SEO URL Rewriting for GARS

I discussed the steps to setup the URL rewriting for VBulletin. For those forums using GARS, here are the steps.

1. Edit geek/gars/mods/display/top.php
   
   Search:
   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $bits .= "<tr><td align=\"$stylevar[left]\"><span class=\"smallfont\"><a href=\"showthread.php?t=$value[threadid]\" title=\"$value[title]\">$value[title]</a></span></td></tr>";

   Replaced with

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $thread['url'] = strtolower(str_replace(" ", "-", $value[title]));
   2. $thread['url'] = strtolower(str_replace("'", "", $value[title]));
   3. $thread['url'] = ereg_replace("[/?!.$%£()~*@#]+", "", $thread['url']);
   4. $bits .= "<tr><td align=\"$stylevar[left]\"><span class=\"smallfont\"><a href=\"t$value[threadid]-" .  $thread['url']  . ".html\" title=\"$value[title]\">$value[title]</a></span></td></tr>";

2. Edit geek/gars/mods/display/toc.php
   
   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $bits.="<li><div class=\"smallfont\"><a href=\"showthread.php?t=$threadinfo[threadid]&amp;garpg=" . ($toc_x + 1). "#content_start\">";
   2. $bits.=$this->navigation['pages'][$toc_x]['text'] ? $this->navigation['pages'][$toc_x]['text'] : construct_phrase($vbphrase['GARS_pagex'],($toc_x + 1));
   3. $bits.="</a></div></li>";

   Replaced with

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $thread['url'] = strtolower(str_replace(" ", "-", $this->navigation['pages'][$toc_x]['text'] ? $this->navigation['pages'][$toc_x]['text'] : construct_phrase($vbphrase['GARS_pagex'],($toc_x + 1))));
   2. $thread['url'] = ereg_replace("[/?!.$%£()~*@#]+", "", $thread['url']);
   3. $bits.="<li><div class=\"smallfont\"><a href=\"a$threadinfo[threadid]-" . ($toc_x + 1). "-$thread[url].html\">";

3. Edit the following templates
   
   GARS_forumbit_level1_nopost
   GARS_forumbit_level1_post
   GARS_forumdisplay
   GARS_simple_threadbit
   GARS_subforumbit_nopost
   GARS_subforumbit_post
   GARS_threadbit

   Replace:

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=$thread[threadid]

   with

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. t$thread[threadid]-$thread[url].html

VBulletin SEO URL Rewriting

1. Place the code below in the .htaccess.
   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. RewriteRule ^t([0-9]+)-(.*).html$ showthread.php?t=$1 [L]
   2. RewriteRule ^lastpostinthread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?goto=lastpost&amp;t=$1 [L]
   3. RewriteRule ^newpostinthread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?goto=newpost&amp;t=$1 [L]
   4. RewriteRule ^f([0-9]+)-(.*).html$ forumdisplay.php?forumid=$1 [L]

2. Edit the functions_forumlist.phpSearch for:
   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $forum['statusicon'] = fetch_forum_lightbulb($forumid, $lastpostinfo, $forum);

   and below that add

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $forum['url'] = strtolower(str_replace(" ", "-",str_replace("/", "-", $forum['title'])));
   2. $forum['url'] = strtolower(str_replace("'", "",str_replace("/", "-", $forum['title'])));

3. Edit the forumdisplay.php.Search for:
   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $thread = process_thread_array($thread, $lastread, $foruminfo['allowicons']);

   and below that add

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. $thread['url'] = strtolower(str_replace(" ", "-", $thread['threadtitle']));
   2. $thread['url'] = strtolower(str_replace("'", "", $thread['threadtitle']));
   3. $thread['url'] = ereg_replace("[/?!.$%£()~*@]+", "", $thread['url']);

4. Edit the threadbit template.Search for:
   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. <a href="showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=$thread[threadid]$thread[highlight]">

   and below that add

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. </a><a href="t$thread[threadid]-$thread[url].html">

5. Change the following template:
   Search the following:
   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. </a><a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]">

   Replace with:

   PLAIN TEXT
   CODE:

   1. </a><a href="$forum[url].html">

   forumhome_forumbit_level1_nopost
   forumhome_forumbit_level1_post
   forumhome_forumbit_level2_nopost
   forumhome_forumbit_level2_post
   forumhome_lastpostby

VBulletin URL Rewriting

This discussed how to make the VBulletin URL to a human readable format.

Link

NoSpam! - an alternative to CAPTCHA images

This simple hack is meant as a replacement for the default CAPTCHA system in vBulletin. There are two main reasons one might want to do this: firstly, new technology is constantly being developed to crack CAPTCHA images and make spam accounts anyway, and secondly, the more secure the CAPTCHA, the more difficult it is for genuine users to tell what the numbers in the image are. There is also the issue of visually impaired users, and the fact that not all servers are capable of generating CAPTCHA images.

Link

VBulletin Specific Category Icon

Find "forumhome_forumbit_level1_nopost" template:

Code:

<td class="tcat"><img src="/path/to/your/image_$forum[forumid].gif" /></td>

Then, when you're naming the images you'd like to display, add a suffix to each one with the Forum ID that you'd like it displayed for.

Ex: image.gif for Forum ID 2 becomes - image_2.gif

Edit: If you don't want to display an image for all your forums, you can wrap the above code with the following, which will only display it for specific forums:

Code:

<if condition="in_array($forum[forumid], array(X,Y,Z))">
Code Supplied Above
</if>

Replace X,Y,Z with the Forum IDs of the forums you're displaying images next to.

Commonly Asked VBulletin Questions

As you hop around vB Forums, help compile listings of the most commonly asked questions (and answers) related to these 14 topic groupings. Goal is to provide a Browse by Topic method of locating frequently requested information, as a companion to Search Mode. An FAQ will be produced from these results. Thanks for your help!

1. FORMATTING. LAYOUT. THREAD DISPLAY ISSUES
2. REPLYING. START THREAD. COMPOSE, EDIT MESSAGE
3. IMAGES. ATTACHMENTS. SIGS. AVATARS
4. USER STATUS. PRIVILEGES. DISPLAYS. PROFILE. PREFS
5. REGISTRATION. NOTIFICATION ISSUES
6. LOGIN. COOKIES. SESSIONS. TRACKING. STATS
7. RATINGS. RANKINGS. KARMA. FILTRATION
8. ADMIN CONTROL PANEL. TEMPLATE EDITS.
9. MODERATOR TOOLS
10. PRIVATE FORUMS
11. PMs (PRIVATE MSGS). ICQ. CHATS. CALENDAR
12. NON-vB PAGES. TOP 10. MOST RECENT POSTS
13. SEARCH. mySQL. QUERIES. DATABASE. BACKUPS
14. MISCELLANEOUS. CROSSOVER TOPICS. UPGRADES. INSTALLS

e-steki Karma v2

e-steki Karma is a powerful system to let users rate each other with a rating from -5 to +5. Each user's karma is a number, which is the average of all votes they have received. Refer to the Features section for more information.

Link

VBulletin Module:Mark Threads As ‘Solved’

This module provides ability to mark the thread as Solved.

Link

Module CMPS: AJAX Tabbed Content

 This is adds Tab to VB Advanced CMPS.

Link

Welcome to Development Standards.Net

I'm Mark Anthony Marucot. I'm 5 years in IT industry. I started this blog to document all my projects, interests and ideas.  My major online project is IT Experts Central (http://www.itexpertscentral.com). This site focused on providing free tutorials and invite IT experts worldwide to collaborate and help each other. The pagerank of the site is currently 4. I hope that this will improve later on.