vBISpy - AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads (for vB3.5)

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 version is for vBulletin 3.5 users only, for vBulletin 3.6 you will need to download the 3.6 version located here.

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
1.0.2
Added buro9's code from here

1.0.3 - 9.9.06
Modified some JavaScript in va_spy.js to remove split strings

1.0.4 - 9.10.06
Added date cuffoff code from here and changed init() to spyinit() - changed vaispy.php and va_spy.js files.

1.0.5 - 9.11.06
I've changed the query to grab the preview text from the last message; the downside to this change is that people with very large "post" tables will want to add an index to their table to significantly improve the performance on this script.

ALTER TABLE `vb_post` ADD INDEX ( `dateline` )

1.0.6 - 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

1.0.7 - 9.13.06
vaispy.php - changed code for checking for forum permissions to include password protected forums, added javascript tag for script code
va_spy.js - changed link to use goto=lastpost to fix links

1.0.8 - 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)

1.0.9 - 9.17.06
va_prototype.js - removed 20kb of unused code

[MPDev]

Originally Posted by RFViet

Is there anyway to limit the characters to display ??

You can change line 69 in vaispy.php:

    	$thread['preview'] = htmlspecialchars_uni(fetch_trimmed_title(strip_bbcode($thread['preview'], true, true), 200));

Change the 200 to whatever.

(Dont' forget to click INSTALL!)

[RFViet]

thanks, then how to change the time to refresh the page ??

[MPDev]

In va_spy.js, find 3 times:

setTimeout("getXML()", 5000);

Change the number to whatever (1000 = 1 second).

[Murty]

Can i ask, what exactly does this modification do? I have never heard of 'spy'. perhaps add something to your mod description.
thanks

[MPDev]

Click the example links in the mod description and you'll see exactly what it does - provides a continously updating live feed of posts made to your forum without having to use REFRESH.

[Murty]

ohh ok cool

[scottct1]

Still not working in IE. It loads the first 10 messages but does not continue to montor and gives the error shown above in the picture I uploaded earlier.

[MPDev]

Scott, your issue isn't related to the feed itself (it works on your site); it appears to be something about your advertising sidebar items which are causing the problem.

I'm guessing its something about your header or footer that is causing the problem.

[scottct1]

Thanks I found out the issue was the footer, it had another Javascript in there and I just removed it.

No more error, although on IE7 I get the feed for a few minutes and then it just stops. Strange, runs fine in Firefox

[RFViet]

Originally Posted by scottct1

Still not working in IE. It loads the first 10 messages but does not continue to montor and gives the error shown above in the picture I uploaded earlier.

Hmm I have the same problem . Yes I have java script at footer but I don't want to remove it.