[MOD IN PROGRESS] Adding country flag next to name in comments

[bakercad]

I put this as IN PROGRESS instead of in the MODS section because I'd like it to be tested for accuracy before moving as  a "ready to go" mod.

This was requested of me by a little bird that flies around our forum.  She gave me a link to someone who did this for WordPress.

If you look at my test comment at http://4inchorange.com/exit20/home/flag-test/ you'll see the USA flag next to my name.  This mod saves the commenter's IP address into the comments database.  Finds the country based on the IP address and displays the flag next to the user's name.  Sure it's not a functional mod, but it's nice to see where your comments are coming from.

You'll need to get the ip database tables from here: http://www.ip2nation.com/.  Download the sql file and use phpmyadmin to add the tables to your database.  Be sure to use FIND/REPLACE to add your database prefix that you used in your snews.php file. This is a large query, over 27,000 records, so it may take a while

Also download the flag images from here: http://frenchfragfactory.net/download/utils/flags.zip. If you don't have an images directory already, create one, then create a flags directory inside the images directory.  So your path would be http://www.yourdomain.com/snewsdirectoryifneeded/imags/flags/.  Unzip the flag images into the "flags" directory.

STEP 1
Within phpmyadmin run the following query to alter the comments table to store the commenter's IP: (be sure to use your prefix)

ALTER TABLE prefix_comments ADD ip varchar(20);

STEP 2 - snews.php -  tags() function
ADD the blue - EDIT: I put the flag BEFORE the name as suggested by piXelatedEmpire.  Flags line up nicely this way.

$tags['comments'] = '<div class='comment'>,<p class='date'>,flag,name, '.l('on').' ,date,edit,</p>,<p>,comment,</p>,</div>';

STEP 3 - snews.php - comments() function
ADD the blue

$query = "INSERT INTO ".db('prefix')."comments(articleid, name, url, comment, time, approved, ip) VALUES('$post_article_id', '$name', '$url', '$comment', '$time', '$approved', '$ip')";

STEP 4 - snews.php - comments() function
ADD the blue (new case for tags):

foreach ($tag as $tag) {
  switch (true) {
   case ($tag == 'date'):
      echo '<a id="'.l('comment').$commentNum.'" name="'.l('comment').$commentNum.'" title="'.l('comment').' '.$commentNum.'"></a>'.$date;
   break;
   case ($tag == 'name'): $name = $r['name']; echo !empty($r['url']) ? '<a href="'.$r['url'].'" title="'.$r['url'].'" rel="nofollow">'.$name.'</a> ' : $name; break;
   //FLAGS
   case ($tag == 'flag'):
      $country = get_flag('country',$r['ip']);
      $flag = get_flag('flag',$r['ip']);
      echo ' <img src="images/flags/flag_'.$flag.'.gif" alt="'.$flag.'" title="'.$country.'" /> ';
   break;
   // FLAGS
   case ($tag == 'comment'): echo $r['comment']; break;
   case ($tag == 'edit' && $_SESSION[db('website').'Logged_In'] == token()):
      echo $edit_link.'editcomment&commentid='.$r['id'].'" title="'.l('edit').' '.l('comment').'">'.l('edit').'</a> ';
      echo $edit_link.'process&task=deletecomment&articleid='.$r['articleid'].'&commentid='.$r['id'].'" title="'.l('delete').' '.l('comment').'" onclick="return pop()">'.l('delete').'</a>';
   break; case ($tag == 'edit'): ; break; default: echo $tag;
   }
}

STEP 5 - snews.php - NEW function

function get_flag($var,$ip) {
   if($var == 'flag') { $item = "i";}
   elseif($var == 'country') { $item = "c";}
   $sql = "SELECT ".$item.".country FROM ".db('prefix')."ip2nationCountries c,".db('prefix')."ip2nation i WHERE i.ip < INET_ATON('".$ip."') AND c.code = i.country ORDER BY i.ip DESC LIMIT 0,1";
   list($output) = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query($sql));
   return $output;
}

[David]

great idea Bob! Thanks!

[bakercad]

Thanks David....although it's really Zucye's idea.

Could you shoot over to http://4inchorange.com/exit20/home/flag-test/ and give it a test run for me? Tell me if your country flag comes out correctly?

[mosh]

   works great bakercad,  :cool:
any news about the MU      

awesome day 2 all
mo

[bramsyuur]

Thanks Bob for this mod and thanks to Zucye for the idea.

[Keyrocks]

Lookin' good Bob!

[bakercad]

I take it that the "real Canadian flag" was displayed?  

[bramsyuur]

Ip2nation sql file it's _only_ a 1.6Mb? It's so little for me!  :cool:  :lol:

[bakercad]

should be a LOT smaller!  They didn't have to add "INSERT INTO ip2nation (ip, country) VALUES" for EACH record.  They SHOULD have done it like this:

INSERT INTO ip2nation (ip, country) VALUES
(0, 'us'),
(698351616, 'za'),
(700710912, 'eg'),
(700776448, 'rw'),
(700973056, 'dz'),
(701235200, 'sz'),
(701243392, 'gh'),
(701251584, 'cm'),
(701259776, 'mg'),
(701267968, 'tz'),
(701276160, 'ke'),
(701284352, 'za'),
(701292544, 'ng'),
(701300736, 'cm'),
(701308928, 'ao'),
(701317120, 'cm'),
...etc.

[bramsyuur]

yes!
If you have troubles with the original ip2nation sql file, please, download my modified version here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/33167344/ip2nation2.sql.html
This file it's only ~500kb and more flexible to use with your phpmyadmin without problems.

[David]

Belgium flag exists there

Thanks Bob and Zucye!

[iatbm]

fam fam fam has some good flags .... I don't know which one you use with this mod but just to check it out .... here : http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/flags/

[Keyrocks]

fam fam fam has some good flags .... I don't know which one you use with this mod but just to check it out .... here : http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/flags/

The FAM flags appear to look cleaner and smoother.

[piXelatedEmpire]

Terrific idea Bob and Zucye!!

May I suggest the flag actually appear BEFORE the username, that way the flags will line up nicely in a row down the page

Also, I'm in Aus, but I got a USA flag.  Never fear tho, as my work connection I believe originates from the USA (I work for a multinational company).

And just to go against the trend, I prefer the flags in the MOD as they are now, as opposed to the FAM flags.

Cheers

[Joost]

The Dutch are recognized!