Major Additions - Email Integration (New threads/replies by email)

This mod is based off of the Mail Reply modification by Colin F to which I have obtained permission to rewrite and release.

This modification allows you to mimic email lists such as yahoo groups through your forums!

After installing this modification you will have new settings in your forum manager where for each forum you can enable this modification and setup a separate email address to use for each forum that you have this enabled for.

Just like how there is a separate email address for each yahoo group.

After doing so, members can subscribe to each forum that this mod is enabled for to receive notifications for new threads and replies.

Any posts in that forum, will be sent to them via email. (Example email attached below). The users can then reply to that email (which will then be processed and posted to the forums through the cron job that runs every 10 minutes), or they can send a new email to the email address and a brand new thread will be created!

Essentially mimicing an email list! Suddenly those users that hate forums, can still be dragged into the conversations and help keep the forum's activity level up!


BUGS!
These are the known bugs to date:

• Confirmed bug that email processing does not handle Japanese characters.

Unsupported Items
These are the items that are not currently supported:

• Some custom bbcode modifications will not display like they do on the forums in the html emails. Like glow, and the table mod.

TO UPGRADE

• Please see the file in the zip for upgrading!! If your upgrading from version 2.3.X you will need to reverse some file edits that are no longer nessecary!

NEW INSTALL

• See instructions in the zip file.

VERSION HISTORY!
(See the file in the zip for a complete history!)

• 2.6 Release
  • Bug Fixes
    • Joining an unmoderated public group will now auto subscribe you per the usergroup settings.
    • NO CONFLICTS with Instant Thread Subscription! See details in below post.
  • New Stuff
    • User Option Allow Auto Subscribe - This is an admin allowable, user option that let's the user choose to not be auto subscribed.
    • User Option not receive own posts - A new user option that lets them select to NOT receive their own posts via email.
    • Editted the phrase for the Auto Subscription script to tell people what to do if there are no listings.
    • Added error checks when saving a usergroup for if auto subscriptioin is entered with a forumid for a forum that does not have email integration enabled and also checks that the usergroup you are saing is entered in the forum manager as allowed to use email integration.
• 2.6.1 Release (BETA VERSION)
  • Hot Fix
    • It appears I was unseting a variable too soon. I've corrected this and it has resolved the issue with multiple posted replies on my test server.

Most of these will be slow to make it in til I know I've got the code to handle just about every type of email we could receive But in anycase, here are the ideas for future versions!

• End User Option to subscribe to just receive new thread emails, or receive all new thread & reply emails (current version does all new threads & replies).

Thanks to RedTyger, Bob Denny, Ed Kohwley and Chris McKeever for their additions and assistance with portions of this code.

Huge thanks also goes to the many individuals that have helped test various incarnations of this mod.

MAD PROPS TO: cgmckeever for a great quoting regex for the old format, and all the mods at www.4winmobile.com for helping test version 2.4 prior to release!!

You guys rock!

Please feel free to donate to my continued work on this modification!! It let's me spend more time on it!
Make a Donation!

Version 2.6 will work with both 3.6.8 and 3.7!

The #.X versions are the solid tested versions.

The #.X.X versions are the beta versions. New features and bug fixes will be worked in there and then when I have a solid version it'll be released as the next #.X

Thank you!!

~ Cyricx

[Cyricx]

Originally Posted by FleXy

great mod, but I can not find information how user can define himself by mail...
This plugin use email address to know "user login"? I mean "to know who wrote by mail" ?

If yes, it's not secure, because anybody can send letters from any email address. I mean i can send email from support @ microsoft [dot] com etc.
email is WRONG choose to define user. So it's loophole for spammers....

p.s. sorry for my english.

The security offered in the modification I have written is just as secure as yahoo email groups.

It does offer some difficulty in that the code I'm using also checks the domain name that sent the email.

I am looking into ways to possibly embed security words into the header, but that will be a bit down the line.

Right now I'm happy with it being just as secure as the yahoo email groups that have such a high popularity



Linnov - You can try calling the exec_send_notification function. Here is the code to call that function as cut from the functions_newpost.php file

  exec_send_notification($threadinfo['threadid'], $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'], $post['postid']);

You will need to fiddle with your code to get the threadid and postid determined.

Unfortunatley I don't have alot of time to dig into the code you posted to say how to set those variables



Currently... I'm getting my ass kicked by functions called from cron jobs... I've almost got vbmail working to process emails, just getting hammered by trying to rebuild the email headers through the cron job. Bear with me all.

[linnov]

okies thanks I'll give it a whirl

[FleXy]

Cyricx, thanks for the answer, what do you think about add addition password for every user who use "Email integration tools"... I mean that user must provide "mail password" in every email body if he would like to add comments. its more secureв way...

Other question: can I block comments by mail for use by members? and use only new threads notification for users.

[Cyricx]

Originally Posted by FleXy

Cyricx, thanks for the answer, what do you think about add addition password for every user who use "Email integration tools"... I mean that user must provide "mail password" in every email body if he would like to add comments. its more secureв way...

Other question: can I block comments by mail for use by members? and use only new threads notification for users.

I am strongly working to avoid the password required. Due to it having the same, and actually a touch better security then the yahoo groups that are so wildly popular I'm pretty comfortable with it. I believe that requiring a password will remove the usefulness and the general acceptance from the users for this mod. Most of them can't remember their passwords as it is

To the other question, you can restrict it by usergroup. New thread notifications do not work hand in hand with forum notifications... yet... that's a plan for the future.

Right now my focus is being dumped into getting this to work with vbmail. Right now I'm having serious issues getting the email headers to rebuild via the cron job so... everything is hinged on getting that working.

[FleXy]

thanks for the answer

about the passwords you can add checkbox for the administrators and give them opportunity to choose use passwords feature or not.

I will go to look at vbmail, I does not use this system.

[wassonline]

Hi

I downloaded and installed this mod today, but am having no joy what-so-ever with it.

I am not getting any errors appear when I run the Cron job, but then the system isn't working either.

I have set up the new mailbox, set up the user permissions as well as the forum things as per the instructions, but nothing seems to happen. I continue to receive notification e-mails from the normal e-mail account, and even when I send a new e-mail as a test to the new mailbox, and run a cron job, it doesn't post it (although it does appear to pick up the e-mail which is odd)

Please let me know if anyone has any possible suggestions! I can provide more info if needed

Thanks
David

[dot2slash]

is therea option to automate thumbnails for picture attachments ??

somehow this is not working ...

also if i send a png file (lowecase filename with numbers)
i get the log:

Newthread added from AltF4
to forum Warteschleife
Attachment invalid extension JPG: AltF4

mail answer:

We're sorry, but we could not process
your emailed reply / new thread.

You tried to upload a file with the extension type of JPG.
That extension type is not permitted.

any idea ?

[MikeH2911]

Has the gmail issue been solved yet? Last time I checked emails in my gmail account appear as raw html still. Gmail is the only problem I'm having with this mod but seeing as so many people using the small forums I've setup to use this feature use gmail it's a major impediment.

Thanks

Mike

[doubleclick]

Originally Posted by popmyzit

now i am getting:

Warning: imap_open() [function.imap-open]: Couldn't open stream {localhost:110/pop3/notls}INBOX in /includes/cron/emailintegration.php on line 111

Warning: imap_headers(): supplied argument is not a valid imap resource in /includes/cron/emailintegration.php on line 114

Warning: imap_close(): supplied argument is not a valid imap resource in /includes/cron/emailintegration.php on line 1213

I'm getting the same thing. I'm sure I have plain POP, but tried the other 5 options as well and it made no difference.

Help?

[dc3dreamer]

Originally Posted by Cyricx

I am strongly working to avoid the password required. Due to it having the same, and actually a touch better security then the yahoo groups that are so wildly popular I'm pretty comfortable with it.

I made a post to this effect a couple of months ago, but it bears repeating: Please don't cobble up Email Integration with password security or other stuff. Spam protection does not belong in this system! It is rightly the responsibility of AV/AS software that manages that stuff system-wide.

-- Bob