vbArticles v0.4 -- For your repository of Articles/Tutorials/FAQs etc.

UPDATES
version 0.4 is out

- Now allows for basic VBCODE input.
- Fixed somemore bugs.


Background
Required a section on my site to display articles/tutorials
No such hack in the Hacks Database
Decided to try my hand at it

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This hack uses a lot of code from Arunan Sridharan's vB Links Directory v2.0
I use that hack too and was inspired to code something around that
A big thank-you must go out to him for coding the Links Directory in the first place (I merely modified much of the code to suit my needs for this hack)

Appreciation also goes out to Kars10 for aiding me in this hack
He coded the portion in version 0.3 on number of articles count as well as article hits count
He also suggested several template changes which have been incoporated into version 0.3
A great big special shout out to TheComputerGuy, 97cobracpe, dontpanic for stamping out the bugs with your fixes. Thanks guys


WHATS IT DO ?
This hack allows you to have a database of articles/tutorials etc on your site/forums.

FEATURES

AdminCP
Installer script

Admin options

View Categories
Edit Categories
Add Categories ( category name, category icon, category order, category description )
Delete Categories
Add new article ( title, description, author, date, content )
Edit article
Delete article
View ALL articles in database
Option in vB options to turn validation of articles on/off
Fully template based as to how you wish to display the articles,categories and main article home page.
Addition of articles accepts basic VBcodes

Member options

View Categories
Browse Categories
View articles
Submit new article
Submission of articles accepts basic VBcodes


INSTALLATION & UPGRADING
This Hack should work on ALL 2.2.x versions and v2.3.0
Please read the install_readme.txt file in the package for fresh installation instructions
IMPT: If you installed a previous version pls read the upgrade_readme.txt file carefully for upgrade instructions

HACK DOWNLOAD

Version 0.4 of this hack can be downloaded here

ADD-ONS
i) Add-on for vbHome
ii) Add-on for ForumHome
iii) Add-on to enable only registered members to be able to view the article section


DEMO SITES
http://www.runaked.com/forums/articles.php ( running v0.4 ) - TheComputerGuy's site

http://www.mcseworld.com/forums/infocenter.php ( running v0.3 ) - dontpanic's site


Feel free to submit your sites if u installed this hack so it can be listed as another live demo site

SUPPORT
I cannot promise any support on this as i am pretty new to this but I will try my best.
If you are using this hack , pls click the INSTALL button
to be kept in the loop of any bug reports, add-ons and hack version updates.

Thanks everyone

[cinq]

Dun use vbCode , thats not supported here.
HTML should work.

<a href="http://www.url.com">URL name</a>
It works for me

[swanienufan]

OK, I'm a bone head, I got it to work. Guess I will be taking HTML 101 again. :banana:

[cinq]

Glad it works

[gmarik]

Oh, cinq, maybe you should
remake that xHTML? And use
CSS all around?! I'm going on
holidays and won't be able to help
bu when I'll be back in August, I'll
see what I can do. There was a hack:
browse threads by months - that would
be a great integration with an article hack
like yours, do are agree? This is top 5 hack!

[PixelFx]

I can help with xhtml if needed...

awesome hack

[cinq]

Yesterday at 03:19 PM gmarik said this in Post #54
Oh, cinq, maybe you should
remake that xHTML? And use
CSS all around?! I'm going on
holidays and won't be able to help
bu when I'll be back in August, I'll
see what I can do. There was a hack:
browse threads by months - that would
be a great integration with an article hack
like yours, do are agree? This is top 5 hack!

gmarik , sorry but am none too familiar with xHTML .
Have checked up the term and read thru w3.org but i still dun quite get it.
How does the language and usage actually differ from HTML ?
Some links would be good.

As for css , you could just place a css file in your directory and when writing your articles in HTML , just include the style tags to call your css file for displaying your content

Browse threads by months .... how would that be a good integration for this hack ? I dun really understand this bit

[cinq]

Today at 05:02 AM PixelFx said this in Post #55
I can help with xhtml if needed...
awesome hack

Thanks for the offer PixelFX , will contact u if i need the help

[gmarik]

Browse by months could be very usefull, if builing a site, that does not looks like an ordinary vB board. I've been waiting for years, but I'm a bad php pgrogrammer, there must be a way to integrate it with teh calendar maby. Something we need is used in "blogs".

[cinq]

gmarik , i still do not understand the purpose that would serve in vbArticles , care to elaborate further ?

Thanks for your invaluable feedback thus far

[gmarik]

Cinq - it's elementary, Watson!

Articles (in small companys) are published once a week and If I want to know what happened in August 2002, I just hit the button, not searching it all over, now got the point?