Miscellaneous Hacks - Bills PayPal Donations Lite - 4

Hack Description

This hack is the easiest way to add the ability to accept PayPal donations for your site.
You simply upload 2 php files, and a couple of images and then import the product XML and thats it!
No messing round with template edits or anything like that, its all done for you!


Some features of this hack are:

• No need to modify or edit any vB files!
• Automaticly adds 'Donate' link on Navbar next to the FAQ link if desired.
• Simple once off setup in the Admin Control Panel.
• All PayPal settings such as preferred currency are set in the Admin CP.
• The Donors forum username is on the emailed receipt from PayPal.
• People do not have to be registered on your site to donate.
• You and toggle the PayPal Verified seal on or off.
• Works with default IE settings!
• Configurable Thank you page for donors
• Default / suggested donation amount if desired
• Fully Phrased
  

Well thats about it for the moment. I may add more features later, if there is a demand for them.

Please note that you have to have either a Business or Premiere PayPal account, else you will need to upgrade to one of these before you can accept donations. Its easy to do, just follow the guide on the PayPal site.

Also note that this is a product, not a plug-in. You must import it using the import product feature in the Admin CP.

I will try and offer support, but work and family commitments mean I don't have much free time.

This script has been confirmed as working on

• vB 4.01

Known Bugs

• None

Change log

Version 4.00 (20th Feb 2010)

• First release for vB 4.*
• Will only work with vB 4.* or newer

Click on Install
If you have this script installed then please click on the install link because;

• You will get notified if any security issues are reported.
• You will get notified when there are any upgrades to this script
• It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling and motivates me to develop more

IMPORTANT
This is my first real conversion for vB 4.x and as such probably contains some bugs.
I would recommend testing on a test forum first.

[meissenation]

Originally Posted by Bouncer222

Well it's nice seeing all these donating mods coming out... But the BIG feature they are ALL lacking is the donator bar, IT MOTIVATES people to DONATE.

Without it, a donate button is nothing if the user doesn't know what the goal is or what the site wants.

Amen. I never thought it'd be such a hard concept but it seems like everyone that's been coding these keeps duplicating without bringing out new features that we are all missing from Cyb - Paypal Donation module in 3.8

[TimberFloorAu]

One of the major issues with previous paypal donation "thangs" where there was a leaderboard of paypal donatees...

Was the link grabbed the donation amount before hitting paypal, so forum owners get notified of a donation and then the connection fails for the user, or they have insufficient funds, or they change their mind... and the reality of what got donated bears little resemblance to actual donations.

If someone can code such a mod , I will install it right away, for now this is on my "tagged" list, because of the work the coder has done.

So well done mate. I hate seeing threads detract from what you have done, into begging messages for what they want.

[rajubd]

it will be perfect if you add target amount for this month in navbar below

[Billspaintball]

Originally Posted by venom2124

Great work better than what I had. Thanks.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Bouncer222

Well it's nice seeing all these donating mods coming out... But the BIG feature they are ALL lacking is the donator bar, IT MOTIVATES people to DONATE.

Without it, a donate button is nothing if the user doesn't know what the goal is or what the site wants.

This was designed as a basic one that does not make any database changes, hence no things that require databases to function correctly, such as goals in this version.

Its not designed to suit everyones needs, It's a basic one that is light and easy for anyone to install and use.

Originally Posted by meissenation

Amen. I never thought it'd be such a hard concept but it seems like everyone that's been coding these keeps duplicating without bringing out new features that we are all missing from Cyb - Paypal Donation module in 3.8

Its not a hard concept, its just designed for a different market that what you (or I for that matter) require.
Truth be told, its not the one I use on my own site, I have ported this from Vb 3.x to give me experience in Vb4 before I tackle anything more complex, more than any other reason.

Originally Posted by TimberFloorAu

One of the major issues with previous paypal donation "thangs" where there was a leaderboard of paypal donatees...

Was the link grabbed the donation amount before hitting paypal, so forum owners get notified of a donation and then the connection fails for the user, or they have insufficient funds, or they change their mind... and the reality of what got donated bears little resemblance to actual donations.

If someone can code such a mod , I will install it right away, for now this is on my "tagged" list, because of the work the coder has done.

So well done mate. I hate seeing threads detract from what you have done, into begging messages for what they want.

Thanks

And thanks for bringing this point up.
Your spot on with the issue about how to deal with donations that fail for various reasons.

Its a little complex to get around this, as you have to get the response from the paypal webserver before the data is submitted into the database if you want to avoid false results.
This is also an important consideration if you want auto group changes for donors as well.

Its certainly doable, infact Its the way I receive donations on my live website. (Before anyone asks, its not polished, only has the features I want, and has a couple of bugs so was never released as a mod).

But thats getting off topic for this mod I guess.

[Gene Steinberg]

I have a simple request: Instead of putting the Donate link in the nav bar, why not as a tab instead, which I think would be more prominent? Another PayPal mod does that. How about it, at least as an option?

Peace,
Gene

[Billspaintball]

Originally Posted by Gene Steinberg

I have a simple request: Instead of putting the Donate link in the nav bar, why not as a tab instead, which I think would be more prominent? Another PayPal mod does that. How about it, at least as an option?

Peace,
Gene

I can add this as an option for the next release.

[Gene Steinberg]

Super.

Also an option to change the title, under New Donations.

Right now we have:

The Paracast Community Forums - BPPL Donations

I don't mind your name there, but I'd like to be able to change the former to The Paracast, so we can link to that page from other areas of the site.

Is there a hack that would let us do that now?

Peace,.
Gene

[Billspaintball]

Originally Posted by Gene Steinberg

Super.

Also an option to change the title, under New Donations.

Right now we have:

The Paracast Community Forums - BPPL Donations

I don't mind your name there, but I'd like to be able to change the former to The Paracast, so we can link to that page from other areas of the site.

Is there a hack that would let us do that now?

Peace,.
Gene

You can chage it by changing a phrase in the XML file and reimporting with overwrite selected.

Like 253 or thereabouts, just change "- BPPL Donations" to whatever you like.
Might be an idea to increment the date field by 1 as well.

PHP Code:

<phrase name="bppl_pagetitle" date="1265936461" username="Bill" version="4.00"><![CDATA[- BPPL Donations]]></phrase> 


I will change this in the next release to just read "Donations" I think.

[Gene Steinberg]

Two questions.

1. Can I change the CDATA or whatever that refers to the forum name to something else? I tried just replacing that string and it didn't work.

2. This isn't your fault I'm sure since it happened before I installed your mod. But since upgrading from 4.0.1 to 4.0.2, I get a peculiar error message when installing or removing a mod.

See the attachment for what I'm referring to. Any clues what I should do to fix that?

Peace,
Gene

[encryption]

I just installed and it went ok. I did have to edit the bbpl_main template and replace two instances of this:

{$vbulletin->userinfo[username]}

with this:

{vb:raw $vbulletin->userinfo[username]}

I also had to do it once in bppl_donated.