phpAdsNew Banner Ads integration (advertisements, classified ads, Adsense, etc.)

OpenAds / phpAdsNew Integration 1.0.4 for vBulletin 3.[56].x
2006-06-08 by mip

Integrates the OpenAds / phpAdsNew ads system by introducing a new template tag <ad ... />.
You can even deliver your Adsense stuff via phpAdsNew using HTML banners.

The features of phpAdsNew combined with the power of vBulletin's templating system gives you the possibility to place ads for specific user groups, forums, and keywords.

PREREQUISITES:
This plugin requires a working installation (local or remote) of a recent version ofOpenAds / phpAdsNew (free software released under the GPL).
When using OpenAds, replace phpAdsNew in this documentation with OpenAds (phpAdsNew is just the predecessor of OpenAds).

INSTALLATION:
When having a previous version of this product installed, see section UPGRADE instead.

Install product "phpadsnew-1.0.4.xml".
Set phpAdsNew path in Server Settings and Optimization Options to point to either your local phpAdsNew installation or a remote server (using XML-RPC).
It is strongly recommended to set $phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true; in phpAdsNew config file, to prevent problems when phpAdsNew uses a database different from the one used by your vBulletin board.

When using XML-RPC, make sure to have lib-xmlrpc-class.inc.php and lib-xmlrpc.inc.php copied from phpAdsNew misc/samples/xmlrpc/php/ to your forum's includes/ directory (not necessary when using a local phpAdsNew installation).

Read the NOTES section below.

Click INSTALL in this thread to mark product as "installed" and receive notifications when a new version comes out.

UPGRADE:

• 1.0.3 --> 1.0.4
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
• 1.0.2 --> 1.0.3
  Upgrading is recommended, as this is a bugfix release.
  
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
     
  2. Recompile any templates where you experienced problems with the <ad .../> tag (notably those where this tag is used repeatedly on a line).
     
• 1.0.1 --> 1.0.2
  
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
     
  2. Set $phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true; in phpAdsNew config file.
     
• 1.0 --> 1.0.1
  There's basically no need to upgrade, as the changes don't affect a working installation, but I recommend to do so, to ease possible upgrades in the future.
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
  2. Alter the path to phpAdsNew in vBulletin Server Settings and Optimization Options to point to your phpAdsNew installation.
     As opposed to version 1.0 of this product, a local path is not relative to the DOCUMENT_ROOT.

USAGE:
Use the newly introduced <ad ... /> tag in your templates.
The syntax is similar to phpAdsNew's view_raw() function call - the tag understands what, clientid, target, source, and withtext as arguments.

Please make yourself familiar with phpAdsNew prior to using this product. You can't expect this product to work, if you didn't check if your phpAdsNew is delivering your banners cleanly.

Examples:

• Get banner using keywords:
  <ad what="foo|bar" />
• Get banner for guest usergroup (in this case, "ug1" must be set as a keyword in phpADsNew, see 2nd screenshot):
  <ad what="ug$bbuserinfo['usergroupid']" />
  (same technique can be applied to deliver forum-specific ads)
• Similar invocation using template conditionals:
  <if condition="$bbuserinfo['usergroupid']==1"><ad what="" /></if>

NOTES:

1. Always use the latest stable version of phpAdsNew.
   Old versions had bugs and some even had severe security issues - I'll give no support for installations with an outdated phpAdsNew.
   At the time of writing, latest version is 2.0.8.
2. Templates which make use of the ad-tag might need to get recompiled after product change.
3. Recommendations for heavy-duty servers: Move the plugin code to files; try to avoid using xml-rpc or cache xml-rpc requests (e.g. with memcache).
4. Have an eye on current phpAdsNew security issues
5. This product comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
6. Support is provided at will.
   Don't expect help if you haven't read instructions or phpAdsNew manual, if you're using non-standard vBulletin software or if your problem descriptions are useless.

PS:
This plugin is donationware - it helps you to make some money, so please be fair and honor my work with an adequate pecuniary donation.
Donate via Paypal

[Puntoboy]

i'm quite new to all this, how do i install the xml file?

[kevinrstruck]

I have this working but I am not sure of one thing:

I am using a affiliate program for a company that using Kolimbo.com to run their program.

The code they give me to produce the banner looks like this:

<A href="?kbid=62123&sub=153310&img=Adorama-468x60.gif" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.adorama.com';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.adorama.com/banners/affil/Adorama-468x60.gif" border=0></a><img src="http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/adorama/showban.asp?id=62123&sub=153310&img=Adorama-468x60.gif" border=0>

How in the heck would I put this code in to PAN?

Then again, maybe this is a question best answered over at the PAN support area, but I figured maybe someone here may be able to help.

Great plugin by the way...Nice job.

[kevinrstruck]

Originally Posted by Puntoboy

i'm quite new to all this, how do i install the xml file?

VB CP -> Plugin System -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product

There you can browse to the copy of the XML file you downloaded and save to your local machine then click IMPORT.

[Puntoboy]

thanks, i never had that option until i upgraded to 3.5.2 today.

[kevinrstruck]

No problem. Glad I could help.

[FROGGYJ]

@Kevinstruck

You can copy that whole code right into your "html" banner. Then also copy the href part into the href section in PAN.

[kevinrstruck]

Well, I thought I had this working.

Using the <ad.../> tags, I can not get a banner to display. Using the direct code from PAN, the banners display.

I installed PAN outside my forums directory in the root so I could use it on my portal as well.

I tried an URL in the Server Setting and Opt screen and uploaded lib-xmlrpc-class.inc.php and lib-xmlrpc.inc.php into the forums/includes folder to see if that would work but it would not.

I then tried a full path:

/home/thephoto/public_html/adserver

But that did not work.

I then tried ../adserver

but that did not work either.

Again, I tested PAN and it is serving ads on both a test page and with the direct code (Javascript) pasted into my header.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[tgmorris]

Make sure you've done what was posted a few pages back...

Please make sure to have set $phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true; in phpAdsNew config file, as this resolves problems with a local phpAdsNew installation when phpAdsNew's tables are in a database different from the one used by your vBulletin board.

Once I did that it worked fine with my PAN in a separate db.

[kevinrstruck]

Yes, I did that.

Here is my config file:

// Database local connection using sockets
$phpAds_config['dblocal'] = false;

// Database hostname
$phpAds_config['dbhost'] = 'localhost';

// Database port
$phpAds_config['dbport'] = 3306;

// Database username
$phpAds_config['dbuser'] = 'xxxxx';

// Database password
$phpAds_config['dbpassword'] = 'xxxxx';

// Database name
$phpAds_config['dbname'] = 'thephoto_adserver';

// Database table name prefix
$phpAds_config['table_prefix'] = 'phpads_';

// Database table type
$phpAds_config['table_type'] = 'MYISAM';

// Use persistent connections to the database
$phpAds_config['persistent_connections'] = true;

// Use INSERT DELAYED in logging functions?
$phpAds_config['insert_delayed'] = true;

// Database compatibility mode to insure phpAdsNew
// won't disturb an available database connection
$phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true;



/*********************************************************/
/* phpAdsNew configuration                               */
/*********************************************************/

// The URL to your phpAds-installation
$phpAds_config['url_prefix'] = 'http://www.thephotostation.net/adsever/';

// Is the admin interface enabled
$phpAds_config['ui_enabled'] = true;

// Only allow access to the admin interface if SSL is used
$phpAds_config['ui_forcessl'] = false;

[kevinrstruck]

Another issue: When I add the tag, I get a blank screen on my forums. When I take the ad code out, the forums come up normally.

Here is the ad code I am trying to use:

<ad what="zone:2" />


My Header Template is:

<!-- logo -->
<a name="top"></a>
<table border="0" width="$stylevar[outertablewidth]" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center">
<tr>
	<td align="$stylevar[left]"><a href="$vbpoptions[portalhome]"><img src="$stylevar[titleimage]" border="0" alt="$vboptions[bbtitle]" /></a></td>
	<td align="$stylevar[right]"> 
     		&nbsp;
<!--
  NEW HEADER &amp; NAVBAR

  Now that the nav buttons are in the
  navbar template, you can stick whatever
  you like into this space.

  This makes it much easier for novice
  admins to customize their header
  template without affecting important
  navigation elements.
-->
	</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- /logo -->

<!-- content table -->
$spacer_open

$_phpinclude_output

My path to PAN in Server Settings and Opt is:

/home/thephoto/public_html/adserver
I hope I have included enough info for someone to figure this out for me.