/***************************************************************************
 *           ticker.php, by Chris Merrett < chrisfu@the-fus.com >
 *                               v1.0 FINAL
 *             Tested and working on phpBB 2.0.x (all versions)
 *
 ***************************************************************************/

//\\ Changes since v0.9 (First public release)
-----------------------------------------------
* Added variables for make customisation very easy
* Cleaned up code
* Tied up some loose ends and make the documentation clearer

//\\ Introduction
------------------
ticker.php is basically a modified version of rdf.php (by Matthijs van de Water & Sascha Carlin), made to work with XML Ticker Script By Premshree Pillai.  Most of this code is their work.  Email addresses for the authors of the code this mod was based on follow later.  Mail them and let them know how much they rock. :)

Also, this "mod" is actually more like a plugin.  Absolutly *NO* settings/code needs to be changed within your phpBB, so don't worry about messing anything up.

//\\ Editing ticker.php to your prefered style 
-----------------------------------------------
Basically the result is a news ticker you can use on any HTML page, including the Active Desktop.  You can even set the colours and style!  This process has been much improved since v0.9, as many variables have now been implemented towards to top of ticker.php, and are commented for you.  You'll need to set these to your own requirements in order to make the ticker fit in with your site.  Look at the example below;


---EXAMPLE START---
// Main Cosmetic Variables
$pause = "true"; 	// Pausable? (true or false)
$timeout = "4"; 	// Time before show next post (in seconds)
$border = "3"; 		// Border width (in pixels)
$borderc = "#555555"; 	// Border colour (HTML colour hex code)
$bg = "#535D63"; 	// Background colour (HTML colour hex code)
$wdth = "350"; 		// Box width (in pixels)
$hght = "30"; 		// Box height (in pixels)
---EXAMPLE END---


If you wish to edit the ticker settings, you need to edit the block of code that looks like the above.  ONLY edit the values between the quotation marks (ie. don't lose the quotations) and make sure the semi-colons don't go missing, or else your new ticker won't work. :)  If you *still* really don't know how to edit the variables, it's a wonder you ever got your phpBB installation to work in the first place! ;)

Once you've edited everything to your liking, upload ticker.php into the root directory of your phpBB installation (eg. http://www.domain.com/phpBB2/ticker.php).  Now let's tackle the HTML.

//\\ Using the HTML
--------------------
You'll notice a file in the distribution zip called ticker.html.  This is the code that will actually process the information that ticker.php generates from your phpBB.  You can near literally paste this code into any part of your site, and it will work.  The *only* thing you have to change in the code is the follwing value;


loadXML('ticker.php');


Change the part where it says 'ticker.php' to the location of ticker.php eg. 'http://www.domain.com/phpBB2/ticker.php'.  For my site, it'd look like this;


loadXML('http://chrisfu.the-fus.com/ticker.php');


I know there's been a lot of confusion about this with the previous version, I hope it's all clear to you all now.  Once you have both ticker.php sorted, and the contents of ticker.html appropriatly edited and merged into your site, you should be done.

//\\ Thanks
------------
Thanks to the original authors of rdf.php and XML Ticker Script;
rdf.php == Matthijs van de Water < matthijs@beryllium.net >; Sascha Carlin < sc@itst.org >
XML Ticker Script == Premshree Pillai < premshree@hotmail.com >

Thanks to Paul "Winkie" Robins for the suggestions.
Thanks to kjimn for being a smarmy pill-popping PHP monkey.
And finally thanks to my fiance for being... well, my fiance. ;)


Hope this is of some use to you all!

Chrisfu < chrisfu@the-fus.com >
