Sngine Addon — Documentation
Trend-Notify keeps your community informed when groups, events, pages, posts, or comments gain significant engagement. It can also send a periodic digest highlighting popular posts from your website.
Important: Trend-Notify relies on scheduled tasks to regularly check your website's activity. Make sure cron jobs are available on your hosting plan before installation.
The addon package contains the required files, database setup, scheduled task files, settings integration files, and editable email templates.
install.sql entity-cron.php entity-worker.php post-engagement-cron.php post-engagement-worker.php comment-trending-cronp.php comment-trending-worker.php trending-digest-cron.php trending-digest-worker.php trend-notify-worker.php template-loader.php tn-admin-settings.php tn-user-settings.php tn-admin-settings.txt tn-user-settings.txt templates/
You do not need to modify the addon files unless specifically instructed in this guide. Installation mainly involves uploading the files, importing the database setup, adding the provided settings to your theme, and creating the required scheduled tasks.
Extract the downloaded package and upload the
trend-notify folder into your
existing Sngine addons directory.
addons folder
Upload the provided addons
folder to your Sngine installation.
addons folder
Upload only the
trend-notify folder into your
existing addons directory.
Back up your existing Trend-Notify folder first. Then replace the old addon files with the files from the new version.
Open phpMyAdmin, select the database used by your Sngine
installation, and import the included
install.sql file.
The database setup is required for Trend-Notify to operate. Import the supplied file rather than manually creating or renaming database objects.
Trend-Notify uses your existing Sngine email configuration. No separate SMTP configuration is required for the addon.
Go to:
Admin Panel → Settings → Email / SMTP
If your Sngine installation can already send emails successfully, Trend-Notify can use the same configuration.
Add the supplied settings blocks to the corresponding Sngine template files.
| Provided File | Theme Template |
|---|---|
tn-user-settings.txt
|
themes/[theme]/templates/settings.notifications.tpl
|
tn-admin-settings.txt
|
themes/[theme]/templates/admin.settings.notifications.tpl
|
If your website uses multiple themes, repeat this step for each active theme where the Trend-Notify settings should appear.
Trend-Notify includes a security key for its scheduled tasks. Before creating the cron jobs, replace the default security placeholder with your own unique secret where required.
| File | Action |
|---|---|
post-engagement-cron.php
|
Replace the default security value. |
comment-trending-cronp.php
|
Replace the default security value. |
Use the same secret value wherever the addon requires the security key. Choose a long, difficult-to-guess value and keep it private.
Trend-Notify requires scheduled PHP tasks to periodically check activity and send notifications. For most websites, the following schedule is recommended.
| Task | Purpose | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
entity-cron.php
|
Checks groups, events and pages for trending activity. | Every 15–30 min |
entity-worker.php
|
Processes entity-trending notifications. | Every 5 min |
post-engagement-cron.php
|
Checks posts for trending activity. | Every 15–30 min |
post-engagement-worker.php
|
Processes post-trending notifications. | Every 5 min |
comment-trending-cronp.php
|
Checks comments for trending activity. | Every 15–30 min |
comment-trending-worker.php
|
Processes comment-trending notifications. | Every 5 min |
trending-digest-cron.php
|
Prepares the periodic trending digest. | Once daily |
trending-digest-worker.php
|
Processes digest notifications. | Every 5–10 min |
Example PHP cron commands:
/usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/entity-cron.php /usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/entity-worker.php /usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/post-engagement-cron.php /usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/post-engagement-worker.php /usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/comment-trending-cronp.php /usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/comment-trending-worker.php /usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/trending-digest-cron.php /usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/trend-notify/trending-digest-worker.php
Replace the example hosting path with the correct path for your own website. The exact PHP executable path may differ between hosting providers.
If you are using cPanel, Hostinger, Plesk, DirectAdmin, or another hosting control panel, check your hosting provider's documentation for instructions on creating cron jobs.
Need help with installation or setup? Contact me for installation assistance.
After creating the scheduled tasks, allow Trend-Notify to run. Confirm that the admin settings page is available and that the notification settings appear correctly for users.
If your website already has enough activity to meet the configured thresholds, notifications can begin appearing after the scheduled tasks run.
If your site is still new or has low activity, you may not receive a trending notification immediately. This is normal — Trend-Notify only notifies users when the configured conditions are met.
Trend-Notify includes editable HTML email templates that allow you to customize the appearance and branding of notification emails.
| Template | Purpose |
|---|---|
templates/entity-notification.html
|
Group, event and page trending notifications. |
templates/post-trending-author.html
|
Notification for a user's trending post. |
templates/post-trending-follower.html
|
Notification when someone a user follows has a trending post. |
templates/comment-trending-commenter.html
|
Notification for a user's trending comment. |
templates/comment-trending-post-author.html
|
Notification related to a trending comment on a user's post. |
templates/comment-trending-follower.html
|
Notification when someone a user follows has a trending comment. |
templates/digest-notification.html
|
Periodic trending digest email. |
templates/digest-post-row.html
|
Individual post displayed inside the digest. |
You can customize the visual design, wording and branding of the
emails. Do not remove or rename template placeholders enclosed
in {{ }}.
Trend-Notify uses activity already happening on your Sngine website to identify content and community areas that are gaining significant engagement.
Trend-Notify does not require users to create additional content or enter special information. It works with the activity already taking place across your Sngine community.
Trend-Notify provides separate controls for individual members and website administrators.
Administrators can adjust the activity levels required before different types of content are considered trending.
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Group threshold | How much group activity is required before a group can become trending. |
| Event threshold | How much event activity is required before an event can become trending. |
| Page threshold | How much engagement is required before a page can become trending. |
| Post likes threshold | Number of post reactions required for post trending. |
| Post comments threshold | Number of comments required for post trending. |
| Post lookback period | How far back Trend-Notify considers post activity. |
| Comment engagement threshold | Engagement required before a comment can become trending. |
| Comment lookback period | How far back comment activity is considered. |
| Digest reaction weight | Controls how reactions contribute to the popularity ranking. |
| Digest comment weight | Controls how comments contribute to the popularity ranking. |
Choose thresholds based on your website's activity level. A smaller community may need lower thresholds, while a highly active community may benefit from higher values.
Need help installing Trend-Notify, configuring your website, or troubleshooting an issue? Get in touch.