Quick Account Switch v1.2

Quick Account Switch v1.2.
by Ianomed

Uses of this hack:

This account will let you string together several accounts owned by the same person. Of course it will also let you string together accounts owned by different people, but that's a dangerous thing to do.

What then is the use of stringing accounts together? Well, this hack will let you switch from one to the other account without having to log out, then log in again. Those interested in the technical aspect I refer to the addition made to login.php, it's all quite simple. You'll see now why it's dangerous to string together your account with someone else's, they'd be able to switch to your account.

I wrote this for two play-by-board RPGs that I frequent, at each of which I have several accounts, an account for each character. This lets me assume another account in moments.

It's also used by admins to switch between test accounts quickly.

Maybe you'll find other uses, eh?

Changes required:

1. Adding of 1 field to user table (installer will try to do this)
2. Adding of 18 phrases (installer does this)
3. An addition to admincp/user.php
4. An addition to global.php
5. An addition to login.php
6. A modification to the navbar template (for each style)
   
   Time needed: 20-30 minutes
   Difficulty rating: moderate

Known issues with v1.2:

Changing the username of an account that's either a slave or master, it does not update these cached usernames. This will be taken care of in v1.3.
Work-around: If you rename a user, unlink it first, and relink after the renaming.
Since I don't see this happening very often on any board I'm releasing v1.2 with this caveat.

Item of note:

For some obscure reason vBportal does NOT play nice with this hack. It'll introduce cookie/header errors. Either do not install this hack if vBportal is installed, or vice versa. Since I don't plan on spending $20 to buy software I'll never use, there's no intention on my part to work out that problem. You're good to go with vbadvanced CPMS, however, this has been tested.

Warranties:

None, in the instructions you'll notice I tell you to backup before applying the hack. I've tested it on 4 boards, each of which have additional hacks installed, and it runs on many more. If it doesn't for you then, well... roll back the changes you've just made and blame yourself.

Tested (and works) on:

• vB 3.0.3. - vanilla
• vB 3.0.1. - vanilla
• vB 3.0.3. - With vbAdvanced Homepage / CPMS (out of the box)
• vB 3.0.1. - With vbAdvanced Homepage / CPMS (out of the box)
• vB 3.0.3. - With vBindex v3.0.0 RC5 (Instructions by bondjetta)
• vB 3.0.3. - Nexialys - ACP cookie hack. <- Recommended combination
• vB 3.0.1. - Nexialys - ACP cookie hack. <- Recommended combination
• vB 3.0.3. - Assorted mods

Future plans:

• v 1.3 - Optionally displaying the linked accounts on the public profile. (i.e. 'I am also ....')
• v 1.3 - Fix user rename issue (see known issues, above).
• v 1.3 - Under Users in the ACP add a Manage Linked Accounts option, listing all linked accounts and their slaves.
• v x.x - Very maybe: allow sharing of a secondary account between two users. This is the trickiest of all, since when on that account, who should you allow switching back to in a way that can't be circumvented.

Future non-plans (I will probably never implement these):

• A 'let users link accounts themselves' mode.

Thanks to Oblivion Knight for the updated dropdown look.

Enjoy

--- History ---
v1.2 - 17th November 2004

• Removed username colouring, it's not really necessary and only adds extra queries.
• No longer uses a custom profile field, instead an extra field in the usertable is made
• Fully phrased, installer written to add phrases
• The usernames for the linked accounts are cached, this means that running the hack now takes no extra queries at all for those logged on as master, or who have no linked accounts. Being logged on as a slave account adds only 1 query per page view, this used to be more too.

v1.1.1 - 27th October

Fixes session expiration problem occuring after switch. Users are encouraged to upgrade. To upgrade follow the instructions in switch_11_to_111.txt. For new installs the corrected code is in switch_111.txt, the installation instructions.

v1.1 - 26th October

Fixes a flaw where on some MySQL versions IDs were matched improperly, also the new session is now permanent. Users are encouraged to upgrade.
To upgrade roll back and redo the changes to global.php and login.php, no changes were made to the template or custom field.

v1.0 - 25th October 2004

initial release

[Ianomed]

Lionel,

vBadvanced homepage on 3.0.1. works as well in conjunction with this hack. No problems. It lets you switch from within the portal and forums.

Sadly, for you that is, this brings me to the conclusion your previous hacks are incompatible. Your saying the board sometimes work, sometimes didn't strengthens that belief.

The good news is that I can now ratify this hack for 3.0.1. as well.

[bondjetta]

i have this problem daily on my forums (going between my admin account and my personal account) so thank you for this hack! I'll try it out tonight

[Ianomed]

Originally Posted by Oblivion Knight

Does this hack work ok in conjunction with your hack then? That is currently the only concern I have before installing this, sounds like a great idea and would enable me to quickly switch between my test account..

I have no reason to believe it won't, but have downloaded the hack in question to make sure. I'll report my findings at both nexialys's forum and this thread.

[Ianomed]

Verdict: not only does it work, it rocks!
It's probably the best thing since sliced bread, the combination of these two hacks, lol.

Now it allows you to be logged on as an admin in the ACP while simultaneously you change between all measure of different test accounts to see your changes.

Nexialys' hack giving the ACP a seperate session means you won't be logged out of the ACP while you switch around in the forum.

[Oblivion Knight]

Excellent, thanks for testing that for me Ianomed.!

[Ianomed]

My pleasure, Oblivion Knight, I'm glad I did test it.
I've linked to Nexialys's hack now in the this thread's first post, because the combo just works so well.

[Lionel]

Ianomed thank you. I am going to troubleshoot, cause I am determined to have it work. It's like butter near my mouth and I can't grab it.

[bondjetta]

Ok, it's running well for me but no integration to VBindex.

vBulletin Version 3.0.3 & vBindex Version 3.0.0 RC5

oh wait, i don't care this is fantastic Thank you

[Lionel]

Good news. I put up a clean login.php, and it works on homepage. I still have to troubleshoot the forums.

[Lionel]

I am on the verge of committing vbsuicide.

I found the typo in login.php that was causing the blank page and it works now perfect on vbadvanced homepage. Still not in forums. I tried a clean copy of global.php, of online.php, of functions_online.php. I tried removing the condition, the image shows but the click is empty.

I do not know where to look anymore. What could cause the main forum to be blocked? Which major script in there that vbadvanced do not use? It's like the forums do not know it's me.

:tired: