vBISpy - AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads (for vB3.5)

After seeing the http://www.digg.com/spy application; I wondered if this could be done for vBulletin as well. I came across this webpage which had a "how to" on how they built a similiar application to do the same thing. Taking a page from their book (i.e. the code), I modified it for use with vBulletin.

During development, I also came across this post here on vBulletin.Org where the very subject had already been discussed.

So I put this together; a simple ZIP file with a single PHP script, three javascript files and 4 images.

Installation

. UNZIP the file into your forums directory
. That's it!

Virtually all the code to customize the page is in the vaispy.php script; there are no plugins, no templates and no phrases. You do not need to do anything further; this should work right out of the box.

In your browser, open the URL:

http://www.yourforum.com/forum/vaispy.php

You can see examples of this at:

http://www.viperalley.com/forum/vaispy.php
http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/vaispy.php

Note: I claim no ownership of this code except for the file vaispy.php - the rest of the files were using 'freely distributable' sources. As such, you may use these files as you wish, but please do not remove the copyrights.

This version is for vBulletin 3.5 users only, for vBulletin 3.6 you will need to download the 3.6 version located here.

JOIN THE vBIspy Network!
Once you have this mod installed, you can join the vBIspy network to have your threads appear on this site; the vBIspy Network is a great way for people to see what's going on in various vBulletin communities and for forum owners to promote their sites and generate new traffic.

Optional add-ons

Who's Online mod for this: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126209

vBAdvanced Module: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126421

UPDATES
1.0.2
Added buro9's code from here

1.0.3 - 9.9.06
Modified some JavaScript in va_spy.js to remove split strings

1.0.4 - 9.10.06
Added date cuffoff code from here and changed init() to spyinit() - changed vaispy.php and va_spy.js files.

1.0.5 - 9.11.06
I've changed the query to grab the preview text from the last message; the downside to this change is that people with very large "post" tables will want to add an index to their table to significantly improve the performance on this script.

ALTER TABLE `vb_post` ADD INDEX ( `dateline` )

1.0.6 - 9.12.06
va_spy.js: Added a forum url variable to allow for integration with portals or other products outside the forum directory
va_spy.js: Added xmldelay variable at top of script for easier configuration or repolling
Updated files: vaispy.php, vb_spy.js

1.0.7 - 9.13.06
vaispy.php - changed code for checking for forum permissions to include password protected forums, added javascript tag for script code
va_spy.js - changed link to use goto=lastpost to fix links

1.0.8 - 9.16.06
vaispy.php
va_spy.js
va_effects.js
- modified to allow for proper display in Opera browsers and moved more html into vaispy.php to allow for stylevars, trimmed va_effects.js to remove unused code (ForumDog's suggestions, except not using templates yet), changed way threads are parsed (removes html as well)

1.0.9 - 9.17.06
va_prototype.js - removed 20kb of unused code

[MPDev]

What I meant to say was it took me to the post being shown; not the top of the thread. If I click on a post, I go right to the post.

[Titania]

Originally Posted by MPDev

What I meant to say was it took me to the post being shown; not the top of the thread. If I click on a post, I go right to the post.

Hmm... doesn't do that on mine. I get sent to the FIRST post on each topic. I am using Firefox on WinXP Pro. You can try it HERE

[Titania]

Just tried it with IE and it still goes to the first post.

[MPDev]

I just tried it on your site using FF and it took me to the second post. Check the link - it has a #X in it which is used by vB3.5 to take a person to a specific post; we could possibly change the link to use "goto=lastpost" instead of the #X in vb_spy.js

[camoman]

Looks really good.. What I would lie to see is it pull the latest X threadsand display them imediatly instead of one at a time .. then start polling for new threads so your not waiting for them to load if you click the back button after going to a post or revisiting the page.
So basically a module like I have in the middle on my front page HERE but it auto updates with AJAX.

[RFViet]

Is there anyway to display it on the main forum ?? just want to replace the TopXStat !!!
And it doesn't work with bbcode !!!

[MPDev]

Right, it does not display bbcode and I haven't tried to integrate it anywhere else; but I am sure it could be done.

[RFViet]

Originally Posted by MPDev

Right, it does not display bbcode and I haven't tried to integrate it anywhere else; but I am sure it could be done.

Can you make it display within a box, anh about first 5 or 10 new posts , just display the thread name (so you won't worry about bbcode) . So, member can see live new posts without refresh the page . !!

[scottct1]

My users are reporting the following error...

Works fine in Firefox, but folks having trouble with IE.

[Lonny]

what about server load?