Integration with vBulletin - YAFB - Yay! Another Facebook Bridge

This is not just a "port" for vBulletin 4 of this modification, this is the next version of the modification which support both vBulletin 4 and vBulletin 3 family

IMPORTANT: FILE ISSUES HERE: http://code.google.com/p/vbulletinfacebook/issues/list (require a Google Account)

Yay! Another Facebook Bridge 3.3.2
Tested to work with vBulletin 3.7.x and 3.8.x (3.6.x requires some manual edit, contact me for detail instruction)
Tested to work with vBulletin 4.0 (use different .xml import file)
Please note: this product requires PHP5. If you get weird error messages, please check if you PHP version is still 4 (which is very old and you should change to PHP5 as soon as possible). Also, MySQL 5 is strongly recommended

[WHAT IS IT?]
There are many vBulletin - Facebook bridge out there but installing is always the problem for most of forum owner. So I decided to build this product from scratch and provide you the ability to install this Facebook Bridge into your forum in 10 minutes. The detail install instruction can be found below (under the Feature section). A few technical notes: This product uses Facebook Connect to maintance connection between vBulletin forums and complicated (and awesome) Facebook servers. All most everything is automatically done by the script, even the Administrators don't need to do any manual editing (yeah, I'm talking about manual templates editing, you WON'T need to edit templates each time you implement a new style). Once again, most of everything is options which can be enabled/disabled via AdminCP or UserCP interface. All possible type of caching is use to improve performance and reduce heavy PHP load on server side or javascript load on client side. Well, it's quite a long paragraph for introducing. Let's make it work!

[SEE IT IN ACTION]
Screencast:
1. Installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ComjeipReE4
2. Connecting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7m85O_iX70
3. Posting and Notifications: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBwwiffLvJ8
Demo board:
vBulletin 3.8: http://daohoangson.com/vb38
vBulletin 4: http://daohoangson.com/vb40
Authentication Username: demo. Password: demo.

[MAIN FEATURE]
*** Damn easy to install!
1. Loaded with long list of actions/notifications: posting thread, posting reply, rating thread, sending pm, sending visitor message, uploading image (avatar/profile picture), uploading pictures, comment on pictures. This list are designed to be expandable easily later by me or other people who loves to develope this product (well, if you do, contact me right now!)
2. Ability to quick register with Facebook credential but Administrator can disable this function via AdminCP. Facebook proxied email addresses are handled completely and vBulletin can send email without any problems (of course, the member must grant the Email extend permission). There is a setting in AdminCP to disallow Facebook proxied email addresses also for boards that need email explicitly
3. Ability to auto login with Facebook session (Administrator can turn this on or off in AdminCP and members can enable or disable this feature on their accounts either)
4. Other abilities: Display a profile block on vBulletin member page. Display a wall tab/box on Facebook profile page. Synchronize avatar from Facebook.
5. [AdminCP] Administrator can "edit" template bundle easily. Actually the old template will be deactivated, the new template will be registered and then all action associated with the old template with be updated with the new template bundle id. Oops, why you need to care about all of it? I did it for you already! Just go the the editing page and click Edit. Yay! All done
6. [AdminCP] Staffs can manage connected users and see basic information about them (including granted permissions)
7. [AdminCP] Administrator can decide to: migrate connected users from other products to YAFB, restrict private forums from being posted to Facebook, view detail log of YAFB in action, send notifications to connected users
*. [Experimental] I have added a fun feature that generate the Fans List, the photo will be posted to new thread with friend tagged (if available). The main purpose of this bonus feature is to demostrate the ability of the bridge. If you have an idea, contact me and I will implement it if I can
*. [Experimental] Friend Inviting functionality is added. Access from UserCP > Facebook Bridge > Invite Friends

[CHANGE LOG]
Version 3.3.2 (released on Jun 10, 2010): Register On-the-fly issue with vBulletin 3.8.4 fixed
Version 3.3.1 (released on Jun 08, 2010): Bug fixes and Migration for vBulletin 4.0.3
Version 3.3 (released on Apr 06, 2010): Auto login related features added. User experience reached a new higher level!

[NEW INSTALLATION]
*. Upload all files/folders in folder "upload" into your forum root (Please upload before importing product)
1. Import Product:
1.1. Go to AdminCP
1.2. Plugins & Products ~> Manage Products ~> Add/Import Product:
1.2.1. Browse to the .xml file (use product-yafb.xml for vBulletin 3 and product-yafb_vb4.xml for vBulletin 4)
1.2.2. Click Import

2. Fill the settings:
2.1. Go to AdminCP
2.2. vBulletin Options ~> vBulletin Options ~> Yay! Another Facebook Bridge
2.2. Create a Facebook Application if you haven't had one for your forum. Refer to the Creating Facebook Application below if you don't know how to do it
2.3. Fill the API key and Secret into the approriate fields. You can leave the Template fields untouch (the will be filled automatically). If you want to use the Account Reclamation feature, please place http://domain.com/forums/register.php?do=fbb_reclaim into Account Reclamation URL field. With other fields, it's your decision to made
2.4. Click Save and you are done!

2.* Creating Facebook Application:
2.*.1. Go to Facebook Developer > Create Application page http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php (login if you didn't)
2.*.2. Enter the Application Name. Suggestion: Put your forum name here. Don't forget to tick the Agree radiobox and then click Save Changes
2.*.3. Now you can get your API Key and Secret (that are needed in step 2.3)
2.*.4. And go to the Connect tab, fill your forum url into Connect URL, fill your domain into Base Domain.
2.*.5. You are done with required information. But you can go through other tab and enter more detail about your forum, your application. I suggest putting a nice icon, banner into it. Happy customizing!

[UPGRADING]
Just upload overwrite files/folders then reimport the xml file. Do not forget to check "Yes" under "Allow Overwrite" to upgrade

[CONFLICT]
Since this product interfere with the registration procedure, I have found some other plugins/products that conficts with this product. Below is the full list of known confict and action taken to resolve the issue
No Spam (Human Verification): Temporary disabled during Facebook registration
vMail (Email Verification): Temporary disabled during Facebook registration

[OTHER PLUGINS/PRODUCTS]
I have developed an easy to use options/permissions system that allow other plugins/products to add it's actions into this bridge and let the forum members experience a whole new era of connections. I did a small demostration with my kBank System (which is a money system with award/thank functionality and a useful hiding feature) and it runs pretty well. If you are interested in testing kBank in action with YAFB, contact me. If you are a developer who wants to integrate your plugins/products with this Bridge, contact me either! You are all welcome
*Also available: Publishing Blog (vBBlog) to Facebook [New! Updated on Jan 10th, 2010]


[KNOWN ISSUES]
FILE HERE: http://code.google.com/p/vbulletinfacebook/issues/list (require a Google Account)

[Bacon Butty]

I would be most grateful if someone could answer the following question.

I have 'Facebook Connect' installed on my current 3.8 forum. When I upgrade to the 4 series, Will this different Facebook Bridge allow users who registered and currently log in with their current Facebook account through 'Facebook Connect' continue to do so with their existing login/account?

An answer would be greatly appreciated. :up:

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by redhawk89

Looks like people aren't too happy with this yet.

Probably a good idea to hold off, then.

There are no major modifcations that don't have ANY bugs for some installs. For the most part, this mod is working smoothly on the majority of forums. A lot of the questions being asked here are often just settings not set correctly.

Originally Posted by fogjuice

I found this mod to be very messy and unclean formatted.

One problem I really have with it is that users who are already registered cannot link their facebook account, it keeps taking them to create a new forum account. Does anyone know why?

Seems pretty clean to me, what do you see that's messy? Make sure your users are just just jumping the gun and clicking the register link that comes up first, and ignoring the Login Now link that appears beside it.

Originally Posted by WhatChaMissin

can't get this to work. when I go to usercp, Options;

Under:



The facebook button only shows up on default style and some custom styles.

How can I fix this issue?

Thanks

If a template is heavily customized, then it won't show up. Specifically if the area where it's supposed to be has had the code modified in the templates. You can edit the postbit (or postbit_legacy) template yourself and add the button in manually. But you would need to find the code for the button, which I'm going to presume can be found in one of the plugins.

Originally Posted by angeljs

I noticed several users reporting the following error but can't seem to find a reply for it. When trying to connect my account I receive this:

 We need Facebook Permissions to the magic, below is the permissions list. You can grant any "Not Permitted" permission by clicking the status

    * Connection Established - Not Permitted

Anyone found a fix, yet?

I'm guessing they didn't allow permission to do that in their User CP settings.

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by Bacon Butty

I would be most grateful if someone could answer the following question.

I have 'Facebook Connect' installed on my current 3.8 forum. When I upgrade to the 4 series, Will this different Facebook Bridge allow users who registered and currently log in with their current Facebook account through 'Facebook Connect' continue to do so with their existing login/account?

An answer would be greatly appreciated. :up:

Yes, there's a migration tool in the Admin CP.

[Bacon Butty]

Originally Posted by Digital Jedi

Yes, there's a migration tool in the Admin CP.

Thanks Mark, appreciated. Any chance you could instruct me or direct me to instructions on how to use it?

[nekiw]

Originally Posted by IndigoSociety

If you go to indigosociety.com you will see how I integrated the connect with facebook icon. I think this is how the default addon should do it.

looks very nice, is this planned for release? or do we have to modify it ourself?
if so, please let med know howto doit indigocity.
btw, does this mod work for vb 4.0.2 ?

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by Bacon Butty

Thanks Mark, appreciated. Any chance you could instruct me or direct me to instructions on how to use it?

It's self explanatory. It's just a couple of clicks. I personally kept Facebook Connect installed until I had YAFB installed. Not sure if that was the correct way to do it, but it worked out okay in my instance.

[iamspookysdaddy]

Excellent Mod...THanks...

I receive this error when a new user registeres.

/home/victorio/public_html/community/fbb/runbox_hook_register_addmember_complete.php on line 5"

The registation completes but the error is scene. Also I have seen this error in one other location but do not recall where right now

Can you advise how to correct error?

Brian

[hollosch]

At FB-Developer-Site I pointed my Email-Domain to mydomain.com (without http:// and www) - I hope this is correct...

[BBR-APBT]

Originally Posted by iamspookysdaddy

Excellent Mod...THanks...

I receive this error when a new user registeres.

The registation completes but the error is scene. Also I have seen this error in one other location but do not recall where right now

Can you advise how to correct error?

Brian

Read the thread it is posted several times how to fix that problem.

[LbR]

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boooooooooooooooooo
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thanks for the cool mod =P installed it around 4 days, 12 hours, 35 minutes, 12 seconds, 45 micro seconds ago.