vbArticles v0.4 -- For your repository of Articles/Tutorials/FAQs etc.

UPDATES
version 0.4 is out

- Now allows for basic VBCODE input.
- Fixed somemore bugs.


Background
Required a section on my site to display articles/tutorials
No such hack in the Hacks Database
Decided to try my hand at it

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This hack uses a lot of code from Arunan Sridharan's vB Links Directory v2.0
I use that hack too and was inspired to code something around that
A big thank-you must go out to him for coding the Links Directory in the first place (I merely modified much of the code to suit my needs for this hack)

Appreciation also goes out to Kars10 for aiding me in this hack
He coded the portion in version 0.3 on number of articles count as well as article hits count
He also suggested several template changes which have been incoporated into version 0.3
A great big special shout out to TheComputerGuy, 97cobracpe, dontpanic for stamping out the bugs with your fixes. Thanks guys


WHATS IT DO ?
This hack allows you to have a database of articles/tutorials etc on your site/forums.

FEATURES

AdminCP
Installer script

Admin options

View Categories
Edit Categories
Add Categories ( category name, category icon, category order, category description )
Delete Categories
Add new article ( title, description, author, date, content )
Edit article
Delete article
View ALL articles in database
Option in vB options to turn validation of articles on/off
Fully template based as to how you wish to display the articles,categories and main article home page.
Addition of articles accepts basic VBcodes

Member options

View Categories
Browse Categories
View articles
Submit new article
Submission of articles accepts basic VBcodes


INSTALLATION & UPGRADING
This Hack should work on ALL 2.2.x versions and v2.3.0
Please read the install_readme.txt file in the package for fresh installation instructions
IMPT: If you installed a previous version pls read the upgrade_readme.txt file carefully for upgrade instructions

HACK DOWNLOAD

Version 0.4 of this hack can be downloaded here

ADD-ONS
i) Add-on for vbHome
ii) Add-on for ForumHome
iii) Add-on to enable only registered members to be able to view the article section


DEMO SITES
http://www.runaked.com/forums/articles.php ( running v0.4 ) - TheComputerGuy's site

http://www.mcseworld.com/forums/infocenter.php ( running v0.3 ) - dontpanic's site


Feel free to submit your sites if u installed this hack so it can be listed as another live demo site

SUPPORT
I cannot promise any support on this as i am pretty new to this but I will try my best.
If you are using this hack , pls click the INSTALL button
to be kept in the loop of any bug reports, add-ons and hack version updates.

Thanks everyone

[4Square]

I have a question about the vbhome hack for the articles addon. Right now, the hack just shows the catagory names and descriptions. I'm trying to make it so that it shows the number of articles in each catagory as well as the most recent articles (I haven't started on that part yet though).

Anyways for showing the number of articles, I found the code in articles.php which does the actual pulling from the db...

// count
$tutcount = $DB_site->query_first("SELECT COUNT(*) AS artid FROM vbArticles_content WHERE categoryid=$catid and valid='1'");
$totaltuts = number_format($tutcount['artid']);
// count

and of course $totaltuts being the variable used to show the actual number pulled.

Now, I've tried a few different placements in index.php file for vbhome, but have not been able to figure out how to add it to the code which is already in there for the article bit. Basiclly I keep getting mysql errors where ever I put it. Any ideas on how I could get this working?

[cinq]

Originally Posted by FleaBag

Looking great. Really looking forward to an update. Cinq, if you would consider it, when this hack is completed - I'd be willing to pay for a vB3 conversion. This hack and the Link Database hack is all that's holding me back - not that I mind as all is working well!

Thanks again.

I'm still some way off from finishing this for a Full Release for vb2.
When that's done, then we'll talk vb3 version

[sabret00the]

i've not managed to get this to work

[cinq]

Will be scraping the idea of using vbcode for this hack.
No point since a WYSIWYG editor will be offered to the user as well as the admin who is submitting the article.

Anyways, more screenies on the progress :

1) View All articles
2) View All categories
3) Add new article

[FleaBag]

I dunno if it's such a good idea to get rid of the support altogether, some people don't like WYSIWYG.

[gmarik]

Cinq, how about my editor, not good enough?!

[cinq]

Looks like you never can please everyone, can you.

Give them a blank content box, they want more.
Give them vbcode, they want more.
Give them WYSIWYG, they want more.

geez..

maybe I'll just stick to blank content boxes and let users learn to code in HTML and don't be lazy.

[cinq]

Originally Posted by gmarik

Cinq, how about my editor, not good enough?!

I don't understand how it works. In fact, i don't even know what format that is ?! lol

[gmarik]

An IE5.5 and up format.
You can just read about it in google.com ...

[DiscussAnything]

cinq, is it possible to provide the bugfix for the dash problem? I see it's fixed in 0.5, but its really bugging me and if it can be resolved while we all wait for 0.5, that'd be great.

So far great hack

thanks

-------
Update: Prob fixed, thanks cinq