vBulletin-WordPress Bridge

I have been looking around for a WordPress - vBulletin plug-in and can?t seem to find one. I had time today to look at the WordPress code and tried out some things, and came up with a small hack for a bridge.

This bridge will let you use vBulletin as the main comments area for the blog entry. A copy of the intro blog entry is automatically created in a specific forum you choose, as well as a link back to the original blog entry from the forum. The blog entry will also show the total comments made.

Let me first say that I don?t have any experience in creating plug-ins for WordPress so please don?t ask me to convert this to one. If you plan to make this as an official plug-in or improve on it, please make sure to let me know so I can place a link on this article to yours.

Thanks and I hope you all enjoy it.

Note:

• This hack will only work if your WordPress and vBulletin tables are in a single database.
• This hack has only been tested on adding entries directly from the admin panel. It has not been tested on xmlrpc clients.
• Use at your own risk. I will not be held liable for any loss of data nor problems that you might encounter on your site during the whole process of the mod.Backup your files and database(s) before proceeding.

Database Changes:

I have added a new column in WordPress? posts table to maintian the vBulletin thread id that will be automatically generated for the blog entry. Note that the table name prefix might be different from your WordPress table settings:

ALTER TABLE `wp_posts` ADD `vb_threadid` INT(10);

Files to Upload:

Save the following as vb3?settings.php and upload it to the Wordpress wp-includes folder:

<?php
// This just holds the vb variables
$vb_bridge = 1; // 1=on 0=off
$vb_forumid = '2'; // forum id to post copy of article
$vb_userid = '1'; // user id to use for posting the article
$vb_username = 'admin'; // name of the user id
$vb_path = 'http://www.yoursite.com/forum'; //complete url of forums
$vb_dbprefix = 'vb3_'; //vBulletin database prefix
$vb_readmessage = 'Read the full blog entry.'; //message to be used in the forum to link back to the blog entry
?>

• $vb_forumid - is the forum id of the blog discussion forum. Usually, this is the ?News? or ?Blog? forum. I advice to to set the permission of this forum to not allow ?New Posts? but allow ?New Replies.? To get the id of the forum, on your vBulletin forums page, click on the forum that you want to assign and check the URL at the address bar. It will appear like ?..forumdisplay.php?f=x? where x is the forum id.
• $vb_userid - is the user id you want to assign as the one who will automatically create a new thread in the forum you have chosen.To get the user id, go to your forum?s Member List and click on the member you would like to assign. The URL will appear like ?member.php?u=x? where x is the user id.
• $vb_username - is the corresponding username of the user id. Rather than generating a new SQL query to get the username, it is better to just assign the name to this variable.
• $vb_path - this is the actual URL of your site?s forum. Note that there is no trailing slash.
• $vb_dbprefix - if you specified a table prefix when you installed vBulletin, enter it here.
• $vb_dbprefix - This message will appear at the end of the vBulletin post that links back to the blog entry.

Added in v1.1: In the attached files at the right, download postfeed.php and upload it to the root folder of your vB forums (it should be in the same folder where external.php is).

Files to be Modified:

Here comes the slightly harder part. We need to modify some WordPress files. Part of the changes assume that you are using the Kubrick default theme. If you are using a different theme, change the corresponding files accordingly.

wp-includes/comment-functions.php

Replace:

function get_comments_number( $comment_id ) {
 global $wpdb, $comment_count_cache;
 $comment_id = (int) $comment_id;
 if (!isset($comment_count_cache[$comment_id]))
  $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] =  $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '$comment_id' AND comment_approved = '1'");
 
 return apply_filters('get_comments_number', $comment_count_cache[$comment_id]);
}

With:

function get_comments_number( $comment_id ) {
 global $wpdb, $comment_count_cache;
  include (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

 $comment_id = (int) $comment_id;
  if (!isset($comment_count_cache[$comment_id])) {
  if ($vb_bridge){
   $vb_threadid = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT vb_threadid FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE id = '$comment_id'");
   $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT count(*)-1 FROM {$vb_dbprefix}post WHERE threadid = '$vb_threadid'");
  } else {
   $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '$comment_id' AND comment_approved = '1'");
  }
 }
 return apply_filters('get_comments_number', $comment_count_cache[$comment_id]);
}

Below:

function comments_popup_link($zero='No Comments', $one='1 Comment', $more='% Comments', $CSSclass='', $none='Comments Off') {
    global $id, $wpcommentspopupfile, $wpcommentsjavascript, $post, $wpdb;
    global $comment_count_cache;

Add:

    include (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

 if ($vb_bridge){
  $vb_threadid = $post->vb_threadid;
  if ($vb_threadid == "") {
         echo $none;
         return;
  } else {
   $comment_count_cache[$id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT count(*)-1 FROM {$vb_dbprefix}post WHERE threadid = '$vb_threadid'");
  } 
  $number = $comment_count_cache[$id];
  echo '<a  href="'.$vb_path.'/showthread.php?t=' . $vb_threadid .'&goto=newpost">';
   comments_number($zero, $one, $more, $number);
   echo '</a>'; 
   return;
 }

Save file.

Added in v1.1: wp-includes/feed-functions.php

Replace:

function comments_rss_link($link_text = 'Comments RSS', $commentsrssfilename = '') {
	$url = comments_rss($commentsrssfilename);
	echo "<a href='$url'>$link_text</a>";
}

With:

function comments_rss_link($link_text = 'Comments RSS', $commentsrssfilename = '') {
	global $post;
	include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');
	if ($vb_bridge){
		$url = $vb_path . '/postfeed.php?t=' . $post->vb_threadid . '&type=rss2';
	} else {		
		$url = comments_rss($commentsrssfilename);
	}
	echo "<a href='$url'>$link_text</a>";
}

Save file.

wp-admin/post.php

Below:

require_once('admin.php');

Add:

include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

Below:

  $result = $wpdb->query($postquery);

Modified in v1.2: Add:

	// VB Bridge Start
		if ($vb_bridge) {
			if ($post_title == "") {
				return;
			}

			$saveid = $vb_userid;
			$savename = $vb_username;

			$author_name = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT `user_login` FROM $wpdb->users WHERE `id` = '$post_author'"); 
			
			if ($author_name != ""){
				$vb_authorid = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT `userid` FROM " . $vb_dbprefix . "user WHERE `username` = '$author_name'");
				if ($vb_authorid != ""){
					$saveid = $vb_authorid;
					$savename = $author_name;
				}
			}
			$curtime = time();
			$sql = "INSERT INTO `{$vb_dbprefix}thread` 
					SET `title`='{$post_title}',`lastpost`='{$curtime}', `forumid`='{$vb_forumid}', `open`='1', `postusername`='{$savename}', `postuserid`='{$saveid}', `lastposter`='{$savename}', `dateline`='{$curtime}', `visible`='1'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
			$vb_threadid = $wpdb->insert_id;
			
			if ($excerpt == ""){
				$moreflag = strpos($content,'<!--more-->');
				if ($moreflag === false) {
					$introtext = $content;
				} else {
					$introtext = substr($content, 0, $moreflag);
				} 
				$bbcontent = '[quote'.']'.strip_tags($introtext).'['.'/quote]';
			} else {
				$bbcontent = '[quote'.']'.strip_tags($excerpt).'['.'/quote]';
			}
			$bbcontent .= '[URL='.get_permalink($post_ID).']['.'b]'.$vb_readmessage.'['.'/b]['.'/URL]';				
			$sql = "INSERT INTO `{$vb_dbprefix}post` 
					SET `threadid`='{$vb_threadid}', `username`='{$savename}', `userid`='{$saveid}', `title`='{$post_title}', `pagetext`='{$bbcontent}', `ipaddress`='{$REMOTE_ADDR}', `allowsmilie`='1', `iconid`='1',`visible`='1', `dateline`='{$curtime}'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		
			$sql = "UPDATE `{$vb_dbprefix}forum` SET `threadcount`=`threadcount`+1, `lastpost`='{$curtime}', `lastposter`='{$savename}', `lastthread`='{$post_title}', `lastthreadid`='{$vb_threadid}', `lasticonid`='1' WHERE `forumid`='{$vb_forumid}' LIMIT 1";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		
		  $sql = "UPDATE $wpdb->posts SET `vb_threadid`={$vb_threadid} WHERE `ID`='{$post_ID}'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		}	
	// VB Bridge End

Save file.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/comments.php

Replace contents with:

<?php // Do not delete these lines
 if ('comments.php' == basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']))
  die ('Please do not load this page directly. Thanks!'); 

        if (!empty($post->post_password)) { // if there's a password
            if ($_COOKIE['wp-postpass_' . COOKIEHASH] != $post->post_password) {  // and it doesn't match the cookie
    ?>
    
    <p class="nocomments">This post is password protected. Enter the password to view comments.<p>
    
    <?php
    return;
            }
        }

  /* This variable is for alternating comment background */
  $oddcomment = 'alt';
?>

<!-- You can start editing here. -->
<p class="postmetadata">Discuss: <?php comments_popup_link('No Comments ?', '1 Comment ?', '% Comments ?'); ?></p>

Save File.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/single.php

Replace:

       You can <a href="#respond">leave a response</a>, or <a href="<?php trackback_url(true); ?>" rel="trackback">trackback</a> from your own site.

With (note that you are adding the path of the forum):

       You can <a href="/forum/showthread.php?t=<?php echo( $post->vb_threadid ); ?>&goto=newpost">leave a response</a>, or <a href="<?php trackback_url(true); ?>" rel="trackback">trackback</a> from your own site.

Save file.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/footer.php

Replace:

  and <a href="feed:<?php bloginfo('comments_rss2_url'); ?>">Comments (RSS)</a>.

With:

  <!-- and <a href="feed:<?php bloginfo('comments_rss2_url'); ?>">Comments (RSS)</a>.-->

Save file.


Lastly, open wp-rss2.php

Replace:

  <wfw:commentRSS><?php echo comments_rss(); ?></wfw:commentRSS>

With (note that you are specifying the complete URL of the forum here):

<wfw:commentRSS>http://www.yoursite.com/forum/showthread.php?t=<?php echo $post->vb_threadid; ?></wfw:commentRSS>

Save file.

vBulletin Settings:

The RSS feed will not work if you haven't activated RSS External synidcation on your forum. To do this, on your forums admincp, go to vBulletin Options->External Data Provider and check 'Yes' on Enable RSS Syncidcation.


Final Words:

Well, that?s about it! I?m not sure how often I can visit this thread but I hope those who find success in implementing the bridge, can help those who are having problems. Again, if you have suggestions on improving the script, let me know.

Thanks and happy modding!

Live Demo: http://www.internettablettalk.com/blog/


Revision History:

v1.2 (12/7/2005):
Uses correct vB user id and user name of the blog author. This will work only if the username of the Wordpress user is exactly the same as the vB username. If not, it uses $vb_userid and $vb_username defined in the settings.

v1.1 (8/19/2005):
Revisions are based on reports by Darth Gill (see discussion). New version includes vB RSS thread parser and a bug fix on vB not displaying recently added blog entry on the forum level. Current revisions are marked in green.

Changes:

• Added file to upload: postfeed.php (see Files to Upload section)
• New file to modify: wp-includes/feed-functions.php
• Fixed reported latest thread bug in wp-admin/post.php. Apply changes in green.

Screenshots:

[memobug]

Originally Posted by rsuplido

This hack will only work if your WordPress and vBulletin tables are in a single database.

What would it take to make this hack work with a Wordpress installation located in another database (on the same server?)

Regards,

Matt

[rsuplido]

Originally Posted by memobug

What would it take to make this hack work with a Wordpress installation located in another database (on the same server?)

Matt, check out reply #70 of this thread.

Thanks.

[macshrine]

Would this work with vB 3.5.2?

[chanzero]

Originally Posted by rsuplido

Posted the new version:

v1.2 (12/7/2005):
Uses correct vB user id and user name of the blog author. This will work only if the username of the Wordpress user is exactly the same as the vB username. If not, it uses $vb_userid and $vb_username defined in the settings.

i thought when upon installing this, if a user logged into wordpress they would also be logged into vb and vice versa assuming the nickname = vb username, however this doesn't seem to be the case. so i'm a little confused about what the association of the nick & vbname does?

don't get me wrong, still loving the work on the vb-wp bridge, just got lost on the latest development

thanks!

[mikaelweb]

Will this one work whit vBulletin 3.5.2

[Viks]

Rsuplido,
Thank you.

The hack is really excellent addon for vbulletin and increases its funtionality many folds with this bridge and wordpress.

Simply fantastic... I have tried it on my develop forums using vb3.5.1 and it works great!

I have a question.. in case I decide to use other themes instead of the default one then will the edit/changes be the same that I applied to the default theme.. or will it be different??

Viks

[rsuplido]

Viks,

You shouldn't have to change anything if you change themes.

[Viks]

Thanks for your reply..
Here.. you are invited to check out my site.. with wordpress integeration.

www.thalforum.ca
Thalforum.ca - It is a patient support forum for Thalassemia (a genetic blood disroder) and I have used wordpress as the article section on the site.

I read today about wordpress 2.0 being released, and I was wondering if anyone here has tried to use wordpress 2.x with vbulletin 3.5.x integreration?

cheers,

V

[The Bad Astrono]

Well, I'm finally getting around to working on this, and I'm having a problem (probably due to my lack of Db skills).

I moved my website and blog to the same server as the vB board. They use two different databases, which is unavoidable. This means the admin for the two databases have different names. When I try to post, I get an error which says:

WordPress database error: [Access denied for user 'XXX @'localhost' to database 'xx vBdbname xx']
SELECT count(*)-1 FROM vb_forum.post WHERE threadid = '3'

where XXX is my admin name on WordPress, and "xxvBdbnamexx" is the database name for the vB board. It looks to me that the admin for WP cannot talk to the database for vB. I tried adding the WP username to the forum database in DirectAdmin (the panel I use for administration) but it won't allow me to (it forces me to use a prefix for the name specific to the database, so I literally cannot get the same admin name for both databases).

If this makes any sense :-) does anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks.

[Lord Brar]

Hi,

Any plans to upgrade it for 2.0? This code doesn't work in 2.0

Thanks