Add-On Releases - vBISpy - AJAX real-time feed of new posts/threads

After seeing the http://www.digg.com/spy application; I wondered if this could be done for vBulletin as well. I came across this webpage which had a "how to" on how they built a similiar application to do the same thing. Taking a page from their book (i.e. the code), I modified it for use with vBulletin.

During development, I also came across this post here on vBulletin.Org where the very subject had already been discussed.

So I put this together; a simple ZIP file with a single PHP script, three javascript files and 4 images.

Installation

. UNZIP the file into your forums directory
. That's it!

Virtually all the code to customize the page is in the vaispy.php script; there are no plugins, no templates and no phrases. You do not need to do anything further; this should work right out of the box.

In your browser, open the URL:

http://www.yourforum.com/forum/vaispy.php

You can see examples of this at:

http://www.viperalley.com/forum/vaispy.php
http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/vaispy.php

Note: I claim no ownership of this code except for the file vaispy.php - the rest of the files were using 'freely distributable' sources. As such, you may use these files as you wish, but please do not remove the copyrights.

This modification is for vBulletin 3.6 only, if you are running vBulletin 3.5 you will need to see this thread.

JOIN THE vBIspy Network!
Once you have this mod installed, you can join the vBIspy network to have your threads appear on this site; the vBIspy Network is a great way for people to see what's going on in various vBulletin communities and for forum owners to promote their sites and generate new traffic.

Optional add-ons

Who's Online mod for this: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126209

vBAdvanced Module: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=126421

UPDATES
1.0.4
Added buro9's code from here

1.0.5 - 9.9.06
Modified some JavaScript in va_spy.js to remove split strings

1.0.6 - 9.10.06
Added date cuffoff code from here and changed init() to spyinit() - changed vaispy.php and va_spy.js files.

1.0.7 - 9.12.06
va_spy.js: Added a forum url variable to allow for integration with portals or other products outside the forum directory
va_spy.js: Added xmldelay variable at top of script for easier configuration or repolling
Updated files: vaispy.php, vb_spy.js

1.0.8 - 9.13.06
vaispy.php - changed code for checking for forum permissions to include password protected forums, added javascript tag for script code

1.0.9 - 9.16.06
vaispy.php
va_spy.js
va_effects.js
- modified to allow for proper display in Opera browsers and moved more html into vaispy.php to allow for stylevars, trimmed va_effects.js to remove unused code (ForumDog's suggestions, except not using templates yet), changed way threads are parsed (removes html as well)

1.0.10 - 9.17.06
va_prototype.js - removed 20kb of unused code

1.1.11 - 9.25.2006
vaispy.php
va_spy.js
- added SirAdrian's mods for thread status icons and alternating row colors
- added code to prepopulate the first 10 rows with existing threads allowing for 5 new ones to be added in scrolling mode (versus scrolling starting from the first thread).
- added option to display subscribed threads only

1.1.12 - 9.26.2006
vaispy.php
- added code to add empty rows if initial pull has less than 20 rows.

[FlyBoy73]

Originally Posted by Jase2

Works fine in 3.7.0

When did that come out?

[gravy]

can this in any way be integrated within the forums themselves??... and also if you are looking at a post and someone replys will pop up in there as well???

[dancue]

I'm interested in knowing where people are placing the link to this page? What exactly will this show you? new threads in the past 24 hours, or your last visit?

[m0nde]

Great mod!

I have it running at http://www.bostonlove.org/forums/vaispy.php

I have one request. I have ampersands in my forum names and they are shown as &. Please explain how to fix this.

[eng. deeb]

what about this:

Warning: require_once(./global.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /......../....../public_html/expertsinengineering/forum/vaspy/vaispy.php on line 33

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required './global.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php') in /......./......./public_html/expertsinengineering/forum/vaspy/vaispy.php on line 33

[GoodKarmaKid]

Really great mod, like it alot.

I have it installed on a custom skin running on VB3.7 RC1 and it works great.

My only issue is I'd like to change the width of the columns to improve the layout for my site. I looked in the .php file but didn't see where I could change the column widths. Admitteldly, I'm not a coder, or a programmer but I am good at following directions if someone points me in the right direction.

Thanks
Jason

[thomasx]

I would like to restrict the use to moderator and administrator usergroups, but have no idea how to do that, because there is no admin backend. any clue for me if that is possible (should be) and: how?

thanks.

[FlyBoy73]

This is excellent... Thanks a lot!
Added this one to one forum and the 3.5 version to another that I have not upgraded to 3.7x yet. Both working great!

[glennybee]

I have this mod installed and I was wondering if someone could help me with a problem.

I have a section of code at the top of this page which displays a news ticker. I have an option in User CP > Edit Options to enable this ticker on other areas of my forum. I have an <if> statement which checks for the profile field to be true and then shows the banner.

I've edited the vaispy.php file to include the ticker but how can I control who sees it via the profile field?

This is where the code is...

</script>
<title>bla bla bla</title>
</head>
<body onload="spyinit();">
$header
$navbar

$mgc_cb_evo_var <!-- shoutbox -->

<if condition="$vbulletin->userinfo['field6'] & YES">

<!-- code is inserted here -->

</if>

<table width="90%" align="center"><tr><td width="50%" align="left"><input type="checkbox" id="subscribe" value="1">&nbsp;subscribed threads only</td>
<td width="50%" align="right">
<img id="vaplay" src="images/misc/play_down.gif" style="cursor:pointer;" alt="Play" title="Play Comments" onclick="playSpy();" /> &nbsp;
<img id="vapause" src="images/misc/pause_up.gif" style="cursor:pointer;" alt="Pause" title="Pause Comments" onclick="pauseSpy();" />
</td></tr></table>
<br />
VAPRINT;

if (is_browser('opera'))
{
$output .= <<<VAPRINT
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" align="center" id="spy_table">
<tr><td width="20" class="tcat" nowrap="nowrap" style="height:25px;">&nbsp;</td>
<td class="tcat" width="225" nowrap="nowrap" style="height:25px;">By</td>
<td class="tcat" width="80%" style="height:25px;">Thread/Post</td>
<td class="tcat" width="200" nowrap="nowrap" style="height:25px;">Forum
</tr>
<tr><td colspan="4" class="alt1">
$prefetched
<div id="row21" style="display:none;" class="spyfade1"></div>
<div id="row22" style="display:none;" class="spyfade2"></div>
<div id="row23" style="display:none;" class="spyfade3"></div>
<div id="row24" style="display:none;" class="spyfade4"></div>
<div id="row25" style="display:none;" class="spyfade5"></div>
</td></tr>
</table>
VAPRINT;
}
else
{
$output .= <<<VAPRINT
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1" border="0" width="100%" align="center" id="spy_table">
<thead>
<tr align="center"><td class="thead" width="100">Event</td><td class="thead" width="190">By</td><td class="thead">Thread/Post</td><td class="thead" width="190">Forum</td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="alt1">
$prefetched
<tr id="row21" style="display: none;" class="spyfade1"><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr id="row22" style="display: none;" class="spyfade2"><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr id="row23" style="display: none;" class="spyfade3"><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr id="row24" style="display: none;" class="spyfade4"><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr id="row25" style="display: none;" class="spyfade5"><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
VAPRINT;
}

$output .= <<<VAPRINT
$footer
VAPRINT;

echo $output;
?>

I'm guessing the $vbulletin->userinfo bit is not a known variable within this file so it's not working.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Julrou]

Originally Posted by MPDev

Appears you have a space in your numbers which is illegal:

http://www.informatiquefacile.eu/for...spy.php?do=xml

Hey !

I can't fixed it. I don't know how to erase that space... Can you say me how to do that ?

Thanks a lot, :up:

Jul.