Miscellaneous Hacks - SocialForums 1.4

SocialForums for vBulletin 3.7
Created by Marius Czyz aka Phalynx.

This mod will work *ONLY* with vBulletin 3.7 or higher. It will not run on vBulletin 3.6.x due to non existent feature of "social groups".

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.

Permissions
Since 1.3 there are advanced permissions active (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.

History
1.4.6, 6th October 2008
- Permissions are now also active in Archive

1.4.2, 27th May 2008
- Added: If a group has a linked forum the grouplisting has the last post date and count of postings (with permission check).
- Added: Recent threads in linked forum on group home
- Added: Private groups: Link to forum only shown to members of group
- Changed: Enabled permissions for unregistered usergroup. Unregistered Users are not more explicit denied without a check of it's usergroup

1.3.1, 23th May 2008
- Fixed: Not existing array

1.3.0, 23th May 2008
- Added: Permissions are now active. This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. Please check permissions for every usergroup! As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.
- Added: Checks for permission before the creation link will be displayed
- Changed: Default View Age set to "Show all Threads"

1.2.1 8th April 2008:
- Added: Group messaging can be disabled via options (previously: always disabled)

1.2.0 4th April 2008:
- Added: Groupleader can now be moderator of group forum
- Added: Minimum Members that are required for own forum
- Added: Group messaging will be automatically hide for group that has own forum
- Added: Forums are created with more allowances
- Added: By deleting a forum the linked socialgroup get's updated
- Added: Forum's description contains link back to social group
- Added: By changing group's name it synchronize it with the forum's name

1.0/1.1 1st April 2008:
- Initial releases

[i156]

I've installed it but don't see any links to create a forum.

http://www.usacarry.com/forums/groups/glock-owners.html

[civil78]

If you get this message “Unable to add cookies, header already sent.” and you can log in the admin panel you can add this code into config.php

PHP Code:

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true); 


And go to make the changes or uninstall.

With a little research, it looks like a problem in the 2nd plug in with name (it have 2 plugins with the same name)

SocialForums (cache_templates) (the one is with 7 line code and the other is bigger)

So in the bigger with the same name of smaller, it has a loop.

PHP Code:

foreach(array_diff($agetforumids, $agetuserforumids) AS $sf_forumid)
{
...
...
} 


This looks affect in this problem.

I don’t know how important is this plugin but if you disable it there no problem appears.

We have to wait until Phalynx correct this little problem

[Jase2]

Hmm, won't this make the admin see a lot of forums on forumhome? It would get very big, I guess.

[Nadiar]

What happens if a social group isn't used very often anymore and you want to delete it (clean it up) or if you want to take one of the social group forums and make it into a full forum?

[Phalynx]

I just uploaded a corrected 1.3.1
The version number didn't changed, I just reuploaded all files and named the ZIP 131.

Please import the product, overwrite existing.

Sorry for this confusing error.

[psypix]

Thank you!!

[Jase2]

So, won't there will be a lot of forums if it's used a lot ? The admin would get confused from his actual forums.

[trackpads]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

I just uploaded a corrected 1.3.1
The version number didn't changed, I just reuploaded all files and named the ZIP 131.

Please import the product, overwrite existing.

Sorry for this confusing error.

You the man!! Thanks!!!

[crkgb]

Great job, Phalynx!

I have noticed some unexpected behavior (may be a feature, not a bug):

At http://www.example.com/forum/group.php, if I click on "Go to the last posted message" icon for the invite-only social forum I'm not a member of, I get to the group description page. Shouldn't I get to the "Access not allowed" page instead?

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by i156

I've installed it but don't see any links to create a forum.

http://www.usacarry.com/forums/groups/glock-owners.html

Check if your usergroup is allowed to create a forum.

Originally Posted by Jase2

Hmm, won't this make the admin see a lot of forums on forumhome? It would get very big, I guess.

The forums are created as subforums. Additionally you can set their visibility to 0.

Originally Posted by Nadiar

What happens if a social group isn't used very often anymore and you want to delete it (clean it up) or if you want to take one of the social group forums and make it into a full forum?

The forum is not touched by deleting a group. It's just a simple vBulletin forum, nothing special.

Originally Posted by crkgb

I have noticed some unexpected behavior (may be a feature, not a bug):

At http://www.example.com/forum/group.php, if I click on "Go to the last posted message" icon for the invite-only social forum I'm not a member of, I get to the group description page. Shouldn't I get to the "Access not allowed" page instead?

This is not a "feature" or bug of SocialForums. vBulletin does not check the permission for that. It's like someone protects his forum with display=0...