Miscellaneous Hacks - Cyb - Auto Birthday Greeter

Info:
This hack automatically creates a birthday thread in the forum you select. Only members that allow their date of birth to be displayed will be listed, and age will be shown only for those who has choosen that. Members are shown in colors defined in usergroup settings. You can choose to exclude inactive members. Several users can be set as greeters (used randomly when posting). Thread will be created first time when someone loads forumhome after midnight.

Note:
-This executes 1 very simple query on forumhome.

Installation:
-Import XML file (as product) through AdminCP: Plugin System > Manage Products > [Add/Import Product]

To set options:
Go to: vBulletin Options > Cyb - Auto Birthday Greeter

Versions:
v1.0 - Aug 26. 2007.
-Initial release
v1.1 - Aug 27. 2007.
-New: Option to exclude members with post count lower than X
-Fixed bug where several threads are posted for the same birthday
-Shortcut to "Age" phrase added to the list on settings page
v1.2 - Aug 28. 2007.
-Date format follows your forum acp settings
-New: Option to exclude members joined in last X days
-Another fix for duplicate birthday threads on some forums
v1.3 - Aug 31. 2007.
-Option to synchronize hack with forum time to avoid situations where birthday thread is created too early or too late
v1.4 - May 03. 2008.
-Compatible with vBulletin 3.7
-Minor bugs fixed

Mark as INSTALLED to get support and updates.

[jammiedodger546]

woah... installed it and got internal errors!!! dont want it anymore!!

[smirkley]

Well, I have just tested this with 3.7.3 release of VB, and configured the way you would expect to operate, and using active users only setting on in vb settings, and having one active and one inactive user on my calender, forcing the cron,...

It worked flawlessly.

I will test for a natural instance of proper operation, but will have to wait for a date rollover.
Let you know tomorrow.


But all indications are, the VB 3.7.3 core code upgrade, with the birthday bug I reported to them fixed in this upgrade, corrects the problem that users here were reporting about this modification not working.

Pending further testing,... It works for me perfectly.

[Valter]

Thanks for the info, I'm glad it works for you with no problems now.

[smirkley]

Yup, worked on the first natural test.

Believe its good to go.

Thanks cyb.

[shotkey]

Just a thought for an enhancement - it would be nice if you had a "test" button or menu option that would enable you to force an immeadiate test post and e-mail instead of having to wait until midnight to see if any changes you made work correctly.

For example, right now when I synchronize the server time with the hack time - the posts and e-mail times are way off and without being able to force a post and/or e-mail you have to wait until the next day to see the results of your adjustment(s), make changes if required and and then wait another day to see how that adjustment worked.

[shotkey]

Can somebody help with this - just can't figure out how to get the time set right on this - for example:

Hack offset.........Time B'day Thread is posted

0 .......................11hrs 2min late
+2......................21hrs 30min late
-3.......................15hrs 58 min late
-12......................16hrs 47min late

When set to "0" the server, forum and hack time and dates match - but the thread is still posted late. Can anyone tell me what the problem is getting this to post at the right time?

[Valter]

Be noted that thread must not be created at 00:00. Thread creation process starts first time when someone visits forum after midnight.

[racingsolution]

Got it installed and it works fine .. One prob I noticed.. is that in the message where it shows the birthday person's age .. It displayed one of my smiley faces .. Checking my vb settings.. The person's age was 18 .. and it displayed it like this:

(born in 1990, Age: 18)

On my board 8) is the "cool" face smiley .

[IvyKeepMommy]

This is a great and very useful mod for us! Thanks!!

My only "complaint" is how it handles when there is more than one birthday on a given date. When we have only one, we get a clean post with a cute birthday smilie, when we have more than one birthday, the smilie won't post and it is a bit "messy"

This is what a birthday greeting for two members ends up looking like:

2 members are celebrating their birthday on 08-27-2008:

-[color= SeaGreen]kpond84[/color] (born in 1984, Age: 24)
-[color= Salmon]butterflyz320[/color] (Age: hidden or unknown)


Happy Birthday!

The color tags list and don't actually populate.

Our single member birthdays show Happy Birthday <member name> in the thread title, but only the birthday smilie in the text.

Is there a way to set it so each member gets their OWN birthday thread?

Thanks again for a great mod!

[Merjawy]

Nice hack, I like to use it.. but I got a problem !!!

all works but the forum home I get a database error on. tells me table doesn't exist
I reinstalled but still.. (I renamed database name in here)

Database error in vBulletin 3.7.3:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT id, daydone FROM cyb_birthdaythread AS cyb_birthdaythread ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1;

MySQL Error : Table 'DATABASENAME.cyb_birthdaythread' doesn't exist
Error Number : 1146