smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

lukepermsn · 2006-09-30 13:54:56

genius :-)

L.

Kjeld · 2006-10-06 20:57:39

Stef,

Great plugin. Thanks for all the great work!

It displays perfectly and the images load really quickly. Unfortunately, the plugin is not generating any links. I am sure I am doing something wrong, but I can’t figure it out.

This is my tag: <code>
<txp:smd_random_banner category=“front-page” linkcaption=“1” />
</code>
Links were added to the caption fields of the images.
I am using Textpattern · 4.0.3

I hope you may be able to help me out here. :-)

Speak to you soon (from Japan!),

Kjeld

mercury · 2006-10-17 04:00:09

about generating links in v0.15
i suggest to wait for clearing from author

as for me i did the following: (i’m not a coding junkie, so it seems like just temp. solution)
find: <code>smd_rs_out($rs)</code>
change to: <code>smd_rs_out($rs,$linkcaption)</code>
(3 times)

and one more thing:
now, if you leave caption filed blank the link of the images will lead you to site root. if you want to have these images displayed without link (as i think more proper, except content of your image intended to link to your head page), do the following:

find:
<code> if ($linkcaption) { $linkName=trim($row[‘caption’]);
</code>
change to:
<code> $linkName=trim($row[‘caption’]); if ($linkcaption && $linkName) {
</code>

Kjeld · 2006-10-17 07:39:41

Thanks, mercury! It works as a gem.

mercury · 2006-10-17 22:51:15

oh, gosh! the randomness is leaked with 4.0.4 ((

Kjeld · 2006-10-17 23:28:27

mercury wrote:

oh, gosh! the randomness is leaked with 4.0.4 ((

What do you mean?

mercury · 2006-10-18 02:12:20

it is random banner image. but for a certain circumstances in new 4.0.4 txp the images doesn’t rotate and almost everytime i see the same image on the page. in 4.0.3 all worked fine.

mercury · 2006-10-18 21:51:36

solved. Send Last-Modified Header in preferences set to “no”

Kjeld · 2006-10-20 07:16:07

Thanks!

Bloke · 2006-10-21 16:09:46

Sorry for the delay in replying guys. I thought I was subscribed to the topic but wasn’t, so I didn’t spot your problems until just now.

mercury wrote:

about generating links in v0.15 i suggest to wait for clearing from author

You’re exactly right mercury. I’d made a function so I didn’t have to repeat a large chunk of code and forgot to pass the linkcaption in. I’d also made the same mistake with referer. Dumbass dumbass dumbass. That then had the knock-on effect of breaking the code if you left the caption blank, as you spotted.

sigh that’ll teach me not to check the code in “Testing” or “Debug” mode on a site. Many thanks for putting that right mercury. That’s the 2nd time you’ve bailed me out: I owe you a pint if you’re ever round this way.

My slapdash approach to testing is probably also the reason why I don’t write code for air traffic control :-)

v0.15a is now available that patches these issues. Any more probs, just shout.

Last edited by Bloke (2006-10-21 16:49:05)

Bloke · 2006-10-21 16:21:46

mercury wrote:

it is random banner image. but for a certain circumstances in new 4.0.4 txp the images doesn’t rotate and almost everytime i see the same image on the page. in 4.0.3 all worked fine…
solved. Send Last-Modified Header in preferences set to “no”

Curious. Must admit I haven’t downloaded 4.0.4 yet to check the plugin works ok with it (cf above post about lackadaisical testing!)

If Send Last-Modified Header is going to be on by default in 4.0.4 that will cause a problem because it’s likely to keep using the cached copy. Although it’s a bit of a kludge, the only way I can think to get round this is to add a random nonce value to the image so the URL ‘looks’ different to the server each request.

Not pretty, but maybe I should add a cache-defeat="1" option to future releases which adds something like ?rnd=5289AD6B to the url? Any better ideas?

mercury · 2006-10-21 21:45:00

adding rnd will cause browser to instantly download the images, each page refresh. (this will increase your traffic and webserver load) i don’t think this is a good idea.

i’d say it will be much better to give a notice of this behavior in 4.0.4 before downloading of plugin. or auto-set “Send Last-Modified Header” directly in db to 0, and surely notify webmaster about that.

Bloke · 2006-10-21 23:47:41

mercury wrote:

adding rnd will cause browser to instantly download the images, each page refresh. (this will increase your traffic and webserver load) i don’t think this is a good idea.

I’d be inclined to agree. Even though the whole point of smd_random_banner is to get a different image each page load, at some point you will likely get a repeat image; and then it would be a Very Good Thing<sup>(TM)</sup> to have the browser recognise this and retrieve the local cached copy for the reasons you state.

i’d say it will be much better to give a notice of this behavior in 4.0.4 before downloading of plugin. or auto-set “Send Last-Modified Header” directly in db to 0, and surely notify webmaster about that.

I’ll go with the former; mainly since I don’t know how to set the Send Last-Modified Header from the code! Also I don’t think it’s very friendly to mess with someone’s settings.

I have placed a brief ‘Troubleshooting’ section in the help file to highlight the possible problem. Must admit I had no problems here with Send Last-Modified Header in either ‘on’ or ‘off’ state: I got a random image every time. Perhaps that is just luck, or down to my browser settings/hoster.

Anyway, I’ve updated the plugin to v0.16 and fixed a few minor v4.0.4 issues. It is backwards compatible with txp v4.0.3. Enjoy.

Kjeld · 2006-10-22 00:41:29

Thanks for the updates, Stef. It appears to be working well.

I use links in the captions and they now have ‘?-bid=[image number]’ added to them on the page where the image is displayed. I can’t remember noticing that in the earlier versions of smd_random_banner. What is the function of this extra code?

Bloke · 2006-10-22 01:11:02

Kjeld wrote:

I use links in the captions and they now have ‘?-bid=[image number]’ added to them on the page where the image is displayed. I can’t remember noticing that in the earlier versions of smd_random_banner.

That’s because it was broken in v0.15! :-(

What is the function of this extra code?

It allows you to track which banners have been clicked by your visitors. Look in admin->visitor logs and you’ll see the images with the associated bid (“banner id”) of each visitor who clicked on a banner pic. Very useful to track the effectiveness of your adverts and maybe see which ones generate the best response.

If you don’t need the feature, add referer="" as an attribute. If you would like it to say something else instead of ‘bid’, put that in the quotes of the referer option (e.g. referer="clicked").

Hope that helps.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#31 2006-09-30 13:54:56

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#32 2006-10-06 20:57:39

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#33 2006-10-17 04:00:09

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#34 2006-10-17 07:39:41

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#35 2006-10-17 22:51:15

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#36 2006-10-17 23:28:27

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#37 2006-10-18 02:12:20

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#38 2006-10-18 21:51:36

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#39 2006-10-20 07:16:07

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#40 2006-10-21 16:09:46

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#41 2006-10-21 16:21:46

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#42 2006-10-21 21:45:00

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#43 2006-10-21 23:47:41

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#44 2006-10-22 00:41:29

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

#45 2006-10-22 01:11:02

Re: smd_random_banner: Random banner image for advertising

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