Miscellaneous Hacks - SocialForums 1.4

SocialForums for vBulletin 3.7
Created by Marius Czyz aka Phalynx.

This mod will work *ONLY* with vBulletin 3.7 or higher. It will not run on vBulletin 3.6.x due to non existent feature of "social groups".

Support will be only given for people who clicked Mark as INSTALLED.

Description
Not satisfied with vBulletin social groups messaging function? With SocialForums your social group leaders can create a standard forum for their group.
A group leader can only create a forum if the group has at least 5 members - this can be changed via settings. Optionally the group leader can be a moderator of such a social forum.

Permissions
Since 1.3 there are advanced permissions active (Forum and Archive). This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.

Demo
None, see screenshots

Installation
This product is fully phrased and uses template hooks. No file changes or manual template edits needed.
1. Upload bitfield_socialforums.xml to existing folder /includes/xml/
2. Upload functions_socialforums.php to existing folder /includes/
3. Fresh Installation: Just import the product. Upgrade: Import the product, allow overwrite. No forums get lost!
4. Check settings, especially for parent forum. Don't forget to set permissions via usergroups!

Troubleshooting
Q: I don't see a link to create a forum. Why?
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, espacially if the user is allowed to create forum.
A: Check if the usergroup meet min users requirement, see AdminCP/Settings/SocialForums.

Q: My users see the forums, but they shouldn't!
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, if the users usergroup is set to "can see".
A: Did you disabled the restriction mode? Enable it.

Todo
- By deleting a group the forum should also be deleted/archived. Currently this has to be done manually.

Known Issues
- On big boards with hundreds of social groups this mod can really impact the performance because of the mass of new created forums. If you still want to use this mod use the "Minimum Members" feature with a higher value. Using the permission check there are additional two queries on every page.

History
1.4.6, 6th October 2008
- Permissions are now also active in Archive

1.4.2, 27th May 2008
- Added: If a group has a linked forum the grouplisting has the last post date and count of postings (with permission check).
- Added: Recent threads in linked forum on group home
- Added: Private groups: Link to forum only shown to members of group
- Changed: Enabled permissions for unregistered usergroup. Unregistered Users are not more explicit denied without a check of it's usergroup

1.3.1, 23th May 2008
- Fixed: Not existing array

1.3.0, 23th May 2008
- Added: Permissions are now active. This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. Please check permissions for every usergroup! As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.
- Added: Checks for permission before the creation link will be displayed
- Changed: Default View Age set to "Show all Threads"

1.2.1 8th April 2008:
- Added: Group messaging can be disabled via options (previously: always disabled)

1.2.0 4th April 2008:
- Added: Groupleader can now be moderator of group forum
- Added: Minimum Members that are required for own forum
- Added: Group messaging will be automatically hide for group that has own forum
- Added: Forums are created with more allowances
- Added: By deleting a forum the linked socialgroup get's updated
- Added: Forum's description contains link back to social group
- Added: By changing group's name it synchronize it with the forum's name

1.0/1.1 1st April 2008:
- Initial releases

[wicked80]

I thought the forum will also show up on the groups page where the "message bpx" is showing...but it only displays the forums in the forum page and not in the groups page.

Is this something possible?

[maidos]

well ppl can still start a thread on the forum section even if they arent meber or owner of the social group... and how do i make the subforum when a new group is created.

[Phalynx]

Originally Posted by Koroku

Could you at least make it an option of some sort? "Let admins have access to all Socialforums? Y/N" or something?

Sure.

Originally Posted by wicked80

I thought the forum will also show up on the groups page where the "message bpx" is showing...but it only displays the forums in the forum page and not in the groups page.

Is this something possible?

Very difficult, I would have to re-code stuff like in forumdisplay.php

Originally Posted by maidos

well ppl can still start a thread on the forum section even if they arent meber or owner of the social group... and how do i make the subforum when a new group is created.

How do you can post in a forum when you cannot create a forum because of a missing link?!?

[Varsh]

Originally Posted by maidos

how do i make the subforum when a new group is created.

Having a subforum for an SG isn't really the best idea, though if you still want one then you'll have to create it in the ACP.

[trackpads]

Nice work, whould be a default VB feature

[toonysnn]

Great modification! I will probably require the sub-forums, but I can code that myself.
[high]* toonysnn installs and nominates for MOTM[/high]

[Amit86]

question
a member of mine opened up a group and he wanted to make a new forum, he pressed the link, and got a no access page
how do i fix this for his usergroup?

[Varsh]

Are there enough members in the SG? The default is set to 5 members in the ACP. Check the vBulletin Options.

[jilly]

Okay, I made a forum in a group, and the forum works fine, but the regular area of messages is gone - all the past ones disappeared, and there is no way to post new ones - the only place to post messages is the forum, is this supposed to happen?

Also, how does the group leader get 'permission' to moderate their social forum? Does it add them to the moderator usergroup?

[Tynian]

Yes, the fact that the 'original' messages of the social group disappear is a pitty. For the rest it's a very cool piece of code!