vBulletin-WordPress Bridge

I have been looking around for a WordPress - vBulletin plug-in and can?t seem to find one. I had time today to look at the WordPress code and tried out some things, and came up with a small hack for a bridge.

This bridge will let you use vBulletin as the main comments area for the blog entry. A copy of the intro blog entry is automatically created in a specific forum you choose, as well as a link back to the original blog entry from the forum. The blog entry will also show the total comments made.

Let me first say that I don?t have any experience in creating plug-ins for WordPress so please don?t ask me to convert this to one. If you plan to make this as an official plug-in or improve on it, please make sure to let me know so I can place a link on this article to yours.

Thanks and I hope you all enjoy it.

Note:

• This hack will only work if your WordPress and vBulletin tables are in a single database.
• This hack has only been tested on adding entries directly from the admin panel. It has not been tested on xmlrpc clients.
• Use at your own risk. I will not be held liable for any loss of data nor problems that you might encounter on your site during the whole process of the mod.Backup your files and database(s) before proceeding.

Database Changes:

I have added a new column in WordPress? posts table to maintian the vBulletin thread id that will be automatically generated for the blog entry. Note that the table name prefix might be different from your WordPress table settings:

ALTER TABLE `wp_posts` ADD `vb_threadid` INT(10);

Files to Upload:

Save the following as vb3?settings.php and upload it to the Wordpress wp-includes folder:

<?php
// This just holds the vb variables
$vb_bridge = 1; // 1=on 0=off
$vb_forumid = '2'; // forum id to post copy of article
$vb_userid = '1'; // user id to use for posting the article
$vb_username = 'admin'; // name of the user id
$vb_path = 'http://www.yoursite.com/forum'; //complete url of forums
$vb_dbprefix = 'vb3_'; //vBulletin database prefix
$vb_readmessage = 'Read the full blog entry.'; //message to be used in the forum to link back to the blog entry
?>

• $vb_forumid - is the forum id of the blog discussion forum. Usually, this is the ?News? or ?Blog? forum. I advice to to set the permission of this forum to not allow ?New Posts? but allow ?New Replies.? To get the id of the forum, on your vBulletin forums page, click on the forum that you want to assign and check the URL at the address bar. It will appear like ?..forumdisplay.php?f=x? where x is the forum id.
• $vb_userid - is the user id you want to assign as the one who will automatically create a new thread in the forum you have chosen.To get the user id, go to your forum?s Member List and click on the member you would like to assign. The URL will appear like ?member.php?u=x? where x is the user id.
• $vb_username - is the corresponding username of the user id. Rather than generating a new SQL query to get the username, it is better to just assign the name to this variable.
• $vb_path - this is the actual URL of your site?s forum. Note that there is no trailing slash.
• $vb_dbprefix - if you specified a table prefix when you installed vBulletin, enter it here.
• $vb_dbprefix - This message will appear at the end of the vBulletin post that links back to the blog entry.

Added in v1.1: In the attached files at the right, download postfeed.php and upload it to the root folder of your vB forums (it should be in the same folder where external.php is).

Files to be Modified:

Here comes the slightly harder part. We need to modify some WordPress files. Part of the changes assume that you are using the Kubrick default theme. If you are using a different theme, change the corresponding files accordingly.

wp-includes/comment-functions.php

Replace:

function get_comments_number( $comment_id ) {
 global $wpdb, $comment_count_cache;
 $comment_id = (int) $comment_id;
 if (!isset($comment_count_cache[$comment_id]))
  $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] =  $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '$comment_id' AND comment_approved = '1'");
 
 return apply_filters('get_comments_number', $comment_count_cache[$comment_id]);
}

With:

function get_comments_number( $comment_id ) {
 global $wpdb, $comment_count_cache;
  include (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

 $comment_id = (int) $comment_id;
  if (!isset($comment_count_cache[$comment_id])) {
  if ($vb_bridge){
   $vb_threadid = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT vb_threadid FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE id = '$comment_id'");
   $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT count(*)-1 FROM {$vb_dbprefix}post WHERE threadid = '$vb_threadid'");
  } else {
   $comment_count_cache[$comment_id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '$comment_id' AND comment_approved = '1'");
  }
 }
 return apply_filters('get_comments_number', $comment_count_cache[$comment_id]);
}

Below:

function comments_popup_link($zero='No Comments', $one='1 Comment', $more='% Comments', $CSSclass='', $none='Comments Off') {
    global $id, $wpcommentspopupfile, $wpcommentsjavascript, $post, $wpdb;
    global $comment_count_cache;

Add:

    include (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

 if ($vb_bridge){
  $vb_threadid = $post->vb_threadid;
  if ($vb_threadid == "") {
         echo $none;
         return;
  } else {
   $comment_count_cache[$id] = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT count(*)-1 FROM {$vb_dbprefix}post WHERE threadid = '$vb_threadid'");
  } 
  $number = $comment_count_cache[$id];
  echo '<a  href="'.$vb_path.'/showthread.php?t=' . $vb_threadid .'&goto=newpost">';
   comments_number($zero, $one, $more, $number);
   echo '</a>'; 
   return;
 }

Save file.

Added in v1.1: wp-includes/feed-functions.php

Replace:

function comments_rss_link($link_text = 'Comments RSS', $commentsrssfilename = '') {
	$url = comments_rss($commentsrssfilename);
	echo "<a href='$url'>$link_text</a>";
}

With:

function comments_rss_link($link_text = 'Comments RSS', $commentsrssfilename = '') {
	global $post;
	include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');
	if ($vb_bridge){
		$url = $vb_path . '/postfeed.php?t=' . $post->vb_threadid . '&type=rss2';
	} else {		
		$url = comments_rss($commentsrssfilename);
	}
	echo "<a href='$url'>$link_text</a>";
}

Save file.

wp-admin/post.php

Below:

require_once('admin.php');

Add:

include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vb3-settings.php');

Below:

  $result = $wpdb->query($postquery);

Modified in v1.2: Add:

	// VB Bridge Start
		if ($vb_bridge) {
			if ($post_title == "") {
				return;
			}

			$saveid = $vb_userid;
			$savename = $vb_username;

			$author_name = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT `user_login` FROM $wpdb->users WHERE `id` = '$post_author'"); 
			
			if ($author_name != ""){
				$vb_authorid = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT `userid` FROM " . $vb_dbprefix . "user WHERE `username` = '$author_name'");
				if ($vb_authorid != ""){
					$saveid = $vb_authorid;
					$savename = $author_name;
				}
			}
			$curtime = time();
			$sql = "INSERT INTO `{$vb_dbprefix}thread` 
					SET `title`='{$post_title}',`lastpost`='{$curtime}', `forumid`='{$vb_forumid}', `open`='1', `postusername`='{$savename}', `postuserid`='{$saveid}', `lastposter`='{$savename}', `dateline`='{$curtime}', `visible`='1'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
			$vb_threadid = $wpdb->insert_id;
			
			if ($excerpt == ""){
				$moreflag = strpos($content,'<!--more-->');
				if ($moreflag === false) {
					$introtext = $content;
				} else {
					$introtext = substr($content, 0, $moreflag);
				} 
				$bbcontent = '[quote'.']'.strip_tags($introtext).'['.'/quote]';
			} else {
				$bbcontent = '[quote'.']'.strip_tags($excerpt).'['.'/quote]';
			}
			$bbcontent .= '[URL='.get_permalink($post_ID).']['.'b]'.$vb_readmessage.'['.'/b]['.'/URL]';				
			$sql = "INSERT INTO `{$vb_dbprefix}post` 
					SET `threadid`='{$vb_threadid}', `username`='{$savename}', `userid`='{$saveid}', `title`='{$post_title}', `pagetext`='{$bbcontent}', `ipaddress`='{$REMOTE_ADDR}', `allowsmilie`='1', `iconid`='1',`visible`='1', `dateline`='{$curtime}'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		
			$sql = "UPDATE `{$vb_dbprefix}forum` SET `threadcount`=`threadcount`+1, `lastpost`='{$curtime}', `lastposter`='{$savename}', `lastthread`='{$post_title}', `lastthreadid`='{$vb_threadid}', `lasticonid`='1' WHERE `forumid`='{$vb_forumid}' LIMIT 1";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		
		  $sql = "UPDATE $wpdb->posts SET `vb_threadid`={$vb_threadid} WHERE `ID`='{$post_ID}'";
			$vbresult = $wpdb->query($sql);
		}	
	// VB Bridge End

Save file.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/comments.php

Replace contents with:

<?php // Do not delete these lines
 if ('comments.php' == basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']))
  die ('Please do not load this page directly. Thanks!'); 

        if (!empty($post->post_password)) { // if there's a password
            if ($_COOKIE['wp-postpass_' . COOKIEHASH] != $post->post_password) {  // and it doesn't match the cookie
    ?>
    
    <p class="nocomments">This post is password protected. Enter the password to view comments.<p>
    
    <?php
    return;
            }
        }

  /* This variable is for alternating comment background */
  $oddcomment = 'alt';
?>

<!-- You can start editing here. -->
<p class="postmetadata">Discuss: <?php comments_popup_link('No Comments ?', '1 Comment ?', '% Comments ?'); ?></p>

Save File.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/single.php

Replace:

       You can <a href="#respond">leave a response</a>, or <a href="<?php trackback_url(true); ?>" rel="trackback">trackback</a> from your own site.

With (note that you are adding the path of the forum):

       You can <a href="/forum/showthread.php?t=<?php echo( $post->vb_threadid ); ?>&goto=newpost">leave a response</a>, or <a href="<?php trackback_url(true); ?>" rel="trackback">trackback</a> from your own site.

Save file.


If you are using the Kubrick default theme, open wp-content/themes/default/footer.php

Replace:

  and <a href="feed:<?php bloginfo('comments_rss2_url'); ?>">Comments (RSS)</a>.

With:

  <!-- and <a href="feed:<?php bloginfo('comments_rss2_url'); ?>">Comments (RSS)</a>.-->

Save file.


Lastly, open wp-rss2.php

Replace:

  <wfw:commentRSS><?php echo comments_rss(); ?></wfw:commentRSS>

With (note that you are specifying the complete URL of the forum here):

<wfw:commentRSS>http://www.yoursite.com/forum/showthread.php?t=<?php echo $post->vb_threadid; ?></wfw:commentRSS>

Save file.

vBulletin Settings:

The RSS feed will not work if you haven't activated RSS External synidcation on your forum. To do this, on your forums admincp, go to vBulletin Options->External Data Provider and check 'Yes' on Enable RSS Syncidcation.


Final Words:

Well, that?s about it! I?m not sure how often I can visit this thread but I hope those who find success in implementing the bridge, can help those who are having problems. Again, if you have suggestions on improving the script, let me know.

Thanks and happy modding!

Live Demo: http://www.internettablettalk.com/blog/


Revision History:

v1.2 (12/7/2005):
Uses correct vB user id and user name of the blog author. This will work only if the username of the Wordpress user is exactly the same as the vB username. If not, it uses $vb_userid and $vb_username defined in the settings.

v1.1 (8/19/2005):
Revisions are based on reports by Darth Gill (see discussion). New version includes vB RSS thread parser and a bug fix on vB not displaying recently added blog entry on the forum level. Current revisions are marked in green.

Changes:

• Added file to upload: postfeed.php (see Files to Upload section)
• New file to modify: wp-includes/feed-functions.php
• Fixed reported latest thread bug in wp-admin/post.php. Apply changes in green.

Screenshots:

[Gellpak]

Originally Posted by bfoot045

Hmm, I guess the post wasn't seen, anyways, same question.

I just want to use the wordpress comments system, but have that user integration so users can use their forum account to make comments on the wordpress.

As I understand it, this already does that. You have to have a user account set up with wordpress to POST an item, but replies are just sent to the forum anyway, which uses the forum accounts.

What I'd like to see is full user integration... i.e. no such thing as wordpress accounts, just permissions in vbb that allow posting in wordpress. No separate user system.

[gigaenvy]

Do you know if this can be used to pull from a remote vbulletin server? Was thinking of testing this on another domain with WP installed and pulling posts remotely.

Thanks!

[rsuplido]

Originally Posted by gigaenvy

Do you know if this can be used to pull from a remote vbulletin server? Was thinking of testing this on another domain with WP installed and pulling posts remotely.

Thanks!

Check out my reply on post #70. Not guaranteed but it might work.

[gigaenvy]

Originally Posted by rsuplido

Check out my reply on post #70. Not guaranteed but it might work.

Thanks...I did a search initially for the word "remote", hence my post. Makes perfect sense since that is how I am publishing posts from my vbulletin forums onto an html page on another web host - domain.

Again...much appreciated for your help.

[iliton]

Originally Posted by Gellpak

What I'd like to see is full user integration...

This all what i need

[rsuplido]

I understand that some of you would like to see user integration but why? Users with Wordpress accounts (authors and contributors) are very minimal. Majority of the blog sites probably just has one author. Why integrate the user database to vB then?

With this hack, you should:

1. Create accounts for blog authors in WordPress so they can create blog entries
2. Members register in vBulletin so they can reply

What's so difficult about that?

[David_R]

Is this not a full version ? I am confused by some posts in this thread.

[The Bad Astrono]

Originally Posted by rsuplido

A workaround is probably to add the database name in the dbprefix variable like:

$vb_dbprefix = 'databasename.vb3_';

Also, in phpmyadmin, give full access to the wordpress user to the vb database. It might work.

I was thinking about this again. Since the vBulletin database is on another server altogether, I have no clue what to put in this variable to make it work (or even if it can work).

Does anyone out there with more experience have an idea? Is there some way to tie together two databases sitting on different computers? I'll add that they are both on the same web host, just on two different machines.

Thanks!

[pcoskat]

Originally Posted by The Bad Astrono

This is a nice hack! It's just what I need, with one minor (haha) problem: my bulletin board is a different database, and on a different server than my blog. My php and DB skills are pretty minimal, so does anyone know how to do this? I would dearly love to have the comments from my blog on my bulletin board!

Uhh oh!

I was all excited about this mod until I read your post.

My blogs are going to be on the same server as my vB, but they will not share the same domain.

Is this going to be a problem... :surprised:

[Lord Brar]

Originally Posted by pcoskat

Uhh oh!

I was all excited about this mod until I read your post.

My blogs are going to be on the same server as my vB, but they will not share the same domain.

Is this going to be a problem... :surprised:

If they are going to share the database then the domain should not be an issue.