Miscellaneous Hacks - Donation Goal Thermometer Forum Block addon for Donation Manager

**This is an addon for the Donation Manager addon if installed as below.**

I've been waiting for something that will be an all-in-one donation system such as the Cyb Paypal Donate for vBulletin 4 but can't wait any longer. I really needed a donation goal monitor as it encourages people to donate who otherwise do not.

I like the features of the Donation Manager addon and decided I would search for some sort of script that would enable me to display donation progress. I found this free script: http://www.arkie.net/~scripts/thermometer/

I have implemented a basic method to display donation progress through both of these scripts. It is a manual process to update donation progress but the Cyb Donate plugin was as well.

DEMO: You can see my implementation in action at http://www.puritanboard.com/forum.php

Instructions
1. Download thermometer.php and upload that into your forum root.
2. Create a new Forum Block

a. AdminCP -> Forums & Moderators -> Forum Blocks Manager
b. Click Add Block
c. Block Title: Donate (or Support Us)
d. Active: Yes
e. Content Type: HTML
f. Content

PHP Code:

<img hspace="10" align="left" border="0" src="thermometer.php?Current=0&Goal=250&Width=100&Height=100&Font=2">
<br><br>
<form action="donate.php" method="post"> 
<input type="submit" value="Donate" class="newcontent_textcontrol"> <br /> <br> 
</form> 


g. BEFORE YOU SAVE, you must configure the thermometer in the Content block. All the settings are within the img attributes and you don't need to touch the thermometer.php file. Notice that img has the following src value:

thermometer.php?Current=0&Goal=100&Width=50&Height=100&Font=2

(1) Current=current donations received
(2) Goal=donation goal
(3) Width=width of the thermometer
(4) Height=height of thermometer
(5) Font=size of font from 1...whatever
(You can experiment with these settings but I found a width of 50 and Height of 100 with a font size of 2 makes my thermometer about right)

Once you save the Forum Block you can position it in your Block order. When you receive donations you simply edit the forum block and update the Current= value. It's not perfect but it's better than having no goal meter. When the user clicks on the Support Us link he is taken to the Donation System which allows him to donate.

ALTERNATIVE IMPLEMENTATION

You can set up the forum block to allow the user to select pulldown dollar amounts. I don't know how to pass the variables that the donation system uses or I would use them in my block. This block requires a bit more editing to get it working for your site.

Follow the same instructions as above but in the Content Block replace all with:

PHP Code:

<img hspace="10" align="left" border="0" src="thermometer.php?Current=6&Goal=400&Width=50&Height=100&Font=2">
<br>
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> 
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick"> 
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="email@doman.com">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> 
<select name="amount"> 
<option value="10">$10</option> 
<option value="20">$20</option> 
<option value="50">$50</option> 
<option value="100">$100</option> 
<option value="500">$500</option> 
</select> 
<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1"> 
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1"> 
<input type="hidden" name="lc" value="US"> 
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-BuyNowBF"> 
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Forum Donation"> 
<input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="http://www.forumdomain.com/donate.php?do=fail"> 
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://www.forumdomain.com/donate.php?do=success"> 
<input type="hidden" name="rm" value="2"> <br /><br /> 
<input type="submit" value="Donate" class="newcontent_textcontrol"> <br /> <br> 
</form> 


Set:
- Thermometer values as before
- email@domain.com to your paypal e-mail address
- value="USD" to a different currency if you want to accept by another currency
- option values to the amounts you want to donate and set the values between the option tags to the currency you want
- value="US" to your country
- value="Forum Donation" to what you want displayed in the paypal cart when the user donates
- forumdomain.com to your forum domain (there are two and they are the success and fail pages of the Donation System plugin)

[movslow]

Direct link to my thermometer.php file.

Nothing.

http://movslow.com/forum/thermometer.php

[Videx]

Originally Posted by movslow

Direct link to my thermometer.php file.

Nothing.

http://movslow.com/forum/thermometer.php

You're lucky. When I try to access my thermometer via direct link like that I get a page full of really scary error messages! Are you sure you're setting up the forum block properly? I see you have several blocks so I would assume you know how it's done. But really, even if the thermometer isn't working you should get a block with the text and links in it.

[apaydin2148]

can you do something like this image?

[cicciotto]

as they did with version 4.0.1?
http://www.ipmart-forum.it/forum.php

[SemperFideles]

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing an uptick in donations since implementing this. I used to rely upon the Cyb bar below my Navbar but my donations per month have actually gone up quite a bit with the thermometer.

Call it ugly or whatever you like but it works. I had some previous research and experience with Pay per click advertising and the upper left of the screen is always where PPC advertising was most effective. I think the location combined with the thermometer graphic is inspiring more donations.

[icemann]

I'll see how it does.

[sinistergaming]

will this work with vsa donations?
i really dig the thermometer but i need the functions in vsa donations.
for usergroups and stuff

[SemperFideles]

Originally Posted by sinistergaming

will this work with vsa donations?
i really dig the thermometer but i need the functions in vsa donations.
for usergroups and stuff

I'm trying to figure out how to do it. I would love to be able to make it work for myself. I'm going to try to poke around and figure out how to do it.

[Breakthru]

Would be amazing if could use this image...

Attachment 113082

[Reef Man]

Can this be configured as a widget? is it possible to change the thermometer picture?