vB Event Forums

Introduction

Ok first things first, before we start. This plugin was originally developed by endquote. You can find the old thread here. I have now taken over the plugin development from him, and I will do my best to make this a plugin that is useful for everyone. I have made quite a few changes to the old plugin. If you have been using the old plugin, then skip to the section "I used the old plugin".

What is this plugin?

This is a plugin which allows you to create relationships between calendars and events, giving each event a thread of its own for users to discuss. This plugin is in BETA, so you are installing this on a live board at your own risk. I have tested this alot, and I am running it myself on a live board.

Sure, so whats it do?

Some examples of the features this plugin offers

• When a new event is created in a calendar, an associated thread is created in the linked forum.
• Links to events in the calendar are forwarded to the associated thread.
• New thread links in the event forum are redirected to a new event form.
• A summary can be shown at the top of the event forum which shows the up and coming events over the next 'x' days.
• The date and time shown in the thread and post title, is calculated on the current viewing users timezone. In other words, times always show in the users timezone, not forced to GMT.
• Full moderation support.
• Editing a thread or event, will update its associated event/thread.

Screenshots

Some screenshots of this plugin

• Admin Options
• Event Thread
• Event Thread with Reply
• Thread List

How do I install it?

Please follow the instructions here for upgrading from Version 1.x to Version 2.5.

Step 1

Install the product
Download the product XML file.

Goto your Admin CP at your forums, then goto Plugin System -> Manage Products. Click [Add/Import Product] at the bottom of the page. Browse to the location where you downloaded the xml file and then click the Import button.

Step 2

Calendar ID:
Goto your Admin CP at your forums, then goto Calendar Manager. Find the calendar you want to link to a forum, then click Edit.
Right at the top of the page you should see:

Calendar: NAME (id: ID)

Make a note of the ID, you will need this soon.

Forum ID:
Goto your Admin CP at your forums, then goto Forum Manager. Find the forum you want to activate as your event forum, then click Edit Forum.
Right at the top of the page you should see:

Forum: NAME (id: ID)

Make a note of the ID, you will need this soon.

Link a Calendar to a Forum:
Goto your Admin CP at your forums, then goto vBulletin Options and find Event Forums.
The first option you should see is Calendar/Forum Map.
Enter in your IDs into the box, as CALENDARID:FORUMID.
Example, my Calendar is 5 and my Forum is 14:

5:14

Click Save.

Step 3

Base permissions check:
You will need to check that users using the Event Forums, have basic permissions to both the Linked Forum AND Calendar.
Basic Permissions include: Can View Forum and Can Post Threads and possibly some others.

Step 4

Install on VB.org:
Browse back to this thread, and click the INSTALL button so you can recieve updates whenever I update this plugin.

Can I give you money to make this?

This isn't a commercial plugin, and can be used by anyone for free. However, a few people have said to me that they would like to donate some money for my time working on the plugin and for picking it up and continuing the development of new features etc. If you do want to donate some money my way, then you can do so through paypal by clicking this link. Thanks!

Bugs / Support

If you find a bug, then please post in this thread and let me know. There are a few bugs that haven't been fixed since the old version, so i'm hoping that we can fix these soon. I will do my best to support the plugin as much as possible, however I also have a busy job which takes up alot of my time.

Known Bugs

Here is a list of known bugs to date

• Soft delete actually hard deletes the thread.
• Search doesn't search the first post of an event thread.
• Inline ajax edit bugs thread title. Need to remove date and time from it before edit.

Feature request list

Here is a list of the requested features. Please note that because it makes this list, doesn't mean it will be added.

• Intergration with the event attendance plugin.
• Customisation of the order of the custom fields in the thread title.
• An option to "import" all the previous events from a Calendar into threads.
• Extra post options support (Attachments, Post Icons, Sticky etc).
• Custom ordering of the %datetime variable.
• Custom ordering of %custom variable.
• Better handling of recurring events.

Credits

Thanks to endquote for originally creating the plugin.
Thanks to the Ninja :ninja: for helping me infiltrate the vb code and finding those hidden hooks!
Thanks to anybody that helps test this plugin.

Changelog

Version: 2.7

• All templates should now be cached.
• Optimised the code which hides the first post on an Event Thread.
• Fixed a bug which was causing smilies and images, as well as possibly other BB code to not be parsed correctly.
• Added better error handling on SQL queries, and using vb functions in all places over raw mysql functions.

Version: 2.6

• Added a AdminCP option to choose between using a custom variable to display the Event Details on the Thread Page, or to append it to the end of the navbar.
• Title now updates in last post block after editing event title.
• Single day events no longer adjust the timezone, which was causing the day to show incorrectly in the thread titles and event details for some timezones.

Version: 2.5

• Single day events: Time has been removed from thread title, so it now only displays the date.
• Date and Time (if applicable) are added to Posts and Navbits when viewing a thread.
• Custom Fields are added dynamically along with times and dates. This solves a few bugs, and is in preperation for the AdminCP option for a custom order and look etc.
• Currently merging is disabled for any Event Threads because it is a bit of a tricky job to handle merging Event Threads, and it could take some time.
• Admin option to format Event Thread titles. Note this does not yet include ordering custom fields.
• Inline mod tools should now all work.
• Added [Finish] and [Start] as phrases into the Calendar phrases for use in the Events Summary.
• Ranged Events that cover multiple days, are now displayed better in the Summary, Title, Post and Navbits.

Version: 2.0

• Moderation is now supported! Permissions are taken from the Calendar. Events will show up as Events only (threads are hidden and handled seperatly by the plugin) in the moderation queue.
• Better error handling when creating an event. This should now correctly handle flooding, min chars and any other errors creating a thread could give. An event is NOT created if there was an error creating the thread. Instead it displays the correct error message.
• Event View is now displayed above the threads, similar to how VB.org does with the addons.
• Links added to the event day view, to View Replies and Post a Reply.
• Added a UserCP option to choose which event it should default to when pressing the "New Thread" button.
• Summary is now totally seperate from the Home Page up "and coming events". The summary will now function even if the homepage version is disabled.
• Ranged Events now show the end date if the Event doesn't finish on the same day.
• Problems with DST and Timezones have been solved. There is an update due in VB v3.6 which corrects confusion with DST. See here for more info. This is more specific to Calendar rather than this plugin though, but its relevant.
• Moving an event to a Calendar not run by the Plugin will remove the link to the assosiated thread.
• Moving an event to a Calendar run by the Plugin will attempt to also move the thread linked to it, to the correct forum.
• Moving a thread to a different event forum, will attempt to move the event to the correct calendar.
• Moving a thread outside an event forum, removes the link to the assosiated event.
• Delete thread or first post now forwards to the Delete Event. Allowing soft-delete of events is something to consider, but for now it only supports Perma Deleting. This would be made much easier if soft deleting events was something supported in the native VB code.
• Fixed Deleting an Event and it now properly updates the forum counters, so the last thread should be correct.
• Event Summary template addition is no longer necessary. A seperate template is added and handled by the plugin.
• Event Summary in the forum now only shows the events for that forum/calendar link.

Version: 1.0

• Taken over development from Endquote. Fixed alot of bugs, I can't remember what now.

[SoLo OnE]

Originally Posted by cbr929rrerion

and if you click new thread it takes you to new event on the calendar not a new thread..

How can this be fixed?

Fixed?

Uhh thats the way its supposed to work.

[mkdevo]

Originally Posted by Evercraft

I realise this plugin is important to alot of people, and thats the reason I took this up, so hopefully I can keep it going.

However i'm doing this in my own time, and with no real benefit to myself. Im not saying that to try and fish money, so please dont go and randomly donate, I don't want that.

All im saying is, I will work on this when I can, but i'm not going to start promising things, and start working to "deadlines". My current job is busy enough, and very important to me. I deal with enough deadlines and things, without having to worry about finishing this to a certain date.

So no, you can't expect anything by the 15th, because I can't, or won't promise anything. But I hope I can have something to show for the 15th. We'll just have to see.

On a side note, the arranging of the titles (i.e date, name etc), seems to be one of the most requested things. Its on the feature list, and is something that is definetly at the top of my priorities for this. Hopefully I can add something like that soon.
I was thinking about how it could work as an option in the adminCP. Its a bit limited to yes/no, or a textfield. It could be much better, by creating a custom options page (and it could list options for individual forums) but that would make it a hack, and as such isnt what I want todo.

I was thinking maybe just a simple replace expression like:

%1 = Title
%2 = Time
%3 = Date

Then in the text field, you can enter any combination:

%1 : %2 : %3
%3 - %1
%1 [%3 - %2]

etc. I think you get the idea. What do people think of that? I think it would make it quite flexible then, which I think is the key to this. The more customisation the better.

Anyways, let me know what you think of that, Merry Christmas etc, and will speak to you all in the New Year and hopefully we can get some stuff rolling with this. Take care.

Evercraft - thanks for the update, and for all your hard work. just curious - will you be looking into getting it to work with the Event Attendance hack? that would be super.

thanks again!

[rabidkevin]

Any updates on when variables will be made for topic structure???
Or atleast give us a quick rundown of how to change it around..

I need it like this:

[Date] Topic Title [Custom #1] [Custom #2]

[Devii]

I attempted to change the title by hand, no luck ^^; No change at all, so I must be in the wrong place >.>;

The replace expressions would be great, also have configurable date() formats in the vB options, would be great for the standard date format(to use something other than your forums vB date format...).

I've had to change a few of my templates to include an e=$event[eventid] on the links to get them to work (small month for instance), just wondering what the importance of this is as the old mod (endquote) didnt seem to rely on this.

Well, thanks for the work, and I, as well as others will patently wait for more quality work ^^;

[silurius]

There is a 3.5.3 security fix which touches calendar.php. Not sure how this might affect this mod (or the previous version).

Edit: I upgraded my test site to 3.5.3 (full option). I am running endquote's July version of the Event Forums. I got this error when I tried to edit an event I had just created:

Database error in vBulletin 3.5.3:

Invalid SQL:

				   SELECT postid
				   FROM post
				   WHERE threadid =
				   ORDER BY dateline
				   LIMIT 1;

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 'ORDER BY dateline
				   LIMIT 1' at line 4
Error Number : 1064
Date		 : Wednesday, January 4th 2006 @ 12:40:50 PM
Script	   : http://www.mysite.com/dev/testvb/calendar.php
Referrer	 : http://www.mysite.com/dev/testvb/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=34&day=2006-1-5&c=4
IP Address   : 216.113.168.128
Username	 :
Classname	: vb_database

I forget, is this also a known bug for the new version of vB Event Forums?

[silurius]

Related to my previous post, I am curious to know which version of this mod might be best to use?

Originally Posted by silurius

Edit: I upgraded my test site to 3.5.3 (full option). I am running endquote's July version of the Event Forums. I got this error when I tried to edit an event I had just created:

you have the answer in this quote: you use the OLD and BUGGED version of the hack... so why ask ?? install this stable version and you will see...

Originally Posted by cbr929rrerion

I noticed that when it creates the thread, the only option in the thread is to start a new thread not post a reply, and if you click new thread it takes you to new event on the calendar not a new thread..

How can this be fixed?

... read the documentation, and you'll see...

really, if you don't understand this and think it's a bug, you don't have to install this hack because you did not read the documentation and you don't know what it is used for...

the goal of this hack is to transform your forum into a Events/Calendar machine... no threads...

[silurius]

Originally Posted by nexialys

you have the answer in this quote: you use the OLD and BUGGED version of the hack... so why ask ?? install this stable version and you will see...

Thanks for the reply and, well, yes that possibility did occur to me. I was just wary of the listed bugs and uncertain if any were new since the older version.

[silurius]

So it seems to be working fairly well, good work Evercraft. Unfortunately I just created an event and while visible on the calendar, it does not show up as a thread despite having uninstalled the old version and having a correct mapping. This is exactly why I posted my question above; didn't have this issue earlier today.