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

[rightsideforum]

Hey I have set this up and it creates the forum but when I try and visit them it gives me an error:

Database error in vBulletin 3.7.4:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT thread.threadid, lastpost, open
FROM thread AS thread
WHERE forumid = 14
AND (sticky = 1
OR threadid IN ())

AND visible IN (0,1,2);

MySQL Error : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '))

AND visible IN (0,1,2)' at line 5
Error Number : 1064
Request Date : Thursday, November 13th 2008 @ 01:53:36 PM
Error Date : Thursday, November 13th 2008 @ 01:53:36 PM
Script : http://my site
Referrer : http://my site
IP Address : ip address
Username : admin
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.0.45-community

[rightsideforum]

This now seems to be cocking up my whole forum making others unavailable even after I have uninstalled this product...some assistance would be much appreciated.

[ReCom]

First, thanks and good job for creating this mod. Just upgraded my forum to vb 3.7.x and introduced a bunch of new features to the members which include the socialforum. They love it.

Next is a suggestion: can you please change the error message that pops up when non-group members trying to reply to a thread in socialforum to a more friendly message like "please join this social group [link] before you can create a new post". Thanks in advance.

[itsbobtista]

Question: What settings do I change to make it so that only people in the social group can see the new social group forum on the front page?

Say I have a social group named COCA-COLA under parent category SODAS. I also have a social group named PEPSI. How do I make it so unregistered users do not see any of the social groups on the main forum page, members of COCA-COLA only see COCA-COLA, and PEPSI only sees PEPSI?

[itsbobtista]

Ah, I figured it out. Now.. is there a way to have a forum deleted when the social group is deleted?

[wmlvb]

Originally Posted by Bilderback

I finally have this working with vb3.8
Everything worked fine except the links in group footer.
I've found that the Hook Location (group_view_message_start) no longer exists in vb3.8
When I changed the plugin hook location to (group_view_discussion_start), everything is fine.
I am assuming that the group_view_discussion_start Hook Location has replaced the group_view_message_start maybe?

Billderback,

So it wi worth while to have this mod if you are using 3.8? Are you using the default Vbulletin social group and does it compliment it? Or are you just using the this mod alone?? Thanks so much for the help!

[Bilderback]

I havent tested it completely - only noticed an outdated hook.
From what I can see, the vB Social Group message board is below each group
and the Social Forum adds a seperate forum to a specified forum id of choice.

The way I have it currently is using the group discussion area for only group members
and the created Social Forum as Public discussion as a Gaming Clan type setup.

[Phalynx]

This mod needs to be changed to run with vB 3.8

Will do this next week if I find some spare time.

[punchbowl]

Can I ask a quick slightly ot question Phalynx - is there no built in version of the conditional is_member_of for social groups?

[ReCom]

First, thanks for this great mod. It added much more value to the social groups feature.
(Well, it's a good gesture to thank/praise first before making bug report)

Next is a bug report: The "last post by" info in social groups listing are not displayed when the last activity in a social group was a post in the socialforum.

Please refer attached screenshot. Those with Last Post = "X days ago" with no "By userX" are social groups for which the last post was a post in the socialforum. Those with "By userX" are groups for which the last post was a social group message. Shouldn't the behavior for both situations be the same?

Thanks.