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[CarCdr]

How would one control access to a hack that was just a mod to an existing vB script?

For example, Erwin's excellent little Microstats hack installs in function print_output in the file functions.php. It contains a hard-coded test for usergroup of 6. To change this default access, or update it later on, an administrator would have to modify functions.php.

What would be easier to manage would be a Feature Permission associated with the hack. In such a case, the contributor could simply add a permission name so that administrators would only have to use the AdminCP to control access to the hack.

In the case of Microstats, let's say that Erwin wanted to associate the permission name "Microstats" with the hack. His code would be delivered looking something like this:

if (defined('FEATURE_PERMISSIONS'))       // Feature permissions installed
{
     require_once('./includes/functions_feature_permissions');
     $grant_access = fp_access_allowed('Microstats');
}
if (!isset($grant_access))                // Use default access check
{
     $grant_access = ($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==6)
}

Here, if permissions are defined via AdminCP for the permission name "Microstats", then those permissions will apply. If the administrator does not define permissions, the default permission check will apply.

To control access using feature permissions, the administrator would define the permissions before installing the hack. For example, here is a mockup of AdminCP values required to restrict the hack to usergroups 6-9 or supermoderators or userids 46 or 101:

AdminCP:: Feature Permissions:: Define Permission
Permission name: Microstats
Usergroups: 6-9, supermoderators
Userids: 46, 101