Multiple Forums using a single user table

This was originaly done in 3.0.9 by westpointer you can view that thread here

This Modification is for VB3.5.4 This is not supported but I will give as much help as I possible can.

I have this working now on 2 sites

The main site is http://forums.everything2stroke.com

Slave sites are
http://forums.everythingmx.com
and
http://forums.everythingduners.com

After a successfull install of this modification your sites will share User, PM, and sesson data.

This thread will detail how to have a single login for multiple forums. It makes the following assumptions:

• A valid vbulletin license exists for each install
• All forums will be on the same server
• One database will contain all the tables

A valid vbulletin license exists for each install


Follow these steps

1.) Download your new copy of VB that contains a seperate license key
2.) Go to /includes/config.php.new rename the file to config.php and make necessary changes to the file. See VB Directions. Make sure this code has a different setting than the master site for table prefix.

PHP Code:

 //          ****** TABLE PREFIX ******
 //          Prefix that your vBulletin tables have in the database.
$config['Database']['tableprefix'] = ''; 


3.) Run the vb install from the new directory (/www/new_forums/install/install.php)

4.) During the install, be sure NOT to empty the tables. If you have any doubt about what this means, stop NOW! If you empty the tables, you will lose all of your existing data from a prior install!

5.) Download all files and directories to your PC from the new install location.

6.) You will need a tool to do a mass Search and replace on all files. I use WildEdit. Here is what you will do using a tool like Wild Edit.

• Search for [" . TABLE_PREFIX . "user] Replace with [" . "vb3_user] where "vb3_" is the prefix to your master site. 110 Files modified 599 Total changes made
• Search for [" . TABLE_PREFIX . "strikes] Replace with [" . "vb3_strikes] where "vb3_" is the prefix to your master site 4 Files modified 8 Total changes made
• Search for [" . TABLE_PREFIX . "pm] Replace with [" . "vb3_pm] where "vb3_" is the prefix to your master site 16 Files modified 77 Total changes made
• Search for [" . TABLE_PREFIX . "session] Replace with [" . "vb3_session] where "vb3_" is the prefix to your master site 20 Files modified 31 Total changes made

Now to modify some of the code.

In /include/class_dm.php

Search for:

PHP Code:

 function fetch_insert_sql($tableprefix, $table)

            { 


Add below change vb3_ to your master site prefix:

PHP Code:

if ($table == "vb3_pmtext")

            {

                        $sql = "INSERT INTO {$table}\r\n\t(" . implode(', ', array_keys($this->$table)) . 


")\r\nVALUES\r\n\t(";

            

            }

            else 


Go to /include/class_dm_pm.php

Search for:

PHP Code:

var $table = 'pmtext'; 


Replace with making vb3_ the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

var $table = 'vb3_pmtext'; 


Search for:

PHP Code:

$pmtextid = ($this->existing['pmtextid'] ? $this->existing['pmtextid'] : $this->pmtext['pmtextid']); 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

$pmtextid = ($this->existing['pmtextid'] ? $this->existing['pmtextid'] : $this->vb3_pmtext['pmtextid']); 


Search for:

PHP Code:

$this->dbobject->query_write("INSERT INTO " . TABLE_PREFIX . "pm (pmtextid, userid) VALUES ($pmtextid, $user[userid])"); 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

$this->dbobject->query_write("INSERT INTO " . "vb3_pm (pmtextid, userid) VALUES ($pmtextid, $user[userid])"); 


Search for:

PHP Code:

" . $this->dbobject->escape_string($user['username']) . "', '" . $this->dbobject->escape_string($this->pmtext['title']) . 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

" . $this->dbobject->escape_string($user['username']) . "', '" . $this->dbobject->escape_string($this->vb3_pmtext['title']) . 


Go to /include/class_dm_user.php

Search for:

PHP Code:

$return = $this->db_update(TABLE_PREFIX, 'user', $this->condition, $doquery, $delayed); 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

$return = $this->db_update('vb3_', 'user', $this->condition, $doquery, $delayed); 


Search for:

PHP Code:

$this->db_update(TABLE_PREFIX, 'userfield',     $this->condition, $doquery, $delayed); 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

$this->db_update('vb3_', 'userfield',     $this->condition, $doquery, $delayed); 


Search for:

PHP Code:

$this->db_update(TABLE_PREFIX, 'usertextfield', $this->condition, $doquery, $delayed); 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

$this->db_update('vb3_', 'usertextfield', $this->condition, $doquery, $delayed); 


Search for:

PHP Code:

if ($return = $this->db_insert(TABLE_PREFIX, 'user', $doquery)) 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

if ($return = $this->db_insert('vb3_', 'user', $doquery)) 


Search for:

PHP Code:

$this->db_insert(TABLE_PREFIX, 'userfield',     $doquery); 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

$this->db_insert('vb3_', 'userfield',     $doquery); 


Search for:

PHP Code:

$this->db_insert(TABLE_PREFIX, 'usertextfield', $doquery); 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

$this->db_insert('vb3_', 'usertextfield', $doquery); 


Search for:

PHP Code:

DELETE FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "session 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

DELETE FROM ?.?vb3_session 


Search for:

PHP Code:

INSERT INTO " . TABLE_PREFIX . "passwordhistory (userid, password, passworddate) 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

INSERT INTO " . "vb3_passwordhistory (userid, password, passworddate) 


Search for:

PHP Code:

 UPDATE " . TABLE_PREFIX . "session SET 


Replace with where vb3_ is the prefix to your master site:

PHP Code:

   UPDATE ?.?vb3_session SET 


That is all the code modification.


The only other item I did is remove a couple cron jobs.

Go into Scheduled tasks then to Scheduled Task Manager

Delete the following CRON jobs from the Slave Site

User Promotions*
Birthdays
Activation Reminder Email

This will eliminate members getting emails from the primary and secondary sites
*not sure if this will duplicate efforts between primary and secondary sites I have it running on both sites still waiting to see if it causes any issues.


Please post here if you have any problems and questions I will try my best to keep up with everyone to help you through this. Once you get the code done the first time you can just do a mass search and replace on your license code and you can be up and running in minutes with a new site.

This is my first major modification so I hope I posted this all correct, again Thanks to Westpointer for his original work without his post this would not have been possible.

Thanks

UPDATE:

Please make this changes it will allow you to make changes to usergroups in the subscription section and when editing a user.

admincp/adminfunctions.php
Search for

PHP Code:

                $result = $vbulletin->db->query_read("SELECT title, $tableid FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "$tablename $wherecondition ORDER BY title"); 


Replace with

PHP Code:

if ($tablename == "usergroup")
                {
                $result = $vbulletin->db->query_read("SELECT title, $tableid FROM " . "vb3_$tablename $wherecondition ORDER BY title");
                }
                else
                {
                $result = $vbulletin->db->query_read("SELECT title, $tableid FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "$tablename $wherecondition ORDER BY title");
                } 


[jstep]

anyone got replacements for wildedit?

[Renmiri]

Great Mod!

I will give it a try after a good solid site backup!

[jstep]

well, without a good solution to use instead of wildedit its like $30, been looking will let you know the results

[Flare]

We have just sucessfully merged two live, active VB systems into one user database. It was a real pain in the ass, and it really is only viable in specific instances.

What we had to do, in a nutshell:

Merge site A with Site B with Impex... so now you have one big, fat, unified site. I copied the mysql database from the new mega-site B into the old Site A and deleted everything from Site B that I did not want in site A. All this was done after this hack was completed on site A.

The limitation of this is one of the sites (in this case, Site B) had no posts on Site A from the users on Site B. So all the Site A users and posts are imported into Site B, and posts are kept intact.

If you want/have to merge both sites and both sites are sharing posts/users in BOTH directions, you're screwed because of the way VB stores threads and individual posts (by user number). This method will ONLY work if one site can be imported into the other, then split from there. It's a major pain.

Anyway ... what I'd like to do now is be able to move/transfer threads between the two sites now ... I don't think there is a hack for this yet (why would there be?) ... but does anyone know if there is, and if not, what exactly is involved in transfering a thread from one site to another?

[wiredinoc]

Hi guys,

This is a very important mod, and thanks to the author. I have installed this with success, and I'm launching a new site this next week based on the ability to now have 2 forums off of one user table. I even got vbpager to work inbetween the two sites using the same table replacement strings

There are a few strange gotchas though.. Here's what I found:

1. While creating new forums, I noticed the (xx users viewing) text pop up on the slave site that was password protected. It looks like VB calculates this number based on the category ID, and then the display order. In a nutshell, the primary forum's viewing numbers are incorrectly passed to the slaves. I'm not sure if this affects threads yet.

2. What happens when I want to add different profile fields, or any profile fields for that matter for new users to complete upon registration? Should I create them on the master site, then dump a table to the slave site? confused.

3. If I ever run a recount process on posts, what would the expected result be? I can't imagine good..

4. Is there a way to maintain login between the two sites (on different domains)? Right now, user needs to re-login on the seperate sites. I'm sure this is a cookie limitation, just curious.

Anyways, I'm balls in at this point, new site running, integration is killer. Thanks guys, this is absolutely awesome... any additional help is appreciated.

oh yeah, also got PP classifieds to use one DB..

[wiredinoc]

Update!

I fixed the user/viewing forums very easily. Went into the forum table, and re-numbered all of the forum ID's starting with 500, and adjusted the parent column accordingly. Now everything is working correctly, and users on the slave site appear in the forums correctly.

Lots of gotcha's here folks, but there is a TON you can do with this using the replacement strings (table_prefix). I'm now testing to see if I can get the avatars to stick in between sites.

Still looking for an answer on #2, and #3. The way things are going now, I may have a full integration of many more elements working soon.

Great mod guys!!! Stay tuned.

[Cedric_FP]

Is it possible to make it so that if a user is online on one of the slave sites, it shows on every other site connected to the same DB?

[wiredinoc]

Cedric, yes, that's how it works with this mod out of the box. If a user is on site B, it aggregates the users from both sites and they all appear in the online list.

[shortbus1662]

I haven't read this entire thread but I've been doing this on my forums for quite sometime.

The difference in what I'm doing is that everything is the same except the domain name, the style, and the templates.

The forums are all the same.

I hired someone to do mine. I have quite a few sites.

One thing, when I first did it, the vb.com guys said I had to have one license for each site now they say since everything is the same and nothing is different, one license is sufficient (now they tell me).

I'd like to figure out how to have certain forums on one domain only rather than all of them. It would be interesting to see how this differs from what was done on my site.

Sorry to hijack, just found this interesting.

[e2s]

Not a problem. This allows you to share the User tables, PM tables, subscription tables, and usergroup tables. The forums have completely different content.

Check out my sites in my signature and you will see. I am starting up 2 more sites in the coming month. Pretty easy to start new sites I just do a search and replace on the License code and it is done.