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Advanced comment system

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Quickmenu: About "Advanced comment system", features, installation, browser compatibility

About "Advanced comment system"
This script provides an advanced comment system you can include in any of your PHP pages easily. The scripts needs to be installed only once and can be used on many different pages. It is very similar to the comment system which is in use on this website (see example on the bottom of this page).
The package comes with the JavaScript library MooTools (version 1.2.0) which is used for the slider and the hide-comments feature.

Features
The advanced comment system contains many features which can be enabled and disabled in one central configuration file. There is no need to edit the script except you want some additional functionality (at your own risk!).

• Multiple usage - the script needs to be installed only once and can be used on any of your PHP pages.
• Fully CSS-driven - the layout and formatting is controlled in one central CSS file so you can easily adjust the colors, fonts, etc. to go along with your webpage's corporate design. The layout is fully <div>-based.
• Administration - a password-protected page allows to quickly browse through the comments on the different pages and to delete comments.
• Easy installation - an installation script creates the required MySQL tables with one click.
• Anti-spam protection - when filling in the comment form, the user must insert a given anti-spam-code to be able to submit the form. This feature can be disabled in the configuration file.
• Slider - when filling in the comment form, the user must slide a knob to the right to be able to submit the form. This feature can be disabled in the configuration file.
• Text counter - while writing a comment, the user will see a progress bar which shows how much characters he has already used. The maximum number of characters can be defined in the configuration file.
• Email notification - an email will be sent to a specified address when a new comment has been written. This feature can be disabled in the configuration file.
• Hide-comments - the user has the possibility to hide the comments for himself.
• Remember me - a checkbox allows the user to remember his name.

Installation
All you need for the installation is a simple text editor to edit the files and an FTP client to transfer the files to your server. Follow the instructions below to install the advanced comment system on your website:

1. Download and unpack script
   Download the script using the following link and unpack it on your computer:

   Download.php?file=../php/download/Advanced_comment_system_1-0.zip

2. Edit configuration
   Open the file advanced_comment_system/config.php and adjust the variables to your needs and save the file. The following variables are essential that the script will work:

   • $ACS_CONFIG["db_server"]
     The hostname of your MySQL database server. Mostly "localhost".
   • $ACS_CONFIG["db_name"]
     The name of your MySQL database.
   • $ACS_CONFIG["db_user"]
     The username of your MySQL database. Mostly "root".
   • $ACS_CONFIG["db_password"]
     The password of your MySQL database. Mostly blank.
   • $ACS_CONFIG["db_table"]
     The name of the table which will store the comments. This table will be created automatically when you run the installation script later.
   • $ACS_CONFIG["url"]
     The complete URL to the script folder on your website. Must begin with http:// and end with a slash. Example: http://yourdomain.com/advanced_comment_system/
   • $ACS_CONFIG["admin_password"]
     The password to access the administration page. You should change this password for security reasons.

3. Script path
   Next you need to declare the variable $ACS_path at the very beginning of your PHP file. The variable must contain the relative path to the folder which contains the advanced comment system. Open your file and paste the following line of code to the very beginning:

   <?php $ACS_path = "advanced_comment_system/"; ?>

   select code
    

   Now you need to adjust the path "advanced_comment_system/". It must point to the folder which contains the advanced comment system based on your PHP file and it must end with a slash. If the advanced comment system is in the same folder as your PHP file, you don't need to make any changes. Here are some examples:

   Operating system	Path to your PHP file	Path to the comment folder	$ACS_path
   Windows	C:\apache\htdocs\php\files\my.php	C:\apache\htdocs\comments\	../../comments/
   Windows	C:\html\my_site\my_file.php	C:\html\my_site\comments\	comments/
   Unix	/var/www/html/php/files/my.php	/var/www/html/comments/	../../comments/
   Unix	/html/my_site/my_file.php	/html/my_site/comments\	comments/

   Keep your PHP file open, you will need it for the next two steps as well.

4. CSS & JavaScript
   The advanced comment system requires one CSS and two JavaScript files which come with the package. Because the comment system is not a standalone script, you need to include those files in your PHP file. Copy the three HTML elements (1x <link>, 2x <script>) to the head (between <head> and </head>) of your PHP file. You don't need to make any changes to the code.

   <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="<?php echo $ACS_path; ?>css/style.css" />
   <script src="<?php echo $ACS_path; ?>js/common.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
   <script src="<?php echo $ACS_path; ?>js/mootools.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

   select code
    

5. Initialize JavaScript
   Add the following line of code to the onload-event of the body in your PHP file:

   ACS_init();

   select code
    

   This will initialize the slider and the hide-comments function. If the body doesn't contain an onload-event yet, you may add the following line:

   onload="ACS_init();"

   select code
    

6. The comments
   Copy the following line of code to your PHP file. At this location the comments will be shown. If you want the comments at the bottom of your page, paste this line in the end of your file. You don't need to make any changes to the code.

   <?php include($ACS_path."index.php"); ?>

   select code
    

7. Repeat the steps 03, 04, 05 and 06 with any other of your PHP files which should contain the comment system.

8. Upload files
   Upload all files (your modified PHP files and the files from the advanced comment system) to your server. Note that text files (PHP, CSS, JS) need be upload in ASCII mode, images in binary mode.

9. Create MySQL table
   Call install.php in your webbrowser (e.g. http://yourdomain.com/advanced_comment_system/install.php). It will create the MySQL table you specified in the configuration file. If the table was created successfully, you will see an according message. Otherwise check the variables in the configuration file.

You have now successfully installed the advanced comment system on your website. If you have any questions about this script or experience troubles with the installation, please have a look at the sample.php (comes with the package) or leave a comment on this page.

Browser compatibility
The script has been tested with

• Apple Safari 3.2.2
• Google Chrome 1.0
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0
• Mozilla Firefox 3.0.6
• Opera 9.6.2

If you find any incompatibilities with one of the browser versions above or tested successfully with any other version, please leave a comment. Thanks in advance!

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Comments (45)

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Deano wrote on 03/18/2009 @ 01:21:00 am

Think this is oneoff the best comment scripts i have seen, great work thanks

one or 2 problems tho

i can't seem to get the slider showing up correctly for some reason
the next is that where the submit button is there is a semi colon showing up , i tried to find in the code but can't sem to find it
but all in all top marks for a great script and best of all free ....

plohni wrote on 03/19/2009 @ 03:09:05 am

Hi Deano,

did you make any changes to the script? Which browser and version do you use?

The downloadable package contains a sample.php. You can upload it with the comment system to your server (adjust the configuration) and try it there.

lgp

Deano wrote on 03/19/2009 @ 07:11:21 am

The captcha code is very easy to break. I would suggest using an image to generate captchas.

Also, give the admin the ability to edit the posts and a confirmation before deleting a post.

Lastly, perhaps getting rid of the mootools code for us jquery users. Or, make one that uses jquery - the better alternative ;)

plohni wrote on 03/19/2009 @ 07:53:29 am

Thanks for your suggestions and ideas! This is the first version of the script and of course there are still things to be done and improved. I'll keep your comments in mind for the next versions.

If you like to you can leave your email-address here so I can inform you on new releases.

lgp

Orig Deano (first post) wrote on 03/19/2009 @ 09:01:26 am

I would love to leave email but as some one using my name to leave comments after i posted a few errors makes me think what else they will do. (why can t they post there own name if they have comments )

I didn't change any thing to the script just uploaded it and used the include to put into the page, i will try that sample to see if it makes any difference..

One thing i would suggest is to have an email (contact) to send direct to yourself

D..

plohni wrote on 03/19/2009 @ 09:15:18 am

Seems there are two Deanos out there :)

@Orig Deano: you can find my contact details on the privacy policy page (bottom right)

TG wrote on 03/20/2009 @ 02:10:50 am

I wonder what I've been doing wrong with this great script? I can't seem to do it like this page here where you see the comments and sending a message. After I click on the Submit, it goes back to the index.php but doesn't show the comments.

http://www.pelikula.net/balcony/members/acs/TEST.php
http://www.pelikula.net/balcony/members/acs/index.php

Please help...thanks! I love your script...I need to make it work...thanks!

P.S. I can't even see the percentage below my Message Box for people to know their limit.

plohni wrote on 03/23/2009 @ 03:53:29 am

Hi TG,

I had a short look on your pages. The TEST.php is missing the call of the function ACS_init() at the onload-event of the body. I'm sorry I forgot this part in the installation manual in the install.php. You can find the instructions on this page at point "05. Initialize JavaScript" or download the script again, the install.php now also contains this part (see d).

Search the index.php for the form-tag (<form>), the action-attribute should contain:

<?php echo $ACS_page; ?>#ACS_Comments_Container

If it does so, your PHP seems to return a wrong value at the variable $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]. You can remove the following line in the index.php (line 10):

$ACS_page = $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];

and add the following line to your TEST.php directly after $ACS_path:

<?php $ACS_page = "/balcony/members/acs/TEST.php#ACS_Comments_Container"; ?>

This should work!
lgp

TG wrote on 03/24/2009 @ 03:24:35 pm

Thanks Plohni!

FYI - I had the ACS_init() at the onload-event of the body (I got it from your Sample.php). I only had to remove the following line in the index.php (line 10):

$ACS_page = $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];

and add the following line to my TEST.php directly after $ACS_path:

<?php $ACS_page = "/balcony/members/acs/TEST.php#ACS_Comments_Container"; ?>

and it worked just as you promised! Now I just have to figure out some of the changes I'd like to make and I thank you so much for this wonderful script and as well as your wonderful support! Best of luck to you! (",)

Unknown wrote on 04/16/2009 @ 09:54:32 am

i have problem with adding a comment
My page is
http://roob.p2h.info/index.php

plohni wrote on 04/16/2009 @ 10:41:55 am

Hi Unknown,

after a quick look at the source of your page, I found the following error:

<body>

onload="ACS_init();"

You need to copy the onload event into the body-tag, so it looks like this:

<body onload="ACS_init();">

This should work.
lgp

Roshie wrote on 05/03/2009 @ 06:32:08 pm

Hey i was trying to intergrate your script into my website, and im wondering why the slider isnt working correctly. It shows and you can slide it and everything, but it doesnt line up with the background image, i uploaded 2 images at http://www.playminigames.co.cc/images/advance_comment_system/slider/slider_1.png and http://www.playminigames.co.cc/images/advance_comment_system/slider/slider_2.png the first one is where you have to put the slider, and the second is where the slider starts. Thanks for your help!

Thom wrote on 05/06/2009 @ 05:21:27 am

Wow worked first time no problems and i'm a total noob. Looked at loads of comment solutions passed couple of days. Nearly went JS-Kit cos all the others which used PHP and MySQL either didn't look great or were to complicated for a noob like me. Although after installing this i think i will understand the others more. But hey there is no point. This is so simple has an easy admin system. Just going to try and mess around with the styles, size and positioning etc.. Hope don't run into any problems. would love this script to be perfect.

Thanks so much to the script writer look forward to updates.

A couple of things i would like to suggest for an update is maybe a turn on/off subject field(maybe this can be done easily-tips?) and also would there ever be a way to include something like Facebook Connect or OpenID. Also agree with Deano on the captcha being an image. (looks better more pro) and now as i right this would there be an easy way number posts so instead of me writing Deano i can write #xx?

Sorry for blabbing on and thanks again.

plohni wrote on 05/13/2009 @ 05:18:46 am

@Roshie: did you insert the script-tags into the head of your document?

@Thom: thanks :) I wrote down the suggestions you made. We will see what comes in the next version...

lgp

maxi wrote on 06/10/2009 @ 08:07:23 am

nice ee

Greg wrote on 06/17/2009 @ 05:51:29 pm

I'm very new with php, so please bear with me. I finished step 2 in your instructions, but I have a question about step 3. The first sentence of step 3 (below) says "your PHP file". Which PHP file are you talking about?

3. Script path
Next you need to declare the variable $ACS_path at the very beginning of your PHP file.


Second question: In step 5 you speak of the "onload event of the body". What does this mean?

Finally: The include variable that I'm supposed to place in my page wherever I want the comments to appear directs to index.php, which is one of the files included with your script that I'm supposed to upload to my server. This confuses me becuase my homepage is named index.php. Won't that line of code refer to my homepage instead of the one included with your script?

Thanks so much for the great looking script and your support!

Jacob wrote on 06/17/2009 @ 07:56:01 pm

when i open the install.php file in my browser it says "lscgid: execve(): Permission denied"

what is wrong??

plohni wrote on 06/18/2009 @ 12:30:48 am

@Greg: the comment system is not a standalone script and requires an existing PHP file to be included in. That's the file I'm talking about :) Step 5 says you should add the ACS_init(); to the onload-event of the body of your PHP file. Search for the body-tag in your file and add the function to the onload-event. If you don't have an onload-event defined, you need to add it as well. It should look like this:

<body onload="ACS_init();">

@Jacob: obviously your browser doesn't allow to run the PHP file. This can have several reasons, here are some possible solutions:

• is PHP installed on your webserver? If so, check its configuration.
• some webservers don't allow PHP files in the cgi-bin.
• do other PHP files run correctly?
• how did you transfer the file to your server? remember to use ascii-mode for text files and binary mode for all other files like images, videos, and so on.

I hope this helps!

Greg wrote on 06/20/2009 @ 07:50:59 pm

Thanks so much. I have it installed and working except for one glitch. I left a comment on one of my pages and it worked great except when I refresh the browser it adds a duplicate of the same comment. Here is the page with three duplicate comments:

http://www.justperiodmovies.com/manforallseasons.php

plohni wrote on 06/21/2009 @ 11:55:03 pm

@Greg: when you reload the page you also resend the comment, normally your browser asks if you really want the repost the form. The comment system doesn't contain an automatic reload-lock yet. This feature will be added in some future version.

lgp

Sanjee wrote on 07/13/2009 @ 05:55:31 pm

Hi, I spent a couple hours trying to figure out the same issue some people had here but couldn't solve it. I just can't get the comments to show up :/

http://www.tamilhood.com/music/albums/database/ayan/ayan.php

Please help me with this. This is the most proper comment script out there and would help my site a lot.

Sanjee wrote on 07/13/2009 @ 06:02:13 pm

Sorry for the double post happened when i refreshed the page.

Also I posted the wrong link its http://www.tamilhood.com/music/database/ayan/ayan.php

plohni wrote on 07/14/2009 @ 01:53:26 am

@Sanjee: as I've seen in the source code of your page, you use the following links for CSS and JavaScript files:

/home/tamilho1/public_html/comment/css/style.css
/home/tamilho1/public_html/comment/js/common.js
/home/tamilho1/public_html/comment/js/mootools.js

These links seem to be local, you need to either make them relative or provide the weblink, e.g.:

../../comment/css/style.css
../../comment/js/common.js
../../comment/js/mootools.js

or

http://www.tamilhood.com/comment/css/style.css
http://www.tamilhood.com/comment/js/common.js
http://www.tamilhood.com/comment/js/mootools.js

As long as those links are wrong, the comment system won't load correctly.

Sanjee wrote on 07/14/2009 @ 06:32:37 pm

thanks man that was it :)

james wrote on 07/31/2009 @ 10:32:04 pm

Thanks a ton for this script m8! Works great!

I'm currently adding it under a section and trying to get it loading via ajax separately from the main page.
I was wondering if any of the js files included we're actually needed. I removed them and the script still runs.
Though I haven't tested it a lot yet.

I'm dealing with some js conflicts and was wondering if there was something happening in the bg via the common.js file that I'm not aware of.

plohni wrote on 08/11/2009 @ 05:14:49 am

Hi james,

the JS-files are required for different features:

The file "mootools.js" is required for the slider and the hide-comments feature (if you enable these options).
The file "common.js" is required for the initialisation of the form, the validation of the form inputs, the hide-comments feature, the text counter and the remember-me function. It also contains some basic JS-functions.

If you do not include these JS-files in your HTML-code, JS-errors might come up and the comment system might not work.

lgp

James wrote on 08/15/2009 @ 03:26:21 am

Hi,

Yea I was able to get rid of the mootools. That's what was causing the issues. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to work on it.
I'll post a link when their done though.

Thanks for the info.

Wink wrote on 08/17/2009 @ 09:55:44 am

I am using this script on several sites. I was able to modify the css and index.php files for a sidebar display in some places. It has been a good addition to my sites. I have several sites on a shared hosting plan. I use one database with multiple tables for all the installations on this server. Since I have an allotment of databases so using multiple tables in one database helps out. Installation is quick and painless once I figured out that the installer created the table but not the database. Thanks for this script!

Subsonik wrote on 09/17/2009 @ 07:57:20 am

Great script, the idea of using the slider as an anti-bot measure is really smart! :-)

I have 3 suggestions to make:

i) Is there a way to encrypt the administrator's password at admin.php, so that, after submiting the password, it is not revealed in the address bar in the form of the url: "http://mysite.com/advanced_comment_system/admin.php?pw=password" ?

ii) Is there a way to display the last x comments in an external page (that may not contain the comment script), for example the homepage?

iii) I think the text-code should not be selectable, I mean one not being able to select it and use copy/paste to insert it in the box.

Anyone?

Thanx in advance!

plohni wrote on 09/17/2009 @ 11:45:44 pm

Hi Subsonik,

concerning your suggestions:

1) The best way to do this is probably to use the session handling. Something like (didn't try the code):

session_start();

if($_POST["pw"]==$ACS_CONFIG["admin_password"]){
$_SESSION["loggedin"] = true;
}

if($_SESSION["loggedin"]){
//connect to database
//print selectbox to choose page
//delete comment
//etc
}else{
//display login-form (method of form must be changed to "post")
}

2) You can do this by loading the comments from the database, but there is no pre-defined function or something like that.

3) Of course it would be better to create an image which displays the letters. Can be done using the GD library.

Currently I don't have time to implement any of those featuers, but perhaps someone else here might help you out?

lgp

Mattias wrote on 10/10/2009 @ 03:08:10 am

Thanks for a great script!

I have a problem though, I want to include the script in a page that uses php parameter, e.g.

http://iqtaxi.se/taxibolag.php?bolag=TaxiTransfer&stad=stockholm
and another page
http://iqtaxi.se/taxibolag.php?bolag=TaxiKurir&stad=goteborg

the problem is when you write a comment the same comment will show on all pages. I want the script to treat the two like separate pages. Is there a way to do this?

plohni wrote on 10/13/2009 @ 10:15:13 pm

Hi Mattias,

of course you can do that. There is a variable called "ACS_page" in the index.php.

//current page
$ACS_page = $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];

This variable groups the comments. You can change this to any value you want, in your case I guess it would be:

$ACS_page = $_GET["stad"];

or to combine both parameters:

$ACS_page = "{$_GET["bolag"]}_{$_GET["stad"]}";

lgp

Mattias wrote on 10/17/2009 @ 03:14:50 am

Thanks! I got it to work! :-)

:) wrote on 11/03/2009 @ 01:04:10 pm

Thanks!

Bob wrote on 12/04/2009 @ 04:18:11 am

a test

Bob wrote on 12/09/2009 @ 03:37:11 am

another test

mimo wrote on 12/09/2009 @ 01:54:27 pm

proba

Wink wrote on 12/26/2009 @ 09:17:50 am

I have noticed some searches from various parts of the web to find sites using this comment system. I would recommend changing the folder name from advanced_comment_system to a name of your choice. This will also necessitate a change to the config file file path and the include command: <?php include($ACS_path."index.php"); ?> and the first line of the page: <?php $ACS_path = "advanced_comment_system/"; ?>

There are also some searched that target the lines: "insert these letters into the textfield below" "leave a comment"
These can also be changed to something unique in the config file. Leave a comment can be changed (line 85 in my text editor):
// Text for "Leave a comment"
$ACS_CONFIG["leave_comment"] = "Leave a comment";
And "insert these letters into the textfield below" (line 97):
// Text for anti-spam-code textfield (only needed if anti-spam-code is enabled)
$ACS_CONFIG["insert_letters"] = "Insert these letters into the textfield below:";

Making these changes will make your ACS install more secure. I am in the process of making these changes, but it would have been better to make them on initial installation. It takes quite some time for things like this to drop out of the various search engine indexes, so the bad guys will still be able to find the pages until the indexes are changed.

K1 wrote on 01/24/2010 @ 03:36:00 pm

TEst Mishe 1,2,3

MA wrote on 02/04/2010 @ 11:46:10 pm

If this had comment moderation, it would be perfect.

Will wrote on 02/09/2010 @ 08:18:21 am

I am unable to use
$ACS_page = $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];
to get the page URL as it is created via .htaccess.

Is there any way to get the URL? I have many categories on my site and was going to use this commenting system, but at the moment a comment from one page ends up on all pages.

Any ideas how to overcome the problems a mod_rewritten URL causes?

Thanks. It is a very clean and convenient comment script you created.
Will

plohni wrote on 02/11/2010 @ 06:14:20 am

Hi Will,

instead of $_SERVER[\"PHP_SELF\"] you can also use __FILE__. This should work too.

lgp

Will wrote on 02/11/2010 @ 08:06:42 am

Thanks,
will try that.

Cheers,
Will

Good script wrote on 03/08/2010 @ 01:36:58 pm

Good script

Good script wrote on 03/08/2010 @ 01:37:11 pm

Good script

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