jooml + vbulletin integration showcase
 

hello, post your website that uses vbulletin & joomla together here !!!

thanks !!!

ha, i've done it
(not quite an integration (new window))

http://www.psychedelic.be/v2

I use a component called BBpixel, however it modifies core VB files. So far, it does what it was designed to do. See the integration here.

I looked at a new plugin which claims not to modify VB, but they don't have any demos or links to sites that have used their product.

*Sigh* I can see in my dreams that it might be possible to do something to make both parties use the same table .. i just lack the programming skills.

Hi All,

Can we have the name of what people are using for the integratrion / bridge?

It would also be nice to have the pros and cons of each integration / bridge

Thanx,
Dave

I use bbpixel here

It seems BBPixel is more popular than the alternative elearningforce integration.
This is confusing to me as BBPixel requires file edits and the elearningforce does not.

i do not use either as of yet -- still trying to figure out what to do :confused: . but there are some limitations with the elearningforce's duo-sync bridge, which may cause people not to choose it. it maintains both username tables, which is okay, however:

-when you change your joomla password, your vb password is updated, BUT when you change your vb password, your joomla password is not updated. (same goes for your user profile email addresses -- it only "syncs" if you change it from the joomla side.)

-when you login and logout of joomla, you are logged in and out of vb, BUT when you login and logout of vb, it does not effect your joomla login. which means in some instances, logging in twice will be necessary.

Yup, joomla and vbulletin user here, on my site over at www.girlgamers.co.uk

Although, i'm sure none of my users actually look at the main page, and just all go to the forums instead.

I'm using bbpixel for intergration. The instructions for installation, were a little sketchy, and could be more newbie friendly, as I initially installed it wrong, causing everything to crash.
But I then figured out what it was I'd done wrong, and tried again, and yup, everything works fine and dandy :)

Just wish I could get news from joomla onto the forums automatically, as I can only get posts from forums onto the news on joomla at the moment. So will have to look a bit harder me thinks :)

<a href="http://www.xboxusersgroup.com" target="_blank">http://www.xboxusersgroup.com</a>

Including login system,a custom version of akocomments that users the vbulletin username and several links to the Xbox Live leaderboards that are running on vbulletin.

Does the xboxusergroups site use bbpixel or another product

Ha ha... it may interest you to know that there's an alpha version of a hackless Joomla and vB Integration out -- but it's in the Private Coders forum; so it's in the works! :)

that good to hear. i didn't know that there was a private coder's forum. when does stuff going on there become "public"? i'm in the midst of a joomla / vb integration.

I used to use Joomla, and had it integrated with the ELearningForce bridge. It works great, installs in seconds. The only small issue I was having is the bridge caused all users to be COPPA, and I have to manually change each one from it, and it updates new users at the end of every day. Both of these small bus have been fixed since, but I also moved from Joomla too.

I am trying to decide the best way to integrate my Joomla! and vB right now as well. Jumping on this thread so I can watch for more replies. :)

It's just a place where the coders of the site can talk about vbulletin and modding outside of the public eye -- so we don't need to explain everything, all the time. :p

As far as it becoming public, I don't know -- according to the author, it's still a very early Alpha phase.

Hi guys, I've tried vBridge,Bbpixel and others but anyone works with joomla 1.0.11 and vBulletin 3.6.4, who has a bridge with those versions?

I took the plunge and bought the jvbplugin from bbpixel. I'll let you know how it goes.

It will be installed at www.blackbus.org in the next week or so as part of a site relaunch.

okay, understood. please keep us up to date as time goes on and if you here of any developments from the coder.

www.blackbus.org/index.php

bridge is BBPixel's product. Works with Joomla 1.0.12 and vB 3.6.4 :)

I also bought and installed BBPixel. Running Joomla with vB 3.6.4.

However, after having it installed for a couple of months, ended up uninstalling it.

Right now we use Joomla for CMS, only staff logs into Joomla. Users login as usual to vB.

Why did you end up uninstalling? I have Joomla features that I want my vB members to be able to use, but am wary as I haven't heard many positive Joomla! + vB stories...

Initially BBPixel worked well. But then we tried to integrate VirtueMart (shopping cart for Joomla) and we had lots of issues with the user login flow.

Also, BBPixel hijacks Joomla's user management, so you cannot use Joomla extensions like Community Builder.

So, we uninstalled BBPixel (which was not a trivial task since they modify quite a number of Joomla and vB core files).

Managed to get VirtueMart up and running, but it was too buggy. So we ended up integrating ZenCart, which is what we are using right now.

We have thought on redeploying BBPixel again, but we have delayed doing that.

We also researched the eLearning plugin, they have two versions, with and without Community Builder support. We couldn't find enough feedback on their product, which is why we went with BBPixel.

becasue of the way my site is set up, the bbpixel bridge has worked flawlessly.

Also have implemented a custom vB->Pligg bridge.

All kinds of SSO goodness going on at www.blackbus.org

Is your vBulletin forum ina Joomla wrapper? Or did you duplicate your Joomla Theme as a vBulletin Style?

I duplicated the style. Did the same thing for my Pligg implemnentation at www.blackbus.org/ideas

For a while I tried putting the forum into a wrapper/iFrame, but it wouldn't work right for anyone direct-linking to a thread.

I have used both bridges. First I used the Elearningforce bridge because I was hesitant of the 'altering vB core files' of BBPixel.
However, the Elearningforce bridge (friendly and prompt service and all, that's not the problem) didn't work for me because of several issues:
1. When people register, they register in Joomla and this means they will not fill in all the profile fields like in vBulletin.
2. New members who register in Joomla, are not added to the vBulletin database.
3. When they ask for a new password in Joomla, they get a new one but from Joomla, not from vBulletin. And then they can't login at vBulletin. The only solution is to turn off registration in vBulletin, so people only register in Joomla. I didn't want that.

It all comes down to the following: I wanted to register new members in vBulletin (so they fill in all profile fields, see the rules etc.), and have new passwords also sent via vB. My vB board is the hearth of my site and the vBulletin memberdatabase has to be leading, not the Joomla one.

So I mailed BBPixel with a lot of questions, since I now knew exactly what problems there could arise with a bridge. All questions were answered and I ordered the BBPixel plugin and had them install it. Works perfectly, without any problems. All login, passwords etc. go through vB.

I also had BBPixel skin my board to match the rest of my Joomla site. This also went fine, although it took a bit longer then anticipated.

When you decide for one of these options, you have to ask yourself which part of your site/ memberdatabase has to be leading: vBulletin or Joomla.

I use Joomla as my main front page and vBulletin for the forum. All registration is done through vBulletin as I use Joomla to display images of puzzle magazines and post information on new editions available for download from forum section.

I use iJoomla mod for layout of main site, www.magazine.punzhu.com.

vBulletin forum and magazines are hyperlinked from main site.

I've used this combination for two years and have had no problems, but then I don't have any reason to link vBulletin members to Joomla as I'm not running a typical forum community.

My site is not being used by members to build a puzzle community as 100% of visitors/members come to download the free puzzle magazines. So having the ability to link memberships between Joomla and vBulletin is not important for my site at the moment.

In fact, later on during this long weekend I'm going to remove the registration requirement for downloading the free puzzle magazines. Registration will only be required if a visitor wants to post/reply to something on the forum board. This will allow members to form a community if they wish while not impeding the access to free puzzle magazines (as magazines can be copied and distributed to others there is no direct need for registration, other than building a community).

Is this vJoomla at http://www.vJoomla.com ?

Nice thread BTW.

<a href="http://www.digitalet.net" target="_blank">http://www.digitalet.net</a>

I use Joomla and VB, though I do not need any sort of login on the Joomla front, so I just edited my header to be consistent throughout. I am still building on the front end, I recently added a few sections, so right now I am just getting the content together to publish within the next day or so and all sections will be active.

<a href="http://www.overclockingwiki.org" target="_blank">www.overclockingwiki.org</a> is using both J, VB and MediaWiki. We're launching a new version in a few days that will better expose the Joomla install, but you can now see it at overclockingwiki.org/joomla. It will become root quite soon.

Deckard, where did you get the jaymediawiki for Joomla?

Custom development.

Any plans to release the component? It looks like a custom wrapper to parse Wiki URLs.

I'd be willing to release it but I'm not equipped to handle the development and security. So, the code would end up being transferred to someone who would be interested in the project.

<a href="http://www.thumped.com" target="_blank">http://www.thumped.com</a>

I'm not happy with any of the joomla / vBulletin bridges so just haven't bothered with user integration. I made the vB template look (sort of) like the Joomla one then just used a tiny bit of PHP to pull the latest headlines & events listings into the vB template.

After reading through all these problems, I came up with a solution. The solution is not to integrate it at all. The reason is that many CMS and other add-on scripts are not 100% flawless and they're new bugs everyday. If you don't mind fixing all new bugs, then it's fine. For me, it's painfree and not to worry much and easier to update your cms, etc if it's not integrated.

Not integrating is a great solution for you, but have you asked your users how they feel about maintaing 2 profiles for the same site? That will severely affect your traffic, signups, and retention rates.

<a href="http://www.infernalrc.com" target="_blank">http://www.infernalrc.com</a>

My site, that uses Joomla and Vbulletin, the databases are not integrated, there is no user database for the joomla end, as i really don't see the need for one on my site. All i had to worry about its the templeting for both to look alike, i think i have done it with success.

For most sites, integrating both databases is not really needed, going with the Forum database and only using one would be the wiser choice.

It all depends on how Joomla is used in your site. If you are using Joomla's polls, comments, ratings, or any other extension, then it would make sense to integrate the user logins/database.

If you are using Joomla just as a CMS and you and/or your staff are the only users adding/editing Joomla content, then you don't need the user login integration. Which in my experience is usually a pain.

We started with full integration, and eventually turned it off and now only the skin is integrated.

Recently we switched the home page to vbAdvanced (to provide member logins, threads, etc), and some of the content pages are in Joomla.