Major Additions - XenvB4 (Formerly ProjectvB4)

1. Works with "Forum only" vBulletin version. Suite version still is not supported.
2. RTL support is currently limited.
3. I can't guarantee that it will works with any 3nd party addon. No errors but the templates will not be responsive.

XenvB4 (formerly ProjectvB4) is not just a responsive style, but a full framework adding new features to vBulletin 4.2.5

• Responsive, mobile first design
• Redesigned important pages
  • Forumlist
  • Threadlist
  • Showthread
  • User Profile
• New Modern Features
  • Modal profile popup
  • Search Panle
  • User menu Panel
  • Navigation Panel
  • Advanced Footer
  • Forum Cover Photo
  • Forum Icon
  • Facebook style Profile Cover Photo
• Included Add-on Modules
  • Donations
  • Mailinglist
  • Memberlist
  • Cookies
  • GDPR Compliance
  • Legal Agreements

Installation



XenvB4 installation is pretty easy if you follow the instructions below, step by step.

1. If you've installed any version (Alpha or Beta) of ProjectvB4, uninstall it !!
2. Unizip the file and upload all the files and folders from upload/ folder, to the directory where you've installed vBulletin. ATTENTION !!! If you've renamed your admincp/ directory, or if you've the admin files in a different directory, then you need to upload everything from admincp/ to your real admin directory.
3. Go to your admincp and first import the new style from Styles & Templates-> Download/Upload Style-> Import Style
   1. Browse and select the style/xenvb4-style.xml from your computer
   2. Let "Create a New Style" as is
   3. Just in case, is better to set "Ignore Style Version" to YES
   4. Let other settings as is
   5. Click Import
4. XenvB4 comes with a set of plugins and templates, so you need to import the product file. Select Plugins & Products-> Manage Products
5. Click Add/Import Product and select product-xenvb4.xml from your computer. Is good to set "Allow Overwrite" to YES.

Configuration



If XenvB4 installation was successful is time to configure it. First of all you must complete the follow steps which are important for XenvB4 operation.

1. XenvB4 add the default forum icon and forum cover to your existing forums, but you need to update the cache to see them working. If you don't do this, all your existing forums will not show any icon or cover. Goto Admincp-> Maintenance-> General Update Tools and Rebuild Forum Information.
2. Now is time to set User Profile Avatar and Cover Photo. I never understood the reason why these dimensions are not Global but per Usergroup. So you must edit one by one all your Usergroups and modify Picture Uploading Permissions with the values:
   1. Can Upload Profile Pictures : YES
   2. Can Upload Animated Profile Picture : NO
   3. Profile Picture Maximum Width : 1200
   4. Profile Picture Maximum Height : 340
   5. Profile Picture Maximum File-Size : 1024000
   6. Can Upload Custom Avatars : YES
   7. Can Upload Animated Avatar : NO
   8. Custom Avatar Maximum Width : 150
   9. Custom Avatar Maximum Height : 150
   10. Custom Avatar Maximum File-Size : 200000
3. Back to Maintenance-> General Update Tools and Rebuild Custom Avatar Thumbnails
4. At xenvb4/images/ you can overwrite the default images. Even if it's ok to use images with different dimensions, I highly recommend to use the default dimensions:
   1. email_logo.png (119 X 46)
   2. footer_logo.png (250 X 60)
   3. noavatar.png (150 X 150)
   4. nocover.png (1200 X 340) for both forum cover and profile cover.

Core Modifications



Depending on your configuration, may there are some changes that you need to do in core files. Unfortunately vBulletin license does not allows distribution of core files, so you must modify them on your own.

1.- HTML Emails
If you want to replace Text emails with HTML emails, you must edit the file: includes/class_mail.php
Line 285
Replace:

$headers .= 'Content-Type: text/plain' . iif($encoding, "; charset="$encoding"") . $delimiter;

With:

 	
$headers .= 'Content-Type: text/html' . iif($encoding, "; charset="$encoding"") . $delimiter;

Line 294
Replace:

	
$this->message = $message;

With

 	
$this->message = str_replace("{message_bodytext}", nl2br($message), $vbulletin->options['xenvb4_mail_template']);

PS: If you already did these changes before when you installed ProjectvB4, the only change on this file is line 294

2.- Editor Emoticons
If you want to hide the emoticons from the right side of the editor to earn some space in mobile view (emoticon will still be available from the button menu), you must edit the file includes/functions_editor.php. Open it with a text editor (not Word and similar), and change line 551
From:

 	
$usesmiliebox = true;

To:

 	
$usesmiliebox = false;

3.- Poll icon in Forum/Thread lists
To replace the Poll icon with a FA icon, your need to edit the file includes/functions_forumlist.php line 592
From:

 	
return array('iconpath' => vB_Template_Runtime::fetchStyleVar('imgdir_misc') . "/poll_posticon.gif", 'title' => $vbphrase['poll']);

To:

 	
return array('iconpath' => '<i class="fa fa-bar-chart" aria-hidden="true" title="'.$vbphrase['poll'].'" style="float:left; margin-right:7px; color:green; font-size:18px;"></i>');

[Hostboard]

I would recommend that you add a service to your list of qualifications you are willing to offer in that "Upgrade VB4 to PHP 7.4.x" as unfortunately publishing any of the core code even here is against the rules. many sites are already running under this version of PHP with zero issues. There have been quite a few here and on other VB related sites wanting to update PHP so I think there is a niche market for this.

Just a side note, my site just got updated to MariaDB 10.5.8 and seems to be no issues with that either.

[ChrisTERiS]

Originally Posted by cdoyle

Will you still be releasing the newsletter and classifieds mods as part of XEN?

Newsletter is a bundle of 2 separate modules:

1. First I'll complete the Mailinglist module. Have already the functions to Subscribe/Unsubscribe, so what left is to add the Newsletter creation.
2. Second is the Member Newsletter which will includes forum activity. If I use the exact same code as my old mod, does not needs lot of work, as the only that need to change are some (few) templates.

But I can't fix a date for release. The good point is that I finished with XLForo, both script and website, so I can focus now again the XenvB4.

[ChrisTERiS]

Originally Posted by Hostboard

I would recommend that you add a service to your list of qualifications you are willing to offer in that "Upgrade VB4 to PHP 7.4.x" as unfortunately publishing any of the core code even here is against the rules. many sites are already running under this version of PHP with zero issues. There have been quite a few here and on other VB related sites wanting to update PHP so I think there is a niche market for this.

Just a side note, my site just got updated to MariaDB 10.5.8 and seems to be no issues with that either.

Sorry, don't have in my plans to offer such services due to lack of free time. Someone else who released here PHP 7.3 compatibility, has also updated his files for 7.4, but don't know if he is willing to release them in public.

As for the copyrights. In this case, law is not strict, for 2 reasons:

1. Product has officially marked as EOL.
2. Everybody can look around to find a way to keep his investment alive. Buying something is always an investment, which also has rights according to the law. Nobody can push someone to continue upgrading a script, but on the same case, nobody can restrict a user to find a way to protect his investment as long as the company does not offers it.

[cdoyle]

Originally Posted by ChrisTERiS

Newsletter is a bundle of 2 separate modules:

1. First I'll complete the Mailinglist module. Have already the functions to Subscribe/Unsubscribe, so what left is to add the Newsletter creation.
2. Second is the Member Newsletter which will includes forum activity. If I use the exact same code as my old mod, does not needs lot of work, as the only that need to change are some (few) templates.

But I can't fix a date for release. The good point is that I finished with XLForo, both script and website, so I can focus now again the XenvB4.

That's great to hear that XEN will still be developed and the additional features are still in the works.
One thing about the newsletter, will it be possible to send to forum members? In addition to people who sign up? My idea for the newsletter is to keep my members engaged with the forum.

Just a thought, as I know on my forum it would get more readers that way.

If they don't want to receive it, there could be an option within their User CP to unsubscribe?

[ChrisTERiS]

Originally Posted by cdoyle

One thing about the newsletter, will it be possible to send to forum members? In addition to people who sign up? My idea for the newsletter is to keep my members engaged with the forum.

Just a thought, as I know on my forum it would get more readers that way.

This is exactly what I have in my mind but my English quality didn't help me to make it clear. So, in simple words, the recipients are:

1. Mailinglist: Anybody who subscribes to Mailinglist
2. Newsletter: Members

Originally Posted by cdoyle

If they don't want to receive it, there could be an option within their User CP to unsubscribe?

Sure. Even if on the footer of each email should be an Unsubscribe link (you can turn if OFF), the users can always unsubscribe from an option in usercp. I'll not use the current setting "Receive emails from Admin", to have the system flexible. Maybe someone don't want to get Newsletter but still want to be inform for important announcements.


Finally, for those who don't remember this mod, it also supports:

1. Bounce emails
2. Ability to Admins to send a message from a smartphone to a specific email address having a password after the title (not visible to message), and the system to send this message to members. Works fine, but as it's a bit weak for security (if someone hacks the password), I'm thinking to extend it by adding a confirmation with SMS.

[cdoyle]

Originally Posted by iA1

In the navbar template, replace the following lines:

<div class="col col-xs-3" style="padding:10px 0px 0px 30px !important;">
<span class="hidden-xs">
<a type="button" class="btn btn-labeled btn-info" href="panel_menu.php" data-toggle="panel-Left"><span class="btn-label"><i class="fa fa-sitemap" aria-hidden="true"></i></span>{vb:rawphrase xenvb4_navigator}</a>
</span>
<span class="hidden-sm hidden-md hidden-lg">
<a type="button" class="btn btn-info" href="panel_menu.php" data-toggle="panel-Left"><i class="fa fa-sitemap" aria-hidden="true"></i></a>
</span>
</div>
<div class="col col-xs-9 text-right" style="padding:10px 30px 0px 0px !important;">

with these lines:

<div class="col col-xs-10 hidden-sm hidden-xs" style="padding:10px 0px 30px 30px !important;">
    <ul id="navtabs" class="navtabs floatcontainer<vb:if condition="$show['member'] AND $notifications_total"> notify</vb:if>">
{vb:raw navigation}
    </ul>
</div>
<div class="col col-xs-10 hidden-md hidden-lg hidden-xl" style="padding:10px 0px 0px 30px !important;">
<span class="hidden-xs">
<a type="button" class="btn btn-labeled btn-info" href="panel_menu.php" data-toggle="panel-Left"><span class="btn-label"><i class="fa fa-sitemap" aria-hidden="true"></i></span>{vb:rawphrase xenvb4_navigator}</a>
</span>
<span class="hidden-sm hidden-md hidden-lg">
<a type="button" class="btn btn-info" href="panel_menu.php" data-toggle="panel-Left"><i class="fa fa-sitemap" aria-hidden="true"></i></a>
</span>
</div>
<div class="col col-xs-2 text-right" style="padding:10px 30px 0px 0px !important;">

and in navbar_tabs template, find

<ul class="floatcontainer">

and replace with

<ul class="floatcontainer" style="margin: 15px 30px;">

@iA1;
Any idea why my dropdowns don't seem to functioning correctly in the nav?
I've tried your method a couple times, but get the same result.

www.caraudiocentral.net

[iA1]

Originally Posted by cdoyle

@iA1;
Any idea why my dropdowns don't seem to functioning correctly in the nav?
I've tried your method a couple times, but get the same result.

www.caraudiocentral.net

Add this to additional.css

.navtabs .popupbody {top:20px}

The color of those links should also be changed, as it matches the background. I think you might have to change that from stylevars. But if you want to override stylevars settings and manually set them in additional.css, then add this line and change the color value to whatever required:

.navtabs > ul.floatcontainer li a, .navtabs > ul.floatcontainer li a.popupctrl { color: #0575b2;}

[cdoyle]

Originally Posted by iA1

Add this to additional.css

.navtabs .popupbody {top:20px}

The color of those links should also be changed, as it matches the background. I think you might have to change that from stylevars. But if you want to override stylevars settings and manually set them in additional.css, then add this line and change the color value to whatever required:

.navtabs > ul.floatcontainer li a, .navtabs > ul.floatcontainer li a.popupctrl { color: #0575b2;}

That worked! Thank You

[cdoyle]

Originally Posted by ChrisTERiS

Newsletter is a bundle of 2 separate modules:

1. First I'll complete the Mailinglist module. Have already the functions to Subscribe/Unsubscribe, so what left is to add the Newsletter creation.
2. Second is the Member Newsletter which will includes forum activity. If I use the exact same code as my old mod, does not needs lot of work, as the only that need to change are some (few) templates.

But I can't fix a date for release. The good point is that I finished with XLForo, both script and website, so I can focus now again the XenvB4.

ChrisTERis, do you have any updates on the newsletter functionality?
It's something I would really like to start doing on my forum to help bring back users to my forum.

Also at one point you mentioned a classified system for XEN. Is that still in the works?

[cdoyle]

For anyone who wants to use this plugin, be aware that there appears to be an exploit in the 'newsletter.php' file.

My site was attacked today, and looks like they were trying to send out mail via this page. I've now since deleted the page entirely.

Since it appears that Chriteris' demo site has been deleted again, and he hasn't been back here since he posted them. I don't think we'll be able to get any support from him.

Are there any other coders around, who would be willing to look at this theme and see if there are any other vulnerabilities anywhere?

I really like this theme, but it needs support.

EDIT:
Here is what my host had to say about this page
The individuals are setting their name as a URL/image and it's being linked and sent. Here's the header portion:

To: maticielma@wp.pl
Subject: Unsubscription needs confirmation
X-PHP-Script: www.caraudiocentral.net/forums/dbseo.php for 1.20.181.16
X-PHP-Filename: /home/caraudio/public_html/forums/dbseo.php REMOTE_ADDR: 1.20.181.16
From: "Car Audio Central - Anything and Everything car audio"
Auto-Submitted: auto-generated
Message-ID: <20201222005958.736a035a8187@www.caraudiocentral.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: vBulletin Mail via PHP
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2020 16:59:58 -0800

Then the actual contents has something like this:

Dear [Malicious URL Here][Malicious Image]