phpAdsNew Banner Ads integration (advertisements, classified ads, Adsense, etc.)

OpenAds / phpAdsNew Integration 1.0.4 for vBulletin 3.[56].x
2006-06-08 by mip

Integrates the OpenAds / phpAdsNew ads system by introducing a new template tag <ad ... />.
You can even deliver your Adsense stuff via phpAdsNew using HTML banners.

The features of phpAdsNew combined with the power of vBulletin's templating system gives you the possibility to place ads for specific user groups, forums, and keywords.

PREREQUISITES:
This plugin requires a working installation (local or remote) of a recent version ofOpenAds / phpAdsNew (free software released under the GPL).
When using OpenAds, replace phpAdsNew in this documentation with OpenAds (phpAdsNew is just the predecessor of OpenAds).

INSTALLATION:
When having a previous version of this product installed, see section UPGRADE instead.

Install product "phpadsnew-1.0.4.xml".
Set phpAdsNew path in Server Settings and Optimization Options to point to either your local phpAdsNew installation or a remote server (using XML-RPC).
It is strongly recommended to set $phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true; in phpAdsNew config file, to prevent problems when phpAdsNew uses a database different from the one used by your vBulletin board.

When using XML-RPC, make sure to have lib-xmlrpc-class.inc.php and lib-xmlrpc.inc.php copied from phpAdsNew misc/samples/xmlrpc/php/ to your forum's includes/ directory (not necessary when using a local phpAdsNew installation).

Read the NOTES section below.

Click INSTALL in this thread to mark product as "installed" and receive notifications when a new version comes out.

UPGRADE:

• 1.0.3 --> 1.0.4
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
• 1.0.2 --> 1.0.3
  Upgrading is recommended, as this is a bugfix release.
  
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
     
  2. Recompile any templates where you experienced problems with the <ad .../> tag (notably those where this tag is used repeatedly on a line).
     
• 1.0.1 --> 1.0.2
  
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
     
  2. Set $phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true; in phpAdsNew config file.
     
• 1.0 --> 1.0.1
  There's basically no need to upgrade, as the changes don't affect a working installation, but I recommend to do so, to ease possible upgrades in the future.
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
  2. Alter the path to phpAdsNew in vBulletin Server Settings and Optimization Options to point to your phpAdsNew installation.
     As opposed to version 1.0 of this product, a local path is not relative to the DOCUMENT_ROOT.

USAGE:
Use the newly introduced <ad ... /> tag in your templates.
The syntax is similar to phpAdsNew's view_raw() function call - the tag understands what, clientid, target, source, and withtext as arguments.

Please make yourself familiar with phpAdsNew prior to using this product. You can't expect this product to work, if you didn't check if your phpAdsNew is delivering your banners cleanly.

Examples:

• Get banner using keywords:
  <ad what="foo|bar" />
• Get banner for guest usergroup (in this case, "ug1" must be set as a keyword in phpADsNew, see 2nd screenshot):
  <ad what="ug$bbuserinfo['usergroupid']" />
  (same technique can be applied to deliver forum-specific ads)
• Similar invocation using template conditionals:
  <if condition="$bbuserinfo['usergroupid']==1"><ad what="" /></if>

NOTES:

1. Always use the latest stable version of phpAdsNew.
   Old versions had bugs and some even had severe security issues - I'll give no support for installations with an outdated phpAdsNew.
   At the time of writing, latest version is 2.0.8.
2. Templates which make use of the ad-tag might need to get recompiled after product change.
3. Recommendations for heavy-duty servers: Move the plugin code to files; try to avoid using xml-rpc or cache xml-rpc requests (e.g. with memcache).
4. Have an eye on current phpAdsNew security issues
5. This product comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
6. Support is provided at will.
   Don't expect help if you haven't read instructions or phpAdsNew manual, if you're using non-standard vBulletin software or if your problem descriptions are useless.

PS:
This plugin is donationware - it helps you to make some money, so please be fair and honor my work with an adequate pecuniary donation.
Donate via Paypal

[thenewuser]

I am having the same problem Mauu was having... I get:

<!-- BEGIN ad 11111111 --><!-- END ad 1111111111 -->


(numbers replaced w/ 1)

instead of the banner coming up. I've done everything correctly, twice now. What gives?

[Zowners]

can we get this to work with 3.6.1?

[Devices]

Thanks for this hack. Works perfectly for me after a little messing.

I installed it on VB3.6 and there are no problems after upgrading to VB3.61

On initial set up i tried using it to access PAN on a remote server but no matter what i tried it would not work. As my MySQL is on another remote server. I just installed the PAN files on my forums server. After that local mode worked perfectly. If the load gets to great i will try using the remote setup then.

[thenewuser]

So we don't use the original invocation code anywhere?

[libertate]

I must be a complete imbecile.

I cannot figure out how to do this.

Loaded PAN. But nothing done to vB just yet.

Do I install this module then? Or do I have to mess with some templates first?

There are several references to a thread here which says place the "invocation code" into "PHPINCLUDE_START" template. There is no such template in vB 3.5.4. So where does that invocation code need to be placed?

From what I understand PHPINCLUDE_START was replaced by a "Hook" in the Module system as "global_start". Do I add the invocation code in there?

The above step is where I am stuck.

Will installing this mod replace the step of adding the invocation code, or still require it?

If it does not require it, then I have an issue. Once I installed it (no invocation code in global_start hook), when trying to edit a template to include <a .../>, the save process just seems to hang and returns a blank page after editing the template. When refreshing the edit page, the changes to include the <a... /> code is not there.

[thenewuser]

I too am completely stuck and thus can't launch this site. I might have to go with a pay system instead of this free thing.

I can only generate "remote invocation for javascript" and not local for some reason. I too have NO idea where too add this invocation code.

I wish this free syetm had more support. Sorry, I'm just venting, very frustrating.

[Devices]

I had the missing "local invocation" from the drop down box in phpAdsNew too. After reading here and at the PAN forums i discovered it was because i did not have the correct exact url in my config.inc.php file.

Before i corrected that i would just get the

<!-- BEGIN ad 12345678 --><!-- END ad 12345678 -->

in the soruce code of my web page. As soon as i corrected the URL in the config file i had local invocation and the banners displayed fine.

[thenewuser]

Originally Posted by Devices

I had the missing "local invocation" from the drop down box in phpAdsNew too. After reading here and at the PAN forums i discovered it was because i did not have the correct exact url in my config.inc.php file.

Before i corrected that i would just get the

<!-- BEGIN ad 12345678 --><!-- END ad 12345678 -->

in the soruce code of my web page. As soon as i corrected the URL in the config file i had local invocation and the banners displayed fine.

That path is correct.

I have local code now.

Banners aren't showing.

I still get the <!-- BEGIN ad 12345678 --><!-- END ad 12345678 --> error.

[Devices]

Originally Posted by thenewuser

That path is correct.

I have local code now.

Banners aren't showing.

I still get the <!-- BEGIN ad 12345678 --><!-- END ad 12345678 --> error.

I am stuck now to advise what to do other than check your path to your pan installation mine is on a windows server and i have the path set to D:\Domains\mydomain.com\www\ads

The fact you are getting the code above i would say the addon is working ok its just not getting the correct info from PAN. So it either cannot find it or PAN is not returning the correct info.

Have you verified your PAN is working normally outside of VB ?

[dholt]

Nice works great
I need a how too to create a add block for this for the right side of my vba.

can someone give me a step by step on inserting a banner on the right or left side in a block.

Thanks in advance