Copyright  2004 Code Society. All rights reserved.
---------------------------------------------------

vBNews.NET Readme
=================

With vBNews.NET, you can retrieve threads from a vBulletin forum.
vBNews.NET is an ASP.NET user control.

vBNews.NET requires ASP.NET 2.0 or higher to run.

YOU MUST ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING LICENSE TERMS TO USE THIS SOFTWARE
----------------------------------------------------------------
You are allowed to use this software for any legal purpose.
You can modify, but not distribute modified versions of this
    software.
You can distribute unaltered copies of this software.
You may not remove copyright or branding notices. You can change
	the look to match your site, but they must be visible.
The author(s) of this software cannot be held responsible for
	any damages that may be caused as a result of using this
	software.
This software is distributed "AS IS" without ANY warranties,
    implied or otherwise.
----------------------------------------------------------------

As long as you follow the above rules, enjoy!

Verify that you have the following files before proceeding:

+ upload/vBNews.ascx
+ upload/vBNews.ascx.cs
+ upload/vBNews.css
+ changelog.txt
+ readme.txt

Table of Contents
=================

I. Installation
II. Configuration Options

I. Installation
---------------

Follow these steps to install vBNews.NET.

1. Upload all files in the "upload" folder to your web server in a folder of
   your choice (hereby known as vBNewsDir).

2. Open the file you want vBNews.NET to be included in and add 3 lines:

   <%@ Register TagPrefix="CS" TagName="vBNews" Src="vBNewsDir/vBNews.ascx" %>
   Near the top of the file, near the other directives. Make sure to replace
   vBNewsDir with the actual relative or absolute path to the file.

   <link href="vBNewsDir/vBNews.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />
   In the head tag in your html. Make sure to replace
   vBNewsDir with the actual relative or absolute path to the file.

   <CS:vBNews runat="server" />
   On the page in the exact spot you want vBNews.NET to appear.
   
3. Refer to the configuration section to specify mandatory and optional
   parameters.

4. Load up your page and enjoy!

II. Configuration Options
-------------------------

vBNews.NET allows you to set some options to customize how it works. In the
<CS:vBNews> tag, you can add the following properties:

Mandatory (these must be specified)
===================================
+ User - sets the username to use to connect to the MySQL database.
+ Pass - sets the password to use to connect to the MySQL database.
+ Host - sets the hostname to use to connect to the MySQL database.
+ Database - sets the database to connect to.
+ ForumId - sets the forum to extract posts from

Optional (they have defaults if left out)
=========================================
+ NewsLimit - how many threads to get. Default: 10
+ OrderBy - what field to order the threads by. Default: thread.dateline
+ Order - ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC) order. Default: DESC
+ ForumPath - specify path to forum dir. Default: /forums/
	If you want smilies parsed correctly, you must set this correctly.
	Can be relative or full URL.
	
For example, at the minimum you should have something like:

<CS:vBNews runat="server" User="user" Pass="pass" Host="host"
	Database="database" ForumId="1" />
    
To change how vBNews.NET looks, simply modify "vBNews.ascx" and "vBNews.css".
