The Arcive of Official vBulletin Modifications Site.

Links and Files Database · **Released**: 01-17-2004

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

AndrewD · #**227** 03-11-2004, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrus

Okey dokey! Thanks so much for your help!

PHP version 2.3.4

allow_url_fopen is off in both columns, so it looks like we have found our problem. Weird, though - does this mean it turned itself off spontaneously, as the links were working previously.

I have a co-location server, so I'm going to need to make that php.ini change myself - is it something easy to to do?

Oh, and do you still need a copy of debug.html, now we've found this?

No, I don't need the debug file!

I assume you mean PHP 4.3.2 not 2.3.4!

Find the following lines in your php.ini - I've no idea where it will be on your server.

PHP Code:


			
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

; Fopen wrappers ;

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;



; Whether to allow the treatment of URLs (like http:// or ftp://) as files.

allow_url_fopen = On

Off = not allowed, On= allowed.

Quite possibly a new version of php was installed?

Morrus · #**228** 03-11-2004, 02:25 PM

Thanks, Andrew. I've made that change.

However, another problem has cropped up. When clicking on "Revalidate", browsers have now started trying to download the file rather than execute it.

I decided to try upgrading to 1.0 (I was on 0.95), and local_links_install.php does the same thing - won't open in the browser, just tried to download it. If I permit the download, the resultant text file appears to be garbage:

Quote:

? ?T?n?0}N???^????
KE??P??=???BmI???F?)%X???"Q????`4?ߵE?+ ???z?[,.???m??T???B???4???C???????O+??pr8?_???i1*E ????W?^-?w??J?ڒ)?N޽???V~??x??ѝ8a?h?+?v?^VdqB??C+?!?v %?ޘ???????o?BĬ?V??I??{?8???t?c?w?F???f'*/׸qqqr?e1b<?Hä?2?9?`?獅??
?O??ʊ<L'Y??e???8#b?GC????^Z*{?-?#??*D???R+`iu?ŵԽ???ü?B?~v?6?d?)HJ{p?1?? ??`B$?8???he}??
B?Č"Ș??W@??P?0?nf?h,.?I?+??3I?~?81????ΧI??(<????!OE??k?%ks/????8N??? з???@_?4??"?????*!??yr??1)>j?~`7?̞???
?????!?Jz?????N:??1????V?jD???%^TK'?#V??v?y????'!????L4)?7$?J (VL?@?^+???QF?[?=??G#?FU??z ??b㇤7?d!4E=1??o9???z?+?D???:?(??喑ற???#??ڎ?;#"?J?L?
?q???l?D????;???V^?T?3ڎ2???"??l?}0? ?? 5^?k?

Any thoughts?

AndrewD · #**229** 03-11-2004, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrus

Thanks, Andrew. I've made that change.

However, another problem has cropped up. When clicking on "Revalidate", browsers have now started trying to download the file rather than execute it.

I decided to try upgrading to 1.0 (I was on 0.95), and local_links_install.php does the same thing - won't open in the browser, just tried to download it. If I permit the download, the resultant text file appears to be garbage:

Any thoughts?

Ouch!

First question - does any php script now run? If not, then your php installation is corrupt. Are you sure you've only changed the one line in php.ini?

If yes, how much of the standard VB s/w works and how much of my hack works?

Morrus · #**230** 03-11-2004, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Ouch!

First question - does any php script now run? If not, then your php installation is corrupt. Are you sure you've only changed the one line in php.ini?

If yes, how much of the standard VB s/w works and how much of my hack works?

Yep, vBulletin is working just fine.

This was happening before I changed the php.ini file, so it's not connected to that (it started last night).

Can't really tell how well the rest of the hack is working because, with half an upgrade to 1.0 done, I can't test it!

AndrewD · #**231** 03-11-2004, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrus

Yep, vBulletin is working just fine.

This was happening before I changed the php.ini file, so it's not connected to that (it started last night).

Can't really tell how well the rest of the hack is working because, with half an upgrade to 1.0 done, I can't test it!

Would you mind setting me up as an admin on your board and PM me the account and password, so that I can take a look?

Morrus · #**232** 03-11-2004, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Would you mind setting me up as an admin on your board and PM me the account and password, so that I can take a look?

Not to worry - got it fixed! I'll ask the guy who did it what the problem was and let you know, just in case someone else has the same issue!

Thanks for your help!

AndrewD · #**233** 03-11-2004, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrus

Not to worry - got it fixed! I'll ask the guy who did it what the problem was and let you know, just in case someone else has the same issue!

Thanks for your help!

No problem, am interested to know what went wrong.

Morrus · #**234** 03-11-2004, 04:47 PM

Here's what he said:

Quote:

In php.ini I changed the line
zlib.output_compression = On
to
zlib.output_compression = Off

Earlier when I was in there I had changed it too on (it was off). In the past I have found better performance from php websites having it on.
If the website does zlib compression as well it can cause problems. Most sites check to see if php has it on to avoid the problem, but it seems the link software doesn't.

So that was the (second) issue. The first, as you surmised was the allow_url_fopen. Don't know if that's any help to you (or anyone else who might end up in this situation).

AndrewD · #**235** 03-13-2004, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrus

Here's what he said:

So that was the (second) issue. The first, as you surmised was the allow_url_fopen. Don't know if that's any help to you (or anyone else who might end up in this situation).

Morrus, the documentation on zlib compression is distinctly cryptic in this respect, so I asked for help and did not get a relevant answer. But...

[New version of local_links.php attached for testing - now removed]

97cobracpe · #**236** 03-16-2004, 10:49 PM

Installed without problems. Great Hack!

One suggestion, when I added a link for a video, it simply opened it up. I'd rather have it bring up the prompt to open or download first. Kinda like when you right click, save as. Is this possible? Maybe through the mime type?

refertech · #**237** 03-16-2004, 11:21 PM

We have talked about this before because i had the same problem with pdf and xls files on my board but if there's a way none of us have been able to figure it out just yet.

Mark

Natch · #**238** 03-17-2004, 02:11 AM

This issue can be resolved thru correct config of your mime types ON YOUR SERVER ...

However, if this is not possible for you, the PHP file headers can be used to modify the behaviour of downloads - this would require a new class to be added to detect the filetype (based on the extension) and apply the appropriate headers to the download link based on that ...

refertech · #**239** 03-17-2004, 05:34 PM

thats over my head but ill work on it and see what i can come up with.

Thanks Natch.

Mark

97cobracpe · #**240** 03-17-2004, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natch

This issue can be resolved thru correct config of your mime types ON YOUR SERVER ...

However, if this is not possible for you, the PHP file headers can be used to modify the behaviour of downloads - this would require a new class to be added to detect the filetype (based on the extension) and apply the appropriate headers to the download link based on that ...

I am interested in this. I run the server I'm on, so I have the capabities to make changes. Please, explain a little further

.

refertech · #**241** 03-17-2004, 11:40 PM

After some checking, I can also set my mime types on my server as well but I'm to unfamilar with how to do this so any adviced would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

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