Miscellaneous Hacks - SocialForums for vB3.8

SocialForums for vBulletin 3.8

Created by Marius Czyz aka Phalynx.

This mod will work *ONLY* with vBulletin 3.8 or higher. It will not run on vBulletin 3.7. Please use the version for vBulletin 3.7

Support will be only given for people who clicked Mark as INSTALLED.

Description
Not satisfied with vBulletin social groups messaging function? With SocialForums your social group leaders can create a standard forum for their group.
A group leader can only create a forum if the group has at least 5 members - this can be changed via settings. Optionally the group leader can be a moderator of such a social forum.

What about old discussions?
Via AdminCP, SocialForums, you can transfer all discussions and messages to a new forum. No post would be lost.

Permissions
There are advanced permissions (Forum and Archive). This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.

Demo
None, see screenshots

Installation
This product is fully phrased and uses template hooks. No file changes or manual template edits needed.
1. Upload bitfield_socialforums.xml to existing folder /includes/xml/
2. Upload functions_socialforums.php to existing folder /includes/
3. Fresh Installation: Just import the product. Upgrade: Import the product, allow overwrite. No forums get lost!
4. Check settings, especially for parent forum. Don't forget to set permissions via usergroups!

Troubleshooting
Q: I don't see a link to create a forum. Why?
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, espacially if the user is allowed to create forum.
A: Check if the usergroup meet min users requirement, see AdminCP/Settings/SocialForums.

Q: My users see the forums, but they shouldn't!
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, if the users usergroup is set to "can see".
A: Did you disabled the restriction mode? Enable it.

Todo
- By deleting a group the forum should also be deleted/archived. Currently this has to be done manually.

Known Issues
- On big boards with hundreds of social groups this mod can really impact the performance because of the mass of new created forums. If you still want to use this mod use the "Minimum Members" feature with a higher value. Using the permission check there are additional two queries on every page.
- With activated option to add owner as a moderator the transfering leads to removing all moderators of the linked forum

History
2.1.0, 11th August 2009
- Social Groups without a forum are listed in AdminCP and can be automatically converted with few clicks.
- Fixed errors converting bigger discussions
- Minor changes and fixes

2.0.1, 05th March 2009
- Convert ignores now deleted discussions
- Threads on Groups equipped with mark on new

2.0.0
- First official release for vBulletin 3.8
- Possibility to transfer Social Group Discussion into a real Forum
- New layout for threadlisting, similar to a real threadlist in a forum
- Possibility of a notice in Forums associated with a Social Group
- Discussion/Message counter is showing Thread/Reply counts. Phrase "Discussion" and "Message" cannot be changed to "Thread"/"Reply".
- Transfering a Group to another user updates now also the moderator
- Minor changes and fixes

[Phalynx]

Just delete the group and the forum is "free". Don't forget to delete also the moderator from this forum.
If you need only to disconnect a forum from a social group, use this query:
(replace %GROUPID% with your groupid)

UPDATE socialgroup SET forumid=0 WHERE groupid=%GROUPID%

[punchbowl]

Thanks Phylanx! That's perfect.

I notice with every update that social discussions are starting to looking more and more like socialforums

Thanks again.

[WDZaphod]

Phalynx, do you think it's possible to create a spinoff with slightly other functions?
My Idea is that a USER (not a Social Group) has his own forum in his profile page.
Like a new Tab "Forum", or just on top of the profile messages. This in combination with a user blog will create a very interesting homepage for every user.
I hope this won't be too much work - from "no coders" view it looks very similar to socialforums.

thanks in advance,
Michael

[ytorus]

Hey. Is it possible to create subforums of the SocialForums which aren't viewable for other members? I have vbAdvanced CMS and the new topics are displayed there too.

[ShawnV]

Phylanx,

A truly awesome MOD, the only thing I could use is a way to sticky or display order the social groups forums displayed on Forumhome. Ergo I want one of the group forums to always be at the top of the list.

Thanks in advance,

_V

[GHC Webmaster]

Originally Posted by ShawnV

Phylanx,

A truly awesome MOD, the only thing I could use is a way to sticky or display order the social groups forums displayed on Forumhome. Ergo I want one of the group forums to always be at the top of the list.

Thanks in advance,

_V

Social Forums are normal forums. So their display order can be managed like that of other forums by using the forum manager. I just yesterday moved one of them up in the list.

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by WDZaphod

Phalynx, do you think it's possible to create a spinoff with slightly other functions?
My Idea is that a USER (not a Social Group) has his own forum in his profile page.
Like a new Tab "Forum", or just on top of the profile messages. This in combination with a user blog will create a very interesting homepage for every user.
I hope this won't be too much work - from "no coders" view it looks very similar to socialforums.

thanks in advance,
Michael

Great Idea, but I think this violates the vBulletin License.

Originally Posted by ytorus

Hey. Is it possible to create subforums of the SocialForums which aren't viewable for other members? I have vbAdvanced CMS and the new topics are displayed there too.

Change the permissions of the forum via AdminCP.

[punchbowl]

I'm sure I've asked this before but is the only option to have "Allow users to add Moderators and Administrators to their ignore list?" set to yes for regular members to be able to ignore social forum leaders(moderators.)

[More a failing of vb putting admin/mods together I think]

[Phalynx]

Yes punchbowl, you are right.

[ShawnV]

Originally Posted by GHC Webmaster

Social Forums are normal forums. So their display order can be managed like that of other forums by using the forum manager. I just yesterday moved one of them up in the list.

Doh! As soon as I find my brain I will go check there and make the changes.

Thanks...


_V