Redirection after Posting (Phorum Integration in Joomla via addphp)

Jogger,

At this point you've made it about as far as I did, so my advice will start drying up.

Quote
I now got the "start page" with forum links like this: "host.de/joomla/forum/phorum.php?list,1" So the rewriting of the phorum links in phorum_settings.php seems to work, but I am in the wrong directory - I would need something like this: "host.de/joomla/forum/portable/phorum.php?list,1"

You can change the base URL for the portable phorum config to change that URL to the "portable" ... Or, make a phorum.php in the root dir which executes the portable code ... or, maybe, have portable phorum point to the Joomla URL for the addphp handler menuitem you set up?

Quote
Of course I have to catch all phorum.php-calls in my .htaccess and redirecting them to the Joomla template (which then has to call it with the given parameters) - but is this all? Or in other words: Are all informations included in the GET parameters?

In theory, I think you have it right. In practice, though, it might take a bit work. The last time I tried this, I had some trouble with the GET parameters making it all the way through to the phorum code w/out getting mangled by Joomla or the modules.

Your experience might be different with addphp ... I was working with Jumi.

------------------------
Sean Phelan
Sites By Sequoia - Web Marketing ... The Experts at Building Your Success Online

Hi Sean,

I'm on a good way now. I solved the "directory problem" and finally realised, that there really is no need for mod_rewrite.
I also have installed Jumi (nice extension). So for now my Joomla integration looks like this:

I created an article which contains only this:

Language: PHP
{jumi [forum/portable/phorum.php]}

This article now is linked to my main menu so when calling

http://localhost/joomla/forum.html

(I have activated SEO in Joomla) the forum index page is shown.

In phorum_settings.php I modified the url rewriting this way:

Language: PHP
// We have to alter the urls a little
function phorum_custom_get_url ($page, $query_items, $suffix, $pathinfo)
{
    $PHORUM=$GLOBALS["PHORUM"];
    //print_r ($PHORUM);
 
    //$url = "$PHORUM[http_path]/portable/phorum.php";
    $url = "forum.html";
 
    if ($pathinfo !== NULL) $url .= $pathinfo;
    $url .= "?$page";
 
    if(count($query_items)) $url.=",".implode(",", $query_items);
 
    if(!empty($suffix)) $url.=$suffix;
 
    return $url;
}

So all Links in Phorum output now look like this way:

http://localhost/joomla/forum.html?xxxxxx

where xxxxxx is the comma separated list of options.
Joomla knows how to handle forum.html: it outputs the Jumi article and therefore calls phorum.php - fortunately the query string is given to phorum.php, too. So it then can include so correct file (e.g. list.php) with its correct parameters.

http://localhost/joomla/forum.html?list,2

for example will show the threads of forum with id 2 etc.

So there is no need for additional rewriting through the apache rewrite module and I can click myself through the forum :-)

Of course there are still some things to do: switching Phorum to the language Joomla uses (I use JoomFish with German and English) so English speaking visitors also get the forum in English.

Another thing is the search function of Joomla. Of course I really would appreciate a solution where someone could search both: forum and remaining site. May be I will write a search plugin for Joomla - or is there still an existing solution on your side?

One real problem I got is that I cannot download attachments and show pics (with the Embed Images module) because he then give me something like this:

Permission denied: links to files in the forum are only allowed from the forum itself.

Do you know how to get rid of this message?

Best regards,
Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2010 08:51AM by jogger.

Jogger,

I'm glad to see you're making good progress! One day I might be asking you for some of this same advice in return :)

Quote
Another thing is the search function of Joomla. Of course I really would appreciate a solution where someone could search both: forum and remaining site. May be I will write a search plugin for Joomla - or is there still an existing solution on your side?

My thinking here is that the trick is use a "site" search and not a "joomla" search. I did a quick search on Joomla extensions and found a few which might work:
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/search-a-indexing/site-search/4871
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/search-a-indexing/site-search/4066
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/search-a-indexing/site-search/2930

What I was scanning for were modules that didn't index Joomla DB Content (articles, etc.), but rather indexed HTTP content (ie, normal web pages).

The ones I found as extensions are probably all Google-based, but you could also look at swish-e, or sphinx as search engines you'd set up for your site.

Using Jumi, you could wrap in a simple PHP interface to just about any search engine and leave the Joomla intricacies for someone else to negotiate.

Quote
One real problem I got is that I cannot download attachments and show pics (with the Embed Images module) because he then give me something like this: Permission denied: links to files in the forum are only allowed from the forum itself. Do you know how to get rid of this message?

I don't have any insight into this, except that it's obviously another symptom of URL inconsistency. One quick thing to try ... in the phorum admin, isn't there a place to add alternate URLs for the system to accept as OK? Maybe adding the URL of the referrer might help.

Otherwise ... you're testing this locally, right? Search for the error message, find the line of code, and work backwards. Phorum's code is actually very easy to read, and you'd get enough perspective to ask the right question of the real phorum gurus (Maurice, Brian, Joe, Thomas, etc...)

Keep us posted!

Sp

------------------------
Sean Phelan
Sites By Sequoia - Web Marketing ... The Experts at Building Your Success Online

In the Admin Section > General Settings, there is a setting called "Allow Linking To Uploaded Files" which defaults to "Only from the forum" but can be changed to "From this web site" or "From any web site" one of which should solve your permission denied issue.

In my Drupal plugin for my External Authentication module, I used the "common_post_user" hook to set the $GLOBALS["PHORUM"]["language"] field based on the url visited. In Drupal, localization is added to the query string (eg. www.drupal.com/node/1/en or www.drupal.com/node/1/ru)

Hope these suggestions help a bit and good luck on creating your site, though it sounds like you have things well in hand.

---

Joe Curia (aka Azumandias)
Modules: l0Admin Mass Email00000000l000000Automatic Time Zones000ll.l00000Enhanced Custom Profiles0.00Google Calendar0000l.l000000Post Previews
000000000Admin Security Suite000000000000Check Modules for Upgrades0000External Authentication000000Group Auto-Email00000.00000Private Message Alerts
000000000Attachment Download Counter0000Custom Attachment Icons000ll.ll00Favorite Forums000000.00000Highlighted Search Terms0000Self-Delete Posts Option
000000000Attachment Watermarks0l00000000Custom Language Database00l.l.0Forum Lockdown00000.00000Ignore Forums0000000000000Threaded Tree View
000000000Automatic Message Pruning00.llll.00Easy Color Scheme Manager0l.l00Forum Subscriptions0000lll000Moderated User Group
Templates:lGeneric Integration000000000 0000Simple Rounded000000 00000000Tabbed Emerald

Hi again!

Thank you for your replies, guys :-)

Quote
Joe Curia
In the Admin Section > General Settings, there is a setting called "Allow Linking To Uploaded Files" which defaults to "Only from the forum" but can be changed to "From this web site" or "From any web site" one of which should solve your permission denied issue.

Yes, yes - I knew I saw it but didn't remember where - now all works fine with the images :-)
One question: are the generated thumbs of the module cached anywhere? (I ask because I have many pics in some threads so it would take a long time to resize them all again and again.)

Quote
Joe Curia
In my Drupal plugin for my External Authentication module, I used the "common_post_user" hook to set the $GLOBALS["PHORUM"]["language"] field based on the url visited. In Drupal, localization is added to the query string (eg. www.drupal.com/node/1/en or www.drupal.com/node/1/ru)

Thank you for the hint. I have already read some docs about modules in Phorum now and must say: very, very good development - finally there seems to be no "ouch, new forum version - where and what have I changed after last update??? Arghh!" anymore ;-)

Joomla puts the current language in the request parameters, too. So it is available when calling portable/phorum.php.
I want to override the forum with Joomla settings because Phorum is embedded in Joomla and not vice versa :-)
I'm willing to learn how to write a module (see below) but: Do I really have to use a module for such a "small thing"?

Ok, another issue:
In my miniBB forum I have a nice feature for the thread lists: if there are any images in messages of a thread this thread entry gets very small additional thumbnails of three images (in fact it also gets the latest three pics so these thumbs always show the newest pics). This is a very nice feature and makes users interested in these threads.
To show this more clearly I have attached a screenshot of it.

Currently I'm converting the miniBB data base to Phorum (this is why my reply took some days this time ;-) - which is nearly completed. I saw that pics in Phorum are saved in the database itself. My idea would be then to took all the pics of a thread, sort them by date descending and take the three first entries. Then I will check a specified directory if the thumbs already exist and if not, generate the thumbnails one by one and save them with the (unique?) file_id from the phorum_files data table. Then I have to create the links to this thumbnails and add them behind the thread title.

Ok, all this should be done in a module. But what hook should I use? Are my thoughts about this correct?

Quote
Sean Phelan
Keep us posted!

Yes, of course I will do.
When I have finished migration and integration in Joomla I will write a complete tutorial how to integrate Phorum in Joomla. I know that there are many many who wants to but don't know how.
And all of the native Joomla forums (and I tested all of the currently available) use the Joomla user login etc. which isn't wished by me and others.
Users of a forum don't need access to a CMS automatically so I don't want there entries in the Joomla user table.
There should be really a push for Phorum if we could say: "You can migrate your old forum easily and for embedding in Joomla simply follow this instructions here".

Ok, that's it for now :-)

Best regards,
Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2010 05:56AM by jogger.

The good news is that modules can access multiple hooks so writing one can be enough. Though it is often recommended that you separate different functionalities into different modules (so you don't have to come down on me again Maurice ;-) ).

As for your image thumbnails, it sounds like you've thought it through a bit, though I would say that after your initial conversion script to create the top three thumbnails, you would only need to update them again after a new message has been posted to the thread/topic (or an old one has been edited). As for displaying the messages (and possibly even creating that initial conversion script), I am going to point you to another module I wrote which is somewhat similar, my Custom Attachment Icons module. This module adds icons to each post in a list page for the different types of attachments in the post so it can show you how to add/update thumbnails after a message is posted. It also has a timeout-resistant script to scan through previous messages for attachments which can serve as an example for the initial conversion script.

Actually, if you do create a separate module to show those thumbnails, and can write it in such a way that others could make use of it, I think it would make a great contribution to the Phorum community (as would your Joomla guide).

Either way, good luck with your conversion and customization and I'll start some coffee brewing for you :-)

---

Joe Curia (aka Azumandias)
Modules: l0Admin Mass Email00000000l000000Automatic Time Zones000ll.l00000Enhanced Custom Profiles0.00Google Calendar0000l.l000000Post Previews
000000000Admin Security Suite000000000000Check Modules for Upgrades0000External Authentication000000Group Auto-Email00000.00000Private Message Alerts
000000000Attachment Download Counter0000Custom Attachment Icons000ll.ll00Favorite Forums000000.00000Highlighted Search Terms0000Self-Delete Posts Option
000000000Attachment Watermarks0l00000000Custom Language Database00l.l.0Forum Lockdown00000.00000Ignore Forums0000000000000Threaded Tree View
000000000Automatic Message Pruning00.llll.00Easy Color Scheme Manager0l.l00Forum Subscriptions0000lll000Moderated User Group
Templates:lGeneric Integration000000000 0000Simple Rounded000000 00000000Tabbed Emerald

Hi Joe,

thank you very much for the hint to your CAI module - it seems to be the perfect start for writing my "small thread thumbs" module :-)

I already have rewritten the settings.php - which now let you determine thumbnail size, number of shown thumbs per thread and your warning of a not modified template (for now I only use list.tpl). But I have a problem: I can set all paramters and they are saved in DB but I am not able to enable the module at the modules list (with On/Off). This field is disabled for my module and I don't know why :-( Any suggestions for the reasons from your side?

My way would be the following:

When a message is posted/edited (I don't know of all hooks I need - may be you can give me some help) I will check it for attached images, create thumbs of them in directory "thumbs" under {phorum_dir/mod/small_thread_thumbs} with the name generated by its file_id in the "files" db table (e.g. "1234") so there is no possibility of name collision.

Then I will search the first message of that thread (parent_id then is 0, or?) and save the thumb ids of the last added images to it. So when then put them in the template we only have to look for its meta field and create some img links to the file_ids in the thumbs directory.

To create the thumbs for already existing messages I will take your (modified) function in settings as "run_attachment_check()" :-)
It will create completely new thumbs for all attached images and modify all first thread messages.

Any hints/problems from your side?

It is really fun to create a module for Phorum - so much easier than for other forums - I like it :-)

Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2010 08:22AM by jogger.

First a word of caution, module development can be addictive. ;-) Secondly, the DOCS section on this website will be very helpful as you go forward. The Developer Manual explains most of the hooks that are available and has some basic information on module/template building. The Phorum API section does a great job of explaining many of the API functions that are built into Phorum. Finally, if you can't find an API to get or save some information in the database, the DB Layer offers powerful functions for interacting with the database.

As for not being able to enable your module, I would start with checking your info.txt file. Near the end of the Developer Manual you will find a link to the Keys and values in module information table which explains the different information possible in that file. One problem I recently ran into was that the updated version checking code did not like my generic "require_version: 5.2" but needed "require_version: 5.2.0". You may have this or some other unsupported information in that file. Please also note that you cannot have multiple lines for things like "desc". Each item should be on a single line.

Your module concept sounds great and your proposed structure should work just fine. As for the hooks needed, my module should give you a pretty good idea of what is necessary as it also triggers on posting/editing/merging/splitting/deleting of messages. It can also show you how to save/read the meta data of the thread starting messages.

You may also want to look at providing those thumbnails for each individual message in the list_threads view, and possibly even the read_threads and read_hybrid views. Ah the joys of module development truly never end :-)

---

Joe Curia (aka Azumandias)
Modules: l0Admin Mass Email00000000l000000Automatic Time Zones000ll.l00000Enhanced Custom Profiles0.00Google Calendar0000l.l000000Post Previews
000000000Admin Security Suite000000000000Check Modules for Upgrades0000External Authentication000000Group Auto-Email00000.00000Private Message Alerts
000000000Attachment Download Counter0000Custom Attachment Icons000ll.ll00Favorite Forums000000.00000Highlighted Search Terms0000Self-Delete Posts Option
000000000Attachment Watermarks0l00000000Custom Language Database00l.l.0Forum Lockdown00000.00000Ignore Forums0000000000000Threaded Tree View
000000000Automatic Message Pruning00.llll.00Easy Color Scheme Manager0l.l00Forum Subscriptions0000lll000Moderated User Group
Templates:lGeneric Integration000000000 0000Simple Rounded000000 00000000Tabbed Emerald

Quote
Joe Curia
One problem I recently ran into was that the updated version checking code did not like my generic "require_version: 5.2" but needed "require_version: 5.2.0". You may have this or some other unsupported information in that file.

Yeah - that was the fault - I also used "5.2" instead of "5.2.0". Now I can continue further development :-)

Quote
Joe Curia
Your module concept sounds great and your proposed structure should work just fine. As for the hooks needed, my module should give you a pretty good idea of what is necessary as it also triggers on posting/editing/merging/splitting/deleting of messages. It can also show you how to save/read the meta data of the thread starting messages.
You may also want to look at providing those thumbnails for each individual message in the list_threads view, and possibly even the read_threads and read_hybrid views.

Yes, I have already rewritten the template section to my needs :-)

Quote
Joe Curia
Ah the joys of module development truly never end :-)

Hehe, I hope it is not too addictive to me. But I really like it :-)

BTW: because of the nice admin interface - shouldn't it be best to write any conversion scripts (e.g. from miniBB to Phorum - I have done this yesterday, but in a separate script) as a module? You would be able to use the phorum functions (db layer!) and you can let users set some parameters (database, password etc.) - if they are needed.
My dream would be a monster module "Forum conversion" with two drop down lists : "Please choose source forum type: Phorum, miniBB, phpBB, Kunena, SMF ..." and "Please choose destination forum type" and a big button "Do it!" :-)

Well, if we want to push Phorum, we should delete the "Phorum" entry from the source list and set destination list to only "Phorum" ;-)

Ok, that's all for now - back to module-ing ...

Chris

Jogger,

I once had to do a conversion from FireBoard to Phorum, and documented it here:

http://www.phorum.org/phorum5/read.php?14,129349,129349

Fireboard was a Joomla forum module, which has long been defunct - I think Kunena is the 2-generations-forward evolution of it, but possibly in name only.

Anyhow, give that thread a read for some of the nuts and bolts of what I needed to do to make another forum DB "speak phorum" - you might glean some general insights from it.

------------------------
Sean Phelan
Sites By Sequoia - Web Marketing ... The Experts at Building Your Success Online