My Forum - Personalised Forum Aggregator
 

My Forum - Personalised Forum Aggregator

This is the first release of this modification, please read the entire description before proceeding to install.

Background

As a forum administrator the chances are that at some point you have received "feedback" from members that they would prefer a different forum layout. For example, lets say you have the following forum structure:

• Cats
• Parrots
• Eagles

Some members might prefer:

• Parrots & Eagles to be in a single "Birds" forum.
• A single "Animals" forum that includes all three.
• Cats & Eagles to be in a single forum as they have no interest in Parrots.
• Things to be left exactly as they are.

Most sites have many more than 3 forums so the possible user preferred combinations are impossible to cater for, which means you cannot keep everybody happy, until now!

My Forum - What Does it do?

This modification uses the existing vBulletin forum subscription system to allow users to aggregate/mashup/join forums into a single "forum" where they can view all threads in the forums they have subscribed to. This gives a personalised "My Forum" which means that you can cater for all of the preferences mentioned above.

So taking the first preference example given above UserSmith would subscribe to the seperate Parrots & Eagles forums and then visit "My Forum" where he/she would see all threads in these two forums in a single forum.

The following is a brief summary of the key features

• You can specify which user groups are allowed to use My Forum.
• Guests don't have subscribed forums, however you can allow guest access by configuring guest viewable forums. Or you can disable Guest access completely.
• If the current user cannot use my forum you can choose to display the standard vBulletin "no permission" page or a custom message of your choice. You can specify different no permission message for Guests and Registered User, for example "Please purchase XXX subscription to use My Forum" or "Please register to use My Forum".
• With the exception of ACP this modification is fully phrased.
• You can configure the modification to place a link in your navigation bar and/or quick links. You can also choose to hide/show these depending on whether the current viewer has access to My Forum.
• As users are bringing together lots of forums there is a possibility that there will be a lot of stickies (if sticky display is enabled), so these are separated from normal threads and placed into a collapsible box. If there is an unread sticky the title of this box highlights how many sticky threads are unread.
• In ACP you can configure, by usergroup, forums that will always be displayed regardless of user subscriptions.
• You can choose to not display stickies.
• You can choose to display stickies on all pages or only page one.
• You can globally switch the modification on or off and display a custom message if it is off. On first install the default setting is off.
• As with normal forums you can specify a default view age.
• Uses a very similar look and feel to normal forums so your users don't need to get their heads around a different UI.
• Fully integrated into the Who's Online pages (i.e. it won't display "unknown location").
• Can be added to the Forum Jump menu.
• Includes an vBulletin FAQ entry.

Demo

You can see a live demo here:

http://www.therevcounter.com/myforum.php

In this setup My Forum is running in Guest Mode with guest forum subscriptions for "General Mayhem" and "Motorbike Chat". If you want register for an account and play with it in user mode.

Installation

Installation is fairly simple, follow these steps:

1. Download the zip file attached to this thread.
2. Extract the contents to your local machine.
3. Upload everything in the "upload" directory to your forum root directory.
4. Open up your Admin CP and goto : ACP -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product.
5. In the "EITHER upload the XML file from your computer" section click the browse button and browse to the product XML file on your machine (product-my_forum.xml).
6. If you are performing an upgrade make sure you allow overwrites.
7. Click the import button and sit back while vBulletin does its magic.

There are also some other optional setup steps you can follow to add My Forum to Forum Jump and the Breadcrumb box, these are details in the first post.

Configuration

Once installed you can configure this modification via:

• ACP -> vBulletin Options -> My Forum

The configuration options are fairly self explanatory, so I won't go into details here. However there is a screen shot attached.

What it doesn't do right now, but will/might in later releases

• Allow members to order the columns (i.e. order by replies/views etc).
• It doesn't currently display announcements.
• As vBulletin does not see this as a normal forum you cannot use forum based notices.
• There is no moderation functionality in My Forum you have to use the actual forum for this.
• If the viewing member has ignored users any threads by these users are not shown at all.
• Depending on feedback My Forum might be unlinked from the vBulletin subscription system and a separate forum selection system added.

I have been running this modification as it is here on my own site for almost 6 months and my members love it and the missing functionality has never been a problem.

So there you have it!

This is the first release of this modification, before posting here I have obviously put it through its paces, however there is always a possibility of a current unknown bug rearing its ugly head. If this does happen please post the details here and I will endeavour to quickly resolve the problem. It goes without saying that you should try this on your test forums before going live.

It is also worth mentioning that you should suggest to your members that they choose "no email notification" forum subscriptions.

Support

I have marked this mod as unsupported, this is because I cannot guarantee that I will always be around to quickly answer questions. I will pop in from time to time but I would rather not mark it as supported.


Version History

• 1.0 - First Release
• 1.0 - First Release Update (after 20 minutes of posting :rolleyes:)
  • Fixed bug where a DB error would be displayed if the viewing user had people on their ignore list.
  • Fixed Bug where Who's Online would show PHP errors at the top of the page.
• 1.0 - Gold Release
  • No major issues have been found with the original 1.0 BETA release so this is now gold
• 1.0 - Gold Release (Minor Fix)
  • Fixed minor issue with one database call not using table prefixes
• 1.1 - Gold Release (Feature additions)
  • Added the ability to force, by usergroup, forums to be included in My Forum.
  • Added version check URL to product.
  • Added link to this page in product information.

Other Setup

These additional setup items are not necessary but might prove to be useful

Add My Forum to Forum Jump

To make life easier for members you might want to added "My Forum" to the forum jump menu. Unfortunately vBulletin does not include any hooks that can be used to dynamically add this. So if you want this functionality it requires a, drum roll please, file edit:

1. Download and open forumdisplay.php in your favourite text editor.
2. Find the following line:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   case 'subs':        $goto = 'subscription'; break;

   ---

3. Immediately after paste in:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   //START - MOD - Added case to added jump to My Forum support
case 'myforum':        $goto = 'myforum'; break;
//END - MOD - Added case to added jump to My Forum support

   ---

4. Save the file and reupload to your server.
5. Goto ACP style manager and open the "forumjump" template for editing.
6. Find the following line:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   <option value="home" $frmjmpsel[home]>$vbphrase[forums_home]</option>

   ---

   Immediately after paste in:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   <option value="myforum" $frmjmpsel[myforum]>$vbphrase[myforum_navtext]</option>

   ---

   If you are running multiple styles this change will need to be added to them all (unless you are using inherited styles)
7. Add thats that.

Adding the link to Forum Jump is obviously optional, not adding this will not break the modification.

Add My Forum to Breadcrumb box

To make My Forum even more accessible to your members you could also add a link to it in the breadcrumb table at the top of your forum. To do this follow these steps:

1. Via ACP style manager open the "navbar" template (under Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates).
2. Find the first instance of the following line:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   <td class="alt1" width="100%">

   ---

3. Immediately after this paste in the following:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   <span class="smallfont" style="float:$stylevar[right]"><img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/myforum.png" alt="" border=0> <a href="myforum.php">$vbphrase[myforum_navtext]</a></span>

   ---

4. Save the template

Doing this will require you to upload a "myforum.png" image file to your styles misc images directory (I have included the icon I use in the zip). Or you could change the code above and use an image that already exists on your server.

If you prefer you can only display this link to logged in members by adding the following code instead:

installed
thank x as i see its very good idea its help user to see more forum in same time

me consider the first post lol
:D

perfect idea

do you have a demo site we can check this out with, that have the guests permissions enabled.

Just added a link to a live demo of Guest Mode My Forum in the mod description above.

Nice Idea

Thanks! Also, this is off-topic but what's the modification to make the stickies show up like that?

looks cool

thanks i re download it
thank u very much for ur reporting

Greate MOD,Thanks Man =D>

Unsure whether it will be installed, but it is definately a great idea!

Love it. But on one of my forums the link does not show up in the "Quick Links" menu. I checked the settings and everything seems fine. "My Forum" is showing up on the Navbar but not in the "Quick Links". TIA.

Is you navigation bar template edited?

If it has, check that the modifications have included the template hook called:

$template_hook[navbar_quick_links_menu_pos4]

This template hook is used in the "My Forum - Navigation Items Control" plugin, check that this is enable in ACP-Plugin Manager-Product: My Forum. The chances are it is enabled, otherwise you wouldn't get the other nav link

If none of that works, post back here as it is probably a bug

No. But the "My Forum" link does appear in the bar.

But that is there.

It is enabled.

Is it a bug?

Sounds like it doesn't it ;)

Could you tell me what settings you have for:

ACP -> vb Options -> My Forum

• Allowed Usergroups
• Add Navigation Bar Link
• Add Quick Links Navigation
• Add Navigation Items for Guests
• Add Navigation Items for Excluded Usergroups

I have also attached an image that shows where the quick links item should appear

Nice mod. How did you randomly put members avatar on the header like how you had yours?

That's pretty cool. :)

Its not avatars they are member submitted images, I did originally want to use avatars but decided against it as:

• I wanted to be able to filter the images being used (i.e. I didn't want a "questionable" avatar in my header)
• Avatar image sizes aren't fixed so it made alignment etc a little more complicated

This is a simple ish mod that I wrote but unfortunately it isn't exportable as a product (hmmm, should really sort that out). So if you are comfortable with creating your own plugins etc send me a PM and I will send you the details

All the usergroups that should be able to use it.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.


The image does not appear in the Quick Links.

Curiouser and curiouser

Could you possibly PM me your navbar template and the URL of your board?

Im getting the following error:

when i try and access myforum.php

OK that is rather odd, DB errors typically show up straight away and I have been running this for months.

Couple of questions:

1) Does this error always occur?
2) Do you have a table prefix and if so what is it?
3) If you look at your db with phpmyadmin do you see a subscribeforum table
4) Does the default VB forum subscription system work? i.e. can you subscribe and unsibscribe to a forum and are you active subs listed in User CP

1) yes, any access to myforum.php results in the db error.
2) i *think* it is 'main' though when i add a prefix i usually add an underscore eg 'main_'.
3) I see a mainsubscribeforum table
4) yes

Be nice if you allow user to have more control on my forum, for example allowing them to add 3 columns on same row and add more columrns on second or third rows etc Each columns could allow user to assign their favourite forumsection id. When you assign one forum id could you make the column have the forum id Title

imagine it to be like news feed

also how about allowing showing subscried threads instead of forum section instead?

You will have to run that one by me again as I am not sure what you mean?

Oddily enough that is exactly how the very first version of the mod worked until one of my members pointed out that they already had this by default in user cp

This is now fixed and the update has been added.

This was a minor fix so I haven't changed the version numbers, if you already have this installed all you need to do is upload the updated myforum.php file.

thank you sir. A speedy fix if i may say so.

Thanks. Everything worked with the Update!! :up:

very good job!
:up::up::up::up:
thank you very much.

cant you allow members to have options to select wether they want to subscribe a specific thread or forum please

Forum subscriptions are managed through the default vBulletin system

There is no point in have thread subscriptions as these are already displayed by default on the usercp page

users may not have subscribed forums, can I force them to "subscribed" special some forums?

any plan to VB 3.8 ?

At the moment it doesn't do this, however it will be fairly trivial to add the functionality. I will look into it shortly and post an update if it can be done.

Not until it goes gold, have you tried it on the BETA release? Does it work?

It should. Not much has changed in vb 3.8

This functionality has been added and the mod is now on version 1.1 :D

great job！
& I have just tested it on vb3.8 beta1,"my forum" keeps displaying "You do not currently have any forum subscriptions or you do not have access to the forums you are subscribed to.Please visit the main forums to add subscriptions."

A couple of question:

Do you have any subscriptions?
Have you set any "auto" subscriptions in ACP?
Does the viewing user have access to the forums you are expecting to see?

As a test would it be possible to do the following:

1. Open myforum.php in a text editor.
2. Find the following line:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   if ($myforum['hasaccess'] && $myforum['includedforumcount'] > 0)

   ---

3. Immediately before that paste in:
   
   
   Code:

   ---

   echo "Auto Sub Forums:".$myforum['autoSubbedForums']."<br/>";
echo "User Sub Forums:".$myforum['userSubbedForums']."<br/>";
echo "Included Forums:".$myforum['includedforums']."<br/>";
exit;

   ---

4. Save the file back to the server and goto My Forum.
5. Copy the text that appears on screen and paste it back here.

Once you are done remove the added lines and put the original myforum.php back.

You should end up with something that looks like this:

I added the code, ,and it displays :