Quick Account Switch v1.2

Quick Account Switch v1.2.
by Ianomed

Uses of this hack:

This account will let you string together several accounts owned by the same person. Of course it will also let you string together accounts owned by different people, but that's a dangerous thing to do.

What then is the use of stringing accounts together? Well, this hack will let you switch from one to the other account without having to log out, then log in again. Those interested in the technical aspect I refer to the addition made to login.php, it's all quite simple. You'll see now why it's dangerous to string together your account with someone else's, they'd be able to switch to your account.

I wrote this for two play-by-board RPGs that I frequent, at each of which I have several accounts, an account for each character. This lets me assume another account in moments.

It's also used by admins to switch between test accounts quickly.

Maybe you'll find other uses, eh?

Changes required:

1. Adding of 1 field to user table (installer will try to do this)
2. Adding of 18 phrases (installer does this)
3. An addition to admincp/user.php
4. An addition to global.php
5. An addition to login.php
6. A modification to the navbar template (for each style)
   
   Time needed: 20-30 minutes
   Difficulty rating: moderate

Known issues with v1.2:

Changing the username of an account that's either a slave or master, it does not update these cached usernames. This will be taken care of in v1.3.
Work-around: If you rename a user, unlink it first, and relink after the renaming.
Since I don't see this happening very often on any board I'm releasing v1.2 with this caveat.

Item of note:

For some obscure reason vBportal does NOT play nice with this hack. It'll introduce cookie/header errors. Either do not install this hack if vBportal is installed, or vice versa. Since I don't plan on spending $20 to buy software I'll never use, there's no intention on my part to work out that problem. You're good to go with vbadvanced CPMS, however, this has been tested.

Warranties:

None, in the instructions you'll notice I tell you to backup before applying the hack. I've tested it on 4 boards, each of which have additional hacks installed, and it runs on many more. If it doesn't for you then, well... roll back the changes you've just made and blame yourself.

Tested (and works) on:

• vB 3.0.3. - vanilla
• vB 3.0.1. - vanilla
• vB 3.0.3. - With vbAdvanced Homepage / CPMS (out of the box)
• vB 3.0.1. - With vbAdvanced Homepage / CPMS (out of the box)
• vB 3.0.3. - With vBindex v3.0.0 RC5 (Instructions by bondjetta)
• vB 3.0.3. - Nexialys - ACP cookie hack. <- Recommended combination
• vB 3.0.1. - Nexialys - ACP cookie hack. <- Recommended combination
• vB 3.0.3. - Assorted mods

Future plans:

• v 1.3 - Optionally displaying the linked accounts on the public profile. (i.e. 'I am also ....')
• v 1.3 - Fix user rename issue (see known issues, above).
• v 1.3 - Under Users in the ACP add a Manage Linked Accounts option, listing all linked accounts and their slaves.
• v x.x - Very maybe: allow sharing of a secondary account between two users. This is the trickiest of all, since when on that account, who should you allow switching back to in a way that can't be circumvented.

Future non-plans (I will probably never implement these):

• A 'let users link accounts themselves' mode.

Thanks to Oblivion Knight for the updated dropdown look.

Enjoy

--- History ---
v1.2 - 17th November 2004

• Removed username colouring, it's not really necessary and only adds extra queries.
• No longer uses a custom profile field, instead an extra field in the usertable is made
• Fully phrased, installer written to add phrases
• The usernames for the linked accounts are cached, this means that running the hack now takes no extra queries at all for those logged on as master, or who have no linked accounts. Being logged on as a slave account adds only 1 query per page view, this used to be more too.

v1.1.1 - 27th October

Fixes session expiration problem occuring after switch. Users are encouraged to upgrade. To upgrade follow the instructions in switch_11_to_111.txt. For new installs the corrected code is in switch_111.txt, the installation instructions.

v1.1 - 26th October

Fixes a flaw where on some MySQL versions IDs were matched improperly, also the new session is now permanent. Users are encouraged to upgrade.
To upgrade roll back and redo the changes to global.php and login.php, no changes were made to the template or custom field.

v1.0 - 25th October 2004

initial release

[Oblivion Knight]

In the navbar template, this:

	<!-- Quick Account Switch v1.2 -->
	<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="switchacc_menu" style="display:none">
		<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">
			<tr><td class="thead">$vbphrase[qas_switch]</td></tr>
			<tr><td class="vbmenu_option">$account_master</td></tr>
		</table>
	</div>
	<!-- / Quick Account Switch v1.2 -->

Should be this:

	<!-- Quick Account Switch v1.2 -->
	<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="switchacc_menu" style="display:none">
		<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">
			<tr><td class="thead">$vbphrase[qas_switch]</td></tr>
			$account_master
		</table>
	</div>
	<!-- / Quick Account Switch v1.2 -->

Otherwise, a great update to a great mod.. Thanks

[Ianomed]

You're absolutely right, I missed that!
Thanks Oblivion, I'll update the instructions and zip straight away.

edit: done.

[Lionel]

my copy is working great; I solved out all my issues. What advantages are there to upgrade?

[Ianomed]

Hiya Lionel, I'm very glad to hear your board is working fine now.

it takes less queries per page... v1.1.1. adds at least 1 query even if you're not logged on as someone who actually has a linked account, and more for slave/master accounts still.

v1.2 introduces only 1 extra query for those logged on with a slave/secondary account, and zero extra queries for those logged on as master/primary or without a linked account... so for big boards it's a must upgrade.

Otherwise, check the screenies at the top post... administrating linked accounts is now easier, letting you search for the username (by partial match), or entering the id if you want like before.

On an account that's linked as either master or slave it'll display Master to: <other account name> (Profile) (Unlink)

So on the whole it's easier to maintain as well

[Caiman]

Originally Posted by Ianomed

Hiya Lionel, I'm very glad to hear your board is working fine now.

it takes less queries per page... v1.1.1. adds at least 1 query even if you're not logged on as someone who actually has a linked account, and more for slave/master accounts still.

v1.2 introduces only 1 extra query for those logged on with a slave/secondary account, and zero extra queries for those logged on as master/primary or without a linked account... so for big boards it's a must upgrade.

Otherwise, check the screenies at the top post... administrating linked accounts is now easier, letting you search for the username (by partial match), or entering the id if you want like before.

On an account that's linked as either master or slave it'll display Master to: <other account name> (Profile) (Unlink)

So on the whole it's easier to maintain as well

This is a great and easy hack to use, comes in very handy. Just adding my two cents...

[Killsparer]

This sounds like a great hack!
Any news about 1.3 ?

[Ianomed]

Hi Killsparer,

I would say it is a pretty great hack, at that, but I wrote it :P

News on v1.3, not much as of yet, I've been rather busy. Today for instance there's 5 boards to upgrade to vB 3.0.5, preserving hacks. I mean for QAS 1.3 to be released at the end of this month, or beginning of February.

[Lionel]

on 3.07 it is not displaying in vbadvanced cmps, otherwise, great as usual

never mind, I had to put "account_master " in vbadvanced cmps settings as global variable.

[Ianomed]

Hiya Lionel,

I was just about to ask if you had applied Botanist's hack for vBadv, but I see you've rediscovered it

QAS 1.3 is slated for 'one of these days', offering some more improvements. I had meant to release it last month, instead life happened

[Lionel]

what's Botanist's hack? That global function is builtin vbadvanced cmps.