AboutToday - Bring RSS Feeds and Daily Events to Your Site!

What is AboutToday?

AboutToday provides a central place to bring daily items of interest to your forum visitors. It includes two main components: an RSS Reader System and Local Events database System.

Please NOTE: This mod has been modified for vb ver 3.6.4. It should work on vb ver 3.5.4 and 3.6.x.

1. An RSS Reader system where the admin can enter RSS feeds that will then be displayed on the page. RSS feeds can be set to AUTOMATICALLY create threads or be set so that users can easily create a thread from a feed.. Feeds can be read via fopen or cURL.
   
   
   
   
   
   The RSS Feeds are fully intergrated with vbAdvanced and could actually be placed anywhere you want!!
   
2. A database system that can hold unlimited categories of "AboutToday" events. For example, you could have a history category (like a Today in History) with sub-categories for different eras in history. Or, you could have a daily joke or software tip of the day, etc.
   
   The "Add Event" feature is intended to help you if you want for example - Sports: Today in History. With the vb calendar, you cannot have categories and you are restricted with how far back the dates can go.
   
   
   
   
   So with the "Add Event" feature, you could have a category tree like:
   • Hockey
     • Professional
     • College
     • High School
   • Football
     • American Football
     • The Rest of the World (Soccer)
   • Baseball
   
   with the normal calendar feature, you cannot have categories. And with "Add Event" you can have any date. So, if you want an event like "Jan 1, 132 B.C. - the first ball was invented", you can do that. But, that isn't possible in the normal calendar. Also, the events in "Add Event" are fully searchable.

Installation

Copy the following files to your server in the forums directory:

abouttoday.php
includes/class.csv.php
includes/class_abouttoday.php
includes/cron/cron_abouttoday.php
includes/xml/bitfield_abouttoday.xml
includes/xml/cpnav_abouttoday.xml
admincp/abouttodayadmin.php

From the admincp, import the product file product-abouttoday.xml (Manage Products - Add/Import Product).

REFRESH your admincp window. You should now see a listing in the left column of the admincp for "AboutToday".

Getting Started

NOTE - if this is a new install, a Yahoo RSS Feed and CNN Entertainment Feed have been automatically added to give you a feel for how the product looks.

If you plan to use the RSS Feeds:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - RSS Feeds. Add an RSS Feed.
2. From the admincp, select Usergroups - Usergroup Manager. Add permissions so the Administrator group can use the product.
3. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php.
4. If you want the feeds to AUTOMATICALLY create threads, go to admincp - abouttoday - settings. There you must set the userid of the account to use to create the thread. Then, edit the RSS Feed with the forumid of where the threads for that feed should be created!

If you plan to create your own "today in history" type of database:

1. From the admincp, select AboutToday - Categories. Add a category.
2. From your forum directory, bring up the file abouttoday.php. "Add" your first event to the category you have created!

Version Status
I've tested this product extensively but ... use this totally at your own risk!

Credits
I learned a lot about how to code this and used a lot of the code from what Ron1n did with ecDownloads. What I've learned from his code while helping to support ecDownloads has been invaluable.

Sites Using this Product
Visit www.armchairgeneral.com to see this product in action.

Click Install!
Please Click Install if you are using this product. Thanks!

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by G_Man

did want to ask about something you mentioned about 5000 posts ago! You said the next version would possibly enable you to have automatically posted threads that are not replied to automatically deleted...

yes, I do still plan to add that feature. Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. RL and all that has been taking up too much time!

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by Slingblade61

Install went fine......I have been reading this thread for ages and have seen a couple of references to CMPS.......does it (can it) work there?

If so, how?

Are you talking about vbAdvanced? If yes, go here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=108274

[Slingblade61]

Sweet.

Thank you!

[G_Man]

Originally Posted by westpointer

yes, I do still plan to add that feature. Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. RL and all that has been taking up too much time!

Cheers!! And no worries about time... I know how RL can be, which is why I avoid it at all costs!! LOL

Thanks again for this GREAT Mod.

[CRBadBeat]

When I try to get it to create the treads autimatically by adding a user ID, it won't save the ID. I enter a user that is an Adminstrator with every permission possible but after it says it saves it, it is back to 0.

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by CRBadBeat

When I try to get it to create the treads autimatically by adding a user ID, it won't save the ID. I enter a user that is an Adminstrator with every permission possible but after it says it saves it, it is back to 0.

Make sure you are using the userid (the number) and not the user name.

[CRBadBeat]

CRBadBeat = Dummy - LOL

Thanks, that was the issue

[Lionel]

Hi, I did a str_replace in the php and the cron so I could format image properly. Any idea why the last image will not format?

[gasxtreme]

I have this modification installed, and it hasn't updated since August 29, 2006..... Any ideas?

Here is the site: http://www.kampfgruppe.us/abouttoday.php?do=rss
Here is a feed: http://www.historychannel.com/global...ory=worldwarii

thanks
-steve

[CyberRanger]

Originally Posted by Lionel

Hi, I did a str_replace in the php and the cron so I could format image properly. Any idea why the last image will not format?

Where did you place the str_replace and what was the command?