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)

[sjau]

Hmmm, maybe a new version was developped meanwhile but the only file I have in the includes folder is the rss_update.php

[dartmoore]

Originally Posted by sjau

Hmmm, maybe a new version was developped meanwhile but the only file I have in the includes folder is the rss_update.php

My bad..I was not only doing the changes in the zip but also on this thread..had it all hosed up..can't u tell i'm a noob?

got it working now..will post a demo when all setup..thnx

[TomokiG]

After installing and testing the hack I had a very big problem... I used a very slow RSS (I think their server lagged) and my database nearly broke down...
I think that more users were at the same time checking the test-RSS and got into a conflict...

At that point I began remodelling your Hack, removing your modifications at index.php and forumdisplay.php and creating a cron-job (which vB3 provides).

That way I solved two annoying problems:
1. The slowdown by getting the RSS every time forumdisplay or index is used
2. Reduction of traffic
3. Reducing the risk of IP-Banning

@Xyphen:
I'll send you the cron-version... feel free to use it ^^

°TomokiG°

[Dontom]

Originally Posted by Milez

Anyone know how to uninstall this? IE: remove the database edits.

just look at rss_install.php and undo all the things done there (easy with phpmyadmin ...)
Tom

[dartmoore]

Originally Posted by TomokiG

After installing and testing the hack I had a very big problem... I used a very slow RSS (I think their server lagged) and my database nearly broke down...
I think that more users were at the same time checking the test-RSS and got into a conflict...

At that point I began remodelling your Hack, removing your modifications at index.php and forumdisplay.php and creating a cron-job (which vB3 provides).

That way I solved two annoying problems:
1. The slowdown by getting the RSS every time forumdisplay or index is used
2. Reduction of traffic
3. Reducing the risk of IP-Banning

@Xyphen:
I'll send you the cron-version... feel free to use it ^^

?TomokiG?

I could use this also if u could post it for me plz..

I too noticed refresh was taking longer as I added more feeds..needs to refresh from the cron only.. which when i run the rssupdate no new post are posted..i have one from worldpress that updates every 30 mins but doesn't after initially getting first load..the rss_update says completed but no new entries..

here is my site in it's infancy, http://www.newsoutlet.info/forums/index.php you can view the site..if not let me know..

I like the admincp option..would like to see this expanded on, for instance to have the ability to delete a bot..deleting the user does not delete the bot and u will get db errors unless u phpadmin in and manually make changes..

Would like to see if there is a way having to create a new user for each feed..have tried to create 2 bots using same user but post in different forums..the first bot will post but not the second..so have to create a new user for each bot..

I can live with everything except the updating issue..is anyone else getting regular updates?

This is still an awesome hack with alot of potential..just wish I was a coder, to exploit the potential..

Well any help or pointers would be appreciated

[nuke]

So does the hack run in RC4 or not? I included him but i can´t set the hole hack to enabled, he always sets it back to No when I choose Yes and save.

[dartmoore]

Originally Posted by nuke

So does the hack run in RC4 or not? I included him but i can?t set the hole hack to enabled, he always sets it back to No when I choose Yes and save.

Yes I have it running in RC4, but still not updating posts after the first time..unless I delete all news and update then it will post..

The first time I installed it, it was enabled, I disabled it til I was ready in case I had to do an emergency shutdown due to server overload ..Well it wouldn't enable..I thought it was because of the code changes I made that were posted in this thread on top of the changes in the zip..Since my site is in it's infancy, and I'm not a coder, yet. I just started from scratch and reinstalled everything and just used the changes in the zip and it stayed enabled..Haven't disabled it since..The only other changes I made was TomokiG's in the index.php and forumdisplay.php and that stopped the update running every time you went in the forum..

Some thoughts,
1. The ability to delete a bot and all references to it..As it is now, unless you reassign the bot to another user before deleting the user, you will get database errors when you run the update.. maybe deleting the forumid and userid in the bot will delete it, not sure and I don't have my test server reloaded yet to test..
2. The ability to have 1 userid to multitask, for instance, a yahoo bot for each topic with one userid that will update each topic with their respective feed..I tried it and it will post the first topic but not any other..
3. I guess the biggest thing is getting the update to work without deleting old news..no one has said they are updating their forums, just that they can get the update to run from a cron. I too can get it to run, or so it says. For some reason there is no log entry that it has run, and the timestamp for the next run has moved up to the next hour..and still no new posts..I don't wanna delete thenews everytime to get new headlines, cause then if someone posts a reply to a particular thread, the subject of the thread is gone and anyone just coming in would not understand what is being discussed..

Xyphen, awesome job on this..Noone has come close to what you have accomplished with this hack..can hardly wait for 2.0 to come out..thnx
:up:

[webrats]

mine is not updateing after the first time either

mine uses this feed
http://ripper.webrats.com/cache/rss_links.xml

[Shock.r]

Guys, sjau posted a fix for this.

Find in /forum/includes/RSS/rss_update.php:

for($i = count($rss_allItems) - 1; $i >= 0; $i--) { 
            $rss_allItems[$i][OLD] = true; 
        }

Replace:

 for($i = count($rss_allItems) - 1; $i >= 0; $i--) { 
            $rss_allItems[$i][OLD] = false; 
        }

Also for updating, wolfstream posted a cron job for this!
Put the following code in wordpad and save as rssfeed.php then put it in your includes/cron/ folder.

Then in your admin control panel under "Scheduled Tasks" then click "Add New Scheduled Task" Give it a name, then under "Minute" I put mine on 59 so it updates ever 59 mins!

Then for file name put ./includes/cron/YOUR PHP FILE.php

<?
require_once('./global.php');
require_once('./includes/functions_bigthree.php');
require_once('./includes/functions_forumlist.php');
require_once('./includes/RSS/rss_update.php');
?>

Also, don't forget to remove following from /forumdisplay.php and /index.php:

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

[dartmoore]

YES, ty, ty ,ty, I saw that fix earlier but wasn't sure which one as there are 2 instances so i went on the assumption that it was the first and it did add new posts..but will know for sure in a hour

thnx again