Miscellaneous Hacks - SocialForums 1.4

SocialForums for vBulletin 3.7
Created by Marius Czyz aka Phalynx.

This mod will work *ONLY* with vBulletin 3.7 or higher. It will not run on vBulletin 3.6.x due to non existent feature of "social groups".

Support will be only given for people who clicked Mark as INSTALLED.

Description
Not satisfied with vBulletin social groups messaging function? With SocialForums your social group leaders can create a standard forum for their group.
A group leader can only create a forum if the group has at least 5 members - this can be changed via settings. Optionally the group leader can be a moderator of such a social forum.

Permissions
Since 1.3 there are advanced permissions active (Forum and Archive). This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.

Demo
None, see screenshots

Installation
This product is fully phrased and uses template hooks. No file changes or manual template edits needed.
1. Upload bitfield_socialforums.xml to existing folder /includes/xml/
2. Upload functions_socialforums.php to existing folder /includes/
3. Fresh Installation: Just import the product. Upgrade: Import the product, allow overwrite. No forums get lost!
4. Check settings, especially for parent forum. Don't forget to set permissions via usergroups!

Troubleshooting
Q: I don't see a link to create a forum. Why?
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, espacially if the user is allowed to create forum.
A: Check if the usergroup meet min users requirement, see AdminCP/Settings/SocialForums.

Q: My users see the forums, but they shouldn't!
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, if the users usergroup is set to "can see".
A: Did you disabled the restriction mode? Enable it.

Todo
- By deleting a group the forum should also be deleted/archived. Currently this has to be done manually.

Known Issues
- On big boards with hundreds of social groups this mod can really impact the performance because of the mass of new created forums. If you still want to use this mod use the "Minimum Members" feature with a higher value. Using the permission check there are additional two queries on every page.

History
1.4.6, 6th October 2008
- Permissions are now also active in Archive

1.4.2, 27th May 2008
- Added: If a group has a linked forum the grouplisting has the last post date and count of postings (with permission check).
- Added: Recent threads in linked forum on group home
- Added: Private groups: Link to forum only shown to members of group
- Changed: Enabled permissions for unregistered usergroup. Unregistered Users are not more explicit denied without a check of it's usergroup

1.3.1, 23th May 2008
- Fixed: Not existing array

1.3.0, 23th May 2008
- Added: Permissions are now active. This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. Please check permissions for every usergroup! As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.
- Added: Checks for permission before the creation link will be displayed
- Changed: Default View Age set to "Show all Threads"

1.2.1 8th April 2008:
- Added: Group messaging can be disabled via options (previously: always disabled)

1.2.0 4th April 2008:
- Added: Groupleader can now be moderator of group forum
- Added: Minimum Members that are required for own forum
- Added: Group messaging will be automatically hide for group that has own forum
- Added: Forums are created with more allowances
- Added: By deleting a forum the linked socialgroup get's updated
- Added: Forum's description contains link back to social group
- Added: By changing group's name it synchronize it with the forum's name

1.0/1.1 1st April 2008:
- Initial releases

[Phalynx]

You can disable the show of last posts by disabling the plugin "group_prepareinfo" of SocialForums. I will try to do a cached version of this using forumcache.

[Hilary]

Thank you for this! It really completes Vb's social features, and I think my users are going to love it.

Can you answer a dumb question for me, please?

What does restriction mode do? What exactly happens or is possible when it's enabled? What stops working if I turn it off?

Wait! Another dumb question. What does 'show activity in forum' mean, in the options? Where are those last posts displayed?

Thanks!

[RvG2]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

You can disable the show of last posts by disabling the plugin "group_prepareinfo" of SocialForums. I will try to do a cached version of this using forumcache.

thank you sir

can't live without this mod... hehehe

[vbboarder]

Thanks for this great mod! I have a feature request that would help reduce server load for sites with lots of forums. As you mentioned, lots of social groups creating lots of forums can lead to high server load. To limit the # of forums created while enabling social groups to have threaded discussions, provide an option for social groups to create a thread in a pre-designated forum (ie: Social Groups Forum). Then provide permissions based on usergroups that would allow social groups to either create a forum or create a thread. Thus, regular groups can only create threads in the predefined forum but VIP groups can create their own forums. The threads for social groups should have the same features as forums for social groups (ie: option to be viewable by members only, option to moderate posts, link back to social group page, etc). Thanks for considering this feature request.

[jilly]

right now, my group is showing the membernumber instead of the membername for the 'created by' area - can we change that so that it shows the username and not the member id number?

[RvG2]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

You can disable the show of last posts by disabling the plugin "group_prepareinfo" of SocialForums. I will try to do a cached version of this using forumcache.

yes this solve the problem... for the meantime

[vwdforum]

I've installed this mod but the create forum option is not showing.

I've set the admin usergroup to see/view all and still nothing.

do you have any suggestions?

Thanks

Mally

[gettingbetter]

I'm driving myself nuts with this - what could be causing mysite.com/groups.php to rewrite to mysite.com/groups/ ??? The mysite.com/groups/ link simply links to my main forum page and not the groups page!

Not sure what I did to make this happen.

[Drocr]

Is there a way to set it so that the Social Group's moderator won't appear as a forum leader?

[IvyKeepMommy]

Is it possible, and if it is, how do I want my settings to be set, for ALL the social forums to be displayed by name on the main forum page, but you can only read the content of the forum if you are a member?