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.

[bamaster]

Originally Posted by Carnage-

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.

I did everything right, but I found the problem.

Before uploading your "hooks_vbcms.xml" file, I renamed the original file to "hooks_vbcms_backup.xml". I left it in the xml folder.

As soon as I deleted that backup file the hack worked. Go figure.

Thank you! I think this should be delivered code in the vBulletin package.

[Lee Roberts]

Yea me to Ba, this MOD really should be in vB as standard.

Carnage im about to install this, i'm running 4.1 so do i still need to use the hooks_vbcms.xml file or ?

Thanks,
Lee

[Lee Roberts]

Np...Carnage, it looks like they are no longer defined as admin hooks for the next version. I've changed the fixed version.

Cool so anyone about to install this, if your running 4.0.1 you wont need to replace the hooks_vbcms.xml file.

[Carnage]

Ive updated the first post to reflect the new situation for 4.0.1

[carrlos]

Not working for me. I am running 4.0.1. I tried it without the included hooks_vbcms.xml file and tried it with the file. I tried posting to the CMS thread as well as the original thread that I promoted from the forums but nothing happened.

Edit:
It started working only after reinstalled and re-promoted a thread. Thanks!

Edit2:
This thing is freakin' awesome!! Why hasn't everyone downloaded it???

[Carnage]

Thanks for that feedback.

Did you install it on 4.0.0 and then upgrade to 4.0.1?

[Dzi13]

is this only for vb cms or any other cms ?

[Carnage]

It'll only work with the vbCMS.

[Carnage]

Updated first post.

The only known outstanding bug left in this product is that if you delete an article that was promoted from a forum thread, it will delete the thread tags from the original thread. This has been marked as fixed by vbulletin, so it should be resolved in 4.0.2 or 4.0.3.

[msimonds]

Works like a charm, thank you sir!!!

~Mike