Miscellaneous Hacks - vBISpy - AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads

This is a port of vBISpy by MPDev to vBulletin4. MPDev has given me permission to port this modification, if any staff need to see it, I can forward the PM.


If you use this modification, please >> Mark As Installed, Nominate for MOTM, or Support Developer <<, thank you


What is this!?
vBISpy is an AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads for your vBulletin 4.0 forum.

Please note that this is currently in Beta. The style is not perfect, but the mod should be fully functionial.


Current Version
2.0.4 - You can find the 3.6.x version, here.


Features flagged for future version(s):

• looking for suggestions

Will this work on x.x.x ??
Unless otherwise stated, this will work on all 4.0.x versions. This will not work on 3.x.


Sounds cool. How do I install?

1. Extract the zip, you should have the following directories/files:
   
   

   /
   |_ vaispy.php
   
   /clientscript/
   |_ va_effects.js
   |_ va_prototype.js
   |_ va_spy.js
   
   /images/
   	/misc/
   	|_ pause_down.gif
   	|_ pause_up.gif
   	|_ play_down.gif
   	|_ play_up.gif

2. Upload: (in the below instructions 'yourforum' would be where you have vBulletin installed)
   
   • vaispy.php to /yourforum/vaispy.php
     
   • /clientscript/*.js to /yourforum/clientscript/*.js
     
   • /images/misc/*.gif to /yourforum/images/misc/*.gif

Upgrading
Unless noted otherwise, just upload and overwrite 'vaispy.php'.


Customization
Virtually all the code to customize the page is in the vaispy.php script; there are no plugins, no templates and no phrases. You do not need to do anything further; this should work right out of the box.

If you'd like to block certain usergroups from viewing vBISpy; or certain forums from being displayed - edit vaispy.php

PHP Code:

/**
* Do not list these forums even if they have 
* permissions (test categories, etc)
*
* Enter them by ID, separated by commans (eg: 1,2,3)
*/
$blockforums = '';

/**
* Do not allow these groups.
*
* Enter them by ID, separated by commans (eg: 1,2,3)
*/
$blockgroups = ''; 


In your browser, open the URL:

http://www.yourforum.com/forum/vaispy.php

You can see examples of this at:

• Anyone wanting to list here as an example?

Note: Neither I nor MPDev claim ownership of this code except for the file vaispy.php - the rest of the files were using 'freely distributable' (although modified to suit vBISpy) sources. As such, you may use these files as you wish, but please do not remove the copyrights.


Changelog
2.0.4 - June 23, 2011
- Changed 'xml' to 'feed' when the script is requesting data via AJAX
- Updated code that checks for blocked groups and forums so that it works properly.
- Added version string (?v=) to script calls.
- Updated template html to include facebook data if enabled.
- Updated css link rendering to determine if templates are stored as files or not.

2.0.3 - March 25, 2010
- Updated alternate row colors to use stylevars.
- Added ability to block certain usergroups by editing vaispy.php.
- Fixed possible bug where in certain situations a database error would occur.

2.0.2 - January 23, 2010
- Hopefully the incorrect showthread link is now fixed.
- Added alternate row colors.
- Changed default xml delay in va_spy.js to 3000 from 7000.

2.0.1 - January 21, 2010
- Fixed issue with incorrect path to thread statusicon's
- Edits to clientscript/va_spy.js to hopefully fix issues with incorrect showthread link.
- Removed &nbsp;'s from the rows generated if displayed rows are less than 20

2.0.0 - January 21, 2010
- Ported to vBulletin4 with permission from MPDev



If you use this modification, please >> Mark As Installed, Nominate for MOTM, or Support Developer <<, thank you

[xsamet]

thank you installl...

[TurkYasam]

Is there any chance that we can have small avatar on "by" column?..
After we have avatar,I guess I can make it look like yahoo answers homepage with some basic html coding (recent-populer section)

regards

[vivamexico55]

Installed, tagged, nominated.

Any possibility of making this a WIDGET for the front page? (CMS)

It would be excellent.

In any case, thanks for this!

[carubmun]

I have hundreds of forums... and i would like this to only pull info from 15 or so forums.
Would i then need to put in the forum number of all of the hundreds of forums i dont want it to pull posts from?
Cuz that would not be fun.
Specially since i plan on using this on a number of different pages, broken down by forum section.

[hotslot]

Keeping this thread alive.. Is everything up to par on it now?

[carubmun]

How can i run this code inside a template and not in its own page.
Like i want to be able to run it inside a forum or section... even if that means using the notices system.
When i put the code in there it doesnt work though.

[New Joe]

Originally Posted by carubmun

How can i run this code inside a template and not in its own page.
Like i want to be able to run it inside a forum or section... even if that means using the notices system.
When i put the code in there it doesnt work though.

Best thing to do is set up a Forum in the Admin CP and when creating the Forum, just add a URL re-direct so when a user clicks on the Forum it will go to the URL of iSpy.
Easy mate.

[Katoona]

I am just curious - does this script/iSpy require much server-load?

[Fuhrmann]

Doest not work here too. All looks fine, but no thread, post appears. Anyone know what could be?

[sticky]

I can't believe it took me so long to find this! Wow, what an awesome mod.

My only question is, how do I get it to look like a grid setup which divides the updates cleanly like here: http://www.bikeforums.net/vaispy.php