[RELEASE vB2.0] Community Bulletin Mailer

[Kier]

First up, huge apologies to everyone who has been waiting for this hack... I actually got it to the state it's in now about a month ago, but never really polished it off after I joined the vB Dev team... and then I completely forgot about it.

So sorry about that.



Installation is a breeze. Simply unzip the attached file and copy commbull.php to your admin folder. When you run the script for the first time, it will detect that you have not altered the user table to include the receivebulletin field, and add that field for you. It will also display the necessary information about what alterations you need to make to the modifyoptions template, and the member.php file.

If you ever want to view the installation instructions again, there is a link at the bottom of the main page.

Once installation is complete, the rest is really very easy to use.

You may find that this hack is a little rough around the edges, but I'm afraid I just don't have the time to dedicate to polishing it right now, so if anyone wants to have a fiddle with the code, be by guest.

[Kier]

Might help if I actually ~released~ the hack too eh?

[floleb7]

when i click to go i have this

Fatal error: Call to unsupported or undefined function maketableheader() in /home/latriade.net/www/forum/admin/commbull.php3 on line 75

[Kier]

Fatal error: Call to unsupported or undefined function maketableheader()

You will need to upgrade to at least Release Candidate 2 to use this script.

[TommyBALL]

This will of couse be included in the next release of vb? ;)

:D
- TommyBALL

[chrispadfield]

looks very cool. A few suggestions if anyone has a chance to work on it:

i) ability to send multiple sets of threads. I would quite like to be able to send all of:

- top 10 threads by replies
- most recent 10 unanswered threads
- top 10 threads by views

etc.

I imagine this just needs a repliaction of the code that generates the threads..

ii) a way to run this script by cron.

[Streicher]

What a awasome hack!

Is it possible to send a HTML-Mail as Bulletin?

[Streicher]

A Bug:

I have set "Get threads according to" to "Most recently posted" and get this. Look at the dates :D ;)

Title: "Salzsäure" (posted 19-01-2038 by MichiG)
o (3 replies, 3 views, last post: 22:10, 22-03-2000 by CO-Kowtun)
o http://www.chemieonline.de/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1

My private Forums are also included.

[Arkham]

Please excuse my ignorance, but as a soon-to-be vBulletin owner I haven't seen this one in use and really not sure what it does. Could I buy a clue?

From what I could tell, it looks like a hack for people to receive a certain (subscribed?) thread pushed via email instead of having to log on and pull it themselves.


Thanks.

[JonnyQuest]

Great idea!
My thoughts:
1) Be able to choose to send HTML mail using the standard header and footer
2) Instead of hacking the user table, it should just use the field for recieve email from admins.

[Joe]

I would like to make another Sug... I want to include a header and footer (advertisements / gen info text) on this email, can we add two custom fields for this?

Arkham, see this thread: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12366

[Kier]

In the message preview section you can add whatever text you like to the existing message body.

[Joe]

Nice, i guess i should upgrade to RC2 and give this a try :)

[The_Sisko]

Some mroe bugs:
when selecting only Administrator Group (for testing) the script said there are no user ins the group (but there are). The same with a test group with only one user. Then I tried my self created mod groupid and it only mailt to the first user in this group
smae time and date probs like Streicher had!

[leadZERO]

Just a question, can you exclude forums from having threads/posts returned? Such as... I have a staff forum and don't want the "Hot Topics" from it emailed out to all my users.

[Pingu]

I have just used the preview thingy, but everything looks good:

* dates are correct :)
* BUT private forums are included in the Bulletin :(

[The_Sisko]

If just deleted:

AND adminemail=1 so me "no email" Problem is fixed now!

[Kier]

Yes, but now people who have explicitly said that they DO NOT want to receive email from the admins will get the mailing... not a good idea methinks.

[Kier]

Originally posted by Pingu
I have just used the preview thingy, but everything looks good:

* dates are correct :)
* BUT private forums are included in the Bulletin :(

Just make sure that your private forums are not checked on the first page.

[The_Sisko]

Originally posted by Kier
Yes, but now people who have explicitly said that they DO NOT want to receive email from the admins will get the mailing... not a good idea methinks.

I've delete this part in the user option, because methinks thats I'm allowed to mail my user if i like to :D

But another question, my emails get messed up like this:

Star - Trek - Forum Community Bulletin --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Date: 07-05-2001 Activity since 01-01-1970 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- View all new content here: http://www.studenten-city.de/stf/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LATEST THREADS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: "Bilderrätsel" (posted 04-08-2000 by The_Sisko) o (938 replies, 8404 views, last post: 17:13, 01-01-2001 by The_Sisko) o http://www.studenten-city.de/stf/showthread.php4?s=&threadid=668 Title: "Quiz (quer durch die Serien)" (posted 19-01-2038 by Kira) o (931 replies, 6439 views, last post: 01:03, 06-05-2001 by U'Tor) o http://www.studenten-city.de/stf/showthread.php4?s=&threadid=494 Title: "Bilderrätsel 2" (posted 01-01-2001 by The_Sisko) o (772 replies

Any help?

[The_Sisko]

Update:
I used another Emailclient and now it works, looks like Outlook 2000 is the problem!

[NickyNet]

@Kier,

THANK YOU ...

great hack....

[Pingu]

Originally posted by Kier


Just make sure that your private forums are not checked on the first page.

Umm, umm, umm... :o :D
It's taking up most of the page, and I completely overlooked it!

I definitely need some time off...

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by The_Sisko
smae time and date probs like Streicher had!


Did you (or Streicher for that matter) import posts from a UBB originally? This would explain that.

[The_Sisko]

Yes we both do so!

[tubedogg]

I wrote a script for JJR512 to fix his dates when coming from a UBB import. I'll try to find it and post it. :)

[tubedogg]

Here's the script I wrote. Please, please, please backup your database first. I took a look at each of your boards and neither of you have that many threads (relatively) so this should work out just fine.

Rename it to fixubbdate.php, upload to your admin directory and go to it in a browser.

[Streicher]

Originally posted by tubedogg
Here's the script I wrote. Please, please, please backup your database first.

Thanks, tubedogg. I will test it.

[tubedogg]

With Kier's permission, I have rereleased this hack in this (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=16290) thread. It has the first suggestion Chris P. made and a couple other things that I put into it, plus birthdays now work. :)

[TimberLand]

How do members subscribe to the mailing list. If I read this right. It seem like this hack will send a news letter with the best post of the week or whatever to members that subscribe?????

If not, what exactly does this hack do?

[RobAC]

What exactly does this hack do??

[tubedogg]

It allows you to send a fully-customizable community bulletin, generated by vBulletin. It can include latest threads, threads with no replies, threads with most replies or views, polls, calendar events, birthdays, polls, and the user's info (username, password, etc.), and a few other things, as well as anything else you wish to add. The system generates a preview based on your settings and then you can add anything into the text box before mailing. You can limit to which usergroups it gets sent, and from which forums information is pulled, and users can opt-out of receiving it.

This is a "Kier" hack ;) but I have updated it slightly with his permission, and rereleased it in this (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=16290) thread. You can also look at this (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=12366) for more info.

[RobAC]

I just checked out the other thread......whoa! I can't wait to install this hack. Very cool!

[TimberLand]

I installed this no problem. What is the main way to access the hack when needed. Is it the link that is supplied with it. Or is a new link in the control panel?

Thanks

[Pingu]

You can direct your browser to http://www.yoursite.com/path/to/commbull.php

Or you can check TubeDogg's add on. His posting contains a "hack" for a link in the Admin Panel...

[The_Sisko]

Originally posted by tubedogg
Here's the script I wrote. Please, please, please backup your database first. I took a look at each of your boards and neither of you have that many threads (relatively) so this should work out just fine.

Rename it to fixubbdate.php, upload to your admin directory and go to it in a browser.

I looked at the code and didn't realy get what it does....?
Can you please explain in a few words what it does to the post/threads? Thanks

[TimberLand]

When i tried a test mail I get this error message. The link to the technical staff is my email

There seems to have been a slight problem with the database. Please try again by pressing the refresh button in your browser.

An E-Mail has been dispatched to our Technical Staff, who you can also contact if the problem persists.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by The_Sisko
I looked at the code and didn't realy get what it does....?
Can you please explain in a few words what it does to the post/threads?

Sorry, should have explained. It takes the date&time from the first post in each thread and makes that the date&time of the posting thread. As it is now, all your threads imported from UBB have a posting date of 37 years in the future. This fixes that.

[The_Sisko]

Thanks, I will try it!

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by TimberLand
When i tried a test mail I get this error message. The link to the technical staff is my email

There seems to have been a slight problem with the database. Please try again by pressing the refresh button in your browser.

An E-Mail has been dispatched to our Technical Staff, who you can also contact if the problem persists.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

What is the error you are receiving in your email? (Either that or view the source of the page and copy and paste the error message from there.)

[Mark Hewitt]

The patch script doesn't work, it just gives a parse error line 15.

[tubedogg]

I apologize - I missed a semicolon. :eek:

Here is a working script.

[Kier]

h e r e (http://vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16290)