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

[hollosch]

i deactivate this hack and it works perfect !!!

thx

[WreckRman2]

Looks great!

[DobieGillis?]

Phalynx, you are a genius, but, the idea of making a social group into a forum defeats the whole purpose of a social group which is more intimate. Albeit, your code is perfect, the concept is not. I applaud your efforts but have since disabled the mod.

[jilly]

So if I have a board running 3.8.1, that has never had Social Forums installed, can I install this as new?

[WreckRman2]

Originally Posted by DobieGillis?

Phalynx, you are a genius, but, the idea of making a social group into a forum defeats the whole purpose of a social group which is more intimate. Albeit, your code is perfect, the concept is not. I applaud your efforts but have since disabled the mod.

Only members of a group can see the forum for that group. I think vBulletin made a huge mistake by NOT doing exactly this to begin with. The stock way is like going back to vB version 1.

[YabbaDabba]

Phalynx,

Many, many thanks for this.

Will be downloading and installing later this week.
Kudos for your terrific support.

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by jilly

So if I have a board running 3.8.1, that has never had Social Forums installed, can I install this as new?

Yes.

[DobieGillis?]

Originally Posted by IndyWebDesign

Only members of a group can see the forum for that group. I think vBulletin made a huge mistake by NOT doing exactly this to begin with. The stock way is like going back to vB version 1.

didn't realize that, thanks for the clarification. This Mod is a great

[tereg]

Is there any way to mask the creator of a Social Forum from the "View Forum Leaders" page (/vbroot/showgroups.php). Social Forum creators are listed as "Moderators", even though in Admin CP they are not listed as a Primary or Additional user in the Moderators usergroup at Admin CP -> Usergroups -> Usergroup Manager.

Even if the "Viewable on Show Groups" option is set to No for the entire Moderators usergroup and Registered Users usergroup, Social Forum creators are still listed in "View Forum Leaders".

Thank you.

[tereg]

I am also experiencing an error that had previously been found in an older version, the "Invalid Title Specified" error:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=202
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=409

This behavior is happening to me as well for 2.0