Add-On Releases - vBISpy - AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads

After seeing the http://www.digg.com/spy application; I wondered if this could be done for vBulletin as well. I came across this webpage which had a "how to" on how they built a similiar application to do the same thing. Taking a page from their book (i.e. the code), I modified it for use with vBulletin.

During development, I also came across this post here on vBulletin.Org where the very subject had already been discussed.

So I put this together; a simple ZIP file with a single PHP script, three javascript files and 4 images.

Installation

. UNZIP the file into your forums directory
. That's it!

Virtually all the code to customize the page is in the vaispy.php script; there are no plugins, no templates and no phrases. You do not need to do anything further; this should work right out of the box.

In your browser, open the URL:

http://www.yourforum.com/forum/vaispy.php

You can see examples of this at:

http://www.viperalley.com/forum/vaispy.php
http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/vaispy.php

Note: I claim no ownership of this code except for the file vaispy.php - the rest of the files were using 'freely distributable' sources. As such, you may use these files as you wish, but please do not remove the copyrights.

This modification is for vBulletin 3.6 only, if you are running vBulletin 3.5 you will need to see this thread.

JOIN THE vBIspy Network!
Once you have this mod installed, you can join the vBIspy network to have your threads appear on this site; the vBIspy Network is a great way for people to see what's going on in various vBulletin communities and for forum owners to promote their sites and generate new traffic.

Optional add-ons

Who's Online mod for this: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126209

vBAdvanced Module: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126421

UPDATES
1.0.4
Added buro9's code from here

1.0.5 - 9.9.06
Modified some JavaScript in va_spy.js to remove split strings

1.0.6 - 9.10.06
Added date cuffoff code from here and changed init() to spyinit() - changed vaispy.php and va_spy.js files.

1.0.7 - 9.12.06
va_spy.js: Added a forum url variable to allow for integration with portals or other products outside the forum directory
va_spy.js: Added xmldelay variable at top of script for easier configuration or repolling
Updated files: vaispy.php, vb_spy.js

1.0.8 - 9.13.06
vaispy.php - changed code for checking for forum permissions to include password protected forums, added javascript tag for script code

1.0.9 - 9.16.06
vaispy.php
va_spy.js
va_effects.js
- modified to allow for proper display in Opera browsers and moved more html into vaispy.php to allow for stylevars, trimmed va_effects.js to remove unused code (ForumDog's suggestions, except not using templates yet), changed way threads are parsed (removes html as well)

1.0.10 - 9.17.06
va_prototype.js - removed 20kb of unused code

1.1.11 - 9.25.2006
vaispy.php
va_spy.js
- added SirAdrian's mods for thread status icons and alternating row colors
- added code to prepopulate the first 10 rows with existing threads allowing for 5 new ones to be added in scrolling mode (versus scrolling starting from the first thread).
- added option to display subscribed threads only

1.1.12 - 9.26.2006
vaispy.php
- added code to add empty rows if initial pull has less than 20 rows.

[dirtycrow]

answered my own question. it lets you view new posts and threads in forums that are simply password protected.

[lasto]

hmm looks good - one question MPdev could it pull the first img file from the first post in the thread as well ?

[Boots]

If I am logged in this shows nothing... if I logout it works fine.. any ideas?

[DementedMindz]

Yeah i can see it when im logged out lol and it looks horrible on internet explorer it looks like it has a bunch of lines under the last table

[DementedMindz]

seems like a nice way to kill someones site would be to dos this page. maybe you could make it so only registered user can see it or have some sort of permissions?

[Adrian Schneider]

Not bad... I'm glad someone finally made it (after seeing the request thread).

The only thing that would be better is if it read from the session table, but that would be a larger undertaking because you'd have to convert the location field to URL and then fetch the threadID, postID, etc like vBulletin does in WOL. Usergroup permissions (even hardcoded) is a must for this BTW.

[ChrisSy]

Aww man, this is just the kind of hack i was looking for!

Has anyone installed this on a large board yet? Im interested to know about server load.

[MPDev]

Originally Posted by dirtycrow

answered my own question. it lets you view new posts and threads in forums that are simply password protected.

You can try changing line 46 in vaispy.php to - I dont have any password protected forums.

    	if (($forumperms[$forum["forumid"]] & $vbulletin->bf_ugp_forumpermissions['canview']) AND verify_forum_password($forum["forumid"], null, false)) {

[MPDev]

Originally Posted by DementedMindz

seems like a nice way to kill someones site would be to dos this page. maybe you could make it so only registered user can see it or have some sort of permissions?

If I wanted to DDOS someone's site I would only have to call any one of the number of vBulletin scripts repeatedly.

[da420]

Very nice. Will install after work.