Links and Files Database

The VB3.0 version is no longer supported although there have been no reported problems for some time

See here for the VB 3.6 version of this hack, which is now the supported version. This version currently also works with VB 3.5
See here for the VB 3.5 thread for this hack.

What's new in v1.60?

Option to display associated thumbnail images
Option to accept/not accept new entries if these already exists in database
Code for mass edits (accessed via admincp) tidied up
VB phrasing completed
Includes a full French and a partial German translation (thanks to cclaerhout, Allan and LeeWicKeD), handled properly by installation script.
Various bugs fixed and tested against php4 and php5:
Better database validation (on startup/in admincp: links with invalid associated forumids, categories with invalid parentids)
Alternative linkbit templates provided (default uses a fieldset, the other is the old-style table row)
Alternative category selection templates (pull down menu/list of checkboxes),
Star rating displayed using standard VB stars rather than in text form
Series of minor bug fixes
See file change.txt in zip file

What it is/does

- Provides a searchable database of weblinks and/or downloadable files, for example manuals, music files, pictures, etc.
- Integrates within VBulletin, without requiring any code changes.
- Transparently handles links and file downloads. (If you want to provide downloads from your own site, you need a separate tool to upload these files. This hack does not and will not include a file uploader.)
- Provides unlimited nested categories.
- Each link/file can be a member of multiple categories.
- Link and category title and descriptions can use all BBCODEs, giving the possibility to add images, colouring, etc, as you wish
- Viewing/access permissions controlled using VBulletin forum system
- Users can rate links, in a similar manner to VB thread rating.
- File downloads are semi-leechproof, i.e. the user does not see where the file is stored and can only access the link if she has access to the associated forum.
- Audio files playable via Windows Media Player can be offered as a jukebox .
- Tracks who downloads what
- Validates links on entry/editing, and provides admin facility to validate the entire database.

Installation/upgrading instructions

Read instructions.txt in the zip file. Installation script works out whether to install or upgrade.

To upgrade from an earlier release of this hack, simply re-run the installation script. If you modified the templates in the top styles, you will lose these modifications unless you back up and re-edit.

PLEASE BACK UP YOUR DATABASE

See also

For screen shots, see attachments.

Tested with

VBulletin 3.0 and higher
PHP 4.1.1 and 4.3.4, should work with all 4.x versions, seems ok with 5.0.4
MySQL 4.0.
Reported ok with MySQL 4.1 but not exhaustively tested

Credits

Initially inspired by drkFusion's vb2 hack "vb Link Directory" v.2 and discussion about v.3 on Vbulletin.org. This is a complete rewrite with many more features. Every credit to the VBulletin folks for providing the infrastructure and to those on vbulletin.org who have helped with testing.

Integrations/Conversions

Natch has written extensions to integrate this hack with VBindex and VBAdvanced.

For convenience, this hack includes fully integrates with, but does not install, his VBIndex hack - i.e. the required template and code are provided, and the admin panel handles the configuration settings. Please refer to his thread for instructions.

Integration with VBadvanced is described in thread 1319 at vbadvanced.com.

The zip file includes a script and instructions for converting from vbLinks v2 (see thread 44551

[bhxtyrant]

alright i just took some screen shots of the admin CSS stuff.Here is the images hope they will do don't know any other way to show you the CSS.


Additional CSS-

/* ***** styling for 'big' usernames on postbit etc. ***** */
.bigusername { font-size: 10pt; }

/* ***** small padding on 'thead' elements ***** */
td.thead, div.thead { padding: 4px; }

.postbitinfo {
background-color: #000000;
border-top: 1px ridge #322723;
border-right: 1px ridge #322723;
border-left: 1px ridge #322723;
border-bottom: 1px ridge #322723;
padding-top: 3px;
padding-right: 0px;
padding-left: 3px;
padding-bottom: 3px;
margin-bottom: 3px;
}

/* ***** basic styles for multi-page nav elements */
.pagenav a { text-decoration: none; }
.pagenav td { padding: 2px 4px 2px 4px; }

html {
scrollbar-face-color:#6E5E52;
scrollbar-highlight-color:#453A34;
scrollbar-3dlight-color:#453A34;
scrollbar-darkshadow-color:#453A34;
scrollbar-shadow-color:#453A34;
scrollbar-arrow-color:#000000;
scrollbar-track-color:#000000;}

input {
background-color: #000000;
font-size: 10px;
font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
color:#FFFFFF;
border-color: #362E2A;
border-width: 1

/* ***** define margin and font-size for elements inside panels ***** */
.fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px #322723; }
.fieldset, .fieldset td, .fieldset p, .fieldset li { font-size: 10px; }

/* ***** don't change the following ***** */
form { display: inline; }
label { cursor: default; }
.normal { font-weight: normal; }
.inlineimg { vertical-align: middle; }

and my CSS for vbulletin_editor.css is as follows

/* the container for the editor */
#vBulletin_editor
{
border: 1px ridge #322723;
}

/* the container for all the edit controls */
#controlbar, .controlbar
{
padding: 2px;
}

/* the WYSIWYG edit area itself */
#htmlbox
{
border: 1px ridge #322723;
font: 10pt verdana;
overflow: auto;
}

/* an individual button */
.imagebutton
{
left: 0px;
top: 0px;
}

/* an individual WYSIWYG color element in the color popup */
.ocolor
{
padding: 2px;
font-size: 1px
}

/* WYSIWYG the part of the color element that gets colored */
.ocolor div
{
width: 10px;
height: 10px;
border: 1px solid #322723;
}

/* WYSIWYG font, size and smilie elements within popups */
.ofont, .osize, .osmilie, .otextlink
{
font: 10px tahoma;
cursor: default;
}

/* style for WYSIWYG font option elements */
.ofont
{
padding: 0px 4px 0px 10px;
font-size: 14px;
height: 20px;
}

/* style for WYSIWYG size option elements */
.osize
{
padding: 0px 4px 0px 4px;
height: 20px;
}

/* the smilie image within a WYSIWYG smilie popup */
.osmilie img
{
vertical-align: middle;
margin: 4px;
}

/* text buttons within popup menus */
.otextlink
{
text-align: center;
margin-top: 4px;
height: 20px;
}

/* the left cell of a WYSIWYG popup menu control */
.popup_feedback
{
font: 11px tahoma;
height: 18px;
padding: 0px 3px 0px 3px;
white-space: nowrap;
overflow: hidden;
}

/* the container window for a WYSIWYG popup menu */
.popupwindow
{
border: 1px solid APPWORKSPACE;
padding: 3px;
position: absolute;
left: 0px;
top: 0px;
z-index: 5;
}

/* the WYSIWYG color popup */
#popup_forecolor
{
padding: 3px;
}

/* the WYSIWYG font popup */
#popup_fontname
{
padding: 1px;
overflow: auto;
overflow-x: hidden;
overflow-y: scroll;
}

/* the WYSIWYG size popup */
#popup_fontsize
{
padding: 1px;
}

/* the WYSIWYG smilie popup */
#popup_smilie
{
padding: 1px;
overflow: auto;
overflow-x: hidden;
overflow-y: scroll;
}

/* the context-notification area for WYSIWYG font and size feedback */
#fontOut, #sizeOut, .popup_feedback div
{
border: 0px solid;
padding: 0px 2px 0px 2px;
cursor: default;
font: 11px tahoma;
overflow: hidden;
}
fieldset { border: 1px solid #322723; }

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by bhxtyrant

alright i just took some screen shots of the admin CSS stuff.Here is the images hope they will do don't know any other way to show you the CSS.


Additional CSS-


and my CSS for vbulletin_editor.css is as follows

I think your css definition for .fieldset needs the 'solid' keyword.

ie

/* ***** define margin and font-size for elements inside panels ***** */
.fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px #322723; }
.fieldset, .fieldset td, .fieldset p, .fieldset li { font-size: 10px; }

should be

/* ***** define margin and font-size for elements inside panels ***** */
.fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px solid #322723; }
.fieldset, .fieldset td, .fieldset p, .fieldset li { font-size: 10px; }

[bhxtyrant]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

I think your css definition for .fieldset needs the 'solid' keyword.

ie

/* ***** define margin and font-size for elements inside panels ***** */
.fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px #322723; }
.fieldset, .fieldset td, .fieldset p, .fieldset li { font-size: 10px; }

should be

/* ***** define margin and font-size for elements inside panels ***** */
.fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px solid #322723; }
.fieldset, .fieldset td, .fieldset p, .fieldset li { font-size: 10px; }

Already tried this as well someone over at vBulletin.com suggested it and it wouldn't work.matter in fact the only way i could get it to work even on the main forums was by adding the fieldset.css to the vbulletin_editor.css file.When i add the fieldset to the additional css options it doesnt seem to have any effect on the forums at all no matter what way i put it in.

I have tried-
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px solid #322723; }"
"fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px solid #322723; }"
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px #322723; }"
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border-color: 1px solid #322723; }"
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 0px solid #322723; }"

These were the suggestions i got from vB.com forums as i couldn't get a response here at vB.org but i'm just stumped on this.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by bhxtyrant

Already tried this as well someone over at vBulletin.com suggested it and it wouldn't work.matter in fact the only way i could get it to work even on the main forums was by adding the fieldset.css to the vbulletin_editor.css file.When i add the fieldset to the additional css options it doesnt seem to have any effect on the forums at all no matter what way i put it in.

I have tried-
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px solid #322723; }"
"fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px solid #322723; }"
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px #322723; }"
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border-color: 1px solid #322723; }"
".fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 0px solid #322723; }"

These were the suggestions i got from vB.com forums as i couldn't get a response here at vB.org but i'm just stumped on this.

Maybe the best way to solve this is to look at a dump of the browser display. Is your site live? Or just go to local_links.php, do a view source, save it and email it to me at ad_rodin at noos.fr Make sure that you turn off 'Store CSS Stylesheets as Files?' on the admincp

[bhxtyrant]

Alright i will do that in a moment.Thanks alot for all your support i just want to get that white border out of there.Just looks so ugly and doesn't match the rest of the site/forums.I know if worse came to worse i could edit the source code a remove the <fieldset> options but i really would prefer to fix it rather then work around it,Don't want to do anything that may cause trouble in the future.

If you mean is my site online then yes it is but it's not avalible to any public yet.I am a part of a team and the main admin is the only one who can turn it on/off.And "Store CSS as files" is turned off as well.

:EDIT:E-mail is sent.Let me know if it comes through not sure if i got the e-mail address correct.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by bhxtyrant

Alright i will do that in a moment.Thanks alot for all your support i just want to get that white border out of there.Just looks so ugly and doesn't match the rest of the site/forums.I know if worse came to worse i could edit the source code a remove the <fieldset> options but i really would prefer to fix it rather then work around it,Don't want to do anything that may cause trouble in the future.

If you mean is my site online then yes it is but it's not avalible to any public yet.I am a part of a team and the main admin is the only one who can turn it on/off.And "Store CSS as files" is turned off as well.

:EDIT:E-mail is sent.Let me know if it comes through not sure if i got the e-mail address correct.

Got it. Your css definition for fieldset is immediately after a definition for input:

input {
background-color: #000000;
font-size: 10px;
font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
color:#FFFFFF;
border-color: #362E2A;
border-width: 1 ;)

/* ***** define margin and font-size for elements inside panels ***** */
.fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; border: 1px solid #322723; }
.fieldset, .fieldset td, .fieldset p, .fieldset li { font-size: 10px; }

And you've ended the input definition with a closing parenthesis rather than brace.
Magic!

[bhxtyrant]

Oh man!I can't believe i didn't see that.Thanks it's working now.

by the way quick question.I was wondering if you plan to impliment options for permissions into your mod i know you have it where the links database uses permissions from a selected forum but will there ever be stand alone permissions?

kinda like this? http://www.busepa.de/pics/dl.jpg

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by bhxtyrant

by the way quick question.I was wondering if you plan to impliment options for permissions into your mod i know you have it where the links database uses permissions from a selected forum but will there ever be stand alone permissions?

I've wondered about that a number of times - because people have had more difficulty understanding the forum-based permissions than anything else. It's not high on my priorities, as the forum approach works very well for our own purposes and anything else would require a full rewrite.

However --- in the VB35 version, I have added an extra permission 'can_access_links' which sits on top of the whole system and is per-usergroup. Using this, you can turn on/off access to all links for some user groups.

[bhxtyrant]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

I've wondered about that a number of times - because people have had more difficulty understanding the forum-based permissions than anything else. It's not high on my priorities, as the forum approach works very well for our own purposes and anything else would require a full rewrite.

However --- in the VB35 version, I have added an extra permission 'can_access_links' which sits on top of the whole system and is per-usergroup. Using this, you can turn on/off access to all links for some user groups.

Ah i see,That sounds exactly like what i've been waiting for Will it be catagory based?for example if i have catagory 1 and catagory 2.I can set #1 to not allow guest usergroup to not view,and in #2 guest usergroup can view?

i have tried many types of link managers and so far yours is the best i have come across.The forum-based permissions took a bit of getting used to because alot of our forums allow everyone to view.Looks like i will be upgrading to vB 3.5.0 soon.Been holding off to wait for it to reach it's final build.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by bhxtyrant

Ah i see,That sounds exactly like what i've been waiting for Will it be catagory based?for example if i have catagory 1 and catagory 2.I can set #1 to not allow guest usergroup to not view,and in #2 guest usergroup can view?

i have tried many types of link managers and so far yours is the best i have come across.The forum-based permissions took a bit of getting used to because alot of our forums allow everyone to view.Looks like i will be upgrading to vB 3.5.0 soon.Been holding off to wait for it to reach it's final build.

No, that's the point - the additional setting is all or nothing.

But the easy way to use the forum-based permissions is simply to create a few extra forums to which you give the required different group permissions, then assign category 1 to the first, category 2 to the second, etc.