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

[punchbowl]

To get rid of a forum and group can I just delete both or is there something else I should do too?

tia

[Phalynx]

That's all.

[punchbowl]

cheers!

[Freesteyelz]

This mod makes up for what group discussions lack. Great mod, Phalynx.


I'm testing this mod and I was curious about the query below. We can run a query to remove a forum from a GroupID:

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

1) Can we use that same query to assign an existing forum to a Social Group by adding the ForumID and GroupID? So let's say I have forum A (ID 15) and created a Social Group (ID 2). Can I do this?

UPDATE socialgroup SET forumid=15 WHERE groupid=2

2) If I wanted to disassociate a forum from a Social Group can I transfer or convert the forum threads/posts to the Social Group Discussions? Right now we can convert Social Group Discussions into forum threads and posts. Having the option to do the opposite would come in handy too.

[Verionia]

Isnt this implemented already in v3.83?

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by Freesteyelz

This mod makes up for what group discussions lack. Great mod, Phalynx.


I'm testing this mod and I was curious about the query below. We can run a query to remove a forum from a GroupID:

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

1) Can we use that same query to assign an existing forum to a Social Group by adding the ForumID and GroupID? So let's say I have forum A (ID 15) and created a Social Group (ID 2). Can I do this?

UPDATE socialgroup SET forumid=15 WHERE groupid=2

2) If I wanted to disassociate a forum from a Social Group can I transfer or convert the forum threads/posts to the Social Group Discussions? Right now we can convert Social Group Discussions into forum threads and posts. Having the option to do the opposite would come in handy too.

Yes, you can use that query to do it. You will have also to manually edit/delete moderators of this forum.

[Freesteyelz]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

Yes, you can use that query to do it. You will have also to manually edit/delete moderators of this forum.

Awesome.

I'm not sure if you answered it but is there a way to convert forum threads and posts back to Social Group Discussions (in case I no longer want the forum to be associated with the Social Group)?

[Phalynx]

There is a modification here at vb.org that can do that. You will have to search for it, as I don't know the exact name.

[Freesteyelz]

The mod is called Move Threads from Forums to Social Groups. That's close to what I'm looking for but threads need to move one-by-one manually. I read that it might be due to the way Social Discussions were designed.

[moonclamp]

What happens to the forums if this mod gets uninstalled? Do they revert back to being social discussions, or do they remain as forums?