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]

Originally Posted by tereg

Is there any way to mask the creator of a Social Forum from the "View Forum Leaders" page (/vbroot/showgroups.php). Social Forum creators are listed as "Moderators", even though in Admin CP they are not listed as a Primary or Additional user in the Moderators usergroup at Admin CP -> Usergroups -> Usergroup Manager.

Even if the "Viewable on Show Groups" option is set to No for the entire Moderators usergroup and Registered Users usergroup, Social Forum creators are still listed in "View Forum Leaders".

Thank you.

SocialForums adds the group leaders as normal, default moderators to the forum. How vBulletin displays them is not in the range of this modification. You need to disable the option to display Moderators on "View Forum Leaders". It's not a usergroup setting.

Originally Posted by tereg

I am also experiencing an error that had previously been found in an older version, the "Invalid Title Specified" error:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=202
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=409

This behavior is happening to me as well for 2.0

Uhm, I thought this has been fixed. Will take a look.

[rob01]

i have a question

With activated option to add owner as a moderator the transfering leads to removing all moderators of the linked forum

what this means?

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by rob01

i have a question

With activated option to add owner as a moderator the transfering leads to removing all moderators of the linked forum

what this means?

That means that if you defined an own moderator for that socialforum, that moderator will be removed and replaced by the new owner of the group.

[rob01]

is this something good or bad?

[WreckRman2]

Working great... Can we add a way that when a new member joins the group it also subscribes them to the forum. My forums doesn't get alot of posts so we could easiler miss one but if it emails all the members when a new thread is posted that would be awesome.

[inciarco]

Interesting Mod.

Is Important to Add Options for it, like One to Stablish Usergroups and/or Users that Can Create and Associate a Forum for their Social Groups, and to Set a Maximum of Forums to be Able to Create.

Also an Option to Set Which Groups can Have Forums would be a Nice Option, so that Admins can Evaluate if is Important or Not to Allow a Forum to be Created for that Social Group(s).

It'd Also be Important to Set the Option of Minimum Number of Users in the Social Groups on a Mod's Option on the Admin Control Panel.

Only Admins Would Know and Should Control the Way their Boards Should Grow on Forums Structure Not Users.

The Idea is Right and Very Useful, but is Yet Too Open for Users to Waste the Boards Resources without Admin Control.

My Best Regards.

[jilly]

I have installed them as new on two boards running 3.8.1 with no previous install, and it is working beautifully!

[Kaelon]

Question -- I am considering installing this add-on. A number of my user clubs already have forums. Is there a way that I can associate pre-existing forums with newly created social groups under this hack? (In other words, any query that I can easily run?)

Also, did you manage to fix the problem identified in post #50?

[DieselMinded]

can you move threads from the regular forum into these social group forums ?

[Kaelon]

Originally Posted by DiesellMinded

can you move threads from the regular forum into these social group forums ?

Yes. You can also run a manual query to assign a groupid to a socialgroup.

UPDATE  `socialgroup` SET  `forumid` =  'X' WHERE  `socialgroup`.`groupid` =Y LIMIT 1 ;

Simply replace X with the forumid, and Y with the groupid, of the two that you wish to link. Setting the forumid to 0 removes any forum associated with a socialgroup, allowing that socialgroup to create a new forum.

Question -- Does the query on forumdisplay (to generate a notice linking a forum to its matching socialgroup) occur on all forums, or just socialforums?