Add-On Releases - AIM Controller (AIM Bot For Vb)

This Add-on Is Beta

The AIM Controller is an AIM Bot that connects to Vbulletin and can perform endless functions via Instant Messaging.

The Controller utilizes "action scripts" which are nothing more than Perl (CGI) scripts. You can write your own to perform almost any action.

I have only included a few proof of concept action scripts. They do the following:

• Return latest threads (5).
  
• Shut down or Re-open forum.
  
• Notify users of replies to subscribed threads.
  
• Who's online.

I do plan on adding more, but before I get too far into this, I would like some of you out there to try what is already available. I am mostly concerned with the controller. I have tested it extensively and have found it works great.

Requirements:

You must be able to execute Perl scripts on the command line via a shell like Telnet or SSH. Or you COULD run this from your desktop providing you have Perl installed on your PC, and you can connect to your MySQL database from your PC. Many servers only allow connections from localhost.

The ability to install Perl modules.

Perl (CGI).

You should be able to install Perl modules on your server, as the following are required:

DBI (with DBD::MySQl drivers)
constant (core module, should already be installed)
Net::OSCAR
Digest::MD5
IO::Poll
PHP::Serialization (for install/uninstall action scripts)
XML::RSS::Parser (for action scripts)
LWP 5.64 or higher

This IS NOT A CGI script and CANNOT be called in the browser. I will not answer any questions that pertain to "server 500 error in my browser" or browser timeouts. You should not be accessing this with your browser in any way.

Make sure you read the readme BEFORE you attempt to install.


UPDATES:

11/15/2006:

Updated aimnot.pl and functions.pl. Added flood protection and admin help for available commands. Just upload new admin.pl and functions.pl file and restart bot from scratch (no rehash). Make sure you redefine the vars or just copy them from the old file.

11/14/2006:

1. Created a new file called use_once.pl. This is where ALL use statements for action scripts must go. This stops memory hammering on action script calls. Edited aimnot.pl to require this file.

2. All Vbulletin settings (setting table) are loaded on init/rehash and populated in the %vbulletin hash.

3. Removed all "use" statements from action scripts. This caused the script to bloat wildly if an action script was executed frequently, such as polling scripts. All modules being used in action scripts MUST be used in this file only!

4. Fixed a minor bug in the message action script. If the VB version was up to date, a finish command was called on a query that actually never happened, throwing a warning.

5. Added global.cgi which is loaded at runtime. Here is where user defined variables can be placed and loaded on init/rehash.

6. Edited who.cgi action script so it reflects the vbulletin cookietimeout setting instead of my arbitrary 1000 seconds.

11/10/2006 11am EST: Updated installer and uninstaller to add/remove table aimmessages. This creates a message queue for user messages.

11/10/2006 added two action scripts. One (messages) checks the VB version on init and notifies admins if version out of date. Added REQUIRED action script that will send messages in queue.

Both of the above updates requires your execute: aimnot.pl uninstall and then aimnot.pl install with the latest version.

I will be adding action scripts from time to time without changing the version number of the add-on. You will only need to upload the new action scripts to their respective folders to implement them (rehash or restart the bot). I will be listing them here along with their dates.

Latest Action Scripts:

load.cgi & load_alarm.cgi 11/15/2006 - The admin command #load will display the load average on Unix/Linux/*nix servers. A new polling script will check the load every few seconds and send you an alarm if the load is over 10 (configurable). The warnings will persist every 30 seconds until the load is reduced.

stats.cgi 11/14/2006 - Will show user/post/thread stats. I put it in the custom_user folder, but if you only want this for admins, then place it in the custom_admin folder.

cron.cgi 11/10/2006 - Will execute cron.php as a polling event (every X seconds) instead of users activating it via the browser. Upload to polling_events folder.

[Tralala]

Awesome indeed, what a great concept. Thanks, Jafo232! I'm going to have to play with this.

I have a question, and perhaps it's outside of the scope of this hack's intention (but then it might inspire some new innovation too.)

Your work here allows users to interact with the forum via an AIM bot. What about allowing the AIM bot to interact with users via the forum?

What I mean by that is best illustrated by an example:

My forum has a dedicated AIM chat room that we gather in; everyone prefers to use AOL IM or Trillian or iChat over a vB-integrated FlashChat. However, FlashChat has an advantage over AOL IM, in that you can have a module that reports "Who is Chatting Right Now" on your forum.

So what I'm thinking is, would this AIM bot be able to report how many users are gathered in the AIM chat room (and/or their names) and report it to a module/banner/whatever that appears on our forum?

Just a thought to throw out there on an otherwise idle Sunday evening.

Thanks again for the great work you've shared here.

[BigJimTheLug]

Wow, this is good.

Great work!

Installed!

[subnet_rx]

This looks like an excellent addon, and is something along the lines of what I've been looking for. I've always wanted to use IM to connect to a certain thread and let users "chat" using the thread.