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.

[Lazorbeam]

Originally Posted by SocketTF

setting the permisions on all sections and subsections of the CMS (CP Admin menu -> Vbulletin CMS -> Permisions

I don't quite understand what needs to be done here.

[Luca_ITA]

Originally Posted by SocketTF

When I post on a forum thread of the promoted one the article comments don't show the new comment.

Same here
vB 4.1.9

[AndrewSimm]

I am having to clear the cms cache each time a comment is posted for it to appear.

[sticky]

After going to 4.1.10 I can no longer make comments from the CMS page, has to be done from the thread or clicking go advanced.

The comment box is grayed out for some reason and I can't put in any text.

[SocketTF]

Works for me on 4.1.10. for the comments appear I'm just disabled the built-in vBulletin cache and now all comments or post appears instantly and got a decent forum performance.

[flighttalk]

Originally Posted by SocketTF

Works for me on 4.1.10. for the comments appear I'm just disabled the built-in vBulletin cache and now all comments or post appears instantly and got a decent forum performance.

SocketTF, any chance you could let us know how you managed to disable post cache, and do you know if there are any problems that this might cause for other forum operations?

Really really want to get this working and can't believe its not a standard function in VB4!

[SocketTF]

Originally Posted by flighttalk

SocketTF, any chance you could let us know how you managed to disable post cache, and do you know if there are any problems that this might cause for other forum operations?

Really really want to get this working and can't believe its not a standard function in VB4!

Sure, in your admin cp go to Options -> Server Optimization and configuration options -> then check "Yes" at the option near the end of the options group called "Deactivate Content Cache" (or something, I got my cp interface in spanish).

And yes, this must be a standard function in Vbulletin.

[flighttalk]

That worked, anyone know how to get this mod working without permanently disabling the post cache?

[CoZmicShReddeR]

Is there anyway you can give the option when clicking on comments to have it link directly back to the forums post rather then the CMS article front?

[deverill2010]

Originally Posted by SocketTF

Sure, in your admin cp go to Options -> Server Optimization and configuration options -> then check "Yes" at the option near the end of the options group called "Deactivate Content Cache" (or something, I got my cp interface in spanish).

And yes, this must be a standard function in Vbulletin.

This mod works for me without having to do the above on 4.1.10, yippe!!