Major Additions - [OzzModz] Reviews

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First off this mod, [Chris] Reviews, has been taken over by me. It did belong to Christos Teriakis. He has since given me full rights to the mod, so I am releasing it here. Only thing I have changed as of yet is the title, so it is basically the same mod.To upgrade from that mod is the same as any other time, unzip the files, load them to your server, overwriting the old files, then import the new xml. Please remember, this mod is as new to me as anyone installing it, so we are both on a learning curve.


1.- What's this mod?

It's better to say what it is NOT . It is a Reviews system for those admins who want to review one type of items (eg Games, Books, Autos etc) and only one group of rating questions is acceptable for them. With the help of extra fields and a bit works from your side to configure it, you can have a very good reviews section in your site.

• Supports unlimited categories.
• You can set the word that will be use in the pages to identify the type of your reviews (eg Game - Games, Book - Books etc).
• Supports Extra fields (but not searchable).
• Supports one group of rating questions (but unlimited questions).
• Supports users' reviews and overall rating.
• Supports Headline, review text, positive points, negative points.
• Supports Product photos or YouTube video if exists.
• Has PM templates for:
  • PM user when admin approves his Review.
  • PM user when admin rejects Review.
• Reviewer can temporary hide the review and a later time he can activate it again.
• There are listings for:
  • Category Reviews.
  • Time-frame (What's New) Reviews.
  • User Reviews.
  • Search Results.
• In view Review page the visitor can also see:
  • Editor Rating.
  • Community Rating.
  • Lowest Rating.
  • Highest Rating.
  • Editor other reviews on sidebar.
• In all pages there are available the follow blocks having the appearance of widgets:
  • Category Menu.
  • Search Form.
  • Statistics.
  • Top Editor Products (Games, Books, etc).
  • Top Community Products.
  • New Reviews.
  • New Community Ratings.
• RSS Feeds for latest 10 reviews.
• Facebook Like Advanced (Shows users who liked a review).
• ver.1.1.0 Added a setting to allow or not Audio files (in case that you want to review music). Default is OFF. If you turn on then the users can hear the audio file with the included (simple) audio player.

2.- Installation

1. Download and unzip the files.
2. Upload the content of upload folder to the directory where your vB installation is. To be sure: reviews.php must be on the same directory as global.php, forum.php etc.
3. CMOD 777 the directories:
   1. christeris/reviews/photos
   2. christeris/reviews/photos/thumbs
   3. christeris/reviews/photos/tmp
4. Go to ACP --> Plugins & Products --> Manage Products, and import product-reviews.xml.
5. Set the various settings in Reviews --> General Options.
6. Set usergroup permissions.
7. Check and modify Pm templates, Reviews --> PM Templates.
8. Set Categories, Reviews --> Reviews Categories.
9. Set Extra Fields, Reviews --> Review Extra Fields (in case that you want them).
10. Set Rating Questions, Reviews --> Rating Questions.
11. *** ATTENTION *** Double check that rating questins are ok before starting adding reviews. After the first review you CAN'T Add/Edit/Delete questions.

3.- SEO URLs

• If you're using vbSeo open the file Reviews_vBSEO_Custom_Rewrite_Rules.txt and add them to your vbSeo installation.
• If you're using .htaccasse file copy the contents of htaccess.txt and add it to your current .htaccess files. If you don't have such file and your server is compatible with such files, upload htaccess.txt to your vB directory and rename it to: .htaccess.

4.- CMS Widget / Forum Sidebar block for Latest Reviews

1. Pre-Installation:
   1. Shows latest 5 Reviews. If you want to change the number to another value change at 1st line: $maxreviews = 5;
2. Installation as CMS Widget
   1. Goto Admincp-> vBulletin CMS-> Widgets.
   2. Click "Create New Widget" at the list bottom.
   3. Set Widget Type: PHP Direct Execution.
   4. Give a Title which appears at the widget. eg Last Reviews, or.. Last 5 Reviews etc.
   5. Click SAVE.
   6. Find in the list the new widget and click configure at the right side.
   7. Replace the example code, with the code from Widget_Block_Latest_Reviews.txt.
   8. Click Save.
   9. Goto Layout and add it in any section you want.
   10. Click Save (Layout).
3. Installation as Forum sidebar Block
   1. Goto Admincp-> Forums & Moderators -> Forum Block Manager.
   2. Click Add Block.
   3. In the next screen "Select block type: Custom HTML/PHP.
   4. Click Continue.
   5. Title: Latest Reviews.
   6. Content Type: PHP.
   7. Content: Copy & Paste the code from Widget_Block_Latest_Reviews.txt.
   8. Click Save. The block will be now visible to your forum sidebar.

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If you like this mod please hit the button to the right ---->

Please remember to click the, button to the right if you installed the mod ---->

What does 'Marking As Installed' do ?

* It helps you to stay on top of updates - members who have installed modifications will be notified whenever new updates are available.

* For security issues - vbulletin.org will contact all members who have installed a modification whenever a security issue is brought to their attention.

* Marking a modification as installed also helps me know how many people are using my work, giving me extra incentive to provide more features and new modifications.

I appreciate the support!
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v1.4.0 Initial release.

v1.4.1 Fixed the following errors, Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in ..../reviews_usercp.php on line 695 AND Warning: Division by zero in ..../reviews_usercp.php on line 706

v1.4.2
Patched some vulnerability's that was found in the mod. No sites were affected by this, it was just found by a user and now is patched.

v1.4.3
Patched some more vulnerability's that were found in the mod, during the security check. No sites were affected by these, they were just found and patched.

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Contributions Received (members who clicked on, and followed through with the Support Developer button)

jjohns12


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[ozzy47]

I know this needs a update, I will try to get to it as soon as I can.

I see you don't have the mod marked as installed though?

[robbyg]

Hi Ozz
Sorry about that, I just marked it as installed.
I also noticed that I cannot edit or remove a community rating/comment. Worst yet I cant even moderate them! So if someone decides to leave a very nasty comment it just goes up on the board live under the main review.

I know your a busy guy, but please see if you can help us. This is a good Mod but it just needs a little TLC to make it great.

[robbyg]

Ozzy I did find out that users can actually edit or delete their own Ratings/Comments using the "my reviews" option but the Admin or Mod cannot edit or delete it. Could even this one thing be transferred from the members control to the Admin? Seems like it could be an easy patch.

Rob

[Toorak Times]

I am using this mod quite solidly now, though still have a few issues I can't work out. Look forward to any updates mate! Great mod

[MIWASA]

Hey Ozzy, this is definately a great Mod so i give a big thumbs up. From my side the only issue was the RSS feed as well. I came right with the Classifieds mod. However i see there is a missing rss.php file which classfieds has but not reviews. Looking forward to the update bud

[robbyg]

Originally Posted by Toorak Times

I am using this mod quite solidly now, though still have a few issues I can't work out. Look forward to any updates mate! Great mod

How are you preventing abusive comments from your members?
Are you just limiting the review section to Mods?
I agree that this is a great piece of software but how do you implement it for regular members if you have no moderation over what they post?

[Action-N]

Use this link to check your rss feeds. Either post your link an ozz can see the errors or post the error if it's not to much.
http://validator.w3.org/feed/

[MIWASA]

Originally Posted by Action-N

Use this link to check your rss feeds. Either post your link an ozz can see the errors or post the error if it's not to much.
http://validator.w3.org/feed/

Ozz is aware of the error, as it was the classifieds mod i first had issues with. The error received when i try to preview the feed in reviews is : XML Error: XML_ERR_NAME_REQUIRED at Line 147. Thanks for the validator which says the feed does not validate. Yet is obtained when click the get rss button

[robbyg]

Has anyone found a method for allowing users to make comments and use community ratings but still be able to moderate, edit or delete them? I cannot figure out a way to make this add-on useful to the community if I cannot at least do basic moderation on the comments they make.
Is there any kind of kludge work around that someone has found?

[robbyg]

Until Ozzy can get some fixes for the the Community ratings section I did find a temporary Kludge solution.

1) Go into CP of your host and run phpadmin.
2) Open the "VB3_reviews_user_ratings" section and look for the user review you want to delete.
3) Press Edit on that review and set the isreview value to "1" and it will no longer be visible.
4)You can also leave isreview = 0 and edit the review comments if you want to keep it but just want to change the wording or remove foul language.

Warning if you leave it and just change the wording the original author can easily open it again using "my ratings" and change it back. Unfortunately as the Admin you will have to go back and do the same thing again manually.

If you set the "isreview" to 1 then he cannot access it again but his ability to make a comment will be reset and he can make a new comment if he decides to keep playing games with you.

Hope this helps someone.
Rob