Integration with vBulletin - Complete Wordpress/Vbulletin Bridge - Share Users And Postings

DOES NOT WORK FOR Vbulletin 4.x

This version probably no longer works for Wordpress 3.x. I have started developing this product over and have released the NEW version here:

http://www.lampwrights.com/showthread.php?t=41

This mod bridges your Vbulletin users over to Wordpress. You can also use Vbulletin as your comment engine instead of the spammy one built into Wordpress. You can display the comments inline in your post. You need not use the comment feature, if your only interested in sharing users.

You can map your Vbulletin Usergroups to Wordpress Usergroups and those users will then be recognized as registered Wordpress users.

For example, user "Joe" registers at your forum and logs in. Joe then clicks on your Wordpress page. Joe is instantly added to the Wordpress user base with the permissions you set for his usergroup. In otherwords, if a user comes over belonging to the "Registered User" group, you can select that he is placed in the Wordpress "Subscriber" usergroup.

If you change a users group from vbulletin, it will automatically change in Wordpress.

Requirements:

• DOES NOT and WILL NEVER support Wordpress MU.
• Wordpress and Vbulletin scripts must reside on the same physical server.
• Wordpress and Vbulletin must use the same domain name.
• Stable Wordpress Version greater than or equal to 2.5.
• If your WP login name is the same as your VB username, this user will NOT be ported! If this was the case, you could lose your WP admin rights if there was an error, or if you deactivated the plugin.
• DOES work for Vbulletin 3.7.

Limitations:

• Please don't ask if it works for any BETA versions of Vbulletin. I do not know and will not convert this to the latest version of VB (whatever it is at the time you are reading this) until the version is released as non-beta.
• If you delete a user, you must do so in both Wordpress and Vbulletin.
• If you are using XMLRPC to post with applications such as Windows Live Writer, you must change the password of the author in the WORDPRESS admin cp, after the user is ported over from VB. If you are not integrating users, then you do not have to.
• Chances are, this will not work when VB and Wordpress are located in different sub domains. I.E. forum.yoursite.com - blog.yoursite.com. Cookie issue.
• I did the best I could in determining your forums file path with the script. There may be certain script setups that cannot find the file path properly, in which case you may get errors that the script cannot find or open /config.php. If this is the case, please HARDCODE your ABSOLUTE path to the forum in vbridge.php.
  
  To do this find:
  
  

   ## If you are having path problems, uncomment this next variable and define the path
  ## NO TRAILING SLASH!
  # $vwd = '/some/path/to/your/forum';

  And uncomment the last line, and change the path to your forums path:
  
  

   ## If you are having path problems, uncomment this next variable and define the path
  ## NO TRAILING SLASH!
  $vwd = '/some/path/to/your/forum';

Common Mistakes When Installing:

• Using two different host names causes problems. If your forum URL contains www.yourdomain.com, then your wordpress blog URL MUST contain the www. part of www.yourdomain.com also. This goes for any other host name. Browsers are finnecky when it comes to cookies (as they should be).
• Editors generally EDIT, not write. In Wordpress, editors don't show up in the post author drop down. This has nothing to do with this plugin, that is Wordpress code.
• Make sure you DO NOT create a subdirectory for this plugin in the wp-content/plugins directory. Just upload it directly there.
• If the admin username in Vbulletin is the same as the one in Wordpress (i.e. Admin), that user will NOT be able to login to the WP dashboard.
• If you do not map users before you turn auto-integrate on, the plugin has no idea whether your allowed into the dashboard.
• If you all of a sudden can't login to the dashboard, see the above two common mistakes.
• FOLLOW the directions and make a test post first. Being in a rush and not testing will most likely turn out bad for you.
• When you create a test user in VB to test mapping users, the test user MUST have an email address. If a VB users email address is blank, they will not map.

UPDATES:

01/03/2007 - Fixed the unlock_tables() issue on some setups.

01/03/2007 - Fixed a bug in the script that if you used a MySQL database prefix, integration would not work. Please see this post for more information! Special thanks to axisoverdrive for giving me access to his server and letting me troubleshoot the issue!

01/05/2007 - Fixed issue where if a user saved (not published) and published later, the post would not be added to the forum.

01/05/2007 - When a post is edited, it will also be edited in the forum.

01/08/2007 - Modified slightly so when posts are edited, so are the titles (if edited).

02/07/2007 - Major modifications to new version (now 2.05). The list follows:

• Reworked the code so it uses the $vbulletin object throughout the code especially during the bridging process.
• Users are bridged whether they checked the "Remember Me" box or not.
• Removed a couple of SQL calls that became redundant.
• Addressed a bug where if a user logged out of the dashboard, it only logged them out of VB.
• Added Inline Comments capability. Comments posted to the forum (using VB for comments) will now appear at the bottom of a WP Post when viewing the post.
• Author user names can now be linked to their VB profile page if desired.
• Added option to turn off posting to forum. All this really does is remove the "Select Forum To Post To" option when writing a post. (There you go AxisOverdrive )
• The $vbulletin object should now be available in all templates and most plugins.
• Fixed a bug where deactivating any plugin would semi deactivate this plugin.
• With the reduction in SQL calls, and the removal of now unnecessary variables, speed and memory use should be improved.
• PLEASE READ THE UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS IF UPGRADING!

07/17/2007

• Fixed problem where upload iframe was a bit mangled.
• Fixed problem where users had to refresh the dashboard once after logging in.
• Fixed problem that arose from Wordpress 2.2.1 upgrade that would not allow activation.
• Fixed logout issue where users would still be logged into Wordpress.
• When a Wordpress post is deleted, so is the thread it created.
• Added option to allow thread posted from Wordpress article to be truncated, with a linkback to the article.
• Fixed issue when user re-activates plugin, and vb_threadid column already exists. Now checks for column first.
• Removed a stray VB_Init() call.
• Forums that do not allow threads will not be selectable in the drop down menu when writing a post.
• Forums are listed out in a parent/child nested pattern.
• (Note: 367 downloads of version 2.05)

11/29/07 - 3.00

• Added TABLE_PREFIX throughout the script instead of the get_option('vbb_VBPRX') call. get_option('vbb_VBPRX') is now deprecated.
• Addressed path issues by establishing $vwd first. If for some reason there are path issues on an install, the path only needs to be manually changed once, at the beginning of the script.
• Removed call to admin_db.php which seems to no longer be necessary.
• Changed all queries to the VB database to be handled by the $vbulletin object. This should facilitate multiple database configurations.
• Added limited XMLRPC support.
• Had to include a basic copy of the functions_wysiwyg.php file (functions_wysiwyg2.php) with a minor change in the sanitize_url function (now sanitize_vburl) as it conflicts with a new WP function of the same name. Otherwise, this is identical to the VB release. This was necessary to keep formatting somewhat uniform between the two.
• Removed unnecessary globals.
• Changed the global.php call so it always loads. $vbulletin should be available throughout the code (via global in functions).
• Edited some code around wysiwyg functions of VB, and conversions to vbcode.
• Added "Turn Plugin On" option.
• Fixed an issue with the forum list on the "Write Post" page. Default forum was not being auto selected in some cases.
• Modified from BETA so that the new functions_wysiwyg2.php file is loaded using the WP ABSPATH constant. Requires the plugin to stay in the plugins directory.
• Fix an error message when a post was deleted in VB, then edited in WP.

12/10/07 - 3.01

• Fixed two <? tags that should have been <?php (pointed out by Amenadiel)

03/31/08 - 3.02

• Fixed media-upload clash for new version of Wordpress (2.5).
• Added fix that will now delete threads in VB when the post is deleted in WP and not using Ajax delete.
• Added code to insert a default email address if VB users email address is blank upon bridging.

04/20/08

• Fixed a bug in user roles for the new version 2.5.1 of Wordpress.

05/08/2008

• Fixed issue where CSS was munging scrolling text box when selecting a forum during a post
• Fixed an issue where content encoding was getting screwey between WP and VP creating a lot of unintended characters (only on PHP installs where utf8_decode() exists (most)).

05/08/2008

• Fixed issue where post count of a user did not change

Sites Using This Plug-In:

• http://www.jeffsrecipes.com
• http://www.worldwidecreations.com
• http://www.xboxcircle.com
• http://www.detailuniversity.com
• http://www.daggersden.net/
• http://www.talkbronx.com/
• http://www.czeta.it

(PM me if you want to add your site here)

Special Thanks:

axisoverdrive - Debugging Help, Kyraal - Paypal Donation, Kalina - Paypal Donation, Wildcard27 - Paypal Donation, Shri - Paypal Donation, pspcrazy - Paypal Donation, Tomahoochi - Paypal Donation.

If you use this plug-in, and find it useful, please support us by nominating us for Mod Of The Month (MOTM) in the top right corner of this thread, or feel free to donate.

[wildcard27]

This truely is a great mod Jafo. I installed it with absolutely no problems and made a small donation.

Thank you sir :up:

[clockparadox]

Updated Repost...

I'm using fresh installs of 3.6.5 vbulletin, 2.1.3 wordpress in the same DB.

If you don't mind letting me know the status of these bugs listed below, answers like:

• Unknown bug, will investigate
• Known issue, will fix.
• Known issue, hack to fix available
• Known issue, will not fix
• As designed, will not fix
• Feature request, will implement
• Feature request, will not implement

The wp-admin panel is broken/buggy in numerous ways.

• The uploads section in the "write post"page is broken when the plugin is active. It seems that the code for the forum post dropdown list is conflicting with the code to display the upload bar properly.
• Editors have to login to the forums, then refresh the wp-admin at least twice before they can see the wp dashboard. Sometimes they need to login 3 or 4 times before the wp-admin panel will come up. Clicking "remember me" is not an option for some of my editors (don't ask why) but even then, that doesn't always work either.
• Logging out is broken. Pressing "log out" from the wp-dashboard sends me to --> vb logout page. But if I immediately go back to my wp-admin URL, I'm still logged in and able to make changes. This problem requires a cookie refresh/mass delete via IE options before it can be resolved.
• There is an issue with new editors that are registered through VB that I want to be "editors" of the WP blog via mapping, where their username don't show up in the dropdown list when making new WP posts. I still have no idea how to fix this and I have lots of editors stepping on each other now when the make posts since WP seems to choose a default username that doesn't match that of their VB username.
• Deleting a post in WP doesn't delete the post in VB. So if one of my editors of the WP blog is not a VB admin, or just not savvy with VB, I'm stuck deleting posts for them.

Also, a few wish list features:

• I wish there was a way to set a "default" forum to post into, having a dropdown list of available forums has created another step for my not-so-web-savvy editors to go through in order to make a functional post with working comments. I'd love to have an option to disable the "post in" dropdown list alltogether, letting me force all posts into a single forum. Is there an easy PHP hack I can make here to force this? I noticed another poster asking for this multiple times earlier in this thread.
• Is there a way to augment the post that is going into the forum through WP? Right now a WP post is copied into a forum verbatim. I'd like to insert : Author info and /quote the entire post. How would I go about doing that?

[MikeHolohan]

Hi, just installed worpress on my new VB3.6.6 forum with Vbulletin bridge but I am having a problem but I believe it is just a simple one...

I got a database error... Invalid SQL:
UPDATE session SET newposts = newposts+1 WHERE NOT ISNULL(newposts);

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'newposts' in 'where clause'
Error Number : 1054

So I got the paths wrong but how do I fix it...

Mike.

[Davey-UK]

FANTASTIC!
I have just installed this mod, by reading the instructions VERY CAREFULLY.

Working perfectly first time.

Thanks

[wildcard27]

Originally Posted by Daria

Hi,

I just installed this and am having the same problem as everyone else. The posting to forums works wonderful. However, I am not able to access the wp-admin panel. It just sends me back to vbulletin.

Even when I manually type in the address to /wp-admin or /wp-login.php, I'm redirected back to vbulletin. This also happens even after I've cleared all the cookies so it doesn't seem to be a cookie issue. I think something is not redirecting correctly.

Both WP and VB are installed on the same domain and database. If anyone knows what I may be doing wrong please let me know. Thanks

I seem to be having the same problem. I assume this hasn't been fixed then?

Running on VB 3.6.4 and WP 2.1.3 at www.gamerscouncil.com/forums/ and www.gamerscouncil.com/news/

Please let me know if you need more info

[Jafo232]

How are you posting to the forum if you cannot get to the admin panel. In order to post, you need to be in the control panel. Kind of lost me there..

Also, make sure you have mapped usergroups correctly and keep in mind the mapping is for PRIMARY usergroups only.

[LockeAG]

Are you thinking maybe some day do this bridge for WPMU?

thanks!

see'a

[wildcard27]

Originally Posted by Jafo232

How are you posting to the forum if you cannot get to the admin panel. In order to post, you need to be in the control panel. Kind of lost me there..

Also, make sure you have mapped usergroups correctly and keep in mind the mapping is for PRIMARY usergroups only.

I think I made a mistake myself. After posting a few messages I turned on auto integrate, since then the admin redirected to the forum index.

[Acers]

excellent mod jafo,

these two bugs need serious attention though. For the moment i have just removed the links

# Editors have to login to the forums, then refresh the wp-admin at least twice before they can see the wp dashboard. Sometimes they need to login 3 or 4 times before the wp-admin panel will come up. Clicking "remember me" is not an option for some of my editors (don't ask why) but even then, that doesn't always work either.
# Logging out is broken. Pressing "log out" from the wp-dashboard sends me to --> vb logout page. But if I immediately go back to my wp-admin URL, I'm still logged in and able to make changes. This problem requires a cookie refresh/mass delete via IE options before it can be resolved.

[lunitius]

I have some additional thoughts around bugs and features that I didn't see specifically mentioned in the other pages for this product (btw 26 pages is a lot of feedback).

Bugs (or so I think):
-----
1. After you login to VB and then try to access the wordpress administration page you have to enter try to do so two times before it works. Here is what I mean:

I go to http://www.mysite.com/forum and login successfully. I can now see my forum home page. I decide to create a post and head over to http://www.mysite.com/wp-admin to do so. When I type that into the browser bar and press enter i am redirected back to the main forum page. If I do it a second time it works as expected. I can recreate this if you need to see it (PM me for the real address).

2. (This might be WP bug as well.) When I create a wordpress post using the Visual Rich Editor that post might have quotes around text. Standard quotes seem to post to both WP and VB just fine. However they could also be fancy quotes. These seem to post to WP okay but they show up as

“  My Test Here …

in the forum thread. Again I have examples of this if you want to see them.

Features
-----
1. The form widget that gets added the post creation page in wordpress that is used to select which forum you want to put your post in could be more useful. Right now it is just a list of all your forums including subcategories. The problem is that if you have more than one subcategory with the same name under a forum you don't have a reference of relationship to work with to chose the proper one. I would like to see two things related to this.

A.) A wider form widget. I would like to see it wider and longer which would help my second "like to have".

B.) Displayed relationships between Top Level and Sub Category (even if only one level). Here is what I envision. This would show the forums in a logic order and would show the subcategory relation to the parent.

Top Level Forum 1
--> Subcategory 1
--> Subcategory 2

Top Level Forum 2
--> Subcategory 1
--> Subcategory 2

Top Level Forum 3
--> Subcategory 1
--> Subcategory 2

Question:
-----
1. Now that VB 3.6.7 is out are you going to make any significant updates to this plug-in to support that version? That is assuming anything is really needed. Mainly just a curious question.

Thanks again for your work on this plugin. It is working great for us with only few minor irritations.

-- Isi