NEW Modified RSS News Feed Hack

Hack originally posted by: Xyphen - RSS News Feed Hack
Modified by: wolfstream - Modified RSS News Feed Hack

I am posting this up as a new hack because of the major changes made to how the script works. Also, I didn't want people to get confused as to which one to download since there were 3 different versions on the original post.

Xyphen released the original version, then wolfstream modified the script and corrected some errors. After that, I modified wolfstreams version to change how posts were inserted. Now the post count will increase, posts will be able to be searched, and similiar threads will work.

RSS News Feed Hack for vB 3.0.x. As long as vBulletin doesn't change the database structure much, this should be good for the next release also, and those to come.

Allows you to have a live RSS news feed (such as one from Google or CNET) in a forum. The user that posts it will basically be a bot, which *should* only be used for posting the news, but you can even make it for a regular user.

Comments are welcome! Support provided through this thread.

Latest Version:
- 1.26 - for PHP 4.3.0 & above
- 1.26a - for PHP prior to 4.3.0

vBulletin Versions:
- 3.0.0
- 3.0.1

PHP Versions:
- > 4.3.0
- < 4.3.0

Installation Overview:
- Files to edit: (2) /admincp/index.php, /includes/functions_newpost.php
- Files to upload: (4) rss.php, admincp/rss_admin.php, includes/RSS/class.RSS.php, includes/RSS/rss_update.php
- Queries to run: (4) in rss_install.php

History:
Version 1.26 (23 June 2004 - Slapyo, Natch)
- listing of bot's more intuitive (Natch)
- hopefully fixed duplicate problem (Slapyo)
- stripped html tags from title and description (Slapyo)

Version 1.25 (12 May 2004 - Slapyo)
- fix for &quot; showing up
- logs action in scheduled task log if turned on

Version 1.24 (20 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- posts now deleted with delete_thread function
- post counts updated when using delete all news

Version 1.23 (14 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- added ability to delete bots
- cleaned up includes
- fix for PHP versions prior to 4.3.0 calling html_entity_decode()

Version 1.22 (13 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- duplicate posts problem fixed
- fix for problem with ' appearing as \'

Version 1.21 (12 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- bot will not be subscribed to posts now

Version 1.2 (11 April 2004 - Slapyo)
- posts now inserted with build_new_post function

Version 1.1 (28 March 2004 - wolfstream)
- file edits taken down to 1
- cron script included

Version 1.0 (28 January 2004 - Xyphen)
- original release

Common RSS Feeds:
- Yahoo!
- CNET.com
- BBC
- Wired News
- The Register
- Ars Technica
- All Headline News

[webfreak]

Originally Posted by webfreak

I'm new to vB and this is the first hack I tried installing. However, when I click the link in the Admin CP, I get a 404 page not found error. Any ideas?

Fixed. Had it in the wrong directory.

[nymyth]

Is it possible to make the feed into one thread. What I mean is if im using a rss feed from yahoo music, i want it so that when the bot runs and pulls the information it puts it all into one thread as opposed to multiple threads.....

If this is not possible, can I at least limit the number of threads it will start up.

Thanks.

Peace

[MRGTB]

I just installed Wolfsteams version here. But can somebody tell me after reading his thread here. If he is saying that the board you use to post RSS News Feeds is suposed to have HTML enabled for members to use in there posts for it to work correctly: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=139

[manfred]

I am a newbie to the forums and vBulletin, I installed the hack but I get the following error on signature and when I try to run the cron job now:

PHP Code:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_ELSE in /home3/****/public_html/forums/includes/functions_newpost.php on line 429 


Can anyone help me?

[manfred]

Nevermind I got it...

[SHD Born2Fight]

The hack is working but I get a error if I run the scheduled task manager manually:

Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #1 is not an array in /global.php on line 331

Warning: in_array() [function.in-array]: Wrong datatype for second argument in /includes/functions.php on line 2292

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /includes/functions.php on line 2297

Can someone help please ?

[XrayHead]

Ok Sorry to sound thick! But how do I add a bot..... :ermm:

Can someone give me a working example I can add and run please.

Dose the URL have to have .xml at the end of it?

Xrayhead

EDIT:

Ok I have a feed ending in .xml and I have tested it with (FreeReader).

I have added the bot (See PNG) to a new forum that I created and when I run the cron all I get is the following (see cron_run.png).

I have attached a capture of a working cron as well.

Questions,
I am running this on a windows box with PHP Ver 4.3.9 and installed the rss_bot_1[1].26a

Do I have to open a port on the router or have any specific settings in my apache/php configuration?

[XrayHead]

Sorry me beeing a mupet, gave the bot the same user ID as the forum ID (19)

:nervous: And I have no user ID of 19 on my test board..... he he

It works now!!

Anyone got any Paintball news feeds they can share with me??

Great hack.. Thanks

One question?

Should I see the pictures in the forum? I have html enabled

I ask because if I view a new message with FreeReader I see the pictures but when I look at the same message on the forum that the bot has posted I see none :ermm:

[GoTTi]

i have the sceduled tasks setup right i guess and its not working. this hack only grabbed a rss feed one time and wont do it again. ideas?

[MRGTB]

Great hack this, but I have spotted a slight problem with the "Archive" version of threads.

Even with the replace "{br} with <br />" carried out as explained in the instructions during the installation. The Archive version of threads still doesn't work right like this quote shows taken from one of the RSS Feeds in the archive section. I even tried changing to BBC News Feeds and got the same issue with "{br}" being inserted into the Archives and not working right.

Here is a RSS Thread taken from my archives to show what I mean

Looking to be the first viable movie download service, Starz Entertainment launches Vongo.{br}{br}View the Entire Article (http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1048){br}

[cyberoptik]

Can anyone modify this mod to work with 3.6.x please?

[ldsfiles]

I'm using 3.5.6.

Running into a problem in includes/function_newpost.php.

The instructions say:

FIND:
// $errors will become any error messages that come from the checks before preview kicks in
global $DB_site, $vboptions, $vbphrase, $bbuserinfo, $forumperms, $usergroupcache, $_REQUEST;

REPLACE WITH:

// $errors will become any error messages that come from the checks before preview kicks in
if ($rss_userid == '0')
{
global $DB_site, $vboptions, $vbphrase, $bbuserinfo, $forumperms, $usergroupcache, $_REQUEST;
}
else
{
global $DB_site, $vboptions, $vbphrase, $bbuserinfo, $forumperms, $usergroupcache, $_REQUEST;
$bbuserinfo = fetch_userinfo($rss_userid);
}

But my function_newpost.php has a different structure. If I implement this as is, it gives me "Fatal error: Registry object is not an object in /includes/class_dm.php on line 177" when I try to manually create a post.

Can you shed any light on what the proper structure of the function_newpost.php should be for version 3.5.6?

thanks

[Morfus]

I have this installed and working with the Yahoo RSS feeds.

What I want to know is, can I record a Podcast, like a show, and use this to post it on the forums? If so, do I just post the link to the folder on my hosting so the task checks there for new files?

Thanks

[I found a solution to get what I need done]

Further more, I am running 3.0.x and need to allow the account/group to post in HTML. I found the "Allow HTML for user group" but it runs on 3.5.x. I know the simple solution is to update, but I would like to know how to get it installed on my current version. Anyone have a way around this to allow only the account for the RSS Feed to post in HTML so the posts look correct?

[snipeyhead]

Is there any easy way to prevent the RSS feed posts from showing up in the "New Posts" page? Our members are complaining that they have to sort through the newsfeed posts to find posts from real people. It would be great if it could be configured to not show up on that page.

[Morfus]

Originally Posted by snipeyhead

Is there any easy way to prevent the RSS feed posts from showing up in the "New Posts" page? Our members are complaining that they have to sort through the newsfeed posts to find posts from real people. It would be great if it could be configured to not show up on that page.

i solved this problem by making the RSS feeds post in its own forum for news. just exclude that forum from the new posts module so they do not show up.

hope that helps.