Flag a thread as news

[Blue Moose Aaron]

Here is the code used in my portal for the news

PHP Code:

// ######################### PROCESS NEWS ############################
// standard news block
if (($vbindex['options'] & VBI_SHOWNEWS) && !($vbindex['options'] & VBI_VBWAR) && !EXTRA_PAGE && $_REQUEST['action'] != 'shoutbox') {

    $getnews = $DB_site->query("
        ## GET NEWS ##
        SELECT thread.*,thread.iconid AS threadiconid, threadpost.pagetext AS pagetext,
        threadpost.attach AS attachcount,
        ".iif($vbindex['options'] & VBI_SHOWNEWSAVATAR, 'avatarpath, NOT ISNULL(avatardata) AS customavatar, user.avatarrevision, customavatar.dateline AS customdateline,')."
        ".iif(($vbindex['options'] & VBI_SUBNEWS) AND $bbuserinfo['userid'], 'NOT ISNULL(subscribethread.subscribethreadid) AS issubscribed,')."
        IF(user.displaygroupid = 0, user.usergroupid, user.displaygroupid) AS displaygroupid
        FROM ".TABLE_PREFIX."thread AS thread
        LEFT JOIN ".TABLE_PREFIX."user AS user ON (thread.postuserid = user.userid)
        LEFT JOIN ".TABLE_PREFIX."post AS threadpost ON (thread.firstpostid = threadpost.postid)
        LEFT JOIN ".TABLE_PREFIX."deletionlog AS deletionlog ON(thread.threadid = deletionlog.primaryid AND type = 'thread')
        ".iif($vbindex['options'] & VBI_SHOWNEWSAVATAR, '
        LEFT JOIN '.TABLE_PREFIX.'customavatar AS customavatar ON (customavatar.userid = user.userid)
        LEFT JOIN '.TABLE_PREFIX.'avatar AS avatar ON (avatar.avatarid = user.avatarid)'
        )."
        ".iif(($vbindex['options'] & VBI_SUBNEWS) AND $bbuserinfo['userid'], "
        LEFT JOIN ".TABLE_PREFIX."subscribethread AS subscribethread ON(subscribethread.threadid = thread.threadid AND subscribethread.userid = $bbuserinfo[userid])"
        )."
        WHERE forumid IN ($vbindex[newsfid])
        AND deletionlog.primaryid IS NULL
        AND forumid NOT IN (".implode(',', $limitfids).")
        AND thread.open <> 10
        AND thread.visible = '1'
        $globalignore
        $ignorelist
        ORDER BY ".iif($vbindex['options'] & VBI_STICKYNEWS, 'thread.sticky DESC,', '')." thread.dateline DESC
        LIMIT $vbindex[newsposts]");

    while($news = $DB_site->fetch_array($getnews)) {

          $news['title'] = fetch_censored_text($news['title']);
          $news['time'] = vbdate($vboptions['timeformat'], $news['dateline']);
          $news['date'] = vbdate($vboptions['dateformat'], $news['dateline'], 1);
          $news['musername'] = fetch_musername($news, 'displaygroupid', 'postusername');
          $news['attachcount'] = vb_number_format($news['attachcount']);
          $news['replycount'] = vb_number_format($news['replycount']);

          if ($news['iconid']) {
            $news['showicon'] = true;
            $news['threadiconpath'] = &$iconcache["$news[threadiconid]"]['iconpath'];
            $news['threadicontitle'] = &$iconcache["$news[threadiconid]"]['title'];
        } elseif (!empty($vboptions['showdeficon'])) {
            $news['showicon'] = true;
            $news['threadiconpath'] = $vboptions['showdeficon'];
            $news['threadicontitle'] = $vbphrase['default'];
        }

          // ## CENSOR NEWS AND PARSE vB CODE ##
          $news['pagetext'] = fetch_censored_text(parse_bbcode(strip_bbcode(fetch_trimmed_title($news['pagetext'], 394), true, true), $news['forumid'], 1));

        // ## GET POSTERS AVATAR ##
        $news['avatar'] = false;
        if ($vbindex['options'] & VBI_SHOWNEWSAVATAR) {

            if (!isset($avatarcache["$news[postuserid]"])) {

                if ($news['customavatar']) {

                    if ($vboptions['usefileavatar']) {
                        $news['avatarurl'] = "$vboptions[avatarurl]/avatar$news[postuserid]_$news[avatarrevision].gif";
                    } else {
                        $news['avatarurl'] = "$vboptions[bburl]/image".SCRIPT_EXTENSION."?userid=$news[postuserid]&amp;dateline=$news[customdateline]";
                    }

                    $news['avatar'] = true;
                    $avatarcache["$news[postuserid]"] = $news['avatarurl'];
                    DEVDEBUG("cached avatar for userid $news[postuserid]");
                } elseif (!empty($news['avatarpath'])) {
                    $news['avatarurl'] = $vboptions['bburl'].'/'.$news['avatarpath'];
                    $news['avatar'] = true;
                    $avatarcache["$news[postuserid]"] = $news['avatarurl'];
                    DEVDEBUG("cached avatar for userid $news[postuserid]");
                } elseif (!empty($vbindex['useravatar'])) { // we have a default av specified
                    $avatarurl = $vbindex['useravatar'];
                    $avatarcache["$bbuserinfo[userid]"] = $avatarurl;
                    $news['avatar'] = true;
                }

              } else {
                $news['avatar'] = true;
                $news['avatarurl'] = $avatarcache["$news[postuserid]"];
            }
        }

          eval("\$home[news] .= \"".fetch_template('vbindex_newsbit')."\";");
    }
      // memory saving
    unset($news);
    $DB_site->free_result($getnews);
}

// if vBwar is enabled then show that instead
if ((($vbindex['options'] & VBI_VBWAR) && !($vbindex['options'] & VBI_SHOWNEWS)) && !EXTRA_PAGE && $_REQUEST['action'] != 'shoutbox') {

    require_once('./vnews.php');

} 


Can anyone help me make this work?