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

[DieselMinded]

I just want the social groups to show up in the drop down when moving a thread , so in the future when an event is posted on the board staff can move it to the regional social group

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by IndyWebDesign

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.

Interesting option, will think about it.

Originally Posted by inciarco

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

That is not true. You can set already usergroup permissions. With that, you can permit only admins the possibility to create forums. That way, YOU decide which Group will have a forum.

Originally Posted by Kaelon

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

As I already told, I'm working on this.

Originally Posted by Kaelon

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

On all, because I have to find out if this forum is linked to a social group. For next version I will eliminate this query by storing this info in the forumcache.

Originally Posted by DiesellMinded

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

Of course, as the create forums are regular forums, nothing special. This hack allows forums to be associated with groups.

[YabbaDabba]

Hi,

Love this Mod. We consider it essential. Excellent job!

Issue:
We want each Group Starter (Leader) to moderate his own social forum.

I see how that is enabled, and so far, so good.

However, the default Moderator permissions for Group Leaders are not quite what we want. They are more encompassing than we want to grant, so we want to dial the permissions down a little.

How do I set the default Moderator permissions for Group Leaders?
I know I can change them after the fact, but that still can cause dangerous situations.
The default settings give the Group Leaders too much power across the boards.
I'm hoping there's an easy way to set default Social Group Moderator permissions so we don't have to manually edit each one.

Thanks in advance.

[DieselMinded]

Insted for the notcie that this is a social forum on top of a social thread hoiw can i keep the social group header on the thread pages as well

[DieselMinded]

on your install instructions you left off the admin page

[DieselMinded]

A required field called sendpm is missing or has an invalid value. Message when trying to create a forum

This dont add any forums to the main forum index correct? , i just want the current discussions to act as threads

[high]* DieselMinded disables mod waiting for support [/high]

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by YabbaDabba

How do I set the default Moderator permissions for Group Leaders?

The only way is to edit the file includes/functions_socialforums.php
Go to "function SaveModerator()" and check all lines regarding the permissions.

Originally Posted by DiesellMinded

Insted for the notcie that this is a social forum on top of a social thread hoiw can i keep the social group header on the thread pages as well

Not possible.

Originally Posted by DiesellMinded

on your install instructions you left off the admin page

Which Admin page? What are you expecting there?

[QUOTE=DiesellMinded;1764324]A required field called sendpm is missing or has an invalid value. Message when trying to create a forum
This does NOT come from SocialForums. Check which other modification needs such a field.

Originally Posted by DiesellMinded

This dont add any forums to the main forum index correct? , i just want the current discussions to act as threads

This Mod what is described on all pages: It adds a REAL STANDARD DEFAULT FORUM. Not more, not less. With that, a Social Group can use REAL THREADS instead of the crappy Discussions.

[DieselMinded]

i get a

A required field called sendpm is missing or has an invalid value.

Message when trying to create a forum

I was letting you know that you left a page off your instructions , the page that goes into the admin directory .

So this adds 1 forum to the main forum index and all the club forums are under the social groups pages ? or does it add all the social group forums as child forums on the main forum index , ? I want this to clean up my main forum index and move all the local and regional things into the social groups

[XBL EXTREME NYC]

is there a way to make it where i can have each forum listed in different parts of my forum according to the category it is in.

for example a basketball team social group like the rockets would go in an nba forum and the nfl team forum would go in a nfl forum.

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by DiesellMinded

i get a



Message when trying to create a forum

To get support, you will need to click "Mark as Installed".

Originally Posted by DiesellMinded

I was letting you know that you left a page off your instructions , the page that goes into the admin directory .

So this adds 1 forum to the main forum index and all the club forums are under the social groups pages ? or does it add all the social group forums as child forums on the main forum index , ? I want this to clean up my main forum index and move all the local and regional things into the social groups

It adds 1 Forum to a parent forum you have to enter in the AdminCP.

Originally Posted by XBL EXTREME NYC

is there a way to make it where i can have each forum listed in different parts of my forum according to the category it is in.

for example a basketball team social group like the rockets would go in an nba forum and the nfl team forum would go in a nfl forum.

Currently not. You need to move that forums manually after creation.