WHERE TITLE LIKE 'AboutToday';

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'TITLE' in 'field list'
Error Number : 1054
Request Date : Friday, November 19th 2010 @ 03:24:27 AM
Error Date : Friday, November 19th 2010 @ 03:24:27 AM
Script : http://www.domain.com/admincp/plugin.php?do=productkill
Referrer : http://www.domain.com/admincp/plugin...=abouttoday&s=
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.0.77-community

Any fix to this?

browse the vb3_cron db table through phpmyadmin or the SQL console or something. Sounds like like the column doesn't exist or is called something other than "TITLE"

[bada_bing]

This is such a great mod, wondering if the developer is going to port this over to 4.x