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NEW Modified RSS News Feed Hack · **Released**: 04-12-2004

Hack originally posted by: Xyphen - RSS News Feed Hack
Modified by: wolfstream - Modified RSS News Feed Hack

I am posting this up as a new hack because of the major changes made to how the script works. Also, I didn't want people to get confused as to which one to download since there were 3 different versions on the original post.

Xyphen released the original version, then wolfstream modified the script and corrected some errors. After that, I modified wolfstreams version to change how posts were inserted. Now the post count will increase, posts will be able to be searched, and similiar threads will work.

RSS News Feed Hack for vB 3.0.x. As long as vBulletin doesn't change the database structure much, this should be good for the next release also, and those to come.

Allows you to have a live RSS news feed (such as one from Google or CNET) in a forum. The user that posts it will basically be a bot, which *should* only be used for posting the news, but you can even make it for a regular user.

Comments are welcome! Support provided through this thread.

Latest Version:
- 1.26 - for PHP 4.3.0 & above
- 1.26a - for PHP prior to 4.3.0

vBulletin Versions:
- 3.0.0
- 3.0.1

PHP Versions:
- > 4.3.0
- < 4.3.0

Installation Overview:
- Files to edit: (2) /admincp/index.php, /includes/functions_newpost.php
- Files to upload: (4) rss.php, admincp/rss_admin.php, includes/RSS/class.RSS.php, includes/RSS/rss_update.php
- Queries to run: (4) in rss_install.php

History:
Version 1.26 (23 June 2004 - Slapyo, Natch)
- listing of bot's more intuitive (Natch)
- hopefully fixed duplicate problem (Slapyo)
- stripped html tags from title and description (Slapyo)

Version 1.25 (12 May 2004 - Slapyo)
- fix for " showing up
- logs action in scheduled task log if turned on

Version 1.24 (20 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- posts now deleted with delete_thread function
- post counts updated when using delete all news

Version 1.23 (14 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- added ability to delete bots
- cleaned up includes
- fix for PHP versions prior to 4.3.0 calling html_entity_decode()

Version 1.22 (13 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- duplicate posts problem fixed
- fix for problem with ' appearing as \'

Version 1.21 (12 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- bot will not be subscribed to posts now

Version 1.2 (11 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- posts now inserted with build_new_post function

Version 1.1 (28 March 2004 - wolfstream)
- file edits taken down to 1
- cron script included

Version 1.0 (28 January 2004 - Xyphen)
- original release

Common RSS Feeds:
- Yahoo!
- CNET.com
- BBC
- Wired News
- The Register
- Ars Technica
- All Headline News

Slapyo · #**182** 05-07-2004, 12:31 AM

yup, your path is wrong in your scheduled task. go make sure it says this:

PHP Code:


			
./rss.php

LLFan · #**183** 05-07-2004, 03:45 AM

Thanks. =)

For some reason the All Headlines News is only formatting news in this format:

Code:

politicalwire.com - May 7 2004 5:25:0 GMT

Is that correct?

Ted S · #**184** 05-07-2004, 05:20 AM

Anyone know how I could add a field to each bot to make a fitler for required words so that instead of a bot pulling down every feed it pulls down only certain, matching feeds?

LLFan · #**185** 05-07-2004, 05:21 PM

A couple things,

* do I need to enable html in the forum the bot posts in? If not why is this: " showing?
* Can people reply to the threads or does it have to be a bot only forum?

I ask because when I tried to have a thread of my own creation the BBC Bot threw up a ton of news under my username! The id is correct, and not mine.

Any ideas?

LLFan · #**186** 05-08-2004, 04:11 AM

>>I ask because when I tried to have a thread of my own creation the BBC Bot threw up a ton of news under my username! The id is correct, and not mine.<<

Did it again but different newsbot and in a completely closed forum for everyone but the bots. Note, it's also using people who have no permissions to post in there.

Any ideas?

Slapyo · #**187** 05-10-2004, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LLFan

>>I ask because when I tried to have a thread of my own creation the BBC Bot threw up a ton of news under my username! The id is correct, and not mine.<<

Did it again but different newsbot and in a completely closed forum for everyone but the bots. Note, it's also using people who have no permissions to post in there.

Any ideas?

the feed you are using may not have the pubDate field in it, this could be causing the problems with the date.

are you using the latest version of the news bot? this was a problem with a previous version that has now been fixed. you have to edit a couple of files as well as upload the included files.

can people reply to the posts? yes, if your forum is set up with it's permissions to allow it.

this should fix the " problem:

in rss_update.php FIND:

Code:

				// Setup the thread

ABOVE ADD:

Code:

$rss_title = str_replace("&quot;", "\"", $rss_title);
$rss_description = str_replace("&quot;", "\"", $rss_description);

Slapyo · #**188** 05-10-2004, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted S

Anyone know how I could add a field to each bot to make a fitler for required words so that instead of a bot pulling down every feed it pulls down only certain, matching feeds?

that would require some changes to the script as well as some changes to the mysql tables. you would need to make a table that had the words you want to use as a filter. then you would have to modify the code in the script to make it check for those words.

Leah · #**189** 05-11-2004, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slapyo

looks like it could work. when i have some time i will go through this some more. in midterms right now with lots of tests and papers due. *faints*

Hehe..
I know the feeling. I shouldn't even be here now.

LLFan · #**190** 05-12-2004, 05:01 PM

Using 1.2.4 which is the latest release to the best of my knowledge.

>>can people reply to the posts? yes, if your forum is set up with it's permissions to allow it.<<

I wanted to know if it is a known issue to allow members to post in the forum the bot posts in because of the issue I was having with the bot using the wrong userID.

Slapyo · #**191** 05-12-2004, 06:21 PM

oh no, that shouldn't be a problem allowing users to start posts as well as the bot to make posts.

the way i have mine set up is that only the bot is allowed to start posts, but people can reply to them. however for some time i did have it so that anyone could start a post. as long as you have the bot installed properly with the correct file edits, everything should work perfectly. your bot will make the posts and they won't show up from some other user.

Aceman · #**192** 05-12-2004, 08:40 PM

I have a display problem when it comes to showing TITLES of threads created from the RSS from scifi.com

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/rss/index.xml

The threads titles appear like this:

'Potter' Designer Talks Challenges

THE ORGINAL TEXT IS: 'Potter' Designer Talks Challenges

Now I fixed my display problems in the thread with replacement for "'" to " ' " and those are showing fine.. however the thread titles are not.. What can I do to fix this?

Aceman

Link to my news forum: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=90

Aceman · #**193** 05-12-2004, 08:46 PM

I'm a duffis.. I fixed it buy using the code you placed eariler:

$rss_title = str_replace("'", "'", $rss_title);
$rss_description = str_replace("'", "'", $rss_description);

Aceman · #**194** 05-12-2004, 11:37 PM

I'm getting duplicated threads when the rss runs on the hour. I checked the (scifi.com) rss link and it DOES have a pubdate.

<pubDate>Wed, 12 May 2004 12:26:39 EST</pubDate>

Yet I still have duplicates?? Any suggestions.

Slapyo · #**195** 05-12-2004, 11:41 PM

newest version: 1.25 (PHP > 4.3.0) and 1.25a (PHP < 4.3.0)

this update fixes the problems with " and it also will insert into the scheduled task log if you have it turned on ... atleast it should. heh, of course any problems let me know.

files changed are: rss.php and rss_update.php ... so if you want to make the changes yourself, or just upload those 2 files ... that's fine.

in rss.php FIND:

Code:

?>

ABOVE ADD:

Code:

log_cron_action('RSS News Feed Posted', $nextitem);

in rss_update.php FIND:

Code:

				// Setup the thread

ABOVE ADD:

Code:

$rss_title = str_replace("&quot;", "\"", $rss_title);
$rss_description = str_replace("&quot;", "\"", $rss_description);
$rss_title = str_replace("&apos;", "'", $rss_title);
$rss_description = str_replace("&apos;", "'", $rss_description);

Slapyo · #**196** 05-12-2004, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aceman

I'm getting duplicated threads when the rss runs on the hour. I checked the (scifi.com) rss link and it DOES have a pubdate.

<pubDate>Wed, 12 May 2004 12:26:39 EST</pubDate>

Yet I still have duplicates?? Any suggestions.

i think the problem lies within the " and ' problem. if there is a " or ' in the title it is changed and then in the database it is checked.

" != "
' != '

so it thinks it's a new title and it then posts. could you please check in phpMyAdmin and see if it is storing the data for the title with the " or ' .... unfortunately i have not seen this in my news articles yet so i can't verify this.

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