Add-On Releases - Prosperent Product Search and Auto-Linker

Updates:

• November 21, 2012- Re-instantiated the template search bar for those who can't use sidebars in their templates. (v.2.8)
• November 20, 2012- Altered Default Sort Option to make it a drop down. (v.2.7)
• November 20, 2012- Fixed the issue causing users not to be able to view their PMs. (v.2.6)
• November 19, 2012- The search bar is now inside a Forum Block, no longer will you have to alter your template files.
  There is also an additional part to this plugin, the Auto-Linker. More about this will be described below.
  
• November 13, 2012- Resolved an issue with the starting query and when facets were clicked. (V2.4)
• October 24, 2012- Added a starting query and updated the API. Also now works when the query has an apostrophe in it. (V2.3)
• July 17, 2012- Added negative filters for Brands and Merchants. (v. 2.2)
• June 4, 2012- More optimization, fixed a CSS bug. (v. 2.1)
• May 18, 2012- Optimization. Updated API class, better functionality, removed the recent queries table. Added a CSS file that contains most of the CSS for those who want to change any settings. (v. 2.0)
• February 21, 2012- Optimization. I was informed that it was running slow on some peoples forums, so I optimized the table. It should run a lot faster and smoother now. (v. 1.6)
• February 16, 2012- Made some adjustments in how things are run, worked out a few bugs that I found. (v.1.5)
• February 14, 2012- 'Recent Searches' and 'Top Products' Sidebars have been integrated. These will help drive traffic to your forums. More AdminCP Options. (v.1.4)
• February 3, 2012- Facets have been launched, more Admin options, optimized code. (v1.3)
• January 31, 2012- Updated with AdminCP options for the logo, default price sort type, and API key (v1.2)
• January 27, 2012- Updated with Price Sort (v1.1)

Prosperent Product Search

This add-on will help make/increase earnings from your forum. It will add a product search to your forum's sidebar, which users can utilize to search for products. When they click the product through your forum they will be redirected to the Merchant's site. If they make a purchase you will earn a commission from the sale.

Prosperent Auto-Linker
This new portion of the add-on will enable you to designate words that will be linked to the Product Search. You can also use a different query.

For example,

red shoes => red Nike shoes
shoes

If you put the above inside the text area then any time red shoes or just shoes is in a post it will be linked to the Product Search. If you put the additional part after red shoes with any word then when it find 'red shoes' it will actually send the query of 'red Nike shoes' to the Product Search.

As with this example, put the longer part first. That way red shoes will be matched before shoes. Else red shoes would never be found.

Why Prosperent Product Search?

Prosperent Product Search uses Prosperent's API, which is a very advanced API that offers you access to 3000 merchants and 50 million products from all of the top online retailers. Stores like Zappos, 6pm, Best Buy, Overstock, REI, Advance Auto Parts, Kohl's, Gap, Banana Republic, Cabelas, and thousands more. If it is sold online, we probably have it in our system.

We have an ever growing community, which is always willing to answer questions and lend a helping hand, and our team here at Prosperent is also available on the forum.

Installation

First thing, head over to Prosperent and click Join, its Free to do so. Create your account and once you are signed in, click the API tab up top. This page will give you the information you need to know about the API. But all you need to do here at the moment is click API Keys on the submenu and click Add New API Key. This will get you the API key you'll need so commissions can be tracked back to you. Name it whatever you'd like and you'll see that its created a key for you.

Save that key somewhere as you'll be needing it later.

Now, download the .zip file and unzip it. First import the plugin file in the AdminCP. Open the 'Upload' folder and copy the contents into your main or root vbulletin directory.

Okay, with that done. Go into your AdminCP and click Settings -> Options -> Prosperent Settings and add your API Key to the input box labeled Api_Key and save that there.

The new search box is now in a forum block. These can be turned on or off inside the AdminCP options.

You also may have to enable sidebars for your forum if they currently are not active, to do this go to admincp -> options -> Forum Sidebar and Block Options and enable the Forum Sidebar option.

After that is finished, go to Forums & Moderators then go to Forum Blocks Manager. Once there click Add Block.

Block Type: Custom HTML/PHP. Click Continue. You'll be doing this for the two (2) sidebars. Now for the information to enter into each, look at the two images attached. Create a sidebar for Top Products.


If you can't view the images for any reason, for the forum block...

Title: 'Prosperent Top Products' or something similar
Description: Displays the top products.
Cache Time: 300 (or more, your call, this won't be changing as much as recent searches)
Content Type: PHP
Content: return $this;
Template to Use: Block_Prosperent_Tops_Template

Title: 'Prosperent Store' or something similar
Description: Displays the search box.
Cache Time: 1
Content Type: PHP
Content: return $this;
Template to Use: block_prosperent

Change the display order on the 'Forum Blocks Manager' to your liking.

Admin Options:

Giving you more power over this add-on.

• Api_Key- Enter your Api key here so you can earn your commissions
• Phrases and Optional Queries- Insert the words you'd like to be linked to the Product Search and their optional query.
• Case Sensitive Matching
• Open links in new window?- Will either open a link in a new window or the same window.
• Default_Sort- Sets the sort type default. relevance desc = Relevancy, price asc = Low to High, price desc = High to Low
• Starting Query- Adds a starting query, if nothing is set as a query when the user gets to the product search page.
• Enable Facets
• Api Limit- Set the API limit. Default is 10.
• Pagination Limit- Set the amount of results to appear per page. Default is 15.
• Addional Directory- This one is for those who's forums have an additional directory. Now instead of altering code you are able to define the additional directory here, Don't forget the leading slash (/).
• Merchant Facets- Number of merchants to display in primary facet list
• Brand Facets-Number of merchants to display in primary facet list
• Enable Top Products Sidebar-
• Top_Shown- Sets the number of Top Products to be shown in the sidebar.
• Negative Brand Filters- Brands to discard from results. If more than 1, seperate by commas. Enter the Brand name exactly how it appears in the results. (ie. Nike, Reebok, Merrell)
• Negative Merchant Filters- Merchants to discard from results. If more than 1, seperate by commas. Enter the Merchant's name exactly how it appears in the results.(ie. 6pm, Zappos.com, endless)
• Logo_Image-Set to display the Prosperent Logo with the search bar. Size is 167px x 50px.
• Logo_imageSmall- Set to enable the smaller logo. Size is 100px x 30px.
• Template_Placement- Changes the template that {vb: raw includedphp} is placed in. Remember the template name is case sensitive.

Template Installation of Search Bar:
Go to Styles & Templates, click Style Manager and then on your Primary Style, click Edit Templates. Open the header template and insert

PHP Code:

{vb:raw includedphp} 


where you'd like the search bar to show up.

Notes:

You can change which template to put

PHP Code:

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"] {vb:raw includedphp}[/COLOR] 


into but if you do you must change it inside the plug-in. The Plug-in is named Search Form Input Box. The template name is case sensitive.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to ask me here or on the Prosperent Community.

[99SIVTEC]

Originally Posted by shona

hi,

just tried to install this in vbulletin 4.1.9 forum

and forum index now is a blank page with the following error message:



have removed all files & uninstalled the xml file so the forum will function again. any suggestions?

also the install instructions say there are 4 files and 2 images in the folder which need to be ftp'ed in but I am seeing 6 php files + 5 images in /img/

thanks

Hey, what is your forums url?

And that's a mistake, I guess I had forgotten to update that in the write up when I updated it. Sorry about that.

[J-P]

the product.php page seems to be giving an unusual amount of database errors. I get at least 10 a day with it disabled and and more when it is enabled.

Database error in vBulletin 4.1.10:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT *
    FROM rbs_banners 
    WHERE enabled=1
        AND startdate<=1330360708
        AND enddate>=1330360708
        AND IF(forumhome, 0=0, IF(forumids='', 1, FIND_IN_SET('0', forumids)))
        AND IF(maximpressions>0, impressions<maximpressions, 1)
        AND IF(clicktrack, maxclicks=0 OR (maxclicks>0 AND clicks<maxclicks), 1);

MySQL Error  : MySQL server has gone away
Error Number  : 2006
Request Date  : Monday, February 27th 2012 @ 10:38:28 AM
Error Date    : Monday, February 27th 2012 @ 10:38:39 AM
Script        : http://www.invertplanet.com/forum/product.php?q=Sage-O-Soothe%20Tea%203.2%20oz%20by%20North%20American%20Herb%20&Spice=
Referrer      : 
IP Address    : 207.46.204.188
Username      : Unregistered
Classname    : vB_Database
MySQL Version :

There are various error messages but they all stem from the product.php page

[99SIVTEC]

Originally Posted by J-P

the product.php page seems to be giving an unusual amount of database errors. I get at least 10 a day with it disabled and and more when it is enabled.

There are various error messages but they all stem from the product.php page

Have you upgraded to the newest version yet? If not, I can do that for you real quick if that information you gave me last time works still. The newest version should fix the errors.

[J-P]

just upgraded.

Will let you know

Thank you

[99SIVTEC]

Originally Posted by J-P

just upgraded.

Will let you know

Thank you

No problem. Yea that should fix any mySQL errors that you were getting, its a much more stable and faster version.

[99SIVTEC]

So how's 1.6 working for everyone?

[J-P]

still getting DB errors from unregistered users but not nearly as many as before. When I asked the hosting about this I received this reply:

Apache timeout: 30 seconds
MySQL timeout: 10 seconds
PHP Execution timeout: 45 seconds

I don't know if it is the time outs that are causing this or the cache.

[99SIVTEC]

Originally Posted by J-P

still getting DB errors from unregistered users but not nearly as many as before. When I asked the hosting about this I received this reply:


I don't know if it is the time outs that are causing this or the cache.

Which error is it giving you. Its been running fine on a test site, whether I'm logged in or not.

[J-P]

This is the most common.

Database error in vBulletin 4.1.10:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT *
FROM style
WHERE (styleid = 5 AND userselect = 1)
OR styleid = 5
ORDER BY styleid ASC
LIMIT 1;

MySQL Error : MySQL server has gone away
Error Number : 2006
Request Date : Friday, March 2nd 2012 @ 03:44:19 AM
Error Date : Friday, March 2nd 2012 @ 03:44:31 AM
Script : http://www.invertplanet.com/forum/pr...d+Sheepskin+Co
Referrer :
IP Address : 66.249.72.243
Username : Unregistered
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version :

This one come up on occasion:

Database error in vBulletin 4.1.10:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT *
FROM rbs_banners
WHERE enabled=1
AND startdate<=1330678621
AND enddate>=1330678621
AND IF(forumhome, 0=0, IF(forumids='', 1, FIND_IN_SET('0', forumids)))
AND IF(maximpressions>0, impressions<maximpressions, 1)
AND IF(clicktrack, maxclicks=0 OR (maxclicks>0 AND clicks<maxclicks), 1);

MySQL Error : MySQL server has gone away
Error Number : 2006
Request Date : Friday, March 2nd 2012 @ 02:57:01 AM
Error Date : Friday, March 2nd 2012 @ 02:57:14 AM
Script : http://www.invertplanet.com/forum/pr...ng's%20Ent.
Referrer :
IP Address : 66.249.72.243
Username : Unregistered
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version :

I just noticed that the request date and error dates are just a tad over the 10 second limit

[shona]

Originally Posted by 99SIVTEC

Hey, what is your forums url?

And that's a mistake, I guess I had forgotten to update that in the write up when I updated it. Sorry about that.

forum url is http://inverts.com.au

thanks