Add-On Releases - AJAX Spy

Introduction:
This script (addon) was developed to give your forums a new nice feature by allowing readers/contributors to have a live spy monitor they can use to watch latest forums activity. This script is supposed to be much faster and more reliable than those variants that place database hooks to watch for changes. The script works without even needing to connect to any database and relies totally on your RSS feeds already generated by the forums.

Please be gentle, our first module. Should work with all versions of vBulletin that provide RSS feeds, which I think is all of them

Installation:
Please follow all instructions carefully and back up and files modified.
1- Uploading Files
Within the folder this document is contained, a folder named "Upload" should be present Open this folder and upload the following files to the corresponding locations. Please notice that no files will be replaced.

The /tmp folder included MUST be CHMODed to 755 OR 777 because the spy script needs to write data into that folder. The data there is auto deleted so there is actually nothing you need to worry about. For your information, the data store3d there is a copy of the latest RSS feeds and is used as a simple caching system to lower the loads on the server when 10K users for example have the spy script open and monitoring.

2- Setting System Environment
In your browser (Internet Explorer/Mozilla etc..)
Go to this url: http://YOURSITE.COM/admincp/install_vbspy.php
[You will need to change the capitals within this url to meet your site's domain and forum location]

Follow the file through each step, if step 1 was configured correctly no errors should occur when running this file. Once finished you will be prompted to delete 2 specific file's, YOU MUST DO THIS.

3- Integrating The System
In your forums admin cp, go to the following destination:
Styles & Templates -> Style Manager -> Edit Templates -> Expand All

Templates:
Find the template 'navbar'
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
FIND:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="calendar.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[calendar]</a></td>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
UNDERNEATH ADD:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="vbSpy.php?$session[sessionurl]">vbSPY</a></td>
::: Save Template 'navbar'

Author Notices:
While i have been coding for long, this is still my first product dedicated to the vBulleting community. If you are familiar with vBulletin codes and think you know a better way to perform some task, please let me know by leaving a comment at the codeMoxie website available at www.codeMoxie.net

Official Support:
This product is fully supported by CodeMoxie, please visit our newly released forums for more info http://www.codemoxie.net/forum

Demo
http://www.prousers.net/vBSpy.php

Release History
Version 1.21b RC1 - September 19, Initial release on vBulletin
Version 1.21b RC1 - September 22, several bug fixes.

Examples:


!#================================================ #!
Enjoy!
Keep checking http://www.codeMoxie.net for more cool products
!#================================================ #!

[MPDev]

A variation of vBIspy?

Do you have an example link?

[codemoxie]

Not exactly a variation, we had actually planned on this several weeks ago and it's been in development since. It's different in that it relies on the rss feeds rather than pulling from the database directly so it can be ported into literally any rss feed setup. Example to come.

[lexx27]

how much time it takes to refresh? Because the rss feed has a 30min limit...

[codemoxie]

The refresh rate can be changed within the configuration.

[lexx27]

yes but a server most of the times has a limit for 30min for the feeds. Is this true?

[codemoxie]

Originally Posted by lexx27

yes but a server most of the times has a limit for 30min for the feeds. Is this true?

Not sure I get the question.

[MPDev]

Saying you don't use any queries to generate a "live" feed is misleading if it requires you to set your RSS feeds to very short regeneration times; the RSS capability isn't meant to be run with such frequency (in other words, you are trying to use a part of vB in a way that it wasn't designed).

Cache Lifespan
By default, content generated by external.php will be cached for one hour. This setting alleviates the problem of abusive users repeatedly requesting updates from external.php. Some RSS applications do not respect the 60 minute refresh request that vBulletin sends with the information.

I saw one variation that appeared to use hooks, but that doesn't necessarily make it less intensive than what you have designed here; you've simply offloaded the processing requirement to another script.

[lexx27]

What I m saying is that most servers are configured to ban you if you refresh the feed in less than 30 minutes. Im not 100 percent sure and thats why I'm asking this.

[codemoxie]

The script applies to your own feed so I am not sure that being banned is a factor

In terms of interaction, the RSS feeds from vbulletin or fully supported and tested by vBulletin and the community rather than having a separate script entirely with all new db access which can be vulnerable to db problems. If it were me, I would try not to use external code that interacts with the db directly short of it having a long history of testing and support from the community, leaves a user too open to breaks into the db. Also, by relying on the RSS feeds, they stay pretty constant whereas a db interaction would require updates as does the vbulletin code and design changes.

Finally, the script works with any RSS feed so could be incorporated to use any type rather than limiting someone to just their own forum.