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

[TomJames]

Looks very promising, going to test this out on my test board later.

[hrk]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

Please be more specific, as I cannot confirm this. SocialForums does not touch messages.

I am not sure what is going on either.
install, activate, click social like. sql errors :erm:

thanks

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by jilly

It is my Groupleaders who are getting the 'no permission to access' message.

The user must have the permission "can_edit_group", this is beeing checked on top of the creation process.

Originally Posted by hrk

I am not sure what is going on either.
install, activate, click social like. sql errors :erm:

To track this down I need an admin test account on your board. PM me if you want help.

[jilly]

How can I get the messages in my Social Group to appear again?

[Phalynx]

I released a new version , 1.2.1, this contains a new setting where you can decide if group messaging will be disabled by creating a forum.

For existing groups with forums you will have to re-enable messaging via edit group.

[MaxiMal]

may be add social forums rating

[toucan42]

thanks for the update - this is a great hack!

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by MaxiMal

may be add social forums rating

What do you mean exactly? Please describe more.

[IvyKeepMommy]

Originally Posted by jilly

It is my Groupleaders who are getting the 'no permission to access' message.

Mine as well... it isn't a major problem since the majority of my groupleaders are also mods, but at least one non-mod group leader PM'd me that she couldn't create (and I then went in and created it for her).

This may be a newbie question, but can you direct me to where to fix the setting so they can add the forum in vb?

Awesome mod... even with that super minor issue.

[Phalynx]

I'm checking for the permission "can_edit_group". Every Groupleader should have this permission.