Thread Display/Digest Hack?

I know VB doesn't have a 'digest' function. Will this be a new feature in the 2.0 upgrade? If not, is there a known hack that will create a digest for selected threads in *chronological* order, regardless of how the threads are displayed in each forum?

I switched from UBB, and I find VB to be a far superior product. The only feature I miss is the digest function, because I do a lot of thread archiving, and I (and several of my members) like to save finished threads as text files. In UBB, the digest will email the text of a thread - in chronological order - to whoever wants it, no matter how the threads are displayed in the forums.

I'm not looking for notification that tells me someone's posted to a thread, I need something that will email the text of the thread itself. I did search this section for a similar hack, but I came up empty-handed.

In VB, I've been using the 'Show As Printable Version' feature, and this works to a degree. The only dilemma I have is that I've got the threads displayed 'newest to oldest'. When I click on 'Show As Printable Version', it will display the text, but the text will also be listed from newest to oldest (and we'd prefer to not have to re-read it from the bottom to the top). As is stands, I have to switch the thread order back to chronological order, save all the finished threads as printed versions/text, then switch back.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

- RJ

Originally posted by dons
Is the emailupdate field really planned for other use? I can't find a reference to it in the code.

Well I plan on using it for a different purpose. I have already added the digest field to my database and plan on offering a different digest for each forum and a summary digest for the entire community.

The summary digest will be available on a daily and weekly basis by subscription.

I am currently adding code so that the "emailupdate" field which is currently not referenced in the code can be marked to send members every post as they are made for the forums they choose. This would make the forum system more like a series of mailing lists and would improve participation in my opinion. This will however add a query to the database and as such, I had been waiting until vB 22 was much closer to final release. Since the issues with the upcoming beta 4 seem to small, I am pressing forward with the features I had planned for my communities. Some will be released to the public and some won't be.

You don't need a field to tell whether the digest was sent or not. If it runs as a CRON job you only have to pick up those posts and new threads that were made after the previous digest was made. If the digests are run daily then you simply have to pick all posts that were created at time() - 86400 (which is 24 hours earlier). If they are run weekly then you have to select from time() - 604800 (or 24 hours * 7 days).

Is also a good option, had not thought of this.

Wayne, that was my thinking. On the mode to send an email(emailupdate) for each post dynamically...to me it looks like either modifying the email_moderator template to include $message or if we want to retain that style, add another template and processing to the newthread and newforum

What approach are you taking for that? If we can work this through together that would be nice.

I am going to allow to forms of notification....

1. Normal Notification like they get now.
2. Notification with the message include.

This will add an option to their profile asking to "Include Message Text in Email Notifications?". Then if they say yes here, it will include the text in the Notification template. If not then they won't.

All send you a URL and a login later so you can see what I am talking about.

Luke, any progress? I'd love to see what you are doing on this...dcs

any progress on this?

any news on this hack, I need this pretty badly....I went from a yahoo groups site that had daily participation to the new VB site that gets hardly any participation....for my users at least, the ease of posting and reciving emails make for a MUCH more interactive site.

[Wayne Luke]

<a href="http://vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16290" target="_blank">http://vbulletin.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=16290</a>

[bretzke]

I too am evaluating vB and need this funtion. I cannot access the above link. Is there a live site that is using this so I can see how this is working? Thanks!

[Lesane]

change the .com to .org in the above url

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=16290