Integration with vBulletin - YAFB - Yay! Another Facebook Bridge

This is not just a "port" for vBulletin 4 of this modification, this is the next version of the modification which support both vBulletin 4 and vBulletin 3 family

IMPORTANT: FILE ISSUES HERE: http://code.google.com/p/vbulletinfacebook/issues/list (require a Google Account)

Yay! Another Facebook Bridge 3.3.2
Tested to work with vBulletin 3.7.x and 3.8.x (3.6.x requires some manual edit, contact me for detail instruction)
Tested to work with vBulletin 4.0 (use different .xml import file)
Please note: this product requires PHP5. If you get weird error messages, please check if you PHP version is still 4 (which is very old and you should change to PHP5 as soon as possible). Also, MySQL 5 is strongly recommended

[WHAT IS IT?]
There are many vBulletin - Facebook bridge out there but installing is always the problem for most of forum owner. So I decided to build this product from scratch and provide you the ability to install this Facebook Bridge into your forum in 10 minutes. The detail install instruction can be found below (under the Feature section). A few technical notes: This product uses Facebook Connect to maintance connection between vBulletin forums and complicated (and awesome) Facebook servers. All most everything is automatically done by the script, even the Administrators don't need to do any manual editing (yeah, I'm talking about manual templates editing, you WON'T need to edit templates each time you implement a new style). Once again, most of everything is options which can be enabled/disabled via AdminCP or UserCP interface. All possible type of caching is use to improve performance and reduce heavy PHP load on server side or javascript load on client side. Well, it's quite a long paragraph for introducing. Let's make it work!

[SEE IT IN ACTION]
Screencast:
1. Installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ComjeipReE4
2. Connecting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7m85O_iX70
3. Posting and Notifications: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBwwiffLvJ8
Demo board:
vBulletin 3.8: http://daohoangson.com/vb38
vBulletin 4: http://daohoangson.com/vb40
Authentication Username: demo. Password: demo.

[MAIN FEATURE]
*** Damn easy to install!
1. Loaded with long list of actions/notifications: posting thread, posting reply, rating thread, sending pm, sending visitor message, uploading image (avatar/profile picture), uploading pictures, comment on pictures. This list are designed to be expandable easily later by me or other people who loves to develope this product (well, if you do, contact me right now!)
2. Ability to quick register with Facebook credential but Administrator can disable this function via AdminCP. Facebook proxied email addresses are handled completely and vBulletin can send email without any problems (of course, the member must grant the Email extend permission). There is a setting in AdminCP to disallow Facebook proxied email addresses also for boards that need email explicitly
3. Ability to auto login with Facebook session (Administrator can turn this on or off in AdminCP and members can enable or disable this feature on their accounts either)
4. Other abilities: Display a profile block on vBulletin member page. Display a wall tab/box on Facebook profile page. Synchronize avatar from Facebook.
5. [AdminCP] Administrator can "edit" template bundle easily. Actually the old template will be deactivated, the new template will be registered and then all action associated with the old template with be updated with the new template bundle id. Oops, why you need to care about all of it? I did it for you already! Just go the the editing page and click Edit. Yay! All done
6. [AdminCP] Staffs can manage connected users and see basic information about them (including granted permissions)
7. [AdminCP] Administrator can decide to: migrate connected users from other products to YAFB, restrict private forums from being posted to Facebook, view detail log of YAFB in action, send notifications to connected users
*. [Experimental] I have added a fun feature that generate the Fans List, the photo will be posted to new thread with friend tagged (if available). The main purpose of this bonus feature is to demostrate the ability of the bridge. If you have an idea, contact me and I will implement it if I can
*. [Experimental] Friend Inviting functionality is added. Access from UserCP > Facebook Bridge > Invite Friends

[CHANGE LOG]
Version 3.3.2 (released on Jun 10, 2010): Register On-the-fly issue with vBulletin 3.8.4 fixed
Version 3.3.1 (released on Jun 08, 2010): Bug fixes and Migration for vBulletin 4.0.3
Version 3.3 (released on Apr 06, 2010): Auto login related features added. User experience reached a new higher level!

[NEW INSTALLATION]
*. Upload all files/folders in folder "upload" into your forum root (Please upload before importing product)
1. Import Product:
1.1. Go to AdminCP
1.2. Plugins & Products ~> Manage Products ~> Add/Import Product:
1.2.1. Browse to the .xml file (use product-yafb.xml for vBulletin 3 and product-yafb_vb4.xml for vBulletin 4)
1.2.2. Click Import

2. Fill the settings:
2.1. Go to AdminCP
2.2. vBulletin Options ~> vBulletin Options ~> Yay! Another Facebook Bridge
2.2. Create a Facebook Application if you haven't had one for your forum. Refer to the Creating Facebook Application below if you don't know how to do it
2.3. Fill the API key and Secret into the approriate fields. You can leave the Template fields untouch (the will be filled automatically). If you want to use the Account Reclamation feature, please place http://domain.com/forums/register.php?do=fbb_reclaim into Account Reclamation URL field. With other fields, it's your decision to made
2.4. Click Save and you are done!

2.* Creating Facebook Application:
2.*.1. Go to Facebook Developer > Create Application page http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php (login if you didn't)
2.*.2. Enter the Application Name. Suggestion: Put your forum name here. Don't forget to tick the Agree radiobox and then click Save Changes
2.*.3. Now you can get your API Key and Secret (that are needed in step 2.3)
2.*.4. And go to the Connect tab, fill your forum url into Connect URL, fill your domain into Base Domain.
2.*.5. You are done with required information. But you can go through other tab and enter more detail about your forum, your application. I suggest putting a nice icon, banner into it. Happy customizing!

[UPGRADING]
Just upload overwrite files/folders then reimport the xml file. Do not forget to check "Yes" under "Allow Overwrite" to upgrade

[CONFLICT]
Since this product interfere with the registration procedure, I have found some other plugins/products that conficts with this product. Below is the full list of known confict and action taken to resolve the issue
No Spam (Human Verification): Temporary disabled during Facebook registration
vMail (Email Verification): Temporary disabled during Facebook registration

[OTHER PLUGINS/PRODUCTS]
I have developed an easy to use options/permissions system that allow other plugins/products to add it's actions into this bridge and let the forum members experience a whole new era of connections. I did a small demostration with my kBank System (which is a money system with award/thank functionality and a useful hiding feature) and it runs pretty well. If you are interested in testing kBank in action with YAFB, contact me. If you are a developer who wants to integrate your plugins/products with this Bridge, contact me either! You are all welcome
*Also available: Publishing Blog (vBBlog) to Facebook [New! Updated on Jan 10th, 2010]


[KNOWN ISSUES]
FILE HERE: http://code.google.com/p/vbulletinfacebook/issues/list (require a Google Account)

[mrpaint]

Originally Posted by utahraves

I did follow all instructions but it doesn't work on some screens.
This mod is the only mod I've added that would cause most of my user's avatars to completely vanish... I am most likely going to have to disable it.

How are members' avatars? They are missing or something? Can you take a screenshot?
Also, can you specify which screen caused javascript errors on Chrome?

[Tripolis]

Error by me.

I hope you can read it.

Dont know why.

[Zaiaku]

Originally Posted by utahraves

I did follow all instructions but it doesn't work on some screens.
This mod is the only mod I've added that would cause most of my user's avatars to completely vanish... I am most likely going to have to disable it.

Which version fo Chrome?
Any installed extensions in Chrome?

The users with chrome on my site are currently using 4.0.266.0 with just yahoo and facebook ext mostly.

[Ranger187]

Originally Posted by mrpaint

Hmm, it seems to be people are getting problem with my product. I was so busy but I hope this news will brighten up your day a little bit:

• File-based CSS issue fixed
• IE Javascript issue fix (well, in case you haven't known yet but French and German government recommend their citizens not to use IE, oops!)
• Improved sharing functionality (with images)
• New feature: well, won't talk about this point now Not yet

The new version will be released tomorrow or the day after it and then I won't be able to get online until late February

That's news for today. If you found any other bug, inform me now. Thank you

Waiting for this.

[ngkong]

Originally Posted by mrpaint

vBulletin version please?

4.0.1

LEFT JOIN attachmenttype AS attachmenttype USING (extension)

there is no `extension` field in the 4.0.1 attachment table.

[ScottiG]

The lighter side...

I have read some real horror stories about this mod, most coming from a few of the same people which seems a little like bashing to me - Perhaps I am one of the lucky ones, but this mod worked PERFECTLY for me under 3.8.4 right from the first install. No issues, no errors, no complaints whatsoever.

I have since done an upgrade to the latest version of this mod and the update went smooth as pie - Very simple indeed!

The ONLY issue I have (and others seem to have this issue as well) is that the navbar button for the facebook connect does not show up on one of my new site styles and I cannot figure out why? Several others have asked about this with ZERO response, it is like we didn't even post an issue! - it would be nice if the coder could explain what it is that we are missing in our headers or navbar templates that is simply not allowing the button and facebook connect link to display in some site styles.

Other than that, I am completely satisfied with this mod and quite frankly, I think it is one of the best mods ever offered for VBulletin. My site users enjoy it and it offers an extension of our forum to facebook, and vice-versa.

So, my hat is off to the coder for a great mod, BUT I cannot give the coder an A+ till I get a response to my issue.

Thanks in advance!

[adigaorg]

the last version not work with vbseo

[kall]

Yes it does.

If you disable vBSEO, does the issue you are having go away?

Or even.. what is the issue?

[Zaiaku]

Seriously you people need to stop saying stuff becuause its mis leading.

I have this mod on 4 sites running vb4 all with vbseo and its working just fine with all of them. I even added my on SEO mod on top of vbseo with this mod and its working just fine.

Try Kall suggestion and see what's the out come.

[ENF]

Going to chime in here and say we've had no major issues with this mod under vb4.0.1 - We previously did not use a link for Facebook on 3.8.X but it's turned out to be very popular after our site conversion to VB4. It's been working well to the best of my knowledge.

There are a few style issues, but we'll address those after 1 or 2 more maintenance releases from VB.

We are not running VBSEO however, can't attest to that piece. I may add it to another site I have that is running VBSEO.