Manual

vB Ad Management - Version

Changelog: Differences between 5.01 Beta and 5.02

Important vB Ad Management now requires vBulletin 3.6 to function. It is also now modular, which means one plugin for the central functionality, plus optional additional plugins for product-specific functionality. To replicate all the old functionality now requires two plugins, however you may still only need one.

Added brand-free licensing.
Changed release status, vB Ad Management is no longer in beta.
Fixed Incorrect calculation of sponsor cells when one was left empty.

Files changed from previous version

products/vbam.xml
uploads/includes/vbam_functions.php

Changelog: Differences between 5.00 Beta and 5.01 Beta

Added optional width settings for the columns.
Added compressed/uncompressed versions of the javascript.
Changed auto-refresh so it will no longer replace existing content with nothing, nor will it auto-refesh empty adcode. Auto-refreshing will also now also stop until the next page load to save bandwidth if the refresh is invalid. This is done individually for adcode blocks, so one bad block will not stop another refreshing. This now means you can add a button for users to stop an ad refreshing if there's one they want to look at, see the FAQ for how to do it.
Fixed auto-refresh javascript being included in the forum module instead of the engine.
Fixed "Allow HTML in Ad Sharing" option.
Fixed advertisement-auto refresh returning empty content.
Fixed quick edit breaking when used with vBSEO.
Fixed columns not working correctly.
Fixed missing column refresh code.
Fixed javascript error in Internet Explorer.
Fixed adcode not being inserted when using some $ad_location hooks.

Files changed from previous version

All files changed.

Changelog: Differences between 4.02 and 5.00 Beta

Added the vB Ad Management engine. If your use of vBulletin extends beyond just a forum and/or your vB Ad Management set-up is customised, be sure to read the further explanation at the end of the changelog. Otherwise, all you need to know is that it has lead to...
Added vB Ad Management for vBulletin blogs! Hopefully the first of many modules to extend the vBam featureset. All the features you're used are there for entries and comments, as well as everything new to vB Ad Management. It works just the same, so if you know how to use vB Ad Management you'll be set up in minutes. In fact, you'll be set up in minutes if you don't.
Added an affiliate link manager which will alter links to match your specified affiliate links. For instance, vBulletin.com (and any vBulletin forum) uses a referral system to credit individuals with newly registered members. It requires referrerid=1 (where 1 is your ID) to be included in referring links. The affiliate manager allows you to automatically insert referrerid=1 into any link to vbulletin.com, ensuring you always get credit and if applicable to the site, revenue. If someone else's affiliate ID has been used, it will be removed and replaced with yours.
Added an anti-affiliate link manager. Actually, it's the same manager. Since it was trivial to do, as a bonus the link manager can deal with referral link spam by removing the affiliate IDs from links or by replacing the links entirely with a different link to a website of your choice.
Added new adcode blocks for adding your advertisements to feeds and emails.
Added "time of day" scheduling for advertisements. As well as specifying a date to end (and optionally begin) displaying advertisements, now you can have them end (and optionally begin) displaying at a set time every day.
Added timescale to fullpage advertisements. This controls times/dates when your visitors may be redirected to a full-page advertisement.
Added weighting for advertisement (revenue) sharing. Now you can optionally tip the odds in favour of those who contribute more.
Added the "display an advertisement every Nth post or with the Nth post" to thread, forum and feed listings as well.
Added compatibility with vBulletin's template hook system, as well as with the new ad_location hooks and vB Ad Management's own vbam_location hooks in case you want to keep things separate. This is backward compatible, so it will work if you're using a version of vBulletin that doesn't have template hooks.
Added insertion customisation for left and right columns.
Added comment in the page source to identify whose shared adcode is being used, displayed to the admin only.
Added classes and ids to all adcode templates excluding feeds and emails so that advertisements can be easily altered with CSS.
Changed the "last poster in a thread" option for ad sharing to be replaced with "any poster in a thread", which is much less open to abuse.
Changed the admin panel to be organised by visible area, not the somewhat confusing template grouping.
Changed the copyright to say "Ad management plugin" instead of "Ad management". A small point, but some people thought I was in charge of advertising on fora using the product.
Changed the copyright failure. Instead of simply blanking the page - a stupid decision on my part - it will display a small notice that the branding must be displayed. If you're having trouble, the fix is still the same.
Changed almost the entirety of the code, to some degree. It's been substantially optimised as well as given a much stronger and more independant structure.
Changed the file structure. Every vB Ad Management file is now prefixed with vbam_ so general organisation and uninstalling should be much easier, even without instructions. Files in /includes/xml are not prefixed as vBulletin does not allow it.
Changed the templates to remove the hated "Remove advertisements" and "Sponsored links" text. The phrases remain so can be manually added if required.
Changed case-insensitivity on sharing fields. #FIELD will no longer work, if it ever worked before. It must be #field.
Changed left and right columns to an invisible column template.
Fixed advertisement previews not displaying any shared field values. Now it will display the default.
Fixed advertisement auto-refesh. Now it actually works.
Fixed left and right columns throwing out post alignment when viewing a thread.
Fixed advertisement timescales using the server time and not the user's time for display calculations.
Fixed shared advertisement field replacement failing on advertisement templates that had been edited in specific areas.
Removed compatibility with vBulletin 3.5.x. 3.6.x or later is now required.
Removed separate product for phrases.
Removed "display with last post" option.
Removed the option to globally toggle automatic template edits. Template hooks have made this redundant, as technically they are just template edits already done for you. You can still use automatic template edits, but it is done on an individual basis.

Files changed from previous version

All files changed.

Since vB Ad Management first came about, Jelsoft have branched out into further products which plug in to their original forum software. Obviously advertising should be expanded into the new areas in the same way, but vBam wasn't built to allow it. Now, it can. The product has been shrunk into a core "engine". Now, modules (really just more specific products) can make use of the core functionality and extend it into new areas without the engine needing to be updated first.

This is why the forum and new blog functionality have become separate modules. You may not need the forum module at all, since the engine comes with a few advertising blocks for functionality which is not area-specific, like header/footer. Most importantly of all, it means that if you have extended your forum in some way with Project Tools, vB Advanced or even used it as the foundation of your site, the advertising management can be extended into new areas much easier than before.

Changelog: Differences between 4.01 and 4.02

Added option to force forum staff's shared adcode in specified forums.
Changed custom advertisements so they can be added to other advertisement templates.
Changed automatic template edits to be disabled by default and renamed the insertads function to insertad for consistency.
Changed Display advertisement every X posts? option to be calculated per page, not per thread. Before, this meant that set to three with 10 posts per page, it would show up with the 3rd, 6th, 9th post on the first page and then the 2nd, 5th, 8th post on the second page. Now it will be the 3rd, 6th, 9th post on every page.
Changed staff ad sharing to specifically exclude the current visitor in case they are staff. This would have been caught anyway, but it made the odds slightly inaccurate.
Changed various code for minor optimisations.
Fixed some postbit advertisements not appearing after the first page of a thread.
Fixed missing timescale settings for threadbit, forumbit, left column and right column.
Fixed bug where some forumbit advertisements would not display.
Fixed errors with some adcode containing quotes and similar problems with custom adcode using the AJAX refresh and AdminCP preview.
Fixed database import duplicate field error.
Fixed minor Javascript syntax error.
Fixed custom_x_advertisement template edit typo.
Removed option to set a minimum number of posts in a thread before advertisements will be displayed. It was apparently entirely unused.
Removed option to displayed advertisement with the first post in a thread. It was an unnecessary duplicate option, to display an advertisement with the first post just add 1 to the Display advertisement after X post on a page? setting.

Files changed from previous version

/vb_ad_management.xml
/uploads/clientscript
/uploads/includes
/uploads/admincp
/languages

Changelog: Differences between 4.00 and 4.01

Added AJAX advertisement refresh option, so adcode blocks can be periodically refreshed without the page reloading. This requires the browser to have javascript enabled, those without will not see refreshing. Ad sharing will always use the admin's defaults when refreshing so you might want to factor that into your percentages..
Changed some of the setting description text to be a bit shorter.
Changed the default postbit autoinsert text to a template hook to avoid an Internet Explorer bug. See BugID 30.
Fixed bug where ad sharing forumID settings were ignored.
Fixed header autoinsertion text not working correctly and added default autoinsertion text for all the non-custom adcode blocks.
Fixed ad sharing incompatibility with comment strippers.
Fixed bug where an incorrect delimiter in the postbit displayed a PHP error.
Fixed bug where PHP would display an error if no custom fields were found.
Fixed bug where some pages would come up blank.
Fixed bug where admins shared fields would be deleted when upgrading.
Fixed bug where the custom blocks deletion would hang and not function.
Fixed a couple of inconsistencies with the Sponsors preview and set all preview text size back to default (one size larger) for the sake of accuracy.
Fixed couple of typos in the settings.
Removed vB Ad Management (Global Settings) listing in vBulletin Options.
Removed the global_complete.php file. Code is now split between functions_vb_ad_management.php and the product file.

Files changed from previous version

Added uploads/clientscript
vb_ad_management.xml
languages/vb_ad_management_english.php
uploads/admincp/vb_ad_management.php
uploads/includes/functions_vb_ad_management.php
uploads/includes/global_start.php
Removed uploads/includes/global_complete.php

Changelog: Differences between 4.00 Beta and 4.00

Added the option to use time spent browsing as method of redirecting to the full page advertisement and removed some of the extreme low numbers for other full page settings.
Added option to redirect to the full page advertisement when first arriving.
Added check of valid full page advertisement content before redirecting. This needs explaining. Because it is an intrusive method of advertising that you may not want to force on members who would ordinarily see advertisements, I felt some way of being able to exlude users from full page redirects specifically was needed. Because a separate set of settings would be unwieldy, instead it checks template conditionals within the advertisement. If no full page advertisement content would be shown to that user, the redirect does not take place.
Added trimming to the createad function, partially to ensure the above check is accurate.
Added template hooks to the autoinsert instructions, since it was not clear they could be used as well.
Changed requiring of external files to including.
Changed checktimescale function to be called checkadtime. More consistent with the other function names and less likely to conflict with other names.
Fixed archive header advertisements creating invalid XHTML.
Fixed minor spacing issue in Internet Explorer 6 in the advertisement_fullpage template.
Fixed postbit advertisements appearing with every post regardless of settings.
Fixed threadbit advertisements not appearing at all.
Fixed admin note and demo styling being difficult to read on some AdminCP styles. See BugID 28.
Fixed error from PHP on some UserCP pages. See BugID 29
Fixed incorrect column spanning display in Opera in a couple of templates.
Fixed unreliable redirection to full page advertisements.
Removed unnecessary eval of custom adcode blocks.

Changed files

vb_ad_management.xml
languages/vb_ad_management_english.php
uploads/admincp/vb_ad_management.php
uploads/includes/vb_ad_management/global_start.php
uploads/includes/vb_ad_management/global_complete.php
uploads/includes/vb_ad_management/functions_vb_ad_management.php

Changelog: Differences between 3.14 and 4.00 Beta

Added version-specific manuals (you're reading it!) to improve the instructions as much as possible. This includes the newly expansive text in the manual as well, of course. Manuals for versions before this one may be lower quality.
Added global support for vBulletin template conditionals in adcode.
Added full support for vBulletin phrases in adcode.
Added optional automated template edits.
Added forum Sponsors box.
Added full page advertisements.
Added timescales for advertisements, now you can specify when an advertisement should begin to be displayed, or when it should expire and stop being displayed, or a timespan using both.
Added live AJAX preview for adcode. A preview will be shown when you load the settings page and you can instantly update the preview without reloading the page.
Added warnings for important related options that have been disabled in Global Settings.
Added the option to use up to 25 additional custom advertisement blocks.
Added the option to use forum staff as an ad sharing assignment.
Added the ability to use unlimited ad sharing fields.
Added the hiding of ad sharing UserCP options for those who do not have ad sharing access.
Added postbit and threadbit advertisements to searches.
Added a template group for advertisement templates. They can all now be found in the group "Advertisement". The group name is phrased, so if you are using a translated version it may be named something different.
Changed almost everything about the user interface. Total overhaul.
Changed almost everything about the code as well! Entirely rewritten. Faster, uses less memory, database queries improved.
Changed static and random advertisements to use the same adcode.
Changed archive advertisements to be assigned separate adcode blocks.
Changed database queries to use the slave server, if any.
Changed columns to be activated independantly of advertisements. So you can enable a column and use it for something else if you wish, as well as place additional adcode blocks within the column.
Changed the settings to be rewritten and moved most of them to an external file.
Changed postbit "display as user" option to to a more general "blend" option, where various templates can optionally imitate the templates they accompany. The blend options now also are provided as separate templates so they can be edited. The new templates are named advertisement_x_blend.
Changed archive advertisements to have their own separate settings and adcode, as conditionals used in main advertisments are unlikely to work there as well.
Changed phrases to be installed separately to the product, allowing for easy language translations and product upgrades without requiring an updated language file (although it may leave translations incorrect or missing).
Changed almost all the settings text and separated it into description, example and additional notes.
Changed various files to be back inside the product. For very small files it wasn't worth the import.
Changed "Remove advertisements" link to be a phrase instead of a manual-input option, now it is $vbphrase[adintegrate_remove_ads].
Removed forumbit and threadbit ad sharing. This is primarily due to the new method of ad-sharing, plus the fact that I've never heard of anyone using either of them. I'll probably re-add them if there's enough interest.
Removed more complex adsharing user random assignment added earlier. It didn't make enough difference to be worth it.
Removed automatic Google Analytics integration, it is not really an advertisement feature. It's something for a separate modification.
Removed the option to identify a user whose adcode is being used on that page. It was unreliable and the user may not be on the page anyway, giving the impression that it was not working.
Removed all userid, threadid and announcementid exclusion settings, they were inefficient and rarely used. If still needed, they can either be dealt with using conditionals or usergroups.
Removed postbit avatar option, a blank avatar is provided in the postbit blend templates and can be edited to an image if required.
Fixed issue where sharing was not properly triggered when it was at the very end of Adcode.
Fixed announcement advertisements not working. See BugID 27.

Changed files

All of them!

Changelog: Differences between 3.13 and 3.14

Fixed repeating copyright link compatibility problem with backup modification and changed the formatting and wording.

Changelog: Differences between 3.12 and 3.13

Fixed postbit_legacy displaying incorrectly when using "Display as user".
Fixed removeads link not displaying in postbit_legacy.

Changelog: Differences between 3.11 and 3.12

Fixed vBSEO compatibility.
Fixed and optimised Google Analytics code addition.

Changelog: Differences between 3.10 and 3.11

Add % calculation back in. Oops.
Added % calculation for shared ads with more accurate, more random formula.

Changelog: Differences between 3.04 and 3.10

Added major optimisations, improved forumbit and threadbit code particularly and massively trimmed the number of necessary database queries for shared ads.
Added some basic username markup so admins can see whose adcode is being used.
Fixed forumbit and thread ads, bit more reliable now.
Fixed usergroup and userid banning for shared adcode, again now they actually work.
Added automatic ban from shared ads when user is placed in Tachy goes to Coventry.
Added option to force use of the thread-starter or last poster's adcode in specified forums.
"Remove Advertisements" link extended to be included in almost all advertisement templates.
Switch to primarily file-based modification instead of entirely plugin-based.
Templates require revert to include the new link.

Changelog: Differences between 3.03 and 3.04

Removed executionorder field from the plugin. It should now also work with vB 3.5.x versions. May be slightly faster too, not sure.
Fixed template error where an advertisement's forum statusicon would break if quotes were used in the Sponsored Links text. Revert your template after upgrading if this needs fixing for you.
Updated copyright link insertion to improve speed and be compatible with other modifications by myself that also insert copyright links. The idea is that if you are using several plugins it will detect the others and ensure that only one link is chosen to be added. Currently there is only one other (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=142153) so if you are using that modification you must also upgrade vB Ad Management or two links will be displayed.

Changelog: Differences between 3.02 and 3.03

Removed the Beta tag from the version.
Fixed error when using threadbit ads.
Removed threadbit ads in archives option, since apparently it doesn't exist.

Changelog: Differences between 3.01 Beta and 3.02

No longer Beta, full release.
Fixed shared postbit ads not showing.

Changelog: Differences between 3.00 Beta and 3.01 Beta

Added custom delimiters for both Adcode sharing and all Adcode and settings. This means that you can choose to separate your settings and Adcode with , or | or ;; or any string of characters you wish without editing the code. You can also do the same allowing you to alter what text is shared, previously you had to use #shared#.
Added blocking a user from seeing their own shared advertisements.
Fixed bug where Usergroup blocking would not work.
Minor optimisations.

Changelog: Differences between 2.10 and 3.00 Beta

Added significant Adsharing features.

Changelog: Differences between 2.01 and 2.10

Added advertisements in archives using header, footer, left & right columns.
Fixed Usergroup & UserID permissions.
Fixed Google Analytics causing footer problems.
Minor XHTML validation fix.
Minor optimisations.

Changelog: Differences between 2.00 and 2.01

Fixed bug where static header ads will not show up, plus minor instructions typo fix.

Changelog: Version 2.00

Released.