v2.0 Email new thread notifications to subscribed users

A few have requested this, me especially so i made it.

What it does: Emails all those who have subscribed to a forum an email telling them about a new thread.

Extra queries: 1 upon every new thread. Extra time processing new threads as emails must be sent.

code changes, 1 in newthread.php and 2 new templates.




CODE CHANGE:

Add:

PHP Code:

// This emails a new thread notification to those subscribed to the forum
    if ($enableemail) {
      // do emails

      $useremails=$DB_site->query("SELECT user.*
                                   FROM subscribeforum,user
                                   WHERE subscribeforum.forumid='$forumid'
                                     AND subscribeforum.userid=user.userid
                                     AND user.userid<>'$bbuserinfo[userid]'
                                    ");

              $toemail=$val;
              $forumtitle = $foruminfo['title'];
              $threadinfo['title'] = $subject;

      $bbuserinfo['username']=unhtmlspecialchars($bbuserinfo['username']);
      while ($touser=$DB_site->fetch_array($useremails)) {
        $touser['username']=unhtmlspecialchars($touser['username']);

        eval("\$emailmsg = \"".gettemplate("email_newthread",1,0)."\";");
        eval("\$emailsubject = \"".gettemplate("email_newthreadsubject",1,0)."\";");

        mail($touser[email],$emailsubject,$emailmsg,"From: \"$bbtitle Mailer\" <$webmasteremail>");
      }
} 


below the section //send email to moderators which ends with

}
}
}
}

add two templates:

i) email_newthread

Hello $touser[username],

$bbuserinfo[username] has just started a new thread: in $foruminfo[title]
This is a forum you have subscribed to at $bbtitle

The thread title is: $threadinfo[title] 
This thread is located at:
$bburl/showthread.php?threadid=$threadid&goto=newpost

Yours,
$bbtitle team

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unsubscription information:

You are receiving these "new thread" notifications because 
you are subscribed to the $foruminfo[title] forum. 

To unsubscribe, please visit:
$bburl/usercp.php

and secondly

email_newthreadsubject

New Thread in $foruminfo[title]

any you are away

[WizyWyg]

Originally posted by chrispadfield
- I have not tested it on 2.2
- Remember when testing it that it will not send you notifications if you are the one that started the thread, you need to test with 2 people.
- You can not distribute it as a hacked file if you got it to work.


When i do the almighty upgrade to 2.2 I will revisit the hack.

I am testing it with 2 different id's

One id is "subscribed" to the foum
The other isn't.
The other posts a new thread in the forum.
The first id doesn't get any notices via email saying that there is a "new thread" in that subscribed forum.

[hadley]

Chris, I just want to add my voice (whine?) to those who hope you revisit this hack soon. It's very cool -- exactly what my users are clamoring for -- and, unfortunately, I found out about your hack after I upgraded to vB 2.2.

(No thanks to vB support on that :cry: -- had I known about your hack, I wouldn't have upgraded. E-mail notification to forum subscribers is far more important to me than the minor fixes I got with 2.2.)

Anyway -- godspeed, break a leg, bless you, and all of that.

Bruce Hadley
www.softwareCEO.com

[kippesp]

Has anyone installed this hack where a subscription would trigger 500 or so emails? Have there been any problems?

I've considered modifying it so that emails go out as a single BCCed email.

Originally posted by hadley
[B]...unfortunately, I found out about your hack after I upgraded to vB 2.2.

(No thanks to vB support on that :cry: -- had I known about your hack, I wouldn't have upgraded. E-mail notification to forum subscribers is far more important to me than the minor fixes I got with 2.2.)

Can someone elaborate on this comment? I have no knowledge of anything prior to 2.2.1. Were forum subscriptions once implemented in vB pre-2.2.0? And it was removed?

[hadley]

What I meant by my comment is this:

Chris's hack did work on vB 2.1, so, had I stayed with that version of vB, I could now have email notification going out to my users who want that feature.

But I upgraded to vB 2.2 before I found out about Chris's hack, and from reading through this thread I discovered that it won't work with versions past 2.1. I am trying to beg or bribe Chris to update the hack to work on vB 2.2.4, but so far have had no luck. :cry:

My snipe at vB was this:
The sales conversation I had with them pre-purchase led me to believe that vB's "subscribe to forum" feature did exactly what I want: notify the person subscribed, via email, whenever there's a post to that forum. It makes sense; after all, that's what "subscribe to thread" does.

When I started talking to vB tech support about this issue a month ago, they told me the "subscribe to forum" feature does not provide any email notification -- it's only there so that users can build "hot lists" they can access directly through their control panels.

Now, had they told me a month ago that there was a hack out there, I would have grabbed Chris's hack, and it would have worked, because I was still running vB 2.1 quite happily. But vB tech didn't respond for weeks, until I finally prodded them with a follow-up email -- and it was only then that they suggested I look here for a hack. (Prior to that, I didn't even know about this board.) But by then I'd already upgraded to vB 2.2, which I didn't need -- I'd much rather have the hack.

Chris's hack does what I believed the vB product would do, and what I strongly think the vB product should do -- but in fact it was never built that way, at least not to my knowledge.

[kippesp]

Originally posted by hadley
But I upgraded to vB 2.2 before I found out about Chris's hack, and from reading through this thread I discovered that it won't work with versions past 2.1.

Okay. That's a relief. I was worried that a major problem was found and vB just took out a feature.

I'm still testing this on my board and we're at 2.2.2. I have made some small modifications, but I didn't see any glaring issues that were 2.2.x specific. I can post my revision here if you like.

I've also looked at 2.2.4 to know there will be no problems once I upgrade. I still need to fix a few things to make this hack work like I want it to, but I can certainly release my revision. (But it would be done as a new hack to prevent confusion. I didn't make my extensions compatible with Chris's.)

[WizyWyg]

Originally posted by hadley

My snipe at vB was this:
The sales conversation I had with them pre-purchase led me to believe that vB's "subscribe to forum" feature did exactly what I want: notify the person subscribed, via email, whenever there's a post to that forum. It makes sense; after all, that's what "subscribe to thread" does.

Then you're conclusions to this was wrong, because it was never mentioned specifically that an email would be sent out (dont you think it would have been stated?). When I read over the features, I never came to that conclusion.

When I started talking to vB tech support about this issue a month ago, they told me the "subscribe to forum" feature does not provide any email notification -- it's only there so that users can build "hot lists" they can access directly through their control panels.

Exactly as it does and was said in the features of the software. Again, nowhere did it state that it would email anyone.

Now, had they told me a month ago that there was a hack out there, I would have grabbed Chris's hack, and it would have worked, because I was still running vB 2.1 quite happily. But vB tech didn't respond for weeks, until I finally prodded them with a follow-up email -- and it was only then that they suggested I look here for a hack. (Prior to that, I didn't even know about this board.) But by then I'd already upgraded to vB 2.2, which I didn't need -- I'd much rather have the hack.

Please re=read Vb's policy about support to hacked boards (summarize, they dont offer it)
The Hack forum (on vb's site) has a direct link to this site.

Chris's hack does what I believed the vB product would do, and what I strongly think the vB product should do -- but in fact it was never built that way, at least not to my knowledge.

What you believed it would do, and what it states in the features are two different things. You just came to the wrong conclusion.

[hadley]

WoozyWog,
You were not, as far as I know, privvy to my e-mail and telephone conversations with the vB people -- you don't know what they told me re: features -- so your conclusions are just as flawed as mine. But, hey, if it makes you feel better to slog me in these boards, have at it -- I was just looking for a software enhancement, not an indictment of vB or its employees.

[hadley]

kippesp,
I'm very interested in your hack -- I've got users screaming for e-mail notification, but I need something that works with vB 2.2.4.

Please let me know, either here or offline.

Many thanks,
hadley@softwareCEO.com

[kippesp]

I've post my variation on this. See this thread for how things differ:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=36365