Invites System

I no longer support my hacks. Please feel free to update them and release new versions elsewhere as long as I get the credit for the original modification.

/*=========================================*\
|| Invites System
||
|| Author : Anton Kanevsky
|| Works on : vBulletin 3.5.0
|| Released : Dec 19, 2005
||
|| Time required to install: 1 minute
|| Difficulty: easy
\*=========================================*/

DESCRIPTION

A complete invites system for your vBulletin board.

STATISTICS

File Uploads: 3
Template Changes: 4
Products to Install: 1


FEATURES

Configuration Options:

• The system can be turned on and off.
• Registration can be set to either require invite code to sign up or to continue allowing regular registrations when the system is on.
• Invite Expiration Period.
• Minimal Posts Required to Receive Changes in Number of Invites.
• Minimal Reputation Required to Receive Changes in Number of Invites.
• Number of Posts Required to Get One (1) Invite.
• Number of Invites Received or Subtracted per Reputation (+ for positive, - for negative).
• Initial Number of Invites Given on Registration (Sign Up).
• Usergroups that May Not Use Invite Manager.
• Usergroups that May Use Invite Manager (Optional Override).
• Initial Registration Usergroup (only pertaining to registration by invites).
• Do or Do Not make users linked by an invite mutual buddies after the completion of registration of the person invited.
• Single / Multiple Address Line Field.
• If Multiple, Number of Fields to Show.

Miscellaneous Features:

• Upon invite-based registration, the person who issued the invite is set up as a referrer of the person invited. Therefore, free specification of a referrer is restricted during such registration.
• Image (GD) Verification.
• Administrator can manually edit any user's invite count.
• If a user is permitted to issue invites (based on both the number of unused invites and the system permissions), that user has a link to invites of usercp home (says "Click here to invite new users!"). When a user has no invites left, the link does not show up. Nevertheless, as long as system permissions allow access to the Invite Manager, the usercp navlink continues to show up, so that the user would have access to his/her invite history, which is available just below the "Issue New Invite" form.
• If registration is set to require invite code to sign up, the navbar register link becomes hidden.
• If registration is set to continue allowing non-invited sign ups, the number of invites available to any single user is unlimited. Therefore, the number of invites left does not show up.
• Invite History in UserCP, on the bottom of the invite manager.
• Single-Line AddressField, with Unlimited # Of Simultaneous Recipients, within the bounds of invite tokens.
• Multiple-Line AddressField, with Limited Configurable # Of Simultaneous Recipients, within the bounds of invite tokens.
• Unregistered Users, Banned Users and Users with No Forumview Permissions cannot use invite manager. Therefore, you do not have to specify those usergroups in the list of usergroups that may not use the invite manager.
• Invite counts are automatically updated once a week, based on the admincp-configured settings.
• Per-user invite usage restriction.
• Inactive users, who do not post anything new, will gradually lose all of their invites.

VERSION HISTORY

1.5.0
A new, commercial release.

1.4.0
[+] Image verification to avoid multiple submits.

1.3.0
[+] New Config Option: Single-Field / Multiple-Field Address Line (Default: Multiple-Field)
[+] New Config Option: Number of fields to show if multiple option is chosen.
[+] User Option, which lets an administrator restrict invite system usage for that single user.
[F] Fixed Bug, which prevented a user from registration if COPPA was enabled.
[F] Fixed Bug, which prevented a user from sending out an invite if he had zero invites and dependency on registration was turned off.
[F] Fixed Bug, which continued to show the invite form after it was submitted, even if there were no more invites left.

1.2.0
[+] New Config Option: Usergroups that May Use Invite Manager (Optional Override).
[+] New Config Option: Initial Registration Usergroup (only pertaining to registration by invites).

1.0.2
[+] Ability to send unlimited simultaneous invites, within the bounds of invite count owned.
[+] Improved invite interface (see screenshot).
[F] A couple of hard-coded forgotten phrases have been moved into the phrase system.

1.0.1
[+] Amount of posts required to get one invite is now configurable
[+] When a user can issue invites, he/she has a link on usercp (which says "Click here to Invite a New User!")
[+] When invites are required to register, there is no direct "Register" link in the navbar
[+] When invites are not required to register, there is no limitation on invites, and therefore the number of invites left is not shown
[+] Administrator can now edit invite counts manually using Admin Manager
[+] Administrator can now specify which usergroups cannot use Invite Manager
[+] More descriptive AdminCP Hack Options
[F] Added TABLE_PREFIX to the Install Code
[F] Fixed a Typo in Registration Code
[F] In the Invite History, invites are now lister in a descending order, rather than ascending. In other words, the latest invites are now on the top.

1.0.0
Initial Release

The installation manual is contained within the attached file.

IF YOU LIKE MY HACK, PLEASE CLICK INSTALL

[Marcus Lau]

YOurs commercial version i dont understand, what if i dont have:

IonCube Loader
CURL w/ SSL Support

[JazzleBug]

I have this rockin' on 3.5.4. without any trouble. If it works out well, I'll be upgrading to the commercial version to show my support. So far, so good. :up:

[akanevsky]

Glad to hear that

[JulianWolf]

Great Hack, Thanks!

Is there a way to change the "from"-Setting in the Invitation-eMail? It is "Name @ Forum" in the moment and lots of Users think, this is spam. I would like to put the eMail-Adress from the User, who invites, in the "from" of the invitation-eMail.

Best wishes, Julian!

[Tralala]

Yeah, the spam thing is a bit odd, I've gotten numerous comments from folks who disregarded the invite as spam. I've tried to alter the invite text to make it more clear...

[JulianWolf]

That´s why I think putting the eMail of the "inviter" in is the best way. I suggest that they are friends and so he will not classifie an eMail as "SPam" which is comming from a friend.

But ... how can I change that? I didn´t find something in the phrases and templates, so I guess it is in the Hack itself.

Best wishes, Julian!

[akanevsky]

So what do you guys think would be a good title that would not be considered spam?

[Tralala]

Good question.

I do think setting the "From:" field to be the sender's email address (instead of "Name @ Forum") would help.

Perhaps the "subject" field could be user customizable? (And if left blank, then it would use the default title.)

[TomJames]

Awesome, im gonna be testing this and hopefully implementing. Great stuff, ill be looking around your site at your other stuff soon

*clicks install*

[akanevsky]

Ya, except you should also look at the new releases at my site cause they have much more features than this version.
By the way, in the last release I changed the subject and from fields a bit, in the following way:

From: SiteName
Subject: A friend has invited you to register on yaddayaddayadda...