Persistent Mark Forum Read

Hack: Persistent Mark Forum Read
Version of VB: 2.2.5
Current version: 1.3
Description: This hack replaces the bahavior of vBulletin's "Mark Forum Read" and "Mark All Forums Read" with a system that uses a database to track when forums are set read. By eliminating the use of cookies for this feature, a user can come onto your boards, read a bit, mark forums read as they go through and logout. The next time they come into the forums, the status of which forums they've read and which they haven't, as well as new posts since the last time they read is preserved.

This functions a lot like EZBoard and Chatspace's Webboard.

Included in this hack are three search routines: searing the entire forum for new messages, an individual forum and a section of the hierarchy (parent + children)

Also: Mark All Forums Read, Mark Individual Forum Read and Mark Hierarchy Section (Parent + Children) Read

Note: The install is not all pretty yet and requires a degree of knowledge of MySQL (to add a table) and PHP (as it requires heavy modifications to core files). It is recommended that you backup everything before using this.

After installation, behavior might be a bit odd until a default "markread" record is created for users. This is created when they first login if one does not exist.

This hack has been tweaked to now not add more than two queries to your index page. It will add load on sub-forum pages currently if you have a lot of nested forums. This will be fixed in the next release.

Instructions:

Follow the instructions in the included text file TO THE LETTER. If you run into problems, post here so we can work through them and improve the instructions. Look for a better install utility soon.

I recommend doing the text editing using a DIFF utility to see where you made changes, it honestly helps.

Place the images in your vbulletin image folder. I included PSD files for them if you want to change colors.

[ethank]

Originally posted by Erwin
Your beautiful hack works like a miracle on 2.2.5 anyway at the moment... just so you know...

Hmm...well I'll post new instructions for index.php tomorrow.

[Erwin]

Is it possible to post an upgrade text file from the previous version for those with the previous version already installed?

[ethank]

Basically just do the changes in that file for /index.php only. It helps to start on a fresh copy of it. I can see about doing an upgrade, but my code base for index.php is probably way different than yours.

[JulianD]

Originally posted by ethank
I haven't updated the instructions, so don't This week I will.

Just keep us informed

[ethank]

Instructions were updated for index.php in the first message. I have some more speed tweaks I can do as well, which I'll do when I get back from Seattle next week.

Once fully optimized this hack won't add much load at all and should hold people over that want this feature until V3

[JulianD]

Thanks ethank, going to check them right now.

[Erwin]

Your new index.php reduced my homepage queries by a LOT. Thanks!

[ethank]

I'm going to also re-release the subforums hack for those that use
PHP-Cache. It will further reduce query load. I've got my main index
page to 32 queries minus the queries to do all my navigation.

[ethank]

I'm going to also re-release the subforums hack for those that use
PHP-Cache. It will further reduce query load. I've got my main index
page to 32 queries minus the queries to do all my navigation.

[SWFans.net]

I absolutely love this hack and have been using a version or another of it since vB version 2.0.3.

I was curious though if there was a way to modify the behaviors of the two different markread functions just a little.

What I am requesting may not be possible, but I sure think its logical. At least to me.

When a user goes to mark a forum read using this feature, it normally implies that they are done with that particular forum, but by default, when this action is performed they are returned to the same forum.

I have found a way to have it so that using either of the markread functions will return a user to the main forum index, but what I would like to see and perhaps a few others who use this, is that the user is returned to the Parent forum after the link to mark is clicked.

I?m really not very good with PHP, or else I probably would have come up with some kind of routine to achieve this for the users of my forum and added it here for others who may be interested.

For those interested in how I managed to get users to be redirected to the forum index when using this feature, have a look at this topic and apply what information it contains to the markforumread functions here within ethank?s hack to get that behavior.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=32384

If its not feasibly possible to do this I understand, but logistically it just seems to me to make more sense when a user marks a forum read that they be returned to the parent forum without having to make any extra click to either leave the forum they just marked or as the case is at my board, to go from the forum index back into the subforums they were browsing.

Great hack ethank! Now I just need to figure out what changes you made to optimize index.php, since my version of this is more or less from your original release of this hack with the mark forum and children forums function added in just recently.

[dslteam]

Question: What about an automatic Mark as Read?

The difference being, not only does it utilize database tracking instead of the default use of a cookie, but it doesn’t require a user to physically click the “Mark as Read” button.

This is similar to what would occur if a member reads a new thread. If they read the thread, they are not required to mark it as read in order to make it reset; it just occurs.

With an automatic mark as read for forums, they would not be required to mark the forum as read; it just resets itself as read once all new posts within the forum have been read.

[pirotess]

When I go to modify this portion of my index.php:

PHP Code:

        // do light bulb
        if ($bbuserinfo['lastvisitdate']=='Never') {
          $forum['onoff']='on';
        } else {
                    if (isset($bbforumview[$forum['forumid']]) and $bbforumview[$forum['forumid']]>$bbuserinfo['lastvisit']) {
                        $userlastvisit=$bbforumview[$forum['forumid']];
                    } else {
                        $userlastvisit=$bbuserinfo['lastvisit'];
                    }
          if ($userlastvisit<$forum['lastpost']) {
            $forum['onoff']='on';
          } else {
            $forum['onoff']='off';
          }
        } 


with the appropriate code as posted in the install document my boards white screen when you load them and in my error logs I get a PHP parse error of:

unexpected $ in index.php on line 420

Any ideas? I'm running 2.2.5 and all the other updates for this hack in index.php seem to work fine.

Also I get an undefined function updatelocation{} in search.php when I add the 3rd search type into the file.

[SWFans.net]

I know how to fix the index.php error, but the other, saddly, no. Add another } after that code, so it looks like this:

PHP Code:

// do light bulb
        if ($bbuserinfo['lastvisitdate']=='Never') {
          $forum['onoff']='on';
        } else {
                    if (isset($bbforumview[$forum['forumid']]) and $bbforumview[$forum['forumid']]>$bbuserinfo['lastvisit']) {
                        $userlastvisit=$bbforumview[$forum['forumid']];
                    } else {
                        $userlastvisit=$bbuserinfo['lastvisit'];
                    }
          if ($userlastvisit<$forum['lastpost']) {
            $forum['onoff']='on';
          } else {
            $forum['onoff']='off';
          }
        }
        } 


[dslteam]

You developed a such big hack but the most important feature that is not so hard - is not in it !?

I talk about this automatic Mark as Read. Is it hard to add this feature??

Please !!!

Thanks !

[Erwin]

The reason why Automatic Mark as Read was not included is because some of use go and preview a post, but don't actually read it, and don't want it to be marked as read. Better to click on the Mark All Read link once you feel you have read all posts.