New AddOn: Invite Friends Extension

michaelontheroof

I wrote a simple extension.

Invite Friends adds a simple form to vanilla with a number of input fields for email addresses, allwoing users and visitors to invite friends to the forum via email.
Maybe this extension helps you to make your forum more popular.

For all you that downloaded the extension yesterday:
I fixed a small typo which caused a bug. V 0.2 is now online.

Any questions, bugs or comments?

Blueshark

I like the idea of that. I think it is a good thing to have when starting a forum.

Bentot

Hi I installed it and I don't see it anywhere. Where can I see the invite form? Thanks :)

jimw

That looks like a good tool for me. When my classes start, I can invite all my students to the forum. I'll try it out.

davatron5000

mine isnt' showing up either... did i miss something on the install? it's not even in my Extensions panel. i'd like this extension though. sweeeet.

Bentot

davatron5000 There's another folder inside this folder. Upload that one and it will be in your extensions panel. But mine is not showing up after activating it. Thanks guys

davatron5000

i did that as well. but i don't think it showed up in my ext.panel... lemme check... yup. no where to be found on my ext.panel.

jimw

I just downloaded, activated it and got this error when I clicked on the Discussions tab: Notice: Undefined variable: InviteFriendsSettings in D:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\Vanilla.1\extensions\InviteFriends\default.php on line 171 Notice: Undefined variable: InviteFriendsSettings in D:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\Vanilla.1\extensions\InviteFriends\default.php on line 177

michaelontheroof

The directory-structure has to be something like:

/yourvanilla/extensions/InviteFriends/

make sure that the folder contains 3 files:
/yourvanilla/extensions/InviteFriends/default.php
/yourvanilla/extensions/InviteFriends/config.php
/yourvanilla/extensions/InviteFriends/template.php

jimw, it seems that the config.php is not included by the default.php.
Is the config-php in the InviteFriends directory?

Maybe you have to edit line 24 include('config.php');

Or I need to check and change the include statement to an absolute path.

jimw

Yes, the config.php is in the directory with the default.php and template.php. There is also a DS _Store file. Is that needed?

strawberries

anyone get the extension to appear on their site? nothing happens on mine..installed and enabled....but nothing happens.

michaelontheroof

I think I have to check the file inclusions. I used relative file inclusions for this extension the first time. Maybe it's an issue of your local php configuration or acts different on several OS.

I hope you all can help a bit and give me some further information.

Please try to replace line 24
include('config.php');
with [edited]
include($Context->Configuration['EXTENSIONS_PATH'].'InviteFriends/config.php'); // after

and line 128
include('template.php');
with [edited]
include($Context->Configuration['EXTENSIONS_PATH'].'InviteFriends/template.php'); // after

And give me feeback if something changed.

Without any configuration changes the link to the InviteFriends form should appear in the Account Panel.

Btw.: @jimw, the .DS_Store files is not needed. It comes form my os x.

Thanks for your patient,
Michael

jimw

I changed these 2 lines as you suggested. I don't get any errors, but I still don't see anything. Where is the new form actually to be found?

strawberries

ah, apologies, i am a moron. i came upon the invite thingie on my account page. I had been looking for it on the main pages all the time. Thanks for this great extension.

jimw

Thanks, but now I get these errors: Notice: Undefined variable: Configuration in D:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\Vanilla.1\extensions\InviteFriends\default.php on line 129 Warning: InviteFriendsForm::include(InviteFriends/template.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in D:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\Vanilla.1\extensions\InviteFriends\default.php on line 129 Warning: InviteFriendsForm::include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'InviteFriends/template.php' for inclusion (include_path='.;d:\Program Files\xampp\php\pear\') in D:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\Vanilla.1\extensions\InviteFriends\default.php on line 129

michaelontheroof

@strawberries: I just added the information where to find the new form to the description in th Add-On directrory.

@jimw: the inclusion warnings results form the above error "undefined variable: Configuration". I edited my posting above. Maybe you can try $Context->Configuration[... instead of $Configuration[..
For you local installation you can also try the following:
line 24:
include('D:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\Vanilla.1\extensions\InviteFriends/config.php');
line 128:
include('D:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\Vanilla.1\extensions\InviteFriends/template.php');

Hope we get this running for you, too.

jimw

I decided to scrap testing this locally. I just installed the un-modified version on my live forum and it worked fine. Sorry for the questions.

Wanderer

This extension works well Michael, except there is no confirmation that comes up after sending the invitation(s).
I found this in config.php but it does not actually display...

$Context->Dictionary["InviteFriends_Success"] = "Thank you!<br /> Your Invitation was sent to \\1 friends.";
Otherwise it works very well, oh and I put this in the template so it appears just before the Invite button...

A link to the forum will be automatically added to your invitation.

LoOkOuT

Ditto for me Wanderer, no "Thank-you"

michaelontheroof

Wanderer, Lookhere,

this should work now with new version 0.3.

Thanks for this info..

Wanderer

 Quote: michaelontheroof  this should work now with new version 0.3.
Yes Michael, works a treat now.
Thanks buddy, love your work.
Invite Friends