Miscellaneous Hacks - [CMS] Use original thread for comments

As of 4.1.11 this functionality is included in vbulletin. So you no longer need this mod.

What does this do?
This is a really simple hack that sets the thread for article comments to be the original thread for any thread that is promoted to an article.

What can I use it for?
This mod has two major uses:

1. If you have a wealth of information in your forums and you want to promote it into articles, this mod allows you to retain the rest of the thread as comments in the cms while adding any new comments as replies to the thread; essentially allowing it to function as both a forum thread and a CMS article.

2. If you want to use multiple fourms for CMS comments. This is a fairly none obvious use case, but probably a popular one. If you have three sections in your cms (for example) and want each section to feed into its own forum, the current cms dosn't allow you to do this. With this mod installed, you can. Instead of creating your new article directly in the cms create it in the forum you wish to use for comments. Write your article as the first post of the thread and promote it to a cms article. Fill out the extra information needed (eg publish date) and save. Comments will be saved into the original thread, in the forum you created it in.

Installation Vb 4.0.1 and later
1. Import product

Uninstallation
1. Disable the plugin "set thread id"

Full uninstallation
1. Move threads that have been promoted to articles into the vbcms comments forum.
2. COPY the threads back to their original forums
3. Remove product

Steps 1 and 2 are needed to retain cache functions on the comments threads. Without them new comments will not appear on the article.

Changelog

• 4.0-0.1 a2
  • Fixed bug causing original thread to be delete when the article was deleted
• 4.0-0.1 a1
  • Initial release

Notes

• I believe this is the first mod for the CMS (not including addon widgets/content types)
• Removing this product entirly will cause issues with the cache on any articles using the original thread. Follow the uninstall steps to remove functionallity while retaining the ability to comment on these articles this mod has altered.
• [S] Although its compatible with vbulletin 4.0 Rc 4, a bug in RC 4 and 4.0.0 Gold prevents it from acctually working. I have provided a replacement hooks_vbcms.xml file which corrects the issue in the interim.[/S] (fixed in vb4.0.1)
• [s]Deleting an article will remove the associated original thread This is considered a bug in this product and will hopefully be fixed with the next release. [/s] (fixed)
• The above bug has been fixed, however pending this request: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/proje...?issueid=34188 Thread tags for the original thread will still be removed. There is /nothing/ I can do about that until the issue listed is resolved. (this has been marked as fixed in 4.0.2; will update further when i've tested that its fixed.)
• [S]If you hard delete the original thread without first removing the article you will be affected by this bug: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/proje...?issueid=34187 the fix I posted to that issue needs to be applied BEFORE deleting the original thread. After more research, this only becomes an issue if you promote a thread more than once. If you've done this, you can fix the error by clearing the CMS cache.[/S] (fixed in 4.0.1)

As of 4.1.11 this functionality is included in vbulletin. So you no longer need this mod.

[meissenation]

Perfect - exactly as I had hoped it would work. THANKS!!!

[carrlos]

Can you explain the difference between 'Uninstallation' and 'Full uninstallation' please?

[Carnage]

Uninstallation disables the products functionallity; that is any threads promoted after performing the uninstallation steps will have a comments thread made in the comments forum for them. Existing threads that have been promoted however would cease to work (eg comments wouldn't get updated onto the article). Full uninstallation enables you to totally remove the product without breaking the articles you promoted while having the mod enabled.

[bamaster]

Ok, I must be doing something wrong. I can't get it to work.

I installed it, as described. I went into one of my forums and into a thread with multiple replies. I promoted the first post to an article. Clicked save. But no comments are seen in the CMS. Is there anything I have to select before saving?

Thoughts?

[NeptunoGP]

deomo or screen?

[Carnage]

I installed it, as described. I went into one of my forums and into a thread with multiple replies. I promoted the first post to an article. Clicked save. But no comments are seen in the CMS. Is there anything I have to select before saving?

Things to check:
1. Post a comment to the thread you promoted: does it go into the original thread?
- If not double + triple check you did everything right; (esp the uploading of the custom hooks.xml file; it may not have overwritten the original)
2. Clear the CMS cache and see if posts appear.

deomo or screen?

I don't see how I can provide a screenshot for this; as it would look no different from the basic vbulletin 4 setup. A demo is also difficult, as it uses what is essentially admin functionallity

[buontaiviem]

Carnage-, Are this bug fixed on ver 4.0.1 yet? or only about hooks fixed.

[Carnage]

hooks are deffinatly fixed; deleting the thread before deleting the article should be fixed (along with a whole host of other bugs caused by doing things like deleting your cms comments forum) but i've not had chance to verify this yet. The issue with tags being removed if you delete an article i've not had chance to verify either way - it may not even have been looked at. (i'll go check the bug report now)

[Blackhat]

is the "deleting thread" problem fixed ?

[Carnage]

until the hook is moved, deleting an article will remove the tags from the original thread; the thread itself however will not be deleted.