RSS News Feed Hack

My friend made this hack, he owns http://www.liquidpro.net. Check him out.
You may contact him at liquidpro@neo.rr.com. Or you can IM him on AIM at LiquidPro10.

An example is shown at http://www.xtreme-forumz.net. Go to the Techno forum under the General category. Then the CNET News sub-forum.

RSS News Feed Hack for vB 3.0.0. As long as vBulletin doesn't change the database structure much, this should be good for the next release also, and those to come.

Allows you to have a live RSS news feed (such as one from Google or CNET) in a forum. The user that posts it will basically be a bot, which *should* only be used for posting the news, but you can even make it for a regular user.

Comments are welcome!

Instructons:
Note: DON'T FORGET TO MAKE A BACKUP OF EACH FILE BEFORE YOU MODIFY IT!

Copy the files to your web server... keep the same directory structure as in the zip file.
Run the rss_install.php file to setup the RSS script.
If you're upgrading run the rss_upgrade.php file to setup the RSS script. Don't forget to remove all previous modifications (you can find them by searching for "LiquidPro")

#### open the /index.php script ####
Find this:

PHP Code:

require_once('./includes/functions_forumlist.php'); 


Add below it:

PHP Code:

require_once('./includes/RSS/rss_update.php'); 


#### open the /forumdisplay.php script ####
Find this:

PHP Code:

require_once('./includes/functions_forumdisplay.php'); 


Add below it:

PHP Code:

require_once('./includes/RSS/rss_update.php'); 


#### open the /admincp/index.php script ####

Find this:

PHP Code:

construct_nav_group("$vbphrase[styles] &amp; $vbphrase[templates]", '<hr />'); 


Add below it:

PHP Code:

// Manage Hacks
// by: Andrew Wickham
// LiquidPro Inc.
//
construct_nav_option('RSS News Feed', 'rss_admin.php', '<br />');
construct_nav_group('Hacks');
//
// End Manage Hacks 


You're done, thanks for installing the hack.

Hack by: Andrew Wickham (http://www.liquidpro.net)
Hack for: Xtreme-Forumz (http://www.xtreme-forumz.net)

[Lurk]

Originally Posted by CdaKnight

I would assume its one the guy designed himself.

i finally know it, it's a $40 style.
It's called GelTech
http://www.insidethepixel.com/demo/

[Lurk]

is there a certain limit to how many feeds can be used?
do only certain feeds work?

[ethics]

Originally Posted by CdaKnight

Hey, I had a question. I briefly skimmed through the thread (I'm trying to multi-task getting ready with this), and I didn't find the answer.

Has this script been modified to be more "cron" like? Does it check the RSS feed every time a page is loaded, or is there any way that another cron can be created so that each bot runs at a certain time during a non-busy period? (Like say... I want a Cnet bot to run at 4am, and another RSS feed bot to run at 5am, etc)

Sorry if this has been answered and I missed it

Vie scheduled tasks you can break up the time all bots are done via different lists that you can specify.

[jluerken]

When will you release version 2?

[cscgal]

Yes I am very curious too.

[SnowBot]

is this working for gold?

[jluerken]

Originally Posted by SnowBot

is this working for gold?

I managed it ones that some RSS posts were done but I don't know how I did and today I got no new posts.

I am waiting for version 2 which should run with vb3 gold

[himerus]

I would like to see a new version, but I would love to get this installed ASAP... I think it will be a great additon for my board, and that my users will use it...

I noticed on one of the example boards that the RSS posts were of course very short with a link for the full article. Will the new version support RSS2, and longer descriptions?

When will the version 2 be available?

TIA

[jluerken]

Originally Posted by himerus

I would like to see a new version, but I would love to get this installed ASAP... I think it will be a great additon for my board, and that my users will use it...

I noticed on one of the example boards that the RSS posts were of course very short with a link for the full article. Will the new version support RSS2, and longer descriptions?

When will the version 2 be available?

TIA

It would also be nice if all users subscribed to this thread can post their RSS Feed Links and maybe a short description what they are about

[PlenoJure]

Installed & working nicely on Gold

[himerus]

Installed fine on Gold at www.myispforum.com

I had to add:

PHP Code:

$rss_description = str_replace("<br>", "\n", $rss_description);
$rss_description = str_replace("<br />", "\n", $rss_description); 


Before the thread was submitted... I started with a simple CNET News feed, and had the <br> tags in the thread, so that fixed that...

What about other options like polling intervals? Slashdot requires a longer wait than most I think...

Is it querying the feeds each time that the index or forumdisplay is loaded, or is it set on an internal update timer?

I haven't really torn the code apart yet, but it looks nice...

I would really like to see the RSS2 implementation, and how that post looks...

Does anyone have a good Internet News Feed that is RSS2? something like Internet Security, Networking, etc.

TIA

[himerus]

I can't find in the code how often it is running... The first feed I added worked fine on the first update, but it hasn't updated since, and I've added a few more feeds, and none of them have updated either.

[exodus]

Originally Posted by himerus

I had to add:

PHP Code:

$rss_description = str_replace("<br>", "\n", $rss_description);
$rss_description = str_replace("<br />", "\n", $rss_description); 


where did you add that?

[himerus]

I added it just before the post is inserted... if you need, I'll find the line #

[himerus]

I haven't been able to get the Feeds to update... it will work when I run it for the first time, but after that, it's not updating on subsequent page loads