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]

X-Posting

[Stoebi]

Hi

Nice work
What do you think about an attachment integration?

[Phalynx]

The created forums are real forums with real threads and real posts - and thus with attachments.

[Kaelon]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

The created forums are real forums with real threads and real posts - and thus with attachments.

Phalynx, please let me know what you think about this: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....4&postcount=17

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by Kaelon

But this performance impact would only be when the board is being created, right? What is the actual impact on a "Big Board" on a regular basis? If it's just a one-time impact (the creation of the boards), then that's fine. If it's an ongoing impact (added queries), we need to know that separately. Thank you.

There is no really impact creating a forum.
Indeed, the thoughts about big boards is going in the direction that more forums means less caching (datastore) efficiency. But I have boards running with hundreds of forums AND SocialForums: http://www.aquariumforum.de/forumdisplay.php?f=422

Queries are only generated if you enable the following features:
- In a forum: Notice in a forum about a connected Social Group
- Global: Check for permissions (for private Social Groups)

[DobieGillis?]

I have it installed, great. Confused about how to use this mod. How do i create a socil group through a forum? Do I create a forum first or vice versa? I assume any social groups prior to thei mod cannot be converted? None of them are linked to any forum.

[Phalynx]

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

You can assign a forum to a group at any time. Existing discussions can be transferred to the new forum.

[DobieGillis?]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

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

You can assign a forum to a group at any time. Existing discussions can be transferred to the new forum.

Marked, thanks. Let me check that out

[DobieGillis?]

still looking to see when you can assign a forum to a group. I don't see that as an option.

[RvG2]

this is better than the group discussion builtin in vB...

Nominated to MOTD!!!