TOTW: Thread of the Week Poll - Version 1.16

Thread of the Week Poll - Version 1.16

Description
With this hack it is possible to setup an automated system for electing a "Thread of the Week". Based on 1 or more rules you define it will select a number of threads from your board and will post a poll to let your members select their favourite thread.

This hack was written based on a requestion made here previously: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=63969

Tested on
- vB 3.0.7
- vB 3.0.6
- vB 3.0.5
- vB 3.0.3 (Will probably also work on earlier versions)

Install Information
Installation using HIS installer included (HIS by Link14716 https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...staller+system)
Uninstaller included
Install time: 2 minutes, easy
File edits: 0
Template edits: 0
Database modifications: 2 new tables

Features

• Can run 1 or more Rules for selecting threads to include in Poll
• Forums to be scanned for candidate threads can be selected.
• Selection of candidate threads is done based on views and replies. The 'weight' of these selection criteria is settable for every rule.
• Poll's are fully configurable (Posted as user, Thread title, Poll question, number of options)
• Polls are automatic closed when a new poll is started
• Polls can be generated on a settable interval. Interval can be given in days or weeks. Alternativle a new poll can also be generated on a fixed day every month.
• uCash Integration. Activate in ACP Settings if you have uCash installed
• Setable uCash price money for place 1, 2 and 3.
• Date selection based on Thread Start Date or Last Reply Date. Selection can be made for every Rule.
• Optional result post on closing of Poll, user configurable text.
• Thread title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
• Poll title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
• Result post with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
• Help added to the Admin screen.
• .......

To be included in future releases
If enough request i am think of the following to add in a future release. More suggestions are welcome
- Integration with more existing Award system, already rewards possible using uCash
- More selection criteria

Support
Support will be given in this thread.

If you have problems, please first check the following:
- Did you set the uCash/uShop correct in ACP->vB Options->Thread of the Week (On/Off)
- Turn on logging in the Scheduled Taks for Thread of the Week. Check the Scheduled Task Log for any messages.

If you still have problems, please post the following information, so i can quickly try to help you:
- vBulletin version
- PHP and MySQL Version
- Version of this hack
- The schedule options you have set in the Rule Manager
- Selection Options
- When is it scheduled to run in the Scheduled Task Manager
- Any other relevant information

Thanks to
A big thanks to link14716 for the installer and to trafix for letting me use a script as a starting point for the admin settings, saved me a lot of time.

Also a huge thanks to sabret00th for testing (now i got someone to blame if there are still any errors left ).


Donations
I will not charge for this hack. But if you like it and are looking for a way to spend your money, paypal donations are always welcome (marcoh64@msn.com)

Please click Install if you are using this hack

Change log:
Version 1.16:
- Fixed bugs in updating Username/Userid/Thread Title in posted thread and forum info
- Removed 2 unneeded queries
- Added replacement variables for Thread Title:
- {date} - Current date formatted according to vB settings
- {beginofweek} - Date (formatted) of the start of the current week (sunday is start)
- {endofweek} - Date (formatted) of the end of the current week (saturday is end)
- {beginofweekmon} - Date (formatted) of the start of the current week (monday is start)
- {endofweekmon} - Date (formatted) of the end of the current week (sunday is end)
- Added {date} replacement variable to Poll Title
- Made all replacement variables case-insensitive
- Admin Help pages updated accordingly

Version 1.15:
- Add the option to override the default calculation for the cutoff date when selecting candidates. Now possible to enter a number of days to go back when selecting candidates.

Version 1.14:
- Bug that would make the cronjob crash if the current poll thread was deleted.
- Fixed version number in Manager script

Version 1.13:
- uCash Integration. Activate in ACP Settings to show them.
- Setable uCash price money for place 1, 2 and 3.
- Date selection can now be based on Thread Start Date or Last Reply Date. Selection can be made for every Rule.
- Optional result post on closing of Poll, user configurable text.
- Thread title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
- Poll title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
- Result post with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
- Help added to the Admin screen.
- Some minor modifications and bug fixes
- Removed debugging lines
- Scheduled task will now log information on the processing of the Rules in the Scheduled Task Log
- INSTALLER WILL ALSO UPGRADE FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS, SEE UPGRADE NOTES.

Version 1.12:
- Fixed bug where threadoftheweek.php would not run correct (or even generate a database error) when running through the scheduler (as oppsed to running it with "Run Now")
- Added loads of debug information. To activate debugging, change includes/cron/threadoftheweek.php and uncomment the line "// $TOTW_DEBUG = TRUE;". Debug lines will go to the Scheduler log.
- Forum counters will now be updated when a new poll is posted.
- Fixed bug where "Run on day x of month" didn't work.
- Some minor changes
- The first time the rule is run, only threads with a last postdate in the time interval which is set for the rule will be selected as Candidates. In the older versions all threads where considered on the first run.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Originally Posted by dsboyce8624

I'd like to change the poll so the voters names are not displayed.

Other than that, excellent piece of work.

You can already choose in the Rule settings if it should be a Public Poll or not.

[kall]

Originally Posted by MarcoH64

Thanks for the compliment. With a lot of user feedback it is now a nice and stable hack, unfortunatly it didn't start like that.

If you have any suggestions for improvement, i might be able to spend some time on previous wishes in the next week.

Well...the 'Place 1 gets... Place 2 gets...' could be changed to 'First place, second place, third place..' that might be nice.

Also, what about when threads have an equal number of votes? It could say 'First equal' .. I think at the moment it just says 'Place 1, Place 1, Place 1'.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

This would be difficult since it would make things language dependant. Will think about it.

And about ending up equal, you are right, i was just being lazy there.

[michael5472]

Cheers mate added it in.

Lets see how it goes

[kall]

Originally Posted by MarcoH64

This would be difficult since it would make things language dependant. Will think about it.

And about ending up equal, you are right, i was just being lazy there.

*grins*

I scooped all the Points last time...only got 1 vote per thread too.

[xtreme-mobile]

ive just installed this and sounds really good

is there a way of testing it now to make sure its working? or do i have to wait till the end of the week, is there anyway of getting it run now just so i know its working?

thanks

clicks install

[bonnmac]

couple of quick questions please 1. do i have to add this to ucs or dose the installer automaticly do it? 2. i am going to set this up with 3 threads every 3days (just to keep it intresting) now how do i make a post where it auto shows winners in 1 st 2 nd and 3rd as a reply to the poll i'm kinda slow with this thanks for a great hack!!

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Originally Posted by xtreme-mobile

ive just installed this and sounds really good

is there a way of testing it now to make sure its working? or do i have to wait till the end of the week, is there anyway of getting it run now just so i know its working?

thanks

clicks install

You could setup a test Rule posting into your Mod/Admin forum and have it run each day.

For testing you could clear the Last Run date in the rule, and run the Scheduled task with Run Now.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Originally Posted by bonnmac

couple of quick questions please 1. do i have to add this to ucs or dose the installer automaticly do it? 2. i am going to set this up with 3 threads every 3days (just to keep it intresting) now how do i make a post where it auto shows winners in 1 st 2 nd and 3rd as a reply to the poll i'm kinda slow with this thanks for a great hack!!

1. What is ucs?
2. Look into the Rule settings (make sure to also use the Admin help - questionmark behind each setting). You can set there how result should be posted.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Hmm never mind ucs = uCash/uShop, didn't have enough coffee this morning to understand that.

1. No changes to ucs needed to make this work.

[osariase]

How do i create a cron job,
I know this question is dumb but please excuse me, can someone please show or tell me how
thanks

[rinkrat]

/me hits install

Brilliant!!

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Originally Posted by osariase

How do i create a cron job,
I know this question is dumb but please excuse me, can someone please show or tell me how
thanks

AdminCP->Scheduled Tasks->Add Scheduled Task

[Goodspeed]

We have 1.11 version installed and would like to do clean uninstall and clean install of new version. How can I do clean uninstall of 1.11 version?

Thank you!

[Marco van Herwaarden]

You should be able to upgrade using the 1.16 installer.

If you want to uninstall first, upload the 1.11 installer again (if you removed it) and run it, and select to uninstall. Then just follow instrctions.