Miscellaneous Hacks - Disable BBCodes/Smilies Per Users/Usergroups

Overview:

This product is in response to the request posted by The Mailman here:

Disable [img] bb code for specific user or usergroup?

This product allows you to designate a list of BBCodes and a list of Smilies that will be disabled for the users/usergroups you select. You may also restrict users individually, with their own separate lists of restrictions. The affected BBCodes/Smilies will be disabled only in the areas you select, and you can elect to have them disabled in signatures and previews (corresponding to the other areas selected) as well. You can disable only the display of restricted content, or you can choose to prevent restricted content from being saved to the database altogether.

Updates:

Version 1.1:

• Fixed HTML encoding issue.

Version 1.2:

• Added option to disable smilies.
• Added option to select usergroup membership type (primary only/secondary only/primary and secondary).
• Added option for individual custom restrictions by username.
• Replacement message can be set for BBcodes only, smilies only, both BBCodes and smilies, or turned off.
• Quoted posts/PMs of restricted users now has BBCodes/smilies disabled.

Version 1.2.5:

• Fixed bug with non-Latin characters.

Version 1.2.6:

• Fixed reported issue with PMs.

Version 1.3:

• Added the option to prevent restricted content from being saved to the database, and old restricted content to be removed.
• Moved the code that parses content to an external script to avoid redundancy.

Version 1.3.1:

• Fixed reported issue with Signatures.

Version 1.4:

• Fixed multi-quote issue.

Compatibility:

Tested and working on VB 4.2.x and may work on all 4.x versions of vBulletin.

Backup/Warning:

This product does not alter your database on installation, however it is always good practice to make regular backups and you should make a backup before installing ANY new mod.

As always, products are USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I will provide support and do my best to help but no absolute guarantee is offered.

To Install:

1. Download and extract the attached .zip file.
2. Upload the contents of the "upload" folder to your server's root directory.
3. Follow AdminCP -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product.
4. Click on "Choose File" and browse to the product .xml file that was packaged in the .zip file.
5. Click "Import."
6. You MUST enable the product in the settings before it will function.
7. Configure the remaining settings to your liking. Each setting has a detailed explanation of its use.

Support for this product can be found here:

• MHB - Disable BBCodes/Smilies Per Users/Usergroups
• TAZ - Disable BBCodes/Smilies Per Users/Usergroups

[draco.mf]

Will try to detect and let You know

[MarkFL]

Originally Posted by draco.mf

Will try to detect and let You know

Thank you! I appreciate it and apologize for the inconvenience. I am hoping you don't have a huge number of products installed and it won't be a Herculean effort to find it.

[Tom_Jones]

I'm looking for a mod that does sort of the reverse of this one. I have a set of BBCodes that I only want specific users/usergroups to be able to use (and potentially a different set of users/groups per BBCode). In essence, I wish to enable, instead of disable, certain BBCodes per user/usergroup. Does something like this exist?

[Alan_SP]

Yes, I also like this idea. Abe's mod does this, but it is pretty complicated to set up.

[Peter Walker]

First of all, your instructions are confusing. You tell people to upload the file into the server root directory. Many people put vBulletin in a subdirectory like /forum and they would be confused as to where to put it. After experimenting, I found you meant the forum root directory. For example, if vbulletin is installed in www.mywebsite.com/forum, then the directory and contents has to be uploaded to www.mywebsite.com/forum/markfl_disablebbcodes and NOT www.mywebsite.com/markfl_disablebbcodes which would be the server directory.

I am trying to set this up so that members of a premium secondary usergroup (30) can use the bbcodes and everyone else cannot. This is to restrict access to videos, etc. to those that have permission. I am still working out how to get this to work with your mod. It would therefore be much easier if an extra setting could be added to switch to enabling the bbcodes for just selected usergroups instead of disabling for all, but.
I originally installed the first version of this mod, before discovering version 1.4 that I have now installed under vBulletin 4.2.5.

This is how I setup the mod:
Set whether product is active or not.: Yes
BBCode Tag Names: audiop,videomp4p,videomp4vttp
Smilies:
Usergroups: Marked all usergroups except: None,All,Administrators,Premium
Usergroup Membership Type: I tested all three variants - see below.
Usernames:
Individual Restrictions:
Replace BBCodes/Smilies With Message? Yes, For BBCodes Only
Active Areas: All ticked
Suppression Type: Display

As far as I could see, this should work. Everybody who has the Premium group activated as a secondary group should be allowed to see the content, everyone else should see the error message.

I tried setting Usergroups: ALL
This blocked access for everyone.
- Primary Usergroups Only: Blocked
- Secondary Usergroups Only: Blocked
- Primary And Secondary Usergroups: Blocked

I tested this with three users:

User: Administrator
Usergroup Primary : Administrator
Usergroup Secondary: Premium
Expectation: Should by able to use the bbcode as he belongs to the premium group.

User: PremiumUser
Usergroup Primary : Registered Member
Usergroup Secondary: Premium
Expectation: Should by able to use the bbcode as he belongs to the premium group.

User: NormalUser
Usergroup Primary : Registered Member
Usergroup Secondary:
Expectation: Should by blocked from seeing the bbcode and shown an error message, instead.


Test 1:
Usergroups: All marked except: None, All, Administrators, Premium
User: Administrator (should always have access)
- Primary Usergroups Only: BBCode Displayed
- Secondary Usergroups Only: Blocked
- Primary And Secondary Usergroups: Blocked

User: NormalUser (should be denied access)
- Primary Usergroups Only: BBCode Displayed, although should be blocked
- Secondary Usergroups Only: Blocked
- Primary And Secondary Usergroups: Blocked

User: PremiumUser (should have access)
- Primary Usergroups Only: BBCode Displayed, OK
- Secondary Usergroups Only: Blocked, although member of premium usergroup!
- Primary And Secondary Usergroups: Blocked

Test 2:
Usergroups: Premium usergroup selected, ONLY (Administrator and PremiumUser have this as secondary group)
User: Administrator (should always have access)
- Primary Usergroups Only: BBCode Displayed
- Secondary Usergroups Only: Blocked
- Primary And Secondary Usergroups: Blocked

User: NormalUser (should be denied access)
- Primary Usergroups Only: BBCode Displayed, although should be blocked
- Secondary Usergroups Only: Blocked
- Primary And Secondary Usergroups: Blocked

User: PremiumUser (should have access)
- Primary Usergroups Only: BBCode Displayed, OK
- Secondary Usergroups Only: Blocked, although member of premium usergroup!
- Primary And Secondary Usergroups: Blocked


As you can see, there is no combination that works correctly. What am I doing wrong?

[Peter Walker]

I have solved my problem, but not with this Mod. It appears to be flawed and does not work properly, I uninstalled it.

It turns out that another similar Mod, by the same author, does work properly and with a minor change, will do exactly what I needed.

The Mod is Hide BBCodes/Signatures From Guests/Users and I explain what needs to be changed, there in post #110. I even provide my updated product file.

So if you need to enable a BBCode in just some forums of your choice, that is the way to do it.
I have implemented it on my forum and it works well.

I hope this helps.

[MarkFL]

Originally Posted by Peter Walker

I have solved my problem, but not with this Mod. It appears to be flawed and does not work properly, I uninstalled it.

Your use of the product was the inverse of the intended usage, so that was where the issue was. As far as I know, everyone who uses this for its intended purpose finds it works correctly.

[Peter Walker]

I tested it as it was intended, and even then it was not reliable. Now this could be something that was specific to my forum. Either way for me, the other mod was reliable from the start - this one was not.

[MarkFL]

It could be your use of secondary usergroups gave you results you didn't expect. If a user is a member of an allowed group and also a member of a disallowed usergroup, the net result is they will be disallowed.

[two dogs]

Hi Mark,

I've recently installed this excellent mod on a couple of vBulletin 4.2.5 forums that I administer.

As it was working well on the first one I installed it on, I installed it on the second one. Soon after, I was informed by a user that he was receiving the following requester on clicking on the Post Quick Reply button, after typing a response into the Quick Reply panel:

Attachment 157371

This had never happened previously, and the normal behaviour returned on disabling the mod. A little more testing determined that with the mod enabled, but no tag names specified, the problem didn't occur!

I didn't notice the problem on the first forum, as I had disabled the Quick Reply option on it. When I temporarily enabled it there, the problem manifested itself.

Wondering if there was a conflict with some other mod, I tried disabling them all on a test version of the production forum, but the problem persisted.

I've just now done an install of a new, clean, V4.2.5 forum, with no changes to the default configuration. Yes, Click Not Required was the default for the Quick Reply option.

After creating a thread, and doing a couple of Quick Replies, without any problem, I installed the mod, and the problem manifested itself (again, only when a tag name was specified). So, it would seem that the problem isn't caused by any conflict with another mod?

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Julian