Major Additions - vBMS : vBulletin Mail System

vBulletin Mail System

Finally, for vBulletin 3.6, there is a port from filburt1's original hack. For those of you who aren't aware, he essentially declared it open source, and it's been a bit of a wait for someone to fix it up... I've wanted it for my site, too, so I finally sat down and just did it.

What is this?
The vBulletin Mail System is a way to give your users webmail access from your site. They can have a name@yourwebsite.com address, send and receive emails and attachments, etc. Options such as mailbox quotas, limits on numbers/types of attachments, a message trailer ("Free mail at yourwebsite.com!") at the end of each message, etc. are all available as well.

Please note: this is a pre-final version. As far as I have seen, it is working so far for me, but I have not tested it completely and thoroughly and it's very likely there'll be a number of bugs popping up. However, I have successfully been able to install this on a clean board, exchange emails regularly (including attachments), go through all the basic options/etc. without any errors popping up, so it should be fine. Still, make sure you back up your database before installing this, just due to the nature of its "beta"-ness.

To install: upload all files from the "upload" directory to your server in the proper directories. Then, navigate to admincp/vbms_install.php on your server and run the installer. It will make several template additions. If your navbar or header templates hav been modified, it will not be able to do it automatically, and you'll have to add these edits yourself.

In template navbar, find:

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="usercp.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[user_cp]</a></td>

Add after:

			<if condition="$show['popups']">
				<td class="vbmenu_control" id="navbar_vbms">
					<a href="vbms.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[email]</a>
			
					<if condition="$vbms_newmessages['newcount'] > 0">
						<span style="font-weight: normal; padding: 1px 1px 1px 2px; margin: 0px 3px 0px 2px; border: 1px inset" class="alt1">
							<phrase 1="$vbms_newmessages[newcount]">$vbphrase[x_new]</phrase>
						</span>
					</if>
				
					<script type="text/javascript">
						<!--
							vbmenu_register("navbar_vbms");
						// -->
					</script>
				</td>
			<else />
				<td class="vbmenu_control" id="navbar_vbms">
					<a href="vbms.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[email]</a>
				
					<if condition="$vbms_newmessages['newcount'] > 0">
						<span style="font-weight: normal; padding: 1px 1px 1px 2px; margin: 0px 3px 0px 2px; border: 1px inset" class="alt1">
							<phrase 1="$vbms_newmessages[newcount]">$vbphrase[x_new]</phrase>
						</span>
					</if>
				</td>
			</if>

Find:

<!-- / header quick search form -->
	</if>

	<if condition="$show['member']">

Add after:

		<div class="vbmenu_popup" id="navbar_vbms_menu" style="display: none">
			<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0">
				<tr><td class="thead">vBulletin Mail System</td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_inbox]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_new.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_write_message]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_ab.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_address_book]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_folders.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_folders]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_filters.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_filters]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="vbms_options.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[navbar_options]</a></td></tr>
				<tr><td class="vbmenu_option"><a href="faq.php?$session[sessionurl]faq=faq_vbms">$vbphrase[navbar_help]</a></td></tr>
			</table>
		</div>

In your ACP, there should be a new set of options in a "vBulletin Mail System" category. That set of options is your main set of management stuff, and is pretty straightforward.

Feel free to post with any bugs or questions you find, etc. I'm trying to get this working again thoroughly, for all of us.

FAQ

• Is POP support available for my users?
  No, this is similar to a webmail system.
• What is a catch-all email address, and how do I set it up?
  A catch-all address is an email address that any mail sent to your server that isn't picked up by another account will go to. For example, if someone sends an email to randomgibberish@yoursite.com and you do not have a "randomgibberish" account defined, it would forward to your catch-all account that you have set up, such as all@yoursite.com.
• Can I run this if my server doesn't let me have a catch-all mail account?
  Yes, but it's not recommended. As has been suggested by a few members, you can set up one mail account to the be "catch-all" and have vBMS connect to that, then set up mail accounts for each member who wants one and have it forward to the catch-all. All this has to be set up manually with your web host, and takes a great deal of willpower and availability from the website administrator, and is thus not recommended.
• I'm receiving the following error:
  

  Fatal error: Call to undefined function: imap_open()...

  If you're getting an error similar to this, you do not have IMAP functionality available in PHP. Find your php.ini file on your server (usually /usr/local/lib/php.ini on Linux, C:\Windows\php.ini on Windows), and find the extensions section. Uncomment the line ";extension=php_imap.dll" (that is, remove the semicolon at the beginning) and restart your web server. If you don't have access to your web server to do this, contact your web host about installing IMAP support for PHP. If they won't do it, then this hack is not for you.
• I can't connect to the mail server, with this error:
  

  Warning: imap_open() [function.imap-open]: Couldn't open stream {localhost:110/pop3}INBOX in /includes/vbms_class_installer.php on line 791

  First, make sure that your port number and server information are right. Some mail servers are on non-default ports (this is common), and some you may have to connect to a different host besides localhost (this is very rare). Also, try using the "Force no-TLS connection" option in the vBMS Options in the ACP.
• I can connect to the server just fine, but it won't get any email!
  Check the "Mail checking logs" in your ACP (under the vBulletin Mail System area). If there are no logs, then the cronjob probably isn't running. If there are logs, see if there are any errors in there. If it's checking the mail account fine and simply says there are no messages, check with a webmail to see if the catch-all account is even receiving mails. If the webmail shows that the account has mail stuck in it and vBMS isn't picking them up, but vBMS is saying it's checking the account alright and finding 0 messages, then you're likely connecting to the wrong account. By doing these steps, you should at least be able to figure out where the problem is occurring.

Install clicks, donations and HotM nominations are always welcome.

[mindcry]

Not sure if this has been covered but it seems that if a user belongs to more then one group he will get Sorry, you can only send one message every 1 minutes. So, I tried adding all of the groups with similar access but still no luck. If I turn off the flood check for any of the groups though it will work without a problem.

[Neutral Singh]

Anybody running this on a live production site. How do we uninstall it?

[succo]

Originally Posted by bluechris

In the next update the problem with attachments will be fixed? i ask cause for now is the only major prob i see in the mod.. all the rest is fine.

attachments work flawlessly with the little file edit i posted some times ago... i've been running it since then without any problem

[bluechris]

thx m8 im fine now.

[Krofh]

Originally Posted by scan-pa

and when is the next update going to be uploaded??

Hopefully soonish.
but yes, it should hopefully fix the attachment bugs and such.

Originally Posted by mindcry

Not sure if this has been covered but it seems that if a user belongs to more then one group he will get Sorry, you can only send one message every 1 minutes. So, I tried adding all of the groups with similar access but still no luck. If I turn off the flood check for any of the groups though it will work without a problem.

You mean, even if both groups say to have a 5-minute floodcheck it still only does a 1-minute floodcheck? I'm confused, but I'll try to look into it. It's supposed to work that if any of the groups they're in have floodcheck off then they don't get it, because, well, it means they have full permission not to have to worry about it.

[bluechris]

Originally Posted by Neutral Singh

Anybody running this on a live production site. How do we uninstall it?

I run it in production site and i uninstalled it once for testing and the uninstall worked fine.. offcourse before the initial install/uninstall i had backed up everything to be certain i will not get any trouble... its great mod and members of one of my forums loved it.

For uninstall it has a Uninstall Feature in AdminCP that basically i suppose deletes the database tables and clears the e-mails that users have (not really 100% sure for this).

[techenigma]

Great Mod,

Got it working on my site finally. It sends and receives messages on all the accounts but for some reason still logs errors like crazy. But who cares as long as it works...

One problem I have is when trying to just an alias to compose a message. I put in the message and in the recipient I just put the persons alias but it never gets delivered. ANy idea why?

it works when you put the full alias followed by the domain but not just the alias as it says it should be able to do?

[JawadIT]

hello
i finished installing it but i am having a problem...
emails created in the forum could send emails normally but it CANNOT recieve...

could anyone help?

thanks and btw nice mod

[Krofh]

Originally Posted by techenigma

it works when you put the full alias followed by the domain but not just the alias as it says it should be able to do?

Where does it say you can do this? There are address book aliases, so you can use names in your address book, and that might be what you're seeing. You can also type in people's usernames and it'll fetch whatever value their "email" field has, but aliases are different.

Originally Posted by JawadIT

i finished installing it but i am having a problem...
emails created in the forum could send emails normally but it CANNOT recieve...

could anyone help?

Check the last FAQ on the original post: "I can connect to the server just fine, but it won't get any email!", or look through the thread; this seems to have been the most common problem people have so far, usually from not setting it up right.

[techenigma]

Any particular reason the options don't change?

I uncheck the box for a particular option and when I click "save changes" it doesn't update it. It just reverts right back to it being checked. Obviously its just not saving my selection. ???