phpBB integration

This plug-in provides user integration between Vivvo CMS and phpBB forum. After integration, phpBB takes over managing users and comments and this integration allows a single log-in feature which means that users will be logged-in to both sytems at the same time. Users will have to register only once and they will have only one profile and one user account.

The article's corresponding thread in phpBB forum is created automatically when someone posts the first comment to any Vivvo article and comments from phpBB forum are displayed within an article's page.

• Vivvo v4.1.x
• phpBB v3.0.x

Both scripts have to be installed on the same domain.

Prior to installing the plug-in itself, you can optionally make few modifications to phpBB original code that will allow Vivvo to integrate logout procedure so you can be returned to Vivvo page automatically after you have logged out.

Go to PHPBB_ROOT/ucp.php file of your phpBB installation, find the following code (around line 95):

meta_refresh(3, append_sid("{$phpbb_root_path}index.$phpEx"));

and instead place this code:

if ($_REQUEST['logout_url'] && $_REQUEST['logout_url'] != ''){
	meta_refresh(3, append_sid(request_var('logout_url', '')));
}else{
	meta_refresh(3, append_sid("{$phpbb_root_path}index.$phpEx"));
}

In case your forum is installed in Vivvo's subdirectory, it is necessary to place .htaccess into this folder in order to make forum functional.

.htaccess content:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine Off
</IfModule>

After you have completed all pre-installation steps, you can install the plug-in.

You need to access the Plug-ins section. Click on Plug-ins link which is located in Main menu at the top of your administration panel.

A list of all plug-ins currently registered to the system is displayed on the right hand side of the screen on Downloaded plug-ins tab.

To install phpBB integration plug-in you need to click on the install icon on the right side of the plug-ins name.

This will take you to the page with the following fields. Just fill-in the values of corresponding parameters:

• phpBB url → You should enter the full URL address of your forum, http://www.example.com/forum (http:// prefix and slash are mandatory)

• phpBB File System root → In this box you should placed a local path on your server where phpBB is installed

If you are unsure about the path you should do the following:

1. open index.php file located in your forums' folder
2. put the following line right after <?php tag

   echo dirname(__FILE__);

3. save the file and reupload to your server
4. open forums' index page in your browser, the path should be displayed on the top of page

When you got your forums path you should revert all changes to index.php file.

Do not go any further in the installation until you have both url and root added. After you enter these required fields, press the Next button to proceed with the installation.

On the next step, all you need to do is add some parameters in the form shown bellow:

• phpBB user ID → The user with this ID will act like a BOT that automatically creates a thread. The title of that thread will correspond to respective article title and the thread will have a back link to actual article.

• phpBB forum ID → This is the board ID that stores all auto-created threads. Threads will be placed in this board after they have automatically been created.

Example:

After you have created a Forum that will store threads from your Vivvo site open it in your favorite browser and look at the URL.

As you may see, in our case, forums ID is 2.

The similar way you can get user ID. Just click on the username that will act like a bot (thread creator) and look at the URL:

Next, you will be informed that the plug-in was successfully installed and configured. Also the important notice will appear:

“From this point on, phpBB will manage User Management and Comment Management of the system. After this step you will be logged out and you must login into Vivvo using your phpBB administrator credentials.”

Choosing the finish task will log you out and provide you to administration log-in page. Now you should log-in using phpBB administrator account. If you enter the correct credentials you'll be logged in to both systems.

After the phpBB bridge installation, it is necessary to set 'Enable Vivvo comments' option in Vivvo administration - Preferences - Modules to 'No'

To allow phpBB comments to be added to article pages in Vivvo instead of current Vivvo comments you should change the following code in VIVVO_ROOT/xhtml/article/default.tpl file (around line 47):

<vte:include file="{VIVVO_TEMPLATE_DIR}box/comments.tpl" />

place the following:

<vte:include file="{VIVVO_TEMPLATE_DIR}box/phpbb_comments.tpl" />

To uninstall phpBB integration plug-in you need to click on the uninstall icon on the right side of the plug-in name.

This will take you to the page with the link for uninstall: Click here to Uninstall the plug-in

You will be informed that the plug-in was successfully uninstalled. After clicking on a logout link Click here to logout, you will be taken back to the main login screen. From this point on you can login into Vivvo only by using your Vivvo credentials.

After the deinstallation return the Vivvo comment template (comments.tpl instead of phpbb_comments.tpl) and set 'Enable Vivvo comments' option in Vivvo administration - Preferences - Modules to 'Yes'

After phpBB bridge installation Vivvo will inherit forums users and usergroups. You should set them Vivvo permissions in Users section in Vivvo administration panel as explained in Add/edit usergroup chapter of this User manual.

Users need to log in via Log-in form using phpBB username and password. If the user credentials are right, they will pass validation and will be logged to both systems.