phpAdsNew Banner Ads integration (advertisements, classified ads, Adsense, etc.)

OpenAds / phpAdsNew Integration 1.0.4 for vBulletin 3.[56].x
2006-06-08 by mip

Integrates the OpenAds / phpAdsNew ads system by introducing a new template tag <ad ... />.
You can even deliver your Adsense stuff via phpAdsNew using HTML banners.

The features of phpAdsNew combined with the power of vBulletin's templating system gives you the possibility to place ads for specific user groups, forums, and keywords.

PREREQUISITES:
This plugin requires a working installation (local or remote) of a recent version ofOpenAds / phpAdsNew (free software released under the GPL).
When using OpenAds, replace phpAdsNew in this documentation with OpenAds (phpAdsNew is just the predecessor of OpenAds).

INSTALLATION:
When having a previous version of this product installed, see section UPGRADE instead.

Install product "phpadsnew-1.0.4.xml".
Set phpAdsNew path in Server Settings and Optimization Options to point to either your local phpAdsNew installation or a remote server (using XML-RPC).
It is strongly recommended to set $phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true; in phpAdsNew config file, to prevent problems when phpAdsNew uses a database different from the one used by your vBulletin board.

When using XML-RPC, make sure to have lib-xmlrpc-class.inc.php and lib-xmlrpc.inc.php copied from phpAdsNew misc/samples/xmlrpc/php/ to your forum's includes/ directory (not necessary when using a local phpAdsNew installation).

Read the NOTES section below.

Click INSTALL in this thread to mark product as "installed" and receive notifications when a new version comes out.

UPGRADE:

• 1.0.3 --> 1.0.4
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
• 1.0.2 --> 1.0.3
  Upgrading is recommended, as this is a bugfix release.
  
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
     
  2. Recompile any templates where you experienced problems with the <ad .../> tag (notably those where this tag is used repeatedly on a line).
     
• 1.0.1 --> 1.0.2
  
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
     
  2. Set $phpAds_config['compatibility_mode'] = true; in phpAdsNew config file.
     
• 1.0 --> 1.0.1
  There's basically no need to upgrade, as the changes don't affect a working installation, but I recommend to do so, to ease possible upgrades in the future.
  1. Import product as usual, with "Allow Overwrite" set to Yes.
  2. Alter the path to phpAdsNew in vBulletin Server Settings and Optimization Options to point to your phpAdsNew installation.
     As opposed to version 1.0 of this product, a local path is not relative to the DOCUMENT_ROOT.

USAGE:
Use the newly introduced <ad ... /> tag in your templates.
The syntax is similar to phpAdsNew's view_raw() function call - the tag understands what, clientid, target, source, and withtext as arguments.

Please make yourself familiar with phpAdsNew prior to using this product. You can't expect this product to work, if you didn't check if your phpAdsNew is delivering your banners cleanly.

Examples:

• Get banner using keywords:
  <ad what="foo|bar" />
• Get banner for guest usergroup (in this case, "ug1" must be set as a keyword in phpADsNew, see 2nd screenshot):
  <ad what="ug$bbuserinfo['usergroupid']" />
  (same technique can be applied to deliver forum-specific ads)
• Similar invocation using template conditionals:
  <if condition="$bbuserinfo['usergroupid']==1"><ad what="" /></if>

NOTES:

1. Always use the latest stable version of phpAdsNew.
   Old versions had bugs and some even had severe security issues - I'll give no support for installations with an outdated phpAdsNew.
   At the time of writing, latest version is 2.0.8.
2. Templates which make use of the ad-tag might need to get recompiled after product change.
3. Recommendations for heavy-duty servers: Move the plugin code to files; try to avoid using xml-rpc or cache xml-rpc requests (e.g. with memcache).
4. Have an eye on current phpAdsNew security issues
5. This product comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
6. Support is provided at will.
   Don't expect help if you haven't read instructions or phpAdsNew manual, if you're using non-standard vBulletin software or if your problem descriptions are useless.

PS:
This plugin is donationware - it helps you to make some money, so please be fair and honor my work with an adequate pecuniary donation.
Donate via Paypal

[The M.I.P.]

@Triple_T:
I'll have a look at it. Meanwhile, please use a separate DB connection as told in the comments in your inc_feeatures.php file.

@Xstreamist:
If your banner's don't rotate, please first check your phpadsnew setup - it might fall back into displaying a default ad when setup is not correct.
If you're sure that it's not directly related to phpadsnew, then switch vbulletin into debug mode or enable the display of template names in HTML and tell me exactly what is displayed between BEGIN ad and END ad HTML comments.
Also make sure that your browser doesn't cache your banners during your test phase.

@toxin:
It looks like the plugin isn't able to include the phpadsnew code. Please check if the path to you phpadsnew installation is set correctly and phpadsnew works cleanly outside of vbulletin.

@all:
When reporting problems, please also specify the PHP version and the OS you're using.

[dutchbb]

Originally Posted by The M.I.P.

@Triple_T:
I'll have a look at it. Meanwhile, please use a separate DB connection as told in the comments in your inc_feeatures.php file.

Hm i'm not sure what you mean. Photopost provides/suggests the option to place it's tables in the vbulletin database when you first install it. I have used that option but there is no way back now. I don't see what else I could do...
Thanks again

[toxin]

Originally Posted by The M.I.P.

:

@toxin:
It looks like the plugin isn't able to include the phpadsnew code. Please check if the path to you phpadsnew installation is set correctly and phpadsnew works cleanly outside of vbulletin.

yes, phpadsnew is working correctly outside of vBulletin.

My website directories are:

DOC ROOT: /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/
VBULLETIN: /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/forums/
PHPADSNEW: /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/adserver/

so I have used /adserver as the path in the vBulletin Server Settting and Optimization.

[Xstreamist]

Originally Posted by The M.I.P.

@Xstreamist:
If your banner's don't rotate, please first check your phpadsnew setup - it might fall back into displaying a default ad when setup is not correct.
If you're sure that it's not directly related to phpadsnew, then switch vbulletin into debug mode or enable the display of template names in HTML and tell me exactly what is displayed between BEGIN ad and END ad HTML comments.
Also make sure that your browser doesn't cache your banners during your test phase.

Where do I look for the BEGIN ad and END ad ?
My browser isn't caching banners.

Here is how I am trying to add the phpAdsNew code:

<!-- banners -->

<table width="90%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">

<tr>
<td align="center">
<ad what="zone:1" />
</td>
</tr>
</table>

<!-- /banners -->

I am trying to add it to the Header template right after the logo. But when I do the banner only shows on the front page and no where else. When I try to add it to the Navbar template it will add it abve the Navbar but within the same table as the Navbar and only on the front page and the View Threads Page, not the View Posts page.

[djsydeburnz]

first off, let me say that this is looking to be something i can use greatly, thanks! second, let me apologize in advance if my questions have allready been asked and answered. i did breeze through the number of posts with no luck.

1) with phpAdsNew, i logged in as a client and didnt see a way for me to add banners that way, only logged in as admin. did i miss a setting in pan?

2) it seems that my default banner doesnt like to display (the one in the default banner settings)

3) when i tried adding google adsense through pan, it displays the script on the main page of the admin, and you can click on the link next to it to show the actual banner. i thought i was good to go, then when i went to my site, it is trying display the default banner only which shows a broken image. even now after i have delted the google banner. not sure what i did.

4) has anyone got a setup that would allow to use some sort of payment system through vb that would give someone access to adding banner campaigns??

thanks in advance

***on a side-note, i had an idea to reduce the amount of sifting through a multi page post to find q & a. a cool plugin for this type of site might be to have a second post directly under the original post that houses only FAQs from the post. maybe it would look a bit like hybrid mode display.

[The M.I.P.]

Hi Toxin,

Originally Posted by toxin

My website directories are:

DOC ROOT: /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/
VBULLETIN: /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/forums/
PHPADSNEW: /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/adserver/

so I have used /adserver as the path in the vBulletin Server Settting and Optimization.

since version 1.0.1 of this plugin, the path to a local phpAdsNew is a "normal" filesystem path.
So in your case, the correct setting in vBulletin options is either /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/adserver or ../adserver. I'd prefer using an absolute path (the former one), even though a relative one (the latter one) is easier to type.

@Xstreamist:
I currently have no time to check, but I'll have a look at it after weekend.

@djsydeburnz:
When logged in as phpAdsNew admin, you have to add appropriate rights (zones, etc.) to the client. Please have a look at the excellent phpAdsNew handbook.

@Triple_T:
Regarding the temporary solution, have a look at lines 25,26 of your attached inc_features.php.
Fill in the DB settings of your Photopost database (or your vbulletin database when Photopost tables are inside vBulletin database; in line 25 replace $dbuserid with your db username, $dbuserpassword with the db password and in line 26 pp_database with the correct db name) and uncomment these lines in your original inc_features.php.
This makes Photopost use a separate db connection and should solve the problems you mentioned above.
I'm still trying to get my hands around a recent Photopost version to be able to check it out and present a clean solution.

[djsydeburnz]

there is alot of documentation that i read through last night. i just dont understand how it worked for a day, now it doesnt.

[toxin]

Originally Posted by The M.I.P.

Hi Toxin,
since version 1.0.1 of this plugin, the path to a local phpAdsNew is a "normal" filesystem path.
So in your case, the correct setting in vBulletin options is either /home/httpd/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/adserver or ../adserver. I'd prefer using an absolute path (the former one), even though a relative one (the latter one) is easier to type.

Both paths give the same error:

Database error in vBulletin 3.5.1:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT pageid, title, name, parentid, userperms FROM adv_pages WHERE active = 1 ORDER BY displayorder;

MySQL Error : Table 'phpadsnew.adv_pages' doesn't exist
Error Number : 1146
Date : Saturday, December 3rd 2005 @ 06:24:43 PM
Script : http://www.mydomain.com/?
Referrer : http://www.mydomain.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25
IP Address : 62.252.0.7
Username : admin
Classname : vb_database

[toxin]

ok, I've fixed it.

I was running PAN in its own database; when I merged it into the main vB database everything started working..

[tgmorris]

I've installed this and am running into the same problem that toxin had. My PAN (2.0.7) is in a separate db and runs fine on my existing forum. I'm in the process of brining up 3.5.1 on my test forum and getting PAN to work. If I try to specify an absolute path to the PAN directory I get a db error. The only way I get it to work is by using xml-rpc.

I guess the question is pretty simple at this point...

Does PAN need to be using the vb database to be considered a 'local' install?

If so, what would it take to allow for it to be on the same server but using a different db?