Integration with vBulletin - vbWiki Standard - vBulletin+MediaWiki integration

Update:

9/28/2007: vbWiki Std v1.3 RC5 is now available for download. This version adds compatibility with MW 1.11.0+

5/17/2007: vbWiki Std v1.3 RC4 is now available for download. This version is compatible with MW 1.10.0+ and vBulletin 3.6.6+

1/21/2007: vbWiki Std v1.0.2 RC3 is now available for download. This version fixes the 'session error' that used to happen on some installations of MediaWiki 1.9.x.

Description:

vbWiki Standard is the lite version of vbWiki Pro. vbWiki Standard allows the integration of vBulletin and MediaWiki user authentication.

(vbWiki Pro is a commercial product that, in addition to the functionality found in vbWiki Standard, provides full skin integration, enhanced user management, Admin CP, editing of wiki skin in vBulletin's Style Manager, among other features.)

Why should you add a wiki to your forums?

Forums are great for community building with their high level of interactivity. Successful forums have hundreds or thousand of concurrent users creating and replying to threads.

However due to this very reason the more your forums grow the more "collective knowledge" is scattered throughout the thousands (or hundreds or millions) of threads in your forums. Making it difficult for users to find and use.

A wiki is not that good at community building, but it is a great medium to centralize this 'collective knowledge'. Enabling you to create an 'ecosystem of information' (quoting pipin ) maintained and contributed by your users.

The idea behind vbWiki (both Standard and Pro) is to enable the seamless integration between these two packages (vBulletin and MediaWiki) side-by-side in your community. You (and your users and community) get the best of both worlds.

Or so the theory goes...

Features:

• Single sign-on for vBulletin and MediaWiki (users log in only once)
• Supports mapping of vBulletin usergroups to MediaWiki user roles
• Users viewing wiki pages are shown in vBulletin's "What's going on?" section (both guests and registered users)
• Supports auto-authentication, users who choose to be "remembered" are logged in upon visiting the site to both vBulletin and MediaWiki.

Installation:

These installation instructions do not apply to vbWiki Pro. Refer to vbWiki Pro installation instructions for more information.

MediaWiki and vBulletin must be installed and properly working before installing vbWiki. MediaWiki can be downloaded here.

• Create a new directory in your forums directory named vbWiki.
• Upload the content of the installation package to this new directory.
• Rename the file vbWiki_Init.php-dist to vbWiki_Init.php
• Open the file LocalSettings.php found in your MediaWiki directory in a text editor and at the very end find the following line and remove it if present:

PHP Code:

?> 


• Add the following code at the end of the file (entering the correct directory path):

PHP Code:

require_once "/absolute/path/to/your/forums/vbWiki/vbWiki_Init.php"; 


Troubleshooting:

• Last installation step: Click Mark as Installed..

If you run into any trouble installing vbWiki (blank page, logins not working, etc.), follow these instructions to temporarily turn on vbWiki's Diagnostic Tools.

Open vbWiki_Init.php (or vbWikiPro_Init.php) and find this line:

PHP Code:

$run_vbWikiPro_diag_tools = false; 


And change it for this:

PHP Code:

$run_vbWikiPro_diag_tools = true; 


Navigate to the wiki home page, and see the results.

Changes:

• 0 vBulletin files to Edit
• 1 MediaWiki file to Edit
• 10 vbWiki Files to Upload

Requirements:

• vBulletin v3.5.4 (version 3.6.x recommended)
• MediaWiki 1.6.8+ (recommended 1.7.x+).
• PHP4+

Uninstalling...

• To uninstall vbWiki Standard simply remove (or comment) the line added to LocalSettings.php.
• Optionally remove the directory vbWiki from your forums directory.

[AScherff]

Originally Posted by ElfMage

Hi Alfred,

Just to be sure, you replaced the '/absolute/path/to/your/forums' with the correct local path, correct?

Could you send me a PM with a link to your wiki/forum?

Thanks.

Hi,

yes, i tried out both absolute and relative path...

Nice that i can sent you a PN - Thanks

[ConiKost]

Hi!
I got a Problem here

Installed vbWiki 1.3 RC5 and MediaWiki 1.11.

Installation Works, Plugin ist activ. But nobody can login.

When I do active the $run_vbWikiPro_diag_tools = true; I get this:

Die Cookies konnten nicht gesetzt werden, da der Header schon an den Browser geschickt wurde.
Datei: /var/www/wh-forum.de/htdocs/vBulletin/vbWiki/vbWiki_Tools.php
Zeile: 489

Anybody an Idea?

[ElfMage]

Originally Posted by ConiKost

Hi!
I got a Problem here

Installed vbWiki 1.3 RC5 and MediaWiki 1.11.

Installation Works, Plugin ist activ. But nobody can login.

When I do active the $run_vbWikiPro_diag_tools = true; I get this:

Die Cookies konnten nicht gesetzt werden, da der Header schon an den Browser geschickt wurde.
Datei: /var/www/wh-forum.de/htdocs/vBulletin/vbWiki/vbWiki_Tools.php
Zeile: 489

Anybody an Idea?

In some PHP installations the diag tools fail to work.

Could you edit vbWiki_Init.php and in the Custom Settings section, add the following:

PHP Code:

$g_vbWiki_URL_Commands_Enabled = true; 


And then send me a PM with a link to your wiki and a test username/password?

Thanks.

[Cigarcritic]

I've tried installing this hack with 3.6.8 and 1.11 several times and end up with a blank page or errors. Can you help beginning with:

Open the file LocalSettings.php found in your MediaWiki directory in a text editor and replace this line:

This is not in LocalSettings.php for 1.11.0

?>

Where do I place the directory path?

If I'm not able to do a simple upgrade when I purchase Pro, please PM me the trial as I'd rather start the install from there. Thanks!

[ElfMage]

Hi,

I just updated the installation instructions. If the ?> is not found, simply add the require_once at the end of the LocalSettings.php file. Notice that the path for the require_once is a local absolute path (meaning, no http://..).

You can upgrade to vbWiki Pro at any time.

To get a free trial for vbWiki Pro, please register at nuhit.com and send me a PM with your e-mail address, and I'll add your account to the system.

Thanks.

[trynksssj2]

When I am logged in at my forums, at the wiki it shows just my ip and not my username... I get this error with diag tools on:

Unable to add cookies, header already sent.
File: /home/******/public_html/forums/vbWiki/vbWiki_Tools.php
Line: 19

Why??

[ElfMage]

Hi, the error in the diagnostics output occurs on some server configurations, we have to look into this. But it doesn't mean that it is not working.

Could you send me a PM with links to your wiki with a test username/password?

Thanks.

[iRO Wiki]

If our forums are forums.irowiki.org and the wiki is just at irowiki.org/wiki, does the free version support that, or do we need the pro version?

edit: nevermind, found what we needed in one of the config files, is working fine now we think.

[ElfMage]

Yes, indeed, vbWiki Standard supports that setup.

[yoyoyoyo]

how hard is it to upgrade from the standard to the pro version? or do you have to start over again?