My vBulletin Blog ;-)

vBadvanced is proud to announce the first public release of vBa Links Directory v3.0 Beta 2!
This is Beta software, so if you are not fully comfortable with creating/restoring backups or applying bug fixes, we recommend waiting until the release of v3.0 RC1. While we do not anticipate many problems, the first beta versions have only been tested on a limited number of live websites and there will still be bugs that have not yet been reported.
v3.0 Beta 2 is available in the Members' Area here for current license holders, and is also available for new customers once a license is purchased. Most every file and bit of code throughout the software has been updated and optimized, and a good number of features have been added as outlined below.


New Features & Options

• Inline moderation for links and posts allowing admins and moderators to mass manage links from the front-end, similar to the inline moderation functions in vBulletin. Due to this, the "Mass Manage Links" area from the Admin CP has been removed.
• AJAX Functions - Ratings, favorites, and subscriptions are now handled with AJAX so there is no need for a page reload after rating a link, un-/subscribing to it, or adding/removing it from your favorites.
• When browsing a category, a small arrow is now shown next to the rating for each link with a drop-down menu allowing you to quickly and easily rate the link via AJAX.
• Spider Friendly URL settings allowing you to enable "spider friendly" static URL's using mod rewrite that will change your URL's from looking like this:
  yoursite.com/links/browselinks.php?c=1
  yoursite.com/links/showlink.php?l=1
  
  To this:
  yoursite.com/links/categorytitle-1/
  yoursite.com/links/categorytitle-1/linktitle-1/
  
  
• The "Suspended" link system has been done away with and links can now be "soft deleted", much like soft deleting a thread in vBulletin.
• Replies to links can also be "soft deleted".
• Links can now be submitted to multiple categories.
• Ability to preview links before submitting them.
• Ability to select a custom style on a per-category basis.
• Category Icons - Upload an image through the Admin CP or front-end (if enabled for members) that will be shown next to the category's title in the categorybits.
• When adding a new category, there is now a "Create Category Based off of Category" menu allowing you have the form automatically populated with the values set from the category selected.
• The "Status Reports" feature from the Admin CP has been moved to the "Moderate" link on the front-end (formerly the "Moderate New" link), allowing vBa Links moderators to run status reports and reciprocal link checks without having access to the Admin CP. Due to this, the "Status Reports" link from the Admin CP has also been removed.
• New areas in the "Moderate" link on the front-end allowing you to view and manage your soft deleted links/posts.
• New "Duplicate Permissions" feature (Admin CP => vBa Links Directory => Usergroup Permissions) allowing you to quickly copy permission settings from one usergroup to another usergroup(s).
• New "View Permissions" link (Admin CP => vBa Links Directory => Usergroup Permissions) allowing you to view all permissions set for each of your usergroups on one formatted page.
• True MySQL fulltext searching for better search results and performance.
• Custom fields that are checkboxes, select menus, or radio fields will now be shown in the same form on the Search page allowing members to better limit their search results based on these custom field values.
• The "Add Link" and 3 links for moderating links/posts/categories have been removed from the Admin CP since they are available on the front-end and redundant.
• A small "heart" image is now shown to indicate that a link has been marked as a favorite next to the link's title when viewing a link's details or browsing links.
• Over 90 hook locations added throughout the files making custom modifications and upgrades easier.
• Most common function names in the files have been prefixed with "links_" in order to prevent any possible issues with duplicate function names in vBa Links and vBa Dynamics.

New Settings

• Meta Description & Keywords settings to change the meta tags on your vBa Links pages.
• "Default vBa Links Directory Style" setting allowing you to use a different style on your vBa Links pages.
• "Enable thumbshots.org Web Site Thumbnails" setting allowing you to display a small preview of the web site when browsing a category.
• "Custom Fields to Display" setting that will allow you to display custom fields in the linkbits when browsing a category.
• New setting to disable the alphabet links across the top of the Browse Links page.
• Option to disable the "Last Reply" column in the categorybits.
• New setting to hide empty categories.
• New setting to allow you to change the size of the "Quick Reply" box when viewing a link's details.
• "Display Newest Replies First" setting allowing you to change the order replies are shown in.
• "Only Search Tags When Clicking a Tag" setting, allowing you to limit search results to only links tagged with the same word.
• "Generate Meta Tags From Link Content" setting that will build meta tags and keywords from the link.
• "Hide Query Strings In URL's" setting (useful to hide affiliate links).
• "Show Ratings in Postbit" setting that will show the rating a user gave a link in their replies to that link.
• "Enable Editors For Description" setting, allowing you to enable the standard and WYSIWYG editors for the link description when submitting/editing a link.
• "Prevent 'SHOUTING'" setting to prevent shouting in link titles and descriptions.
• "Time Limit For Editing Links" & "Time Limit For Editing Posts" settings.
• New settings that will allow you to send links/categories/posts back to the moderation que for moderator approval if they are edited.
• "Count Links Towards User Post Counts" setting that will increase your members' post counts when they submit links.
• "Separate Tags With Commas" setting allowing you to choose whether tags should be separated by commas or spaces.
• New settings to help prevent duplicate links and prevent spam from being submitted:
  • Allow Multiple Links From The Same Domain
  • Duplicate Domains Whitelist - Allows you to enter a list of domains to allow multiple links from.
  • Domains Blacklist - Allows you to enter a list of domain names not to allow links from.
  • Banned Words Filter - Allows you to enter keywords that, when found in the link's title, URL, description, or tags, will cause the link to either be deleted or force the link to be sent to the moderation que.

New Permissions Settings

• Can See Deletion Notices (for "soft deleted" links/posts)
• "Can reply to links" has been separated into 2 settings for "Can reply to own links" and "Can reply to others' links".
• Can Physically Remove Links
• Can Physically Remove Posts
• Can Submit Links As Other Members
• Can Edit Own Categories
• Can Empty Own Categories
• Can Delete Own Categories
• Give Category Owners Moderator Abilities
• Allow Users to Password Protect Categories
• Can Upload Category Icons
• Can Choose a Custom Style For Categories

Upgrading
As usual, full upgrade instructions can be found in the readme.html file that comes with the download package.
Please not that most all templates have changed since the 2.0 series and will need to be reverted.


Problems or Questions?
Please start a new thread in the vBa Links v3.0 support forums. Please do NOT reply to this thread for support!