Major Additions - 8WayRun.Com - Media Library

Don't forget to click INSTALL!
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This is a new modification, spawning from the old VB 3.x Video Directory modifications.
For all intents and purposes, both my old Video Directory Remixed mod, and Survivor's original Video Directory mod have been discontinued. Neither of us are maintaining these older versions, they will not receive any future updates and we will not be providing any support. This version has a new name because it has been completely rewritten from scratch and is not being built on Survivor's old code. Because of this, if you are upgrading to this new version, from the old version, be sure to read this entire post in order to understand the upgrade process.

What is this mod?
Simply put, this mod is a directory for media. It supports URL inputs, in order to extract meta data and directorize media into a simple and easy to understand library. Users can add their favorite media from a select few online distribution centers (such as Youtube or Vimeo) and categorize and tag them as they see fit. This mod offers rudimentary support for the hosting of local media. An administrator can upload a media to the /customVID/ (default) directory; then add the media to the library using the URL code of "local:filename". Media hosted locally will be displayed using JWPlayer, but will not provide meta data, so that kind of information will need to be entered manually.

Demo:

http://www.8wayrun.com/media.php

Features:

• Integrated directly into the vBulletin user database and product manager.
• Fully phrased and built on tempaltes for easy re-skinning and styling.
• Simple to use administration features and usergroup permission settings.
• Landing page with the most recent, most popular and highest rated media.
• Ability to add media into a single category, while adding multiple tags.
• Ability to browse media through categories, tags, and user contributions.
• Summary tag cloud with a link to the entire list of tags in the system.
• Comment and rating system based on AJAX including graceful degredation.
• Individual RSS Feeds for newest videos, categories, tags and user media.
• Search function for titles and descriptions.

Installation:

If you are upgrading from before version 1.1, please install that version first.

1. Upload all the files in the "upload" directory of the attached zip file to your forum root.
2. CHMOD the /customVID/thumbs/ directory to full read/write/execute 777 permissions.
3. CHMOD the /customVID/sitemap/ directory to full read/write/execute 777 permissions.
4. Import the product file called "product-medialibrary.xml" in the Product Manager of vBulletin.
5. Set your usergroup permissions and media library settings in your administration control panel.
6. OPTIONAL: Enable the "Generate XML Media Sitemap" scheduled task in your administration control panel.
   
   NOTES: Make sure you decide what you wish to use for your thumbnail quality setting. By default, thumbnails are saved at 50% quality. At 50%, thumbnails will only be 2kb in size, but at the expense of quality. At 100%, thumbnails will be about 15kb in size, but will have the highest quality. I recommend setting it to 80%, which would leave thumbnails at 5kb in size with still excellent quality.
   
   Every time you change your thumbnail quality setting, you will need to run the "Rebuild Media Thumbnails" to see any changes.

Upgrading from VDR:

1. The "video*" tables from your previous installation of VDR need to exist in your database.
2. Enable the "media ADMIN import" plugin in the plugin manager of your control panel.
3. Run the "Import Media from VDR" process in your update counters menu in maintenance.
4. Disable the "media ADMIN import" plugin in the plugin manager of your control panel.
5. Run the "Rebuild Media Thumbnails" process in your update counters menu in maintenance.
6. You may now uninstall VDR once you confirm everything has been imported as intended.
   
   NOTES: You will mostly likely get at least one error while rebuilding media thumbnails...
   
   When you get an error, click the details link for that media. If the media displays some sort of error such as "This video has been removed" or "This video no longer exist", then that means that media is gone and you'll be unable to generate a thumbnail for that particular media. Use the available options on that media's detail page to DELETE it from your library. Then go back to your browser window which is rebuilding thumbnails and click the "retry from this position" link.
   
   If you got an error for a media, but after clicking the details link you can find no obvious error with the video; then the error could have just been a simple syn/ack failure. Just click the "retry from this position" link and the system will try to rebuild that thumbnail again.

Known Bugs:

There is a conflict with this modification and some of Valter's VSA modifications that will prevent navbar permissions from being handled correctly. I don't know exactly who's fault it is; but I'm pretty sure there are no errors in my code that would be causing this problem. There is a work around for this however.

Admin Control Panel > Plugins & Products > Plugin Manager > "media NAVTAB"

Find the code:

    $perms = media_permissions();

Replace with:

$perms['rate'] = true;
$perms['comment'] = true;
$perms['submit'] = true;
$perms['playlist'] = true;
 
if (is_member_of($vbulletin->userinfo, explode(',','5,6')))
{
    $perms['modtags'] = true;
    $perms['modcategory'] = true;
    $perms['modservice'] = true;
}

[TimberFloorAu]

Fixed the above issue I think: Should URLs within the media library be slugged for SEO?

Set to NO and seems to work fine

[TimberFloorAu]

WORKS A DREAM thankyou

Only issue is Comments.
The avatar has a weird link and says vbulletin in weird text.

[Jaxel]

Originally Posted by TimberFloorAu

Just downloaded and installed.
Click Category link and takes us back to home page

Originally Posted by TimberFloorAu

Fixed the above issue I think: Should URLs within the media library be slugged for SEO?

Set to NO and seems to work fine

As you already figured out, you were getting this error because you enabled SEO slugs. There is an additional file which is included in the zip called ".htaccess". You MUST have an apache server, and MUST upload this file to your forum root in order to get SEO slugs to work correctly. Without this file, your website won't know how to translate the SEO slugs into workable URLs.

Originally Posted by TimberFloorAu

When submitting media we get this error:

<snip>

You did not follow the complete installation procedures.
CHMOD the /customVID directory and all directories within it to full read/write/execute 777.
You are getting these permissions errors and subsequent errors because you did not give your server full 777 rights to the directories in which thumbnails are created.

Originally Posted by TimberFloorAu

Only issue is Comments.
The avatar has a weird link and says vbulletin in weird text.

Certified "Works for Me". The links on avatars are using vBulletin's official constructs.

[Jabong82]

Hey Jaxel I was wondering if there is any fix yet for the report and edit functions? Thank you again.

[TimberFloorAu]

The error when submitting video, etc. Was sorted by disabling the slug. All folders htaccess etc followed and done prior to testing.

The avatar issue is more of a problem.

If memory serves me correct this was also an issue with Farcasters event attendance. I believe was a VB issue. ( could be totally unrelated )

[Jaxel]

Originally Posted by TimberFloorAu

The error when submitting video, etc. Was sorted by disabling the slug. All folders htaccess etc followed and done prior to testing.

The avatar issue is more of a problem.

If memory serves me correct this was also an issue with Farcasters event attendance. I believe was a VB issue. ( could be totally unrelated )

Okay, new version is up with a "fix". I've also discovered a bug in VB4 relating to their avatar construction. (one of many I've discovered, but this is the only one I've bothered reporting; really VB4 is chock full of bugs)

Originally Posted by Jabong82

Hey Jaxel I was wondering if there is any fix yet for the report and edit functions? Thank you again.

There is no fix on the way for this, as I can't find a problem on vb4.0.3. Make sure you are running the most recent version of VB4. Provide me with more information.

[TimberFloorAu]

Beautiful Fixed. Thanks :up:

[Jabong82]

Originally Posted by Jaxel

There is no fix on the way for this, as I can't find a problem on vb4.0.3. Make sure you are running the most recent version of VB4. Provide me with more information.

Ah I see. I'm still runnin 4.0.2. I'm paranoid about upgrading to 4.0.3 with all the bugs that have been reported. Thanks again.

[Jaxel]

I think you guys are gonna like whats coming tomorrow... STYLEVARS!

[jacobskinner811]

im pretty sure this is what my site needs but i have no idea how to upload it...if i could get step by step instructions that would be great