Show Thread Enhancements - Twitter - Tweet Button in SHOWTHREAD

This mod is now outdated and as a result support for new installs will be limited, if any.

-July 7, 2011-

Please instead use my new mod which offers Twitter and many more share options for VB 4.x without template edits.

WARNING - It appears vBulletin has changed the location of the Facebook Like button in version 4.1.2. As a result it is likely the code changes below will be different in 4.1.2 and beyond, I will not be able to support installs beginning with version 4.1.2 since my license stops at 4.0.8.


Twitter released their new TWEET button.

Live Demo: http://www.juot.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41185
(Note my Live Board is VB 3.8, but I have tested this on 4.0.4 and 4.0.6)
(Update I have for the time being replaced the Tweet button with the Add This share button on my live forum. See the screen shots instead.)

I have tested this in latest versions of IE / Firefox / Chrome / Safari / Opera and it should work in all.

This will show you how to add this simple code to your SHOWTHREAD template above the page navigation bar, if visible.

If you DO NOT use the built-in Facebook Like button do the following:

Go to the Admin CP -> Styles & Templates -> Style Manager
Edit your SHOWTHREAD Template

Find: (The first instance of)

		<vb:if condition="$pagenav">
			{vb:raw pagenav}
		</vb:if>

Above this add:

<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(X, Y, Z))">
<div id="mytweetbutton" align="right" style="height:27px;">
<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>
</vb:if>

Change the X, Y, Z in the first line to the forumid's of any private forums you may have. If a guest can't view a forum there is no reason to link a tweet to it. You can add as many or as few forumid's here as you need, just separate each with a comma.
Valid Examples:
<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(2, 5, 9))">
<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(7))">
<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8))">
If none of your forums are private or you want to enable this in every forum you can remove the lines:

<vb:if condition="!in_array($GLOBALS[forumid], array(X, Y, Z))">
and 
</vb:if>

Replace "YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME" with your twitter username, it will be referenced in the tweet- but the tweet will not be from YOU, it will be from whoever hits the tweet button.

If you DO USE the built-in Facebook Like button do the following:

Find:

		{vb:raw fblikebutton}

Replace it with:

<div id="fb_likeframe" style="border: none; overflow: hidden; height: 27px; width: 95px; vertical-align: text-bottom; padding-top:1px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>{vb:raw fblikebutton}

Replace "YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME" with your twitter username, it will be referenced in the tweet- but the tweet will not be from YOU, it will be from whoever hits the tweet button.

The Tweet button will now show up next to the Facebook Like button in anytime the Facebook Like button is displayed in a thread.

----

When you hit the Tweet button you will be given a box to type a message if you're logged in. If you're not logged in you will be asked to login or join, all within the pop-up window.

This button code will count the number of tweets people have made using it. For other options including the button with no counter visit: http://twitter.com/goodies/tweetbutton

The screen shots show the Tweet button both with and without the page navigation bar, and with the Facebook Like button.

Please click Install if you use this.

Download the .txt file for a copy of the install instructions. :up:

----

Known Issues- a few people have reported a 'slash' is missing in the URL submitted to Twitter on some boards. Other people have said URL's with non-english characters cause a URL error. The solution for both of these issues is in post #143 in this thread.

Also Twitter appears to be having widespread issues with the counter not working. Some sites it works, some it don't, sometimes it stops working, sometimes it starts working for no reason. If you find your count isn't working try the solution in post #147. If that doesn't work than disable your counter completely if you want by changing the word "horizontal" to "none" in the twitter code.

[BirdOPrey5]

OK... I'll see if I can replicate the issue on my 4.0.8 test board...

[oldfan]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

OK... I'll see if I can replicate the issue on my 4.0.8 test board...

thanks

[BirdOPrey5]

OK I am getting the same issue on 4.0.8 now... I looked up some info and it seems Twitter is now caching the twitter count so it doesn't update in real time... I made a couple of test tweets and it still shows "0" when i go back... I'm going to give it some time and see if the correct count is eventually displayed.

This is official info from Twitter on the subject:

My count doesn’t seem to be going up, is something wrong?

To improve performance we cache the count before displaying it. The cache is updated frequently but on some occasions it may look like your count is not increasing while the cache is updated. In addition, the count only includes public Tweets meaning a Tweet from a protected account will not cause an increase.

[oldfan]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

OK I am getting the same issue on 4.0.8 now... I looked up some info and it seems Twitter is now caching the twitter count so it doesn't update in real time... I made a couple of test tweets and it still shows "0" when i go back... I'm going to give it some time and see if the correct count is eventually displayed.

This is official info from Twitter on the subject:

Thanks for the info

[oldfan]

any luck?

[BirdOPrey5]

No, but I have found this is a widespread issue.. many bloggers posting about the exact same issue... no one can seem to find a rhyme or reason when it works or doesn't work. Hopefully twitter is working on the issue, I'd imagine they have to know about it considering how wide spread the issue is. All I can suggest for no is to disable the count or let your members know the count isn't working right yet... I'd imagine someday it will just start working when Twitter fixes the issue.

I went through about 10 different options using canonical links, data-url, and count-url options for the twitter tag and using both "basic" friendly and "advanced" friendly URL's in vbulletin and nothing worked.

I wish I knew if it was something new in 4.0.8 or if older VB4 versions also stopped counting- not that I'm in a position to do much about it but it would be nice to know.

Anyone with VB4 have this still working right?

[123_y_321]

ok, when I click the tweet button this is what I get

'url' parameter does not contain a valid URL.

How can I fix this?

[BirdOPrey5]

Can you paste the exact text/code for the twitter button you are using in your template?

[123_y_321]

here is my code

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="MY USER NAME">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by 123_y_321

here is my code

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="MY USER NAME">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Do you have accented/non-english characters in your URL? Some people have mentioned problems with that before... in any case try this:

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME" data-url="http://www.example.com/forum/{vb:link thread, {vb:raw thread}, {vb:raw pageinfo_post}}">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>

Replace "YOUR_TWITTER_USEENAME" and also replace http://www.example.com/forum/ with the URL to your forums.