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.

[scan-pa]

Originally Posted by maxicep

Krofh ,when you will release mail system final version ?

He posted a reply to my post asking the same question, that he will work on this after his mid may exams are over with, and school is done.


Once this gets out of beta, it will be one heck of a add-on.

[ramchip]

Has anybody tried this mod on HostGator hosting package?

[Andyrew]

I have this working ok, only thing i have a problem with is i can not change anything in user options.
When i untick a box and press save it come up with the box ticked again, so no way to turn of default settings.

[BWilliams]

Got this installed and working. So far so good.

Question I have is how can I make the screen name the default alias? I don't want the users to choose.

Thanks

[Fungsten]

What do I put in here?

Attachment 64273

I'm not asking for the exact information for my settings, but, what is the SMTP username? Is it the "Postmaster" account or the "Admin" account, etc.

What do I put in for the password? Is it the one for the Admin account? The "Postmaster" account?

Thanks in advance!!

[loonytune15]

I hope to see this hack as a final in the coming weeks

even an update to beta 2 would be good

[DaNIEL MeNTED]

One question - how does it automatically format usernames?

For ex. if someone is username do they get username@domain.com?

What if someone else is "user name"?

[DaNIEL MeNTED]

Originally Posted by DaNIEL MeNTED

One question - how does it automatically format usernames?

For ex. if someone is username do they get username@domain.com?

What if someone else is "user name"?

Installed on a test board -- I see that by default people's aliases are not defined. I would like to prevent people from changing their alias but I see that they still get to set their first alias ...

The only problem I have is I would like to always set people's email = their username.

Is there anyway to get it to do this for everyone on installation?

What about on registration?

I think I could probably write a plugin to do the registration part...

Maybe add a query on install to populate the alias field?

[DaNIEL MeNTED]

To answer my own question -

create a plugin - VBMS Add-Alias.

Hook - register_activate_start

Code -

PHP Code:

$count = 1;
function str_split_php4($text, $split = 1)
{
    if (!is_string($text)) return false;
    if (!is_numeric($split) && $split < 1) return false;
    $len = strlen($text);
    $array = array();
    $i = 0;
    while ($i < $len)
    {
        $key = NULL;
        for ($j = 0; $j < $split; $j += 1)
        { 
            $key .= $text{$i};
            $i += 1;    
        }
        $array[] = $key;
    }
    return $array;
}

function make_alias($username)
{
$alias = strtolower($username);
$alias = str_replace(" ", "_", $alias);
$holdarr = str_split_php4($alias);
foreach ($holdarr as $val) {
  if ((ord($val) >= 48 AND ord($val) <= 57) OR (ord($val) >= 45 AND ord($val) <= 46) OR (ord($val) == 95) OR (ord($val) >=97 AND ord($val) <=122)) $final .= $val;
  }
return $final;
}

$newalias = make_alias($vbulletin->userinfo['username']);

$fixedalias = $newalias;

$aliascheck = $vbulletin->db->query_first("SELECT * FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "user WHERE vbms_alias ='" . $newalias . "'");

while ($aliascheck[vbms_alias]) {
  $fixedalias = $newalias . $count;
  $aliascheck = $vbulletin->db->query_first("SELECT * FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "user WHERE vbms_alias ='" . $fixedalias . "'");
  $count++;
}

$vbulletin->db->query_write("UPDATE " . TABLE_PREFIX . "user
                                SET vbms_alias = '" . $fixedalias . "'
                                WHERE userid = '" . $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] . "'
                                "); 


This will take the alias, make it lowercase, strip anything other than A-Z and 1-9, replace spaces with underscores, then check the DB to make sure no one has the same alias.

If someone else has the same alias it will add a 1 at the end... check again... etc.

It will only add the alias to people who complete registration - so people can't register a user, autmatically get a alias, and spam the mailbox to waste space/load the server...

If anyone sees any problems... let me know.

Might be nice to add this to the release as an option that can be turned on/off.

[KipLarson]

Just what I've been looking for (and for my board version as well!)

If you update this will you make it backwards compatible with other vB 3.6x versions?