AboutToday - Bring RSS Feeds and Daily Events to Your Site!

What is AboutToday?

AboutToday provides a central place to bring daily items of interest to your forum visitors. It includes two main components: an RSS Reader System and Local Events database System.

Please NOTE: This mod has been modified for vb ver 3.6.4. It should work on vb ver 3.5.4 and 3.6.x.

1. An RSS Reader system where the admin can enter RSS feeds that will then be displayed on the page. RSS feeds can be set to AUTOMATICALLY create threads or be set so that users can easily create a thread from a feed.. Feeds can be read via fopen or cURL.
   
   
   
   
   
   The RSS Feeds are fully intergrated with vbAdvanced and could actually be placed anywhere you want!!
   
2. A database system that can hold unlimited categories of "AboutToday" events. For example, you could have a history category (like a Today in History) with sub-categories for different eras in history. Or, you could have a daily joke or software tip of the day, etc.
   
   The "Add Event" feature is intended to help you if you want for example - Sports: Today in History. With the vb calendar, you cannot have categories and you are restricted with how far back the dates can go.
   
   
   
   
   So with the "Add Event" feature, you could have a category tree like:
   • Hockey
     • Professional
     • College
     • High School
   • Football
     • American Football
     • The Rest of the World (Soccer)
   • Baseball
   
   with the normal calendar feature, you cannot have categories. And with "Add Event" you can have any date. So, if you want an event like "Jan 1, 132 B.C. - the first ball was invented", you can do that. But, that isn't possible in the normal calendar. Also, the events in "Add Event" are fully searchable.

Installation

Copy the following files to your server in the forums directory:

abouttoday.php
includes/class.csv.php
includes/class_abouttoday.php
includes/cron/cron_abouttoday.php
includes/xml/bitfield_abouttoday.xml
includes/xml/cpnav_abouttoday.xml
admincp/abouttodayadmin.php

From the admincp, import the product file product-abouttoday.xml (Manage Products - Add/Import Product).

REFRESH your admincp window. You should now see a listing in the left column of the admincp for "AboutToday".

Getting Started

NOTE - if this is a new install, a Yahoo RSS Feed and CNN Entertainment Feed have been automatically added to give you a feel for how the product looks.

If you plan to use the RSS Feeds:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - RSS Feeds. Add an RSS Feed.
2. From the admincp, select Usergroups - Usergroup Manager. Add permissions so the Administrator group can use the product.
3. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php.
4. If you want the feeds to AUTOMATICALLY create threads, go to admincp - abouttoday - settings. There you must set the userid of the account to use to create the thread. Then, edit the RSS Feed with the forumid of where the threads for that feed should be created!

If you plan to create your own "today in history" type of database:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - Categories. Add a category.
2. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php. "Add" your first event to the category you have created!

Version Status
I've tested this product extensively but ... use this totally at your own risk!

Credits
I learned a lot about how to code this and used a lot of the code from what Ron1n did with ecDownloads. What I've learned from his code while helping to support ecDownloads has been invaluable.

Sites Using this Product
Visit www.armchairgeneral.com to see this product in action.

Click Install!
Please Click Install if you are using this product. Thanks!

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by klaush

Eröffnungsfeier (must be) Er?ffnungsfeier

Gäste (must be) G?ste

fühlen (must be) f?hlen

and so on...

Okay, I have a fix. It won't show the umlauts but they should be properly converted int say oe, ae, etc. If you PM me your email addy I'll send you two updated files to test out.

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by Nathan_R

Fixed my problem.

Here's how to get this working with cURL (at least the direct feeds portion):

Awesome, I'll check it out and add it to the next version (option to use cURL or fopen)

[klaush]

Originally Posted by westpointer

Okay, I have a fix. It won't show the umlauts but they should be properly converted int say oe, ae, etc. If you PM me your email addy I'll send you two updated files to test out.

Thanks! On it?s way! :-)

[j1mmy]

Okay, ive installed the AboutToday properly. Ive enable the RSS feeds already set, CNN Entertainment, but nothing seems to be happening. I told it to make new threads, ive specified both the username and thread IDs. Why cant i see anything working?

[Xoxideforums]

Originally Posted by j1mmy

Okay, ive installed the AboutToday properly. Ive enable the RSS feeds already set, CNN Entertainment, but nothing seems to be happening. I told it to make new threads, ive specified both the username and thread IDs. Why cant i see anything working?

I have exactly the same problem

Also - I've noticed that when I enter a username that when i click the "edit" aka submit button that on page reload it resets itself back to '0' where I would expect the name to be that I just entered. I'm thinking this is the problem but I don't know why.

my abouttoday.php page is rendering perfectly!

[Canis Firebrand]

That cURL fix was exactly what I needed.

Thanks.

My host disabled fopen stuff.

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by Xoxideforums

I have exactly the same problem

Also - I've noticed that when I enter a username that when i click the "edit" aka submit button that on page reload it resets itself back to '0' where I would expect the name to be that I just entered. I'm thinking this is the problem but I don't know why.

my abouttoday.php page is rendering perfectly!

Originally Posted by j1mmy

Okay, ive installed the AboutToday properly. Ive enable the RSS feeds already set, CNN Entertainment, but nothing seems to be happening. I told it to make new threads, ive specified both the username and thread IDs. Why cant i see anything working?

Are you both seeing the feeds correctly on the abouttoday.php page? If "yes", I think the problem is that you entered a "username" for the auto thread creator. You need to enter the userid not username.

[j1mmy]

Actually the ive fixed it, i can view the feeds.

Cant i bring the 'talk about it' button on the index page where it says the feeds at the bottom in the 'Upcoming Events for the Next 5 Day(s)' box?

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by j1mmy

Cant i bring the 'talk about it' button on the index page where it says the feeds at the bottom in the 'Upcoming Events for the Next 5 Day(s)' box?

No, sorry but it's not designed to work that way.

[j1mmy]

do i need to edit the usergroup 'members' at all for them to access AboutToday?