Major Additions - Product Review Forums ? Research, Review & Compare Items

Version 1.4.0 has been released to remove the giftery / list it integration of the addon now that service has been discontinued. No upgrade is needed though there have been a few other bug changes since 1.3.5.

Finding Feedback Can be Like a Needle in a Haystack

The more your forum grows, the more of a challenge it becomes to sort through the history and get the full story.

Product Review Forums Brings Structure to the Chaos

As a full-featured product management addon, PRF sits on top of your forum allowing you to create defined products which, unlike individual posts, stay relevant over time. Each comment, review and even product updates filter back into this one spot allowing for a quick and comprehensive overview while the individual discussions rage on as always.

Here's just a few of the many features you'll find in PRF:

• Bring structure to products with established pages & reviews
• Reduce the number of repetitive posts from members looking up the same info
• Increase your traffic with content-rich, seo friendly, product listings
• Drive revenue by adding your own affiliate links to product listings
• Increase the activity stream's value with review integration
  
• Engage visitors with integrated wishlists from Giftery.me

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Installation is not upload & go... individualized settings are required. Read the install file.

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QUICK TIPS:
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Enabling Product Forums: To show product details and ratings, each product-forum must be enabled in the forum manager.

Adding Products: You may upload products one at a time through the admin [includes an image uploader using GD] or you can bulk import through XML. You can also enable users to add moderated products through a global and usergroup option.

Product Review Index: To access your forum's product overview go to www.yoursite.com/productforums.php - You may want to add a link to this to your navbar or as a tab.

Customization: This addon is made to be customized. To change the color schema see clientscript/vbulletin_css or dive right on in to the templates and phrases.

Powered by Giftery.me: This mod is maintained includes two integrations you should know about. Both can be controlled through the mod options.

[Morrus]

Originally Posted by Ted S

So how do you know there's no line breaks? There shouldn't be any review at all...

Whether or not there shouldn't be a review, there is one. I don't know what else to tell you! .)

You're welcome to try it out yourself. Post a review and you'll see what it does.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/productforums.php

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Morrus

Whether or not there shouldn't be a review, there is one. I don't know what else to tell you! .)

You're welcome to try it out yourself. Post a review and you'll see what it does.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/productforums.php

Ok, I think I'm starting to understand more of the issue though still not sure why. I'll keep apologizing for this but there's no other way to chase it down until we can figure out what setting you have (I'm sure it's a legitimate one) is breaking things.

Can you run this version of forum/productforums.php and see if the review saves to the database?

Nothing will change in your styling.

[Morrus]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Ok, I think I'm starting to understand more of the issue though still not sure why. I'll keep apologizing for this but there's no other way to chase it down until we can figure out what setting you have (I'm sure it's a legitimate one) is breaking things.

Can you run this version of forum/productforums.php and see if the review saves to the database?

Nothing will change in your styling.

So good news: yes - that does now appear in the database.

The database entry contains the full text of the review, with all formatting stripped. I've double checked by copying and pasting it from PHPMYADMIN to Notepad, and there are no tags or breaks of any kind there.

(Also, somewhat unfortunately, the new file undoes some changes I made which allowed me to do the latest reviews page and show publisher names next to product names; that's not too serious for the moment though).

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Morrus

So good news: yes - that does now appear in the database.

The database entry contains the full text of the review, with all formatting stripped. I've double checked by copying and pasting it from PHPMYADMIN to Notepad, and there are no tags or breaks of any kind there.

(Also, somewhat unfortunately, the new file undoes some changes I made which allowed me to do the latest reviews page and show publisher names next to product names; that's not too serious for the moment though).

We're you able to update the new plugin version?

If not, try opening up the template prodforums_review_create and use this version:

These changes... were they hacks to the code and if so, at what points (so I can make them into hooks).

[Morrus]

Originally Posted by Ted S

We're you able to update the new plugin version?

If not, try opening up the template prodforums_review_create and use this version:

I just uploaded the productforums.php file you posted above. Was there another thing?

These changes... were they hacks to the code and if so, at what points (so I can make them into hooks).

A load of template changes and some alterations of productforums.php. Nothing big, mind you - I don't understand what I'm doing, so I just copy bits from elsewhere in the file and see if they work. The recent reviews thing was a copy/paste of the whole "list reviews by reviewer" with the reviewer matching criteria removed and a do=recent thingy (whatever that is called) added, and there are some changes to the way product ratings are calculated so that they get an overall % ranking based on the individual 1-5 ranks.

I can upload it if you're curious (or, hell, if anyone else wants to use it).

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Morrus

I just uploaded the productforums.php file you posted above. Was there another thing?



A load of template changes and some alterations of productforums.php. Nothing big, mind you - I don't understand what I'm doing, so I just copy bits from elsewhere in the file and see if they work. The recent reviews thing was a copy/paste of the whole "list reviews by reviewer" with the reviewer matching criteria removed and a do=recent thingy (whatever that is called) added, and there are some changes to the way product ratings are calculated so that they get an overall % ranking based on the individual 1-5 ranks.

I can upload it if you're curious (or, hell, if anyone else wants to use it).

The other thing was the complete XML plugin but while the template manager should keep your changes, let's not risk it... Just manually replace that one template in my previous post and let's see if that fixes the editor.

[Morrus]

Originally Posted by Ted S

The other thing was the complete XML plugin but while the template manager should keep your changes, let's not risk it... Just manually replace that one template in my previous post and let's see if that fixes the editor.

Tried it, but it didn't help, sadly. Still no WYSIWYG editor toolbar and no linebreaks etc. saved.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Morrus

Tried it, but it didn't help, sadly. Still no WYSIWYG editor toolbar and no linebreaks etc. saved.

What browser / os are you using?

Also, I've got a test account on your site... any sub-forums with reviews enabled that I can get too (it's "Ted S").

[Morrus]

Originally Posted by Ted S

What browser / os are you using?

Also, I've got a test account on your site... any sub-forums with reviews enabled that I can get too (it's "Ted S").

The latest Firefox on Windows 7.

Also the same when I try iOS.

I turned off the automatic thread creation in forums (and that template change for the forum didn't seem to be working anyway). The reviews are at the default location, though.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Morrus

The latest Firefox on Windows 7.

Also the same when I try iOS.

I turned off the automatic thread creation in forums (and that template change for the forum didn't seem to be working anyway). The reviews are at the default location, though.

One more request, this one very quick. Try turning off all your (other) plugins and load the write a review page. 99% sure it won't change anything but hey, it happens. Obviously best to do this at an off time and quickly.