Major Additions - Product Review Forums ? Research, Review & Compare Items

Version 1.4.0 has been released to remove the giftery / list it integration of the addon now that service has been discontinued. No upgrade is needed though there have been a few other bug changes since 1.3.5.

Finding Feedback Can be Like a Needle in a Haystack

The more your forum grows, the more of a challenge it becomes to sort through the history and get the full story.

Product Review Forums Brings Structure to the Chaos

As a full-featured product management addon, PRF sits on top of your forum allowing you to create defined products which, unlike individual posts, stay relevant over time. Each comment, review and even product updates filter back into this one spot allowing for a quick and comprehensive overview while the individual discussions rage on as always.

Here's just a few of the many features you'll find in PRF:

• Bring structure to products with established pages & reviews
• Reduce the number of repetitive posts from members looking up the same info
• Increase your traffic with content-rich, seo friendly, product listings
• Drive revenue by adding your own affiliate links to product listings
• Increase the activity stream's value with review integration
  
• Engage visitors with integrated wishlists from Giftery.me

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Installation is not upload & go... individualized settings are required. Read the install file.

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QUICK TIPS:
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Enabling Product Forums: To show product details and ratings, each product-forum must be enabled in the forum manager.

Adding Products: You may upload products one at a time through the admin [includes an image uploader using GD] or you can bulk import through XML. You can also enable users to add moderated products through a global and usergroup option.

Product Review Index: To access your forum's product overview go to www.yoursite.com/productforums.php - You may want to add a link to this to your navbar or as a tab.

Customization: This addon is made to be customized. To change the color schema see clientscript/vbulletin_css or dive right on in to the templates and phrases.

Powered by Giftery.me: This mod is maintained includes two integrations you should know about. Both can be controlled through the mod options.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Kirk Fitzgerald

There's a link in the review section to add a review that your members can use to submit listings.

Very politely said given the context

Originally Posted by MySaltyreef

i like it but i need something where my members can create their own product review in a given forum instead of me having to add it via the admin cp, are you working on something like this ?

Reviews are written through product listings and always by the user. In fact if you looked at the mod you'd see that there's no way for an admin to write one without going into the user interface themselves... The admin only lets you make products.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Kirk Fitzgerald

I have already tried to do it myself by searching the net for info chap and have failed, which is why I am asking the one guy who will know how to do it properly. I have absolutely no idea what most sites are going on about when they talk about mysql queries, let alone translating it to search for something in my own database.

A join brings two tables together... For example for your needs:

SELECT <all the existing fields>,user.userid,user.username
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "pf_product.createdby = user.userid
JOIN user ON pf_product

You'd work this into the query in the hook showthread_post_start

If you have a closed area of your forum for products play around with the code. While I understand it's not simple templates the best way to take control is by tweaking which leads to learning.

[looker2010]

The description of the added product text fields are not showing nor are the image urls,social media urls etc. Please advise

http://www.beektime.com/showthread.p...ee-Farm-Queens

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by looker2010

The description of the added product text fields are not showing nor are the image urls,social media urls etc. Please advise

http://www.beektime.com/showthread.p...ee-Farm-Queens

You need to edit your forum "The Good, Bad and Ugly Reviews" in the admin panel and check the option 'Enable Product Review Forum Features?' and save.

[PattiOz]

I have installed to test on my local PC. Getting error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in C:\xampp\htdocs\mysite\forum\admincp\productforums .php on line 1397

Any help is welcome!

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Ted S

A join brings two tables together... For example for your needs:

SELECT <all the existing fields>,user.userid,user.username
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "pf_product.createdby = user.userid
JOIN user ON pf_product

You'd work this into the query in the hook showthread_post_start

If you have a closed area of your forum for products play around with the code. While I understand it's not simple templates the best way to take control is by tweaking which leads to learning.

I really appreciate how much help you are being but this still doesn't make any sense to me at all, I have absolutely no idea how I would work a query into that hook. :erm:

I think it would be best for me to just accept the mod the way it works as is, I am finding myself feeling real stupid here and it's not going my self confidence any good at all.

Thanks for being so patient with me, this is a truly fantastic mod and you are a very good person for providing such a great mod and for being so helpful. :up:

Regards, Kirk.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by PattiOz

I have installed to test on my local PC. Getting error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in C:\xampp\htdocs\mysite\forum\admincp\productforums .php on line 1397

Any help is welcome!

Have you edited the admincp/productforums.php file, if not the file may have been corrupted during download, try re-downloading and replace that file with the new one.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Kirk Fitzgerald

I really appreciate how much help you are being but this still doesn't make any sense to me at all, I have absolutely no idea how I would work a query into that hook. :erm:

I think it would be best for me to just accept the mod the way it works as is, I am finding myself feeling real stupid here and it's not going my self confidence any good at all.

Thanks for being so patient with me, this is a truly fantastic mod and you are a very good person for providing such a great mod and for being so helpful. :up:

Regards, Kirk.

Fair enough... If you change your mind, w3schools has some great basic mysql tutorials.

[PattiOz]

Will do Kirk! I did this, though:

Open: forumdisplay.php in a text editor

Find:

$templater = vB_Template::create('threadbit');

Replace with:

if($foruminfo['productforumsbits']){
$thread['pf_rating'] = vb_number_format($thread['pf_rating'],1);
$templater = vB_Template::create('prodforums_threadbit');
} else {
$templater = vB_Template::create('threadbit');
}

[PattiOz]

No luck yet Kirk. Same error. It's a fresh VB 4.2 install, no other mods, just been skinning the template.