vBulletin-WordPress Bridge

I have been looking around for a WordPress - vBulletin plug-in and can?t seem to find one. I had time today to look at the WordPress code and tried out some things, and came up with a small hack for a bridge.

This bridge will let you use vBulletin as the main comments area for the blog entry. A copy of the intro blog entry is automatically created in a specific forum you choose, as well as a link back to the original blog entry from the forum. The blog entry will also show the total comments made.

Let me first say that I don?t have any experience in creating plug-ins for WordPress so please don?t ask me to convert this to one. If you plan to make this as an official plug-in or improve on it, please make sure to let me know so I can place a link on this article to yours.

Thanks and I hope you all enjoy it.

Note:

• This hack will only work if your WordPress and vBulletin tables are in a single database.
• This hack has only been tested on adding entries directly from the admin panel. It has not been tested on xmlrpc clients.
• Use at your own risk. I will not be held liable for any loss of data nor problems that you might encounter on your site during the whole process of the mod.Backup your files and database(s) before proceeding.

Database Changes:

I have added a new column in WordPress? posts table to maintian the vBulletin thread id that will be automatically generated for the blog entry. Note that the table name prefix might be different from your WordPress table settings:

ALTER TABLE `wp_posts` ADD `vb_threadid` INT(10);

Files to Upload:

Save the following as vb3?settings.php and upload it to the Wordpress wp-includes folder:

<?php
// This just holds the vb variables
$vb_bridge = 1; // 1=on 0=off
$vb_forumid = '2'; // forum id to post copy of article
$vb_userid = '1'; // user id to use for posting the article
$vb_username = 'admin'; // name of the user id
$vb_path = 'http://www.yoursite.com/forum'; //complete url of forums
$vb_dbprefix = 'vb3_'; //vBulletin database prefix
$vb_readmessage = 'Read the full blog entry.'; //message to be used in the forum to link back to the blog entry
?>

• $vb_forumid - is the forum id of the blog discussion forum. Usually, this is the ?News? or ?Blog? forum. I advice to to set the permission of this forum to not allow ?New Posts? but allow ?New Replies.? To get the id of the forum, on your vBulletin forums page, click on the forum that you want to assign and check the URL at the address bar. It will appear like ?..forumdisplay.php?f=x? where x is the forum id.
• $vb_userid - is the user id you want to assign as the one who will automatically create a new thread in the forum you have chosen.To get the user id, go to your forum?s Member List and click on the member you would like to assign. The URL will appear like ?member.php?u=x? where x is the user id.
• $vb_username - is the corresponding username of the user id. Rather than generating a new SQL query to get the username, it is better to just assign the name to this variable.
• $vb_path - this is the actual URL of your site?s forum. Note that there is no trailing slash.
• $vb_dbprefix - if you specified a table prefix when you installed vBulletin, enter it here.
• $vb_dbprefix - This message will appear at the end of the vBulletin post that links back to the blog entry.

Added in v1.1: In the attached files at the right, download postfeed.php and upload it to the root folder of your vB forums (it should be in the same folder where external.php is).

Files to be Modified:

Here comes the slightly harder part. We need to modify some WordPress files. Part of the changes assume that you are using the Kubrick default theme. If you are using a different theme, change the corresponding files accordingly.

wp-includes/comment-functions.php

Replace:

function get_comments_number( $comment_id ) {
 global $wpdb, $comment_count_cache;
 $comment_id = (int) $comment_id;
 if (!isset($comment_count_cache[$comment_id]))
  $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] =  $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '$comment_id' AND comment_approved = '1'");
 
 return apply_filters('get_comments_number', $comment_count_cache[$comment_id]);
}

With:

function get_comments_number( $comment_id ) {
 global $wpdb, $comment_count_cache;
  include (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

 $comment_id = (int) $comment_id;
  if (!isset($comment_count_cache[$comment_id])) {
  if ($vb_bridge){
   $vb_threadid = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT vb_threadid FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE id = '$comment_id'");
   $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT count(*)-1 FROM {$vb_dbprefix}post WHERE threadid = '$vb_threadid'");
  } else {
   $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '$comment_id' AND comment_approved = '1'");
  }
 }
 return apply_filters('get_comments_number', $comment_count_cache[$comment_id]);
}

Below:

function comments_popup_link($zero='No Comments', $one='1 Comment', $more='% Comments', $CSSclass='', $none='Comments Off') {
    global $id, $wpcommentspopupfile, $wpcommentsjavascript, $post, $wpdb;
    global $comment_count_cache;

Add:

    include (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

 if ($vb_bridge){
  $vb_threadid = $post->vb_threadid;
  if ($vb_threadid == "") {
         echo $none;
         return;
  } else {
   $comment_count_cache[$id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT count(*)-1 FROM {$vb_dbprefix}post WHERE threadid = '$vb_threadid'");
  } 
  $number = $comment_count_cache[$id];
  echo '<a  href="'.$vb_path.'/showthread.php?t=' . $vb_threadid .'&goto=newpost">';
   comments_number($zero, $one, $more, $number);
   echo '</a>'; 
   return;
 }

Save file.

Added in v1.1: wp-includes/feed-functions.php

Replace:

function comments_rss_link($link_text = 'Comments RSS', $commentsrssfilename = '') {
	$url = comments_rss($commentsrssfilename);
	echo "<a href='$url'>$link_text</a>";
}

With:

function comments_rss_link($link_text = 'Comments RSS', $commentsrssfilename = '') {
	global $post;
	include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');
	if ($vb_bridge){
		$url = $vb_path . '/postfeed.php?t=' . $post->vb_threadid . '&type=rss2';
	} else {		
		$url = comments_rss($commentsrssfilename);
	}
	echo "<a href='$url'>$link_text</a>";
}

Save file.

wp-admin/post.php

Below:

require_once('admin.php');

Add:

include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

Below:

  $result = $wpdb->query($postquery);

Modified in v1.2: Add:

	// VB Bridge Start
		if ($vb_bridge) {
			if ($post_title == "") {
				return;
			}

			$saveid = $vb_userid;
			$savename = $vb_username;

			$author_name = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT `user_login` FROM $wpdb->users WHERE `id` = '$post_author'"); 
			
			if ($author_name != ""){
				$vb_authorid = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT `userid` FROM " . $vb_dbprefix . "user WHERE `username` = '$author_name'");
				if ($vb_authorid != ""){
					$saveid = $vb_authorid;
					$savename = $author_name;
				}
			}
			$curtime = time();
			$sql = "INSERT INTO `{$vb_dbprefix}thread` 
					SET `title`='{$post_title}',`lastpost`='{$curtime}', `forumid`='{$vb_forumid}', `open`='1', `postusername`='{$savename}', `postuserid`='{$saveid}', `lastposter`='{$savename}', `dateline`='{$curtime}', `visible`='1'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
			$vb_threadid = $wpdb->insert_id;
			
			if ($excerpt == ""){
				$moreflag = strpos($content,'<!--more-->');
				if ($moreflag === false) {
					$introtext = $content;
				} else {
					$introtext = substr($content, 0, $moreflag);
				} 
				$bbcontent = '[quote'.']'.strip_tags($introtext).'['.'/quote]';
			} else {
				$bbcontent = '[quote'.']'.strip_tags($excerpt).'['.'/quote]';
			}
			$bbcontent .= '[URL='.get_permalink($post_ID).']['.'b]'.$vb_readmessage.'['.'/b]['.'/URL]';				
			$sql = "INSERT INTO `{$vb_dbprefix}post` 
					SET `threadid`='{$vb_threadid}', `username`='{$savename}', `userid`='{$saveid}', `title`='{$post_title}', `pagetext`='{$bbcontent}', `ipaddress`='{$REMOTE_ADDR}', `allowsmilie`='1', `iconid`='1',`visible`='1', `dateline`='{$curtime}'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		
			$sql = "UPDATE `{$vb_dbprefix}forum` SET `threadcount`=`threadcount`+1, `lastpost`='{$curtime}', `lastposter`='{$savename}', `lastthread`='{$post_title}', `lastthreadid`='{$vb_threadid}', `lasticonid`='1' WHERE `forumid`='{$vb_forumid}' LIMIT 1";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		
		  $sql = "UPDATE $wpdb->posts SET `vb_threadid`={$vb_threadid} WHERE `ID`='{$post_ID}'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		}	
	// VB Bridge End

Save file.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/comments.php

Replace contents with:

<?php // Do not delete these lines
 if ('comments.php' == basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']))
  die ('Please do not load this page directly. Thanks!'); 

        if (!empty($post->post_password)) { // if there's a password
            if ($_COOKIE['wp-postpass_' . COOKIEHASH] != $post->post_password) {  // and it doesn't match the cookie
    ?>
    
    <p class="nocomments">This post is password protected. Enter the password to view comments.<p>
    
    <?php
    return;
            }
        }

  /* This variable is for alternating comment background */
  $oddcomment = 'alt';
?>

<!-- You can start editing here. -->
<p class="postmetadata">Discuss: <?php comments_popup_link('No Comments ?', '1 Comment ?', '% Comments ?'); ?></p>

Save File.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/single.php

Replace:

       You can <a href="#respond">leave a response</a>, or <a href="<?php trackback_url(true); ?>" rel="trackback">trackback</a> from your own site.

With (note that you are adding the path of the forum):

       You can <a href="/forum/showthread.php?t=<?php echo( $post->vb_threadid ); ?>&goto=newpost">leave a response</a>, or <a href="<?php trackback_url(true); ?>" rel="trackback">trackback</a> from your own site.

Save file.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/footer.php

Replace:

  and <a href="feed:<?php bloginfo('comments_rss2_url'); ?>">Comments (RSS)</a>.

With:

  <!-- and <a href="feed:<?php bloginfo('comments_rss2_url'); ?>">Comments (RSS)</a>.-->

Save file.


Lastly, open wp-rss2.php

Replace:

  <wfw:commentRSS><?php echo comments_rss(); ?></wfw:commentRSS>

With (note that you are specifying the complete URL of the forum here):

<wfw:commentRSS>http://www.yoursite.com/forum/showthread.php?t=<?php echo $post->vb_threadid; ?></wfw:commentRSS>

Save file.

vBulletin Settings:

The RSS feed will not work if you haven't activated RSS External synidcation on your forum. To do this, on your forums admincp, go to vBulletin Options->External Data Provider and check 'Yes' on Enable RSS Syncidcation.


Final Words:

Well, that?s about it! I?m not sure how often I can visit this thread but I hope those who find success in implementing the bridge, can help those who are having problems. Again, if you have suggestions on improving the script, let me know.

Thanks and happy modding!

Live Demo: http://www.internettablettalk.com/blog/


Revision History:

v1.2 (12/7/2005):
Uses correct vB user id and user name of the blog author. This will work only if the username of the Wordpress user is exactly the same as the vB username. If not, it uses $vb_userid and $vb_username defined in the settings.

v1.1 (8/19/2005):
Revisions are based on reports by Darth Gill (see discussion). New version includes vB RSS thread parser and a bug fix on vB not displaying recently added blog entry on the forum level. Current revisions are marked in green.

Changes:

• Added file to upload: postfeed.php (see Files to Upload section)
• New file to modify: wp-includes/feed-functions.php
• Fixed reported latest thread bug in wp-admin/post.php. Apply changes in green.

Screenshots:

[cyberxp9]

is it a problem that if I access postfeed directly you get an error?
Database error in vBulletin 3.0.8:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT title
FROM thread
WHERE threadid =
AND visible = 1

mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'AND visible = 1' at line 4

mysql error number: 1064

Date: Tuesday 23rd of August 2005 11:05:30 PM
Script: http://www.cyberxp9.net/forum/postfeed.php?

or get an error like this:

Database error in vBulletin 3.0.8:

Invalid SQL:
SELECT title
FROM thread
WHERE threadid =
AND visible = 1

mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'AND visible = 1' at line 4

mysql error number: 1064

Date: Tuesday 23rd of August 2005 10:57:28 PM
Script: http://www.cyberxp9.net/forum/postfeed.php?t=&type=rss2
Referer:
IP Address: 69.177.28.85

[rsuplido]

Yes, you need to specify the id of the thread:

..postfeed.php?t=x

where x is the thread id

[cyberxp9]

Originally Posted by rsuplido

Yes, you need to specify the id of the thread:

..postfeed.php?t=x

where x is the thread id

huh? I just change the url? than how come I get this thing
LINK REMOVED DUE TO RETARDS CLICKING ON IT SO I KEPT ON GETTING SENT ERROR EMAILS

[rsuplido]

You would notice that Wordpress posts that weren't done through the bridge will not allow comments ("Comments Off"). I think you are clicking on those blog entries and thus getting the error. If you look at you latest blog entries, they run pretty well.

[Spacefreak]

Originally Posted by OrangeFlea

No, I think you misunderstand. I just want for the comments to appear under the blog article itself, not on a forum, like this: http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2005/...ajax/#comments. Sitepoint uses Wordpress for their blog, by the way. Furthermore, I want the comments, which would be placed under the blog article, to be made by registered members of the vbulletin board.

This is exactly what I am looking for as well: Comments appear on the blog (Wordpress) , yet utilizes the vBulletin user registration system.

http://www.macnn.com is another site that pulls it off.

[Darth Gill]

Back from vacation, and I made this change so that I could make drafts and click the "advanced editing" button without creating a new thread. Basically, you should only create a new thread if you publish.

Find in wp-admin/post.php

// VB Bridge Start
	if ($vb_bridge) {
		if ($post_title == "") {
			return;
		}

and replace it with

// VB Bridge Start

	if ($vb_bridge && $post_status=="publish") {

[chanzero]

this is very cool. a couple questions though:

1) after the wp post is written and automatically generates the vb thread & post, am i correct in assuming that editing the wp post will not affect the vb thread/post? i think that would be good for when people rename the post or edit the post, etc

2) does anyone have any experience with wordpress MU (multi-user)? if so, would this hack be just as easy to apply to MU?

[Cole2026]

Originally Posted by chanzero

this is very cool. a couple questions though:

1) after the wp post is written and automatically generates the vb thread & post, am i correct in assuming that editing the wp post will not affect the vb thread/post? i think that would be good for when people rename the post or edit the post, etc

2) does anyone have any experience with wordpress MU (multi-user)? if so, would this hack be just as easy to apply to MU?

Any chance you could give us the ability to not use the forum as a comment system, but use the wordpress system with forum integration?

Thanks

[sarahsboy18]

Would it be possible to set it up so that when I set which forum the post is submitted to based on the post's category in WP?

I have several major sections of my blog that I would like to keep seperated in my forums pages... E.G.

News Category Blog -> News Forum
Product Reviews Blog Category -> Product Reviews Forum

[rsuplido]

Originally Posted by sarahsboy18

Would it be possible to set it up so that when I set which forum the post is submitted to based on the post's category in WP?

I have no plans of incorporating that feature. Imagone if there are 100 categories. What you can do however is choose a hidden forum and then move the thread manually to to correct forum.