vBulletin Hack - Featured Topics

This is for experienced vBulletin coders only. Bidders should describe completed vB3 customization projects. What’s needed is a box on the Forum Home page that lists "featured topics" (threads) selected by admins or supermods. (The concept is similar to "most recent" thread displays, but instead permits hand-selection of the topics and editing of the topic name and description.) ## Deliverables 1) Complete and fully-functional working program(s) in executable form as well as complete source code of all work done. Documentation of template and script changes is needed, as well as documentation of any installation procedures required. 2) Deliverables must be installed by the Seller in ready-to-run condition in the Buyer's environment. 3) All deliverables will be considered "work made for hire" under U.S. Copyright law. Buyer will receive exclusive and complete copyrights to all work purchased. (No GPL, GNU, 3rd party components, etc. unless all copyright ramifications are explained AND AGREED TO by the buyer on the site per the coder's Seller Legal Agreement). Details: 1) Box on forum home page located above forum list which displays featured threads. The number of threads displayed should be adjustable by the admin/supermod. An approximate example of this can be seen at [login to view URL], although this example does not include the desired functionality and formatting as described below. 2) Featured thread display table to use same CSS formatting and HTML as the forum list table so that skin changes will be applied to the featured thread display in a similar manner to the forum list. 3) A “more?? link at the bottom of the Featured Topics box should lead to a display of past featured topics in the form of a topic display like “ForumDisplay?? which incorporates the same threads-per-page setting, multipage setting, etc. as ForumDisplay. 4) The editing screen used to create the “featured?? topics selection must include the ability to add a new topic, edit an existing topic, and delete a topic. The ideal “topic add?? feature would let the admin select the thread URL and autofill an editing form with the topic title available for the admin to change . A “description?? box will be needed to allow the admin to write a short topic description. The information to be displayed for each featured topic will be: - Topic Title, linked to topic URL (edited by admin) - Topic Description (created/edited by admin) - Original Poster/Author (thread starter) Nickname, linked to profile - Forum Name, linked to forum URL. Example Featured Topic Item: **_Tips for Changing Lightbulbs._ **How to change lightbulbs with one or more helpers, and discussion of how to estimate the number of helpers needed depending on their occupation. Posted by _Nickname_ in _Lightbulb Forum_. 5) _vBulletin-type RSS feed to be available for featured topics._ 6) Minimal changes to scripts and templates are desired; each change to be documented to allow ease of installing updates to vB3. Any code that requires script or template changes should show the code to be replaced and the new code. The destination forum has had some template modifications and a few script changes, so the "replace x with y" approach will allow the easiest integration. The destination forum is a busy forum, and code which minimizes database queries is desirable. 7) If there is anything unclear about the purpose of the project or the deliverables, please ask prior to bidding. ## Platform vBulletin 3 (most recent version - 3.03) PHP Version 4.3.5 - installed as Apache module Apache/Linux Code generated must be Valid XHTML 1.0