Advanced Warning System (AWS)

Advanced Warning System Version 3.5.0

The AWS version for vB 3.5 has been released. You can download it and get support in this thread:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?p=770032


Advanced Warning System Version 3.4.16 (latest stable release for vB 3.0.x)


LATEST ANNOUNCEMENT

The AWS has its own Premium Forum here at vBulletin.org, so please use that for questions and discussion on this hack.

The Permium Forum is located at :

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=105





This Warning System owes its existence to Zero Tolerance's Warning Hack (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=65336). I liked the idea, so I installed Zero's hack in my forums site. However, as in most cases, I was not fully satisfied with the way it worked, so I started customizing it. Other people in the thread above, asked questions, which I had already answered by my customizing work, so I answered, giving away those parts of the code, that I had modified.

In the long run, I almost hijacked the thread and the hack from Zero, so I guess I owe him an apology. However, the mods I did have compiled a new, more complete warning system, with much more functionality. Several members from that thread, asked if this could be released as a new hack, so after discussing it with Zero, here it is.

What it does? Well, it is a Warning System, which means it allows you (the administrative team of your site, in other words the admins, the supermods and the mods), to define offences, which the members of your forum should NOT commit. But as we all know, there are instances where members do not follow the rules. In that case, this warning system, allows you to issue a warning to the member who commited the offence. The warning has some points associated with it, as well as a period over which it is valid. When a member gathers enough points, he is banned from your forums, for a predefined period of time. That's mostly it, but below, you can find a short list of features:

Full warning system with:

- post- and non-post-related warnings
- hierarchical warning schema
- hidden or real warners
- customizable maximum warning points
- automatically bans members who reached the maximum warning points
- customizable ban days
- customizable ban user group and permanent ban user group
- customizable restore user group, where users are restored after they get unbanned
- customizable option for who can see the warning level of the members
- automatically issued warnings for posts which contain censored words
- automatically issued warnings for private messages which contain censored words
- supports incremental banning periods
- supports multiple warnings for the same post
- warned members are notified either by Private Message or e-mail when they are warned and when one of the warnings they have received is either deleted or expired
- maintains historical listings of issued warnings (even if deleted or expired)
- customizable warning types
- each warning type has predefined warning points associated with it
- each warning type has predefined maturity period, after which it is automatically deleted
- reports for admin, mods and members
- cron job included to automatically remove matured warnings
- uses vBulletin's cron job, to automatically unban banned users
- all options are setable in your AdminCP
- user warning points and number of bans viewable in your AdminCP User Manager.
- statistics show warning per type, warnings per warner, bans per user.
- Allows you to warn a user from your AdminCP/User Manager.
- Large "Warn" sign, in posts which have received a warning, for mods, supermods and admins, to easily distinguish those posts.
- Ability to remove user's avatar, signature or usage of the Private Messaging system, depending on the warning points he has collected.
- Supports non-standard admins, supermods and mods user groups.
- Allows you to save a copy of the warning send to the warned user, in a predefined forum.
- Allows you to issue "Alerts" (warnings without warning points, for first-time offenders)
- Allows you to add private or public notes for a user, either post-specific or not. Notes appear in the postbit, above each user's message.
- etc.

Admitedly, this is not an easy hack to install. It requires 20 new templates and modifications to some existing ones too. It requires five new tables and modifications to some others. It requires several new phrases. I've tried to make the installation, as easy as I could, by automating certain tasks in an automatic installer. The installer will add the new templates for you, add the new tables required and change the existing ones, and will add the required new phrases. You will have to manually edit the existing templates and the php files though. I also included an upgrade script, which will upgrade those who are using Zero Tolerance's warning hack (version 1.5) to this one. An uninstaller is also included, which removes what the installer installs.

Please keep in mind, that this is a very difficult hack to install. For this reason, I strongly recommend that you back up your database before starting the installation. I also suggest that you keep copies of each file and template you edit, so that you can always revert to a previous stable condition. Finally, I strongly suggest that you always run the latest release.

The zip file always contains both the instructions and the files required to install the latest version. If you have installed a previous version and want to upgrade to the latest, there is a text file attached, in the zip with upgrade instructions. Follow them.

In this thread, you will also find a more detailed document describing the features of this hack, as well as a document describing its version evolution.

Also keep in mind that the installer, will add the AWS templates only to your default style. If you want to use them in another one, you may try this Zero Tolerance's hack, which copies the templates to other styles you may have.

Another thing, the installation instructions were written when vB was at release 3.0.3, so you may expect to find some differences, with the latest files and templates. As far as I can tell, I haven't faced any such case, but I post this reservation here, since I do not have the time to recheck all the instructions for compliance with the latest vB release. The hack has been installed and is working fine with the vBulletin version shown at the top of this thread.

Finally, if you are using more than one style, the installer will install the templates only in the default one. If you want to use the rest of your styles, here is a hack, that will do this for you.

This hack can also be integrated with Zero Tolerance's vBChat. However, since I am using a heavily-modified version of vBChat, I haven't included instructions, on how to patch the original vBChat files, in the documentation. If you are interested in having AWS issue automatic warnings when one of your user enters a censored word in a vBChat message, or if you want your moderators to be able to warn a user, who misbehaves in vBChat, please post a thread in this forum and I'll help you through.

This is my first officially released hack, so please don't be to harsh with me, if I broke any rules or made any mistakes. The mods have been tested extensively, both by me and two volunteers (thank you gentlemen), but I am only human.

Closing, let me thank Zero Tolerance, who got me started in this, and who owns a big part of the code of this hack. I definnitely couldn't have done it, without his code.

Special Note
For those who upgrade from Zero Tolerance's hack to my AWS, even though I have included a script which will do some of the work automatically, not everything is done by that script. Read the installation instructions carefully. You have to run the upgrade script first and then do several things manually. If you just run the upgrade script and just upload the files, the AWS will not work properly. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to post here.

Also, let me add here, that version 3.3.0 wouldn't have been possible without the contribution of Revan.

And a couple of warnings:

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE LATEST ZIP FILE FROM HERE, BEFORE YOU START INSTALLING THIS HACK. JUST BECAUSE YOU DOWNLOADED IT A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO, THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT IS THE LATEST VERSION. MAKE SURE YOU DOWNLOAD THE ZIP, JUST BEFORE YOU START INSTALLING THIS HACK.


LATEST VERSION

Version 3.4.16 (released Thursday August 25th, 2005 GMT 18:18)

A couple of bugs fixed in this version. One is related to the Notes feature, and it allowed plain users to see the notes entered, if the "Who can view warning points" setting was set to "All".

Features.txt a new version of this file has been uploaded on April 4th2 005 GMT 09:30, which covers the latest additions to the hack. The original Features.txt file hasn't been updated since the first release of this hack, so it was time for an update.

John

[sifuhall]

I just installed the latest version (upgraded from zero tolerance's version, boy has this hack grown!) and somehow I ended up without any warnng templates at all!

In the admincp everthing seems to be working, but when I try to issue a warning all I get is a blank page. That is when I noticed I do not have any templates that begin with 'warn'.

[Torqued]

Originally Posted by sifuhall

I just installed the latest version (upgraded from zero tolerance's version, boy has this hack grown!) and somehow I ended up without any warnng templates at all!

In the admincp everthing seems to be working, but when I try to issue a warning all I get is a blank page. That is when I noticed I do not have any templates that begin with 'warn'.

Is your default style a child style?

[Torqued]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

Torqued,

Space thingy, you are right, some stupid editor must have brought that in, sorry I'll correct that.

Saving the warning options? Does it come up with any message? It's wierd, 'cause it works fine in both my test site and in the production one. Try downloading the zip again and upload the admin_warn.php to your server's admincp directory.

The two division by zero errors you get, are because the warning_options are not saved and the program tries to divide by the number of lines per page, the last field in the warning_options, which is zero, since the value you entered didn't get saved.

Try what I suggested and come back to me.

Rgds

Ok. did the above.. here is what happens:

I set all my warning options and click on Update Warning Options.. It then takes me to the next screen that says:

Your Warning System menu has been modified.
AdminCP will be reloaded.
Your AWS Options have been updated.

When it refreshes and I go back into warning options, none of my options have been saved..

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by sifuhall

I just installed the latest version (upgraded from zero tolerance's version, boy has this hack grown!) and somehow I ended up without any warnng templates at all!

In the admincp everthing seems to be working, but when I try to issue a warning all I get is a blank page. That is when I noticed I do not have any templates that begin with 'warn'.

Yes you do, but if you followed the installation instructions, all the warn templates are now in a section called "Advanced Warning System Templates" which is towards the bottom of your template list. Open that, and you will get all your templates collected in one place.

As for the blank page, could you please be more specific? Where are you trying to warn from? There are several places you can issue a warning now, from a post, from a user's public profile (non-post-related) and for AdminCP itself (again, non-post-related).

Also what Torqued said, is that your default style?

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by Torqued

Ok. did the above.. here is what happens:

I set all my warning options and click on Update Warning Options.. It then takes me to the next screen that says:

Your Warning System menu has been modified.
AdminCP will be reloaded.
Your AWS Options have been updated.

When it refreshes and I go back into warning options, none of my options have been saved..

Strange! Can you please tell me what options do you set? I might have find an issue with the messages that are shown after the saving, but the saving itself shouldn't have any problem.

[sv1cec]

Torqued,

I am checking the saving routine and I can find no reason why the options are not saved. If you check the file admin_warn.php, at the section called 'do_update_warnopt', you will see that there is no way that the options cannot be saved. A couple of checks in the ifs and then a update.

Doesn't make sense, unless something is wrong in the setup of your forums or your database.

I did find a small problem with a } in that routine, which prevented the correct return of the program to the Options screen or the AdminCP index, but that is after the insert query.

Please tell me the options you are using, so that I can duplicate your scenario. If you want, you may download the new zip, I changed the position of that bracket, but I know this is not what causes your problem.

[Delphiprogrammi]

sv1cec,

i'm having SQL errors when i try to view "view banned users" in my admincp also i noticed AWS is not showing the version number anymore it just shows 'advanced warning system version (this is empty)'

Database error in vBulletin 3.0.5:

Invalid SQL: select b.*, u.*, a.username AS warner, w.*, wt.*  from vb3_ban_dates as b
LEFT JOIN vb3_user AS u ON(u.userid = b.banned_user) 
LEFT JOIN vb3_user AS a ON(a.userid = b.banned_by) 
LEFT JOIN vb3_warnings AS w ON(w.wid = b.banned_warning)
LEFT JOIN vb3_warning_types AS wt ON(wt.tid = w.warned_warning_id)
ORDER BY b.banned_user, b.banned_ban LIMIT 0, 
mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near '' at line 6

mysql error number: 1064
script admin_warn.php?act=viewbans

now i'm totally stucked

regards

[Omikaru]

I'm having the same problem as Torqued.

But I've also got a few more:

I cannot warn people for post-related offences but they can be warned outside of that. I did the templates as your instructions told me.

Also, I cannot save the warn options. No matter what settings I put, it won't save.

I installed it just as your instructions said, so there shouldn't be a problem.

By the way, I'm using 3.0.5.

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by Delphiprogrammi

sv1cec,

i'm having SQL errors when i try to view "view banned users" in my admincp also i noticed AWS is not showing the version number anymore it just shows 'advanced warning system version (this is empty)'

Database error in vBulletin 3.0.5:

Invalid SQL: select b.*, u.*, a.username AS warner, w.*, wt.*  from vb3_ban_dates as b
LEFT JOIN vb3_user AS u ON(u.userid = b.banned_user) 
LEFT JOIN vb3_user AS a ON(a.userid = b.banned_by) 
LEFT JOIN vb3_warnings AS w ON(w.wid = b.banned_warning)
LEFT JOIN vb3_warning_types AS wt ON(wt.tid = w.warned_warning_id)
ORDER BY b.banned_user, b.banned_ban LIMIT 0, 
mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near '' at line 6

mysql error number: 1064
script admin_warn.php?act=viewbans

now i'm totally stucked

regards

Delphi, did you enter a number of warnings per page, when viewing logs?

Your error is because the program cannot find how many lines per page to show.

Maybe you too have the same problem with the saving???

I am totally confused with this issue.

As for the Version number, did you run the query which updates that to the latest version number, when you upgraded?

[Torqued]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

Torqued,

I am checking the saving routine and I can find no reason why the options are not saved. If you check the file admin_warn.php, at the section called 'do_update_warnopt', you will see that there is no way that the options cannot be saved. A couple of checks in the ifs and then a update.

Doesn't make sense, unless something is wrong in the setup of your forums or your database.

I did find a small problem with a } in that routine, which prevented the correct return of the program to the Options screen or the AdminCP index, but that is after the insert query.

Please tell me the options you are using, so that I can duplicate your scenario. If you want, you may download the new zip, I changed the position of that bracket, but I know this is not what causes your problem.

Here are the options I am trying to save:

Use Hierarchical Schema? YES

Protected Usergroups [blank]

Maintain Historical Records? YES

Allow Non-Post-Related Warnings? YES

Allow multiple warnings for the same post? NO

Automation Options
Use Automatic Warnings from Posts? NO

Use Automatic Warnings from Private Messages? NO

Use Warning Type Description, as moderator comment, in Post-Related warnings? YES

Viewing Options
Who can view the Warning Points and bans? MGM

Warners
Who will be your Automatic Warner? 1

Use a Hidden Warner? 1

User ID of the Collector of disputes? 1

Banning Options
Ban Duration 3

Warning Points Limit 10

Warnings Number Limit 10

Banned Usergroup Banned Users

Permanent Ban Usergroup Banned Users

Restore Usergroup Previous Group

Use incremental banning periods? NO

Number of bans, before permanent banned? 3

Bans Maturity Period 180

Member Notification Options
Send PM to the warned member? YES

Send E-mail to the warned member? YES

Send E-mail to the banned members? YES

Warning Reports Options
Number of warnings per page, when viewing logs? 30