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)

[doemasters]

Originally Posted by Blacura

Yes you have to create a Facebook Group or just use the registered user group and when they sign on they can then use your forum.

i have the settings in this area, do i need to change them somewhere else?

[way2xtreme]

Hello,

I have a member who used it to create a new username (we are all new to this). Is there a way to set the connection to his old username and move his new posts (just a few) to his old account?

Thanks
WC

[Infopro]

Originally Posted by way2xtreme

Hello,

I have a member who used it to create a new username (we are all new to this). Is there a way to set the connection to his old username and move his new posts (just a few) to his old account?

Thanks
WC

Sure I think you can. In his new accounts profile (facebook options area), he should see a link to "Disconnect Facebook From..." The user should click that to remove the connection to the user. Then logout. You as admin can merge the new user/posts into the old users account.
Now that old user logs into their regular forum account and clicks the Connect to Facebook in user profile/facebook option and sets up options normally.

I would think that would work ok.

[is_it_me]

Originally Posted by mrpaint

Sent you a PM but you didn't reply. Hmm, it looked like something has been sent to output before vBulletin html. Please double check

Yeah, sorry I didn't yet back to you, been busy and was waiting until I had the time to spend on trying to get it to work.

Anyway, after reverting all templates and disabling all other products, I was still getting the same problem, so I uninstalled YAFB and re-installed with the upgraded product, which solved it.

However, I now have another problem - when I try to connect via a new Facebook account, it tells me there?s no account on my site and re-directs me to the registration page to put a username in, which I would expect.

However, after filling in a username and clicking ?complete registration? it gives me this message: ?The email address you entered is already in use. If you have forgotten your password, please click here.?

So, I click and fill in the e-mail address only to be told: ?You have not entered an email address that we recognize. Please try again or contact the administrator.?

[gurler]

system working but the custom profile fields sucks.

is there any solution for this ?

please take a look at the attachment

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by doemasters

ok here is what it looks like when a person uses facebook connect. Screen shot attached

Other than an alignment issue, that's what you're supposed to see every time you log in.

[grc]

I'm sure this is answered somewhere but I can't even think of how to ask in a search...

Right now, I can post on my profile page in vBulletin and have that post appear on my Facebook wall. Now I'd like to have items I post to my Facebook wall appear on my vBulletin page.

Is that possible? How?

Thanks in advance for any helpful replies.

[Kdicuori]

Hi all,

I am trying this product on a 3.8.4 board. I have put all the files in the docroot then tried to upload the xml product file.

When doing so, the page freezes, waiting for an answer from the server ... server load is 0, no significant hung queries.

Can anyone give me some troubleshooting tips?

Thanks,

M.

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by grc

I'm sure this is answered somewhere but I can't even think of how to ask in a search...

Right now, I can post on my profile page in vBulletin and have that post appear on my Facebook wall. Now I'd like to have items I post to my Facebook wall appear on my vBulletin page.

Is that possible? How?

Thanks in advance for any helpful replies.

Not possible with this modification.

[grc]

Originally Posted by Digital Jedi

Not possible with this modification.

Thanks!