TOTW: Thread of the Week Poll - Version 1.16

Thread of the Week Poll - Version 1.16

Description
With this hack it is possible to setup an automated system for electing a "Thread of the Week". Based on 1 or more rules you define it will select a number of threads from your board and will post a poll to let your members select their favourite thread.

This hack was written based on a requestion made here previously: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=63969

Tested on
- vB 3.0.7
- vB 3.0.6
- vB 3.0.5
- vB 3.0.3 (Will probably also work on earlier versions)

Install Information
Installation using HIS installer included (HIS by Link14716 https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...staller+system)
Uninstaller included
Install time: 2 minutes, easy
File edits: 0
Template edits: 0
Database modifications: 2 new tables

Features

• Can run 1 or more Rules for selecting threads to include in Poll
• Forums to be scanned for candidate threads can be selected.
• Selection of candidate threads is done based on views and replies. The 'weight' of these selection criteria is settable for every rule.
• Poll's are fully configurable (Posted as user, Thread title, Poll question, number of options)
• Polls are automatic closed when a new poll is started
• Polls can be generated on a settable interval. Interval can be given in days or weeks. Alternativle a new poll can also be generated on a fixed day every month.
• uCash Integration. Activate in ACP Settings if you have uCash installed
• Setable uCash price money for place 1, 2 and 3.
• Date selection based on Thread Start Date or Last Reply Date. Selection can be made for every Rule.
• Optional result post on closing of Poll, user configurable text.
• Thread title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
• Poll title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
• Result post with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
• Help added to the Admin screen.
• .......

To be included in future releases
If enough request i am think of the following to add in a future release. More suggestions are welcome
- Integration with more existing Award system, already rewards possible using uCash
- More selection criteria

Support
Support will be given in this thread.

If you have problems, please first check the following:
- Did you set the uCash/uShop correct in ACP->vB Options->Thread of the Week (On/Off)
- Turn on logging in the Scheduled Taks for Thread of the Week. Check the Scheduled Task Log for any messages.

If you still have problems, please post the following information, so i can quickly try to help you:
- vBulletin version
- PHP and MySQL Version
- Version of this hack
- The schedule options you have set in the Rule Manager
- Selection Options
- When is it scheduled to run in the Scheduled Task Manager
- Any other relevant information

Thanks to
A big thanks to link14716 for the installer and to trafix for letting me use a script as a starting point for the admin settings, saved me a lot of time.

Also a huge thanks to sabret00th for testing (now i got someone to blame if there are still any errors left ).


Donations
I will not charge for this hack. But if you like it and are looking for a way to spend your money, paypal donations are always welcome (marcoh64@msn.com)

Please click Install if you are using this hack

Change log:
Version 1.16:
- Fixed bugs in updating Username/Userid/Thread Title in posted thread and forum info
- Removed 2 unneeded queries
- Added replacement variables for Thread Title:
- {date} - Current date formatted according to vB settings
- {beginofweek} - Date (formatted) of the start of the current week (sunday is start)
- {endofweek} - Date (formatted) of the end of the current week (saturday is end)
- {beginofweekmon} - Date (formatted) of the start of the current week (monday is start)
- {endofweekmon} - Date (formatted) of the end of the current week (sunday is end)
- Added {date} replacement variable to Poll Title
- Made all replacement variables case-insensitive
- Admin Help pages updated accordingly

Version 1.15:
- Add the option to override the default calculation for the cutoff date when selecting candidates. Now possible to enter a number of days to go back when selecting candidates.

Version 1.14:
- Bug that would make the cronjob crash if the current poll thread was deleted.
- Fixed version number in Manager script

Version 1.13:
- uCash Integration. Activate in ACP Settings to show them.
- Setable uCash price money for place 1, 2 and 3.
- Date selection can now be based on Thread Start Date or Last Reply Date. Selection can be made for every Rule.
- Optional result post on closing of Poll, user configurable text.
- Thread title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
- Poll title with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
- Result post with replacement variables. See Admin help!!
- Help added to the Admin screen.
- Some minor modifications and bug fixes
- Removed debugging lines
- Scheduled task will now log information on the processing of the Rules in the Scheduled Task Log
- INSTALLER WILL ALSO UPGRADE FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS, SEE UPGRADE NOTES.

Version 1.12:
- Fixed bug where threadoftheweek.php would not run correct (or even generate a database error) when running through the scheduler (as oppsed to running it with "Run Now")
- Added loads of debug information. To activate debugging, change includes/cron/threadoftheweek.php and uncomment the line "// $TOTW_DEBUG = TRUE;". Debug lines will go to the Scheduler log.
- Forum counters will now be updated when a new poll is posted.
- Fixed bug where "Run on day x of month" didn't work.
- Some minor changes
- The first time the rule is run, only threads with a last postdate in the time interval which is set for the rule will be selected as Candidates. In the older versions all threads where considered on the first run.

[TTG]

Looks like it could be a useful addition. Installed a week ago and it worked well for the 1st poll .. never worked again no matter what I do. Checked all details and after 10 days still waiting for the next poll !?

[Polo]

so is this mod working correctly for anyone?

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Originally Posted by TTG

Looks like it could be a useful addition. Installed a week ago and it worked well for the 1st poll .. never worked again no matter what I do. Checked all details and after 10 days still waiting for the next poll !?

- How often is your Scheduled Task set to run?
- What Schedule type and value did you set?
- What is the last run date?

[TTG]

My mistake .. set the schedule and forgot to add the filename for the task .. duh

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Glad that this also answers the question of Polo

[sabret00the]

Originally Posted by Polo

so is this mod working correctly for anyone?

working perfectly for me.

[Polo]

Ok, sounds good, will install on my forum

[Marco van Herwaarden]

There is a modified version ready, but i am still waiting to get test results back. Seems the person testing is a bit busy with other things atm.

[fiber1]

Originally Posted by MarcoH64

Well the hack is pretty stand alone, an upgrade shouldn't effect anything except maybe some phrases.

Yes this query is part of the cronjob for this hack.

What this cronjob does is read the rules table and then execute for every rule some code.

This query that give you an error is inside the part that gets triggered for each rule that needs to be run (meaning that there IS a rule row in the database that needs to be run).

So given the fact that this part of the code can only be executed if there is a rule, i really dont get why this query have no values from the rules row.

The line [sql], ((views * ) + (replycount * )) AS score[/sql]
should have the values of the weight for views and replies inserted there. So for example:
[sql], ((views * VIEWWEIGHT) + (replycount * REPLYWEIGHT)) AS score[/sql]
If you have access to the database, please check if there is somehow an empty row in the 'threadofweekrules' table.

Otherwise all i can think of is to clear all rules, and add them again.

If you could just post the fix once resolved, when you find it that would be great

[docvader]

Originally Posted by MarcoH64

There is a modified version ready, but i am still waiting to get test results back. Seems the person testing is a bit busy with other things atm.

OH, were you talking about me?

Sorry. Will try it again. didn't get that file to work, but, the hack seems to be working great.

[docvader]

Sent it to you. Hope that helps.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

I will have a look at your feedback, thanks for sending.

Hope i can do this this weekend, otherwise on monday.

[trackpads]

Originally Posted by MarcoH64

There is a modified version ready, but i am still waiting to get test results back. Seems the person testing is a bit busy with other things atm.

Let me know!

Is Ucash support in this one?

thanks!

-Jason

[sabret00the]

ok, well yesterday was the first of the month and it failed to create a new poll

[Marco van Herwaarden]

My excuses for all that have been waiting for a fix to this hack, but i have hardly been online due to some unexpected family things i had to take care of.

With the help of the debug information provided by 'docvader' (thanks for this) i finally pinned the problem down to a strange difference in the way a Cron Job handles variables when using the "Run Now" or when it is run started by the Scheduler. This is sorted now and should solve all the problems mentioned in this thread.

I decided to release this now and not to wait until uShop integration will be finished, because it makes the hack almost useless without.

You can simply patch your installation by replacing the "includes/cron/threadoftheweek.php" with the new supplied version 1.12.

Changes in this version:
- Fixed bug where threadoftheweek.php would not run correct (or even generate a database error) when running through the scheduler (as oppsed to running it with "Run Now")
- Added loads of debug information. To activate debugging, change includes/cron/threadoftheweek.php and uncomment the line "// $TOTW_DEBUG = TRUE;". Debug lines will go to the Scheduler log.
- Forum counters will now be updated when a new poll is posted.
- Fixed bug where "Run on day x of month" didn't work.
- Some minor changes
- The first time the rule is run, only threads with a last postdate in the time interval which is set for the rule will be selected as Candidates. In the older versions all threads where considered on the first run.