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

[Bluefin221]

Originally Posted by subnet_rx

I agree, my social group usage would drop significantly if this addon was dropped. I have 3.8 and my social forums are still working fine, is there some problem with this and 3.8 that I haven't seen yet?

Check this post: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=661

[Phalynx]

Just a short note: SocialForums 2.0 is now in work. It will work only with vBulletin 3.8 and replace it's Discussions.

I don't know when it will be finished, but I assume that a beta could be probably released in 1-2 weeks.

Please tell me what you are expecting from this, f.e. new features.

[MrEyes]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

Please tell me what you are expecting from this, f.e. new features.

IMHO best case scenario would be this:

Entirely remove the default VB SG discussions and replace them with a fully functional forum, but have this on the SG page (like the default) rather than the forum list. I suppose I am saying a forum with the SG stuff (total pics, member list etc) at the top.

[GHC Webmaster]

Personally I liked the original way of the social forums, having the forums in the normal forum list/home, so would prefer to have at least the option to do that. On the other hand it would be nice to have the forum visible on the social groups page as well. So an option to choose one or both would be nice.

Actually if it would be possible to get the SG info on top of the forum when you click on it in the normal forum list that would be great as well. I suppose I could create a workaround by editing forums which are just links to another page (the SG page), if the forum would just be visible on the SG page.

[Bluefin221]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

Just a short note: SocialForums 2.0 is now in work. It will work only with vBulletin 3.8 and replace it's Discussions.

I don't know when it will be finished, but I assume that a beta could be probably released in 1-2 weeks.

Please tell me what you are expecting from this, f.e. new features.

Keep it the way it is.

[YabbaDabba]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

Just a short note: SocialForums 2.0 is now in work. It will work only with vBulletin 3.8 and replace it's Discussions.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Originally Posted by Phalynx

Please tell me what you are expecting from this, f.e. new features.

Perhaps this is already possible and I just can't find it. Presently, we place all SF forums in a parent "Groups" forum that has a forced skin assignment (different from the regular non-group forums). It would be very useful if all the SF forums would inherit that "forced" skin. So a control in the SF Config such as "New forums automatically inherit Parent forum skin assignment? [ ] yes" would be wonderful!

Less important, but requiring non-trivial code:
The ability for a member to select a forum assignment for his new SF. That is, we have about a dozen "sub-category" forums to hold the member-created group forums. We'd like to allow the member to select the best match during the SF forum creation process. I imagine a control in the SF Config such as "SF creator-selectable parent forum assignments [ ]" with a text box that accepts a csv list of forum IDs would be necessary in the config panel and a drop down list of category names for the SF forum creator to select from.

"Groups" Forum set up as a category (parent forum)
-- Subgroup category A
---- SocialForum A1 run by member "XYZ"
---- SocialForum A2 run by member "Abc"
-- Subgroup category B
---- SocialForum B1 run by member "123"
---- SocialForum B2 run by member "asdf"
---- SocialForum B3 run by member "999"
-- Subgroup category C
---- SocialForum C1 run by member "XYZ"
---- SocialForum C2 run by member "jkl"


Other minor ideas/suggestions:

• Help pop-ups for all SF config options
• An option for "Show X threads" to enable "All"
• "Parent forum" description suggestion: "All newly created social forums are placed here."

[Varsh]

Is there a possibility of allowing SG Leaders to be able to create a Project and have it added to their forum? Also maybe have an option to allow SG Leaders moved to a different usergroup if set to yes.

[subnet_rx]

I would almost say keep it the way it is also, the only thing that really confused me was permissioning. I had been operating with groups for a while before social groups came along using the groups that was built-in to vB. I'd create a group for someone, they would petition people to join, then upon getting enough members, I'd create a forum for them. The forum would show permissions for that group. With SG forums, you don't see permissions for the social group, just all other member groups on your forum.

Also, I don't know if I would put the forum inside the SG page. My members like the posts being listed in the new posts search. To be honest, I've always thought you could mod the old vB groups system to have a pretty comprehensive social group forum feature.

[Fraik]

Thats awesome! Here are a few features I'd think would be awesome, if possible:

1. Group avatar in forum description
2. Group category in forum description
3. Remove forum option for group leader
4. Automatically remove forum upon group removal
5. Automatically change forum moderator upon group leader change

Again, great work and thanks for the effort

[punchbowl]

I'd like it pretty much as is.