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.

[bluechris]

Originally Posted by Krofh

There's a "Delete messages after downloading?" option in the ACP, if that's not set to "Yes" then obviously it won't clear the server. Is this happenening with all mails to you with attachments or just this specific one?

I had it to yes offcourse... but as i am thinking the problem is appearing if a big attachment comes to VBMS for a user.... for some reason VBMS cannot add the attachment to Database and then the problem appears for all VBMS users to receive multiple times the same message simply cause VBMS wasnt able to put the big mail to Database and this means that never said to Mail server that he got the mail and delete it... thats why it downloads over and over again till it crashes the board. A solution as i am thinking is when VBMS get the mail from the server then just before put it in the DB to delete it 1st from the mail server and not after... its temp solution but i suppose it will save me atm.

Can that huppened? am i the only 1 that saw this prob?

[Krofh]

Originally Posted by bluechris

A solution as i am thinking is when VBMS get the mail from the server then just before put it in the DB to delete it 1st from the mail server and not after... its temp solution but i suppose it will save me atm.

Doable, but extremely inefficient, and your board would just as likely crash from server load.

Like I said though, when does it happen? Just with large attachments? How large is the attachment you're having this problem with? It shouldn't be an issue of size not fitting in the database; after all, vBulletin itself allows for uploading attachments directly into the database (well, avatars and profile pics anyways, I guess I'm not completely sure on the attachments).

[ringoflight]

I re-installed it without problems this time. Must have been the server move which caused the problems before.
Now, whenever I run the cron job, I receive the following error:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare can_admin_hosting() (previously declared in /********/*********/htdocs/forums/admincp/global.php(203) : eval()'d code:3) in /********/*********/htdocs/forums/global.php(356) : eval()'d code on line 2

Any help?

[Krofh]

It seems to be a conflict with another hack, but considering I don't have a function called "can_admin_hosting()" anywhere in my hack, I don't think it's a problem with the vBMS. Do other cron jobs run fine? I'm suspecting any and all cron jobs will fail with the same error. What happens if you simply navigate to ./vbms_checkmail.php, do you get an error there as well?

[NuclioN]

Krofh we run our forum on servage.net and i don't have a single idea what to do with the parameters such as 'pop' etc. Can you give an advice or hint to guide us to the installation?

[rayw]

Very nice, thanks a lot.

Will install when it is out of beta and safe to put on a production server.

[ringoflight]

I found out that the vHosting hack was causing the problem.
Now, for some strange reason, whenever trying to run the cron job, I get an error:

The image "bla bla bla bla" cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Any thoughts?

[Krofh]

Originally Posted by NuclioN

Krofh we run our forum on servage.net and i don't have a single idea what to do with the parameters such as 'pop' etc. Can you give an advice or hint to guide us to the installation?

Same settings you'd use to connect in from a POP3 mail client such as Microsoft Outlook.

Originally Posted by ringoflight

Now, for some strange reason, whenever trying to run the cron job, I get an error:

The image "bla bla bla bla" cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Any thoughts?

That's not necessarily a problem; it does that normally just because of the way the cron system works. However, in the ACP, you can go to vBulletin Mail System > Mail Checking Logs and see if there are any errors popping up there.

[mindcry]

Originally Posted by Krofh

Hopefully soonish. This week did not go as originally planned; I broke up with my girlfriend of almost 20 months, and ended up not having a lot of time for programming as a result of still trying to do my homework on time >.< lol.
but yes, it should hopefully fix the attachment bugs and such.

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.

Sorry for my delay, I have been away. What happens is that if I have a user in 2 groups and one has the flood check on the user cannot even send a message, basically it blocks them completely. If that makes sense.

[Veggieboy]

Can anyone recommend a mailserver to use with VBMS. I currently use HMail which works fine for receiving but won't send unless I enable Internet> external-to-external which opens the server up to be used as a relay.
Or failing a recomendation does anybody know the correct settings for Hmail?
Thanks