Major Additions - vBMS : vBulletin Mail System

vBulletin Mail System

Finally, for vBulletin 3.6, there is a port from filburt1's original hack. For those of you who aren't aware, he essentially declared it open source, and it's been a bit of a wait for someone to fix it up... I've wanted it for my site, too, so I finally sat down and just did it.

What is this?
The vBulletin Mail System is a way to give your users webmail access from your site. They can have a name@yourwebsite.com address, send and receive emails and attachments, etc. Options such as mailbox quotas, limits on numbers/types of attachments, a message trailer ("Free mail at yourwebsite.com!") at the end of each message, etc. are all available as well.

Please note: this is a pre-final version. As far as I have seen, it is working so far for me, but I have not tested it completely and thoroughly and it's very likely there'll be a number of bugs popping up. However, I have successfully been able to install this on a clean board, exchange emails regularly (including attachments), go through all the basic options/etc. without any errors popping up, so it should be fine. Still, make sure you back up your database before installing this, just due to the nature of its "beta"-ness.

To install: upload all files from the "upload" directory to your server in the proper directories. Then, navigate to admincp/vbms_install.php on your server and run the installer. It will make several template additions. If your navbar or header templates hav been modified, it will not be able to do it automatically, and you'll have to add these edits yourself.

In template navbar, find:

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="usercp.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[user_cp]</a></td>

Add after:

			<if condition="$show['popups']">
				<td class="vbmenu_control" id="navbar_vbms">
					<a href="vbms.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[email]</a>
			
					<if condition="$vbms_newmessages['newcount'] > 0">
						<span style="font-weight: normal; padding: 1px 1px 1px 2px; margin: 0px 3px 0px 2px; border: 1px inset" class="alt1">
							<phrase 1="$vbms_newmessages[newcount]">$vbphrase[x_new]</phrase>
						</span>
					</if>
				
					<script type="text/javascript">
						<!--
							vbmenu_register("navbar_vbms");
						// -->
					</script>
				</td>
			<else />
				<td class="vbmenu_control" id="navbar_vbms">
					<a href="vbms.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[email]</a>
				
					<if condition="$vbms_newmessages['newcount'] > 0">
						<span style="font-weight: normal; padding: 1px 1px 1px 2px; margin: 0px 3px 0px 2px; border: 1px inset" class="alt1">
							<phrase 1="$vbms_newmessages[newcount]">$vbphrase[x_new]</phrase>
						</span>
					</if>
				</td>
			</if>

Find:

<!-- / header quick search form -->
	</if>

	<if condition="$show['member']">

Add after:

		<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="navbar_vbms_menu" style="display: none">
			<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">
				<tr><td class="thead">vBulletin Mail System</td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_inbox]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_new.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_write_message]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_ab.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_address_book]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_folders.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_folders]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_filters.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_filters]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_options.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_options]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="faq.php?$session[sessionurl]faq=faq_vbms">$vbphrase[navbar_help]</a></td></tr>
			</table>
		</div>

In your ACP, there should be a new set of options in a "vBulletin Mail System" category. That set of options is your main set of management stuff, and is pretty straightforward.

Feel free to post with any bugs or questions you find, etc. I'm trying to get this working again thoroughly, for all of us.

FAQ

• Is POP support available for my users?
  No, this is similar to a webmail system.
• What is a catch-all email address, and how do I set it up?
  A catch-all address is an email address that any mail sent to your server that isn't picked up by another account will go to. For example, if someone sends an email to randomgibberish@yoursite.com and you do not have a "randomgibberish" account defined, it would forward to your catch-all account that you have set up, such as all@yoursite.com.
• Can I run this if my server doesn't let me have a catch-all mail account?
  Yes, but it's not recommended. As has been suggested by a few members, you can set up one mail account to the be "catch-all" and have vBMS connect to that, then set up mail accounts for each member who wants one and have it forward to the catch-all. All this has to be set up manually with your web host, and takes a great deal of willpower and availability from the website administrator, and is thus not recommended.
• I'm receiving the following error:
  

  Fatal error: Call to undefined function: imap_open()...

  If you're getting an error similar to this, you do not have IMAP functionality available in PHP. Find your php.ini file on your server (usually /usr/local/lib/php.ini on Linux, C:\Windows\php.ini on Windows), and find the extensions section. Uncomment the line ";extension=php_imap.dll" (that is, remove the semicolon at the beginning) and restart your web server. If you don't have access to your web server to do this, contact your web host about installing IMAP support for PHP. If they won't do it, then this hack is not for you.
• I can't connect to the mail server, with this error:
  

  Warning: imap_open() [function.imap-open]: Couldn't open stream {localhost:110/pop3}INBOX in /includes/vbms_class_installer.php on line 791

  First, make sure that your port number and server information are right. Some mail servers are on non-default ports (this is common), and some you may have to connect to a different host besides localhost (this is very rare). Also, try using the "Force no-TLS connection" option in the vBMS Options in the ACP.
• I can connect to the server just fine, but it won't get any email!
  Check the "Mail checking logs" in your ACP (under the vBulletin Mail System area). If there are no logs, then the cronjob probably isn't running. If there are logs, see if there are any errors in there. If it's checking the mail account fine and simply says there are no messages, check with a webmail to see if the catch-all account is even receiving mails. If the webmail shows that the account has mail stuck in it and vBMS isn't picking them up, but vBMS is saying it's checking the account alright and finding 0 messages, then you're likely connecting to the wrong account. By doing these steps, you should at least be able to figure out where the problem is occurring.

Install clicks, donations and HotM nominations are always welcome.

[bashy]

I cannot have this on my server, as its freebsd my host is saying that they cannot recompile imap functions

Quote from host

I tried to build imap and compile php with it, and got an error as many people do on FreeBSD servers with DirectAdmin custom apache/PHP.

What a bummer eh?

[Brent H]

I'm getting the same error as a couple of others here:

Installation failed while "Testing Settings": vBMS couldn't connect to the mail server using the settings you provided. Please go back and verify their accuracy. If you are not sure of the values to use, consult your host.

Details:

Warning: imap_open() [function.imap-open]: Couldn't open stream {mail.paranormalis.com:110/pop3}INBOX in /includes/vbms_class_installer.php on line 791

I've contacted my host and they told me what to put in each field, so I know it's the right information. Any way to correct this?

[thincom2000]

After several hours of going crazy, this ridiculous change worked for me -- in includes/vbms_functions_checkmail.php, find:

PHP Code:

    return "\{$hostname:$port{$notls}}INBOX"; 


Replace with:

PHP Code:

    return '{$hostname:$port{$notls}}INBOX'; 


[Kmaster]

Originally Posted by Krofh

That should be in the includes/vbms_functions_checkmail.php file, if you want to fix it right away. Like I said, I'll try and get this fixed in the next update.
.

After changed, installed, send out mail is worked, but can't receive any mails.

[Roxie]

I get this error even though I uncommented the extension in php.ini

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: imap_open() in /home/xxxxxxx/public_html/includes/vbms_class_installer.php on line 790

Any other ideas?

*edit* I recompiled php and it worked out fine!

Everything is working great. But here's a question. How often does the system check for e-mails? How server intensive do you think it will be?

Thanks.

[bluechris]

Everything is working fine atm except when i delete a mail i get this

messageids is Arraykey is 0and value is 1

The message is deleted ok but what is this that it says?

Also when i receive messages in greel language in the subject the characters that are show in the VBMS when i watch the inbox shown strange iso things.... and is doesnt show the greeks.... all the forum is in greek and working fine except VBMS area... is there a way that i can add something somewhere?

[wacodep]

Originally Posted by wacodep

Potential bug: Even when 'Change Alias' is set to NO for his usergroup, the my test user can STILL change his alias.

I only have ONE usergroup enabled for this mod, so it's not a 'Generosity' issue.

This test user has a primary of 'Registered Users', but a secondary as this vbms-enabled group.

Krofh, did you miss this one from a few days ago? I didn't see any response and was wondering if it was fixed in the 3/5/07 update? Thanks.

[Krofh]

Originally Posted by bashy

What a bummer eh?

Quite indeed

Originally Posted by Brent H

I've contacted my host and they told me what to put in each field, so I know it's the right information. Any way to correct this?

No idea what's going on with that, it does it for me too... maybe your mail server doesn't accept external IMAP connections from itself or something? Try using "localhost" instead of "mail.paranormalis.com" just to see if that happens to work. I'm not sure why it would do that though, I was able to connect to mail.paranormalis.com:110 just fine with telnet :-/

Originally Posted by thincom2000

After several hours of going crazy, this ridiculous change worked for me -- in includes/vbms_functions_checkmail.php, find:

Indeed, that was the same fix I posted a few posts back with an updated attached vbms_functions_checkmail.php file.

Originally Posted by Kmaster

After changed, installed, send out mail is worked, but can't receive any mails.

Check the "Mail checking logs" in your ACP (under the vBulletin Mail System area). If there are no logs, then the cronjob probably isn't running. If there are logs, see if there are any errors in there. If it's checking the mail account fine and simply says there are no messages, check with a webmail to see if the catch-all account is even receiving mails.

Originally Posted by Roxie

How often does the system check for e-mails? How server intensive do you think it will be?

It's a cron job running every minute; I don't know how intensive this really is though, I haven't done a lot of monitoring with that.

Originally Posted by bluechris

Everything is working fine atm except when i delete a mail i get this

lol! Very sorry, it seems I left some of my debugging notes in there when I was trying to fix a bug. Go ahead and upload the attached file in your "includes" directory, that'll fix it.

Originally Posted by bluechris

Also when i receive messages in greel language in the subject the characters that are show in the VBMS when i watch the inbox shown strange iso things.... and is doesnt show the greeks.... all the forum is in greek and working fine except VBMS area... is there a way that i can add something somewhere?

Can you show me some screen shots, or get me a link to your forum? I'm a bit confused with what specifically is going on... is anything strange showing up in the "Mail checking logs" area? I can't say I'm much familiar with how vBulletin handles non-alphanumeric characters, so this could be interesting.

Originally Posted by wacodep

Krofh, did you miss this one from a few days ago? I didn't see any response and was wondering if it was fixed in the 3/5/07 update? Thanks.

No, I didn't get it fixed, I did do some looking into what might be causing it before getting swamped with homework, so I really haven't gotten to do any major work on this the last few days. Sorry, it's on the top of my bugs-to-fix list.

[Brent H]

Originally Posted by Krofh

No idea what's going on with that, it does it for me too... maybe your mail server doesn't accept external IMAP connections from itself or something? Try using "localhost" instead of "mail.paranormalis.com" just to see if that happens to work. I'm not sure why it would do that though, I was able to connect to mail.paranormalis.com:110 just fine with telnet :-/

Just tried it and I got the same error When I check line 791 in the file it references (vbms_class_installer.php) it says something about a password... I know my password is correct though.

[Kmaster]

Originally Posted by Krofh

Check the "Mail checking logs" in your ACP (under the vBulletin Mail System area). If there are no logs, then the cronjob probably isn't running. If there are logs, see if there are any errors in there. If it's checking the mail account fine and simply says there are no messages, check with a webmail to see if the catch-all account is even receiving mails.

The cronjob seems work fine, even didn't see any error from the logs, see below picture.


I'd check my webmail, there's 6 mail there, no idea why it didin't delivery to vbms.