Forum News (News in a Forum)

This hack adds news headlines to the top of a forum. The headlines come from an XML source. The headlines are links to the articles. Through the admin cp, add or modify forums system, you can select from a list of sources (or select no news for that forum). There is also a master on/off switch for the entire feature, and you can also select how many headlines will appear.

Support for this hack will be provided only within the vbulletin.org forums.

This hack involves database modifications. Please make a backup copy of your database prior to installing this hack. The author of this hack assumes no responsibility for anything.

The XML feeds come from Moreover.com. This service is provided free-of-charge only to non-commercial, non-profit, educational, or personal/hobby sites, and may not be used on any for-profit site. If you operate a for-profit site, you must contact Moreover.com to discuss purchasing the rights to the service.







Changelog
v1.0: Original release
v1.1: Fixes problem of not being able to change a forum's newsfeed back to NONE after previously selecting one.
v1.1a: Error in instructions file corrected. If you have 1.1, you do not need to download this; absolutely no code has changed.
v1.1b: See Post #30 below. If you have v1.1a, you do not need to download again; just make the fix as instructed in Post #30.
v1.2: Changes the code added to forumdisplay.php so that only one query is used. If you have v1.1b, you only need to replace the code added to forumdisplay.php with the newer bit of code from the instructions.
v1.2a: Fixes a minor bug affecting only the appearance of the output. If you already have installed v1.2, you do not need to re-download and re-install; please see Post #34 below for the simple fix.
v1.2b: Current release. Corrects the URL shown in the registration required notice. The only change over v1.2a is the "forumnewsbit_accessreg" template.

OPTIONAL Add-in feature: Make this feature user-selectable
I have created some instructions you can use if you'd like to give your users the ability to not see the news in a forum. Read Post #44 below for more info.

[Neo]

Gasp!!!!!!!!!!!! The hack master is back.

This is really nice and I would like to say thank you

[JJR512]

Wow, that's a very quick reply!

I've been suffering a horrible affliction over the past few months. It's made it very difficult for me to come to these forums. My problem: Hack idea blockage! No new ideas. Well, I finally had one, and I hope many people will enjoy it.

***

Also forgot to mention, for the record: This hack was developed on a clean install of vB 2.2.6. After the hack was completed, the test board was wiped clean, and the hack was tested using the instructions; it installed and worked perfectly.

[Neo]

I know how you feel if you ever need a idea I got one for you. I posted it a vbulltin.com though for a future addon for VB3.

I myself havent been able to stop hacking Oo It gets painful after awhile, and I can already see myself having to wear glasses.

[Vivi Ornitier]

hella nice hack, sweet idea.

[JJR512]

I just realized I didn't really mention why I made this hack, or what I think it would be useful for. I guess it's probably obvious, but just in case... I have forums on my board related to various computer topics, as well as sports, entertainment, cars, and other stuff. I wanted to have a newsfeed in each forum that was related to what the forum was about. So, in my Software forum, I have Software News, and in my Entertainment forum, I have Entertainment News. There are 334 different news feeds you can choose from; hopefully, you'll be able to find something for at least some of your forums. Remember, each forum is configured independently, to have its own feed, or no feed at all, if you can't find an appropriate one.

[AndyTSJ]

I got a hack idea for ya JJR512.... actually I got a few. Let me know if you wanna hear them...

[JJR512]

Sure, but you'd probably have better results by posting in the requests forum. If I can do it, I will; I've made requested hacks before. But if you just tell me, it might be something I don't know how to do, or don't have time to do. I just didn't look in there for a while, either, because I was just a bit worn out, I guess.

[Vivi Ornitier]

hmmm . . . where do we add the news? I can't find any link in the admin panel???

[Brad]

in vbulletin options where that ^ is supose to be i get nothing but the forum news in the purple table and no options at all.