http://drupal.org/node/38829

UIEForum is a complete forum system, that is intended to replace the existing drupal forum module.
Due to it's separate database design, it can co-exist quite happily with the default drupal forum, however it is recommended that only one be enabled at a time.

This module's design is not based around the drupal node-system. It uses it's own tables for storing forum data. There is a possibility that this will change at some stage, but for now it's the easiest, and most logical method to proceed.

UIEForum was originally developed as a 'homebrew', standalone forum for www.unreal.ie - and has since been ported over to suit drupal's code structure and rules, as the site is due to move to the drupal system in the coming months. This is still a work in progress, so I fully expect there to be various bugs, however alot of work has gone into the development of the original system, and now the drupal port, so here's hoping that it's not too buggy.

The module allows for the use of groups (roles) to provide security on specific forums, and as such, can be a suitable replacement for users that are currently debating moving from a VBB (or similar) environment.
At the moment, a fixed list of smilies are available, but this will be moved to a database list soon(ish).
Development of this module is ongoing, so be sure to check back frequently.
A public release of the module will be made available as soon as it is ready.

Daniel

Comments

daniel.hunt’s picture

List of Current Features:

Administration

  1. Unrestricted access for group 'administer uieforum'
  2. Security system integration with drupal
  3. Multiple custom private/public forum setups possible
  4. Multiple admin levels possible (mod status on individual forums)
  5. Super-users can reply to locked threads
  6. Admin-configurable directories for forum images - Making it possible to change icon sets in seconds

Forums

  1. Multiple forums and subforums are possible
  2. Forums are lockable
  3. Forum listing includes forum title, number of threads within that forum (and any subforums), number of
  4. posts withing that forum (and any subforums) and a link to the last post withing that forum (or any subforum)
  5. On the fly forum creation, deletion and moving
  6. Forums and Threads are easily recognisable by different icons alongside their titles

Threads

  1. Threads can be subscribed to by reply to them, and unsubscribed in the users's drupal control panel
  2. Threads are lockable and stickyable (is that a word?)
  3. Forums and Threads are easily recognisable by different icons alongside their titles
  4. Thread listing denotes new threads, locked threads, stickied threads and hot topics
  5. Thread listing includes thread title, creator, number of replies, number of views and a link to the last post in each thread
  6. Threads with new posts are denoted by distinct icons

Posts

  1. Post displays are in line with the 'accepted norm'
  2. Online status indicator
  3. Display of avatars alongside posts
  4. Join date, post count, and user avatar display
  5. New Post page allows for insertion of certain BBCode, and has a formatting toolbar as an aid
  6. BBCode includes: QUOTE, CODE, IMG, URL, B(old), I(talic), U(nderline), RANT and more
  7. Preview Post option
  8. Editing of own posts (withing an admin-configurable time frame) is possible, and super-users can edit any post, at any time
  9. Editing of posts creates extra information directly below post to show that it has been edited (and when/why)
  10. Post-spam protection - Admin-configurable timeout prevents users from (accidentally?) posting more than one message in a given time frame
  11. Signature support for the built-in drupal signatures

Themes/Images

  1. Smiley lists available and customisable
  2. Fully customisable icon set - can be replaced with any other set you wish. Note that the default icons have an Unreal Tournament slant to them as www.unreal.ie is a UT site.
  3. Forum Module is completely CSS customisable

General

  1. "Latest posts" block allows for the last $num posts to be posted on any forum (that a given user has access to) to be listed in a block on a normal page ($num is admin-conigurable)
  2. Quick key support added for various buttons, eg: Alt+p = Preview, Alt+s = Submit, Alt+b = bold, Alt+i = italic
  3. Window title contains current forum, or thread, or 'new post' to help to distinguish between history items and multiple windows
  4. Forum searching is possible, and is secured via the same security system mentioned above

Preview the module at: http://test.unreal.ie
Or view it's predecessor at: http://www.unreal.ie

scroogie’s picture

Great work! I know this will make Drupal more attractive to _many_ people. Keep working on it!

sami_k’s picture

Though I appreciate the effort, I really think that the current forum module is great and needs to be improved upon. I love the cleanliness of it and if we kept developing it, it would be a good competitors for any other forum out there. Also, I think by default the standard forums should look like this:
http://www.drupalart.org/ymr/forum

In constructive terms, I think you module will provide a great stop-gap solution for developers that need the functionality of other forums but don't wanna leave Drupal.

--
Please read the handbook, search the forums, then ask...
http://drupal.etopian.net (Drupal Support)

venkat-rk’s picture

I won't comment on the cleanliness of the drupal forum module and I am all for developing on top of it, but, feature for feature, I think the current drupal forums can't match what has been put together here.

I am happy to stand corrected.

Dublin Drupaller’s picture

nice one Zoro...and congrats..that sounds like a huge amount of work you've done.

Am I correct in deducing that your forum is more or less the same as the out-of-the-box Drupal forums..apart from the storing of the nodes seperately.?

Is that the key difference?

As a tip..it might be handy to see a list of unique features for other Drupallers. Apart from the volume of posts, categories and a different skin, it's difficult to see the difference between your forum and the drupalart forum linked by Sami. Which, as I understand it, is the out-of-the-box Drupal forum + flatforum contributed add on.
Dub

Currently in Switzerland working as an Application Developer with UBS Investment Bank...using Drupal 7 and lots of swiss chocolate

bonobo’s picture

Thanks for your work on this. This feature set looks amazing.

Like many others, I am looking forward to seeing/testing this module when it comes out.

I REALLY like that the forums are searchable, separate from the rest of the site.

Have I mentioned that I'm looking forward to testing this out?

Cheers,

bonobo

-------
http://www.funnymonkey.com
Tools for Teachers

daniel.hunt’s picture

I REALLY like that the forums are searchable, separate from the rest of the site

Funnily enough, it was a stroke of luck that got that working. I was looking through other modules to see how they handled searching, and I just said feck it and started writing using the api.

Worked first time so I now pretend that I knew what I was doing all along ;)

moramata’s picture

The forum looks promising. But before I start playing with it in my new site, I would lke to get answers to a few questions.

1. Does it support drupal clean url (e.g., using Pathauto, will it create clean url automatically)?
2. Is the user log-in integrated? That ism one log-in for the entire site.
3. Can I make integrated search. Searchig all contents of the site, including the forum

daniel.hunt’s picture

Sorry for the delay - only saw this now!

1: yes :) Clean URL and nonclean url's appear to work perfectly well with uieforum. I've no idea what pathauto is though :p

2: The user login uses the drupal user system, so it's one login for the entire site. There is no separate login page.

3: There's an extra search tab on the search page that searches for posts (titles and content) and thread titles that contain your search parameters

Hope this helps :)

Daniel

satos’s picture

Getting error, when trying to Preview posts (drupal 4.6.x):

warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/transfor/public_html/includes/theme.inc on line 678.

daniel.hunt’s picture

Interestingly, you're the first to report this back to me - I've come up against this error in 4.7, but not once have I seen it in any of the various 4.6 installations that I've been using.

You reported a possible location of the cause of the error (newpost.php - line 73) and I'll look into it - but could you give me more information regarding the problem? (the sooner this is up on CVS the better :) )

arcane’s picture

Hi Zoro,

I'm running Beta 5 on drupal 4.6.x (I didn't see any links to a released beta6) and I am running into a few issues.

1. Images don't seem to display using the insert image button.

2. This might have been mentioned before, but the moderation (delete posts) feature doesn't work.

Has anyone else run into these issues?

Btw, I love UIEForum, can't wait for 4.7 version to be completed.

Thanks

daniel.hunt’s picture

If you email me I'll send you on the beta6 version!

I'll get a download link ready tomorrow when I get into work - there's quite a bit of demand for beta 6 :)

Bèr Kessels’s picture

first and for all, this is awesome work. Congrats on the big job!

Now, a little bit of nagging and so :)

In drupal features are implemented by separate modules. Too often people *think* that drupal forums are too lightweight, but that ois only because they cannot *grok* the drupal concept.

That drupal concept is, that you must enable and install modules to add features.

So, about 80% if not more of your features were possible, and thus duplicate what is already there.
Rating, smilies, locking,
Multiple custom private/public forum setups, Multiple admin levels, etcetc.

In Drupal the general philosophy is not to create a "one module for an area of your site, like mambo/nuke" but rather a small module for a single feature.

Think (they have different names in the contribs) "lock_threads.module" or "admin_groups.module". Think small theme snippets, think php blocks. etcetc.

Again, i think this is a great project, and I think Drupal will benefit a lot from it.
But I think Drupal will benefit a lot more, were all these features torn apart and made into smaller modules that can be used across the whole of Drupal, in blogs, in news-threads, or even in drupals forums :)

Thanks a million.
---
if you dont like the choices being made for you, you should start making your own.
---
[Bèr Kessels | Drupal services www.webschuur.com]

scroogie’s picture

Mhm, dont you think that this kind of modularization is just sensible when the features can live on their own?

Dublin Drupaller’s picture

I don't think Ber meant it like that scroogie...Zoro has done a huge amount of work on something that I think will be very popular with the community.

he was just flagging that the way Drupal is structured is modular...and that in the same way Zoro is utilising Drupals security and the subscriptions.module for email reminders on threads, it's even more benefitial if the approach was not to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, but to develop modularly.

An example might be the flatforum.module which is a relatively light download that adds a huge amount of value for Drupallers who want a more "phpbb style" message board.

the logic behind it is if the community are using 3 or 4 forum.modules it stunts growth and dilutes improvements..i.e. we're better off having 1 superb module, rather than a few that do the same thing.

he wasn't knocking what Zoro has done, it looks very impressive..he was just pointing out that Drupal is developed by a community..not individuals who want to do something a certain way, rather individuals with great ideas contributing in a certain way...

which makes it easier to collaborate and improve things together or in other words, it's easier for drupaller A to pick up Drupallers B code and work with it. And because everyone is using it, suggestions, ideas and add-ons effect everyone.

I hope that makes sense..judging by the amount of phpbb/vbulletin threads on here, though, I think it's better to have Drupallers using a Drupal forum (either drupals out-of-the-box-forum or Zoros add-on) rather than a third party software package.

Just my two cents..

Dub

Currently in Switzerland working as an Application Developer with UBS Investment Bank...using Drupal 7 and lots of swiss chocolate

daniel.hunt’s picture

berkes - nice reply there, thanks for the criticisms.

I don't have too much to say on the matter...
UIEForums was originally a stand alone project. Completely separate to anything, and can be seen in action as it stands on www.unreal.ie

The drupal port of it is supposed to be an upgrade of the existing uieforum code base. I've rewritten it almost entirely from the ground up, and have implemented everything I've set out to, with one or two more still to come.

The list of add-ons is constantly growing, but I'm happy to release a public beta as soon as I've finished the subscription code.

I agree with your comments, up to a point. While modularisation is certainly a good thing, it has it's (fairly major) drawbacks.
A forum module, such as the one I've developed, simply cannot rely on generic extensions for everything it does.

For example, while the smiley module you mentioned could just as easily have been used in place of my own homebrew one, the subscription module couldn't.
The security module? We (myself and pug) tried a number of different variations of organic groups as well as others (he knows more about that than me, I'm just a code-mokey). But not a single one did what we wanted.

The only solution, therefore, was to re-hash our current setup, which works every single time. I ended up settling for a hybrid version though - a crossover between drupal's security access control, and our original system.

Kinda drifting a bit here now so I'll leave it at that for now

Daniel

eaton’s picture

The only solution, therefore, was to re-hash our current setup, which works every single time. I ended up settling for a hybrid version though - a crossover between drupal's security access control, and our original system.

A couple questions. You've got my curiosity piqued now. :) Is the forum system implemented with normal Drupal nodes and content types? Does it depend on any other forum system being installed as well?

Managing permission-based forums stuff is one of the biggest challenges, I think. On a large forum, there will be far more very implited security 'roles' than are practical to manage with Drupal's built-in security system.

--
Jeff Eaton | I heart Drupal.

--
Eaton — Partner at Autogram

daniel.hunt’s picture

:)

the forum uses it's own database tables - 100% separate from the drupal nodes

F_Forums
F_Threads
F_Posts

:)

The security system is linked to the "user access" page on the admin section. you'll see what i mean when the source is made public some time over the next 2/3 days :)

pug’s picture

It doesn't use drupal nodes that's something we talked about and decided early on before it was going to be released to the Drupal community.

No it doesn't require the use of any other forum system, it's completely standalone, all functionality is designed to be available out of the box making site admins jobs easier.

On the security front so far we've not seen a problem with the scaleability of the drupal security system. It's still only in test but we've ported our user base of several hundred users, our existing forum database which has 10's of thousands of posts in it so far, and not only have we ported existing security roles but we've created many more and it seems to be just fine.

I know we're talking about something you can't see yet, but for security it's all controlled via the modules own config page, it looks reasonably neat so far and is we hope easy to follow.

eaton’s picture

It's an interesting decision. I don't think I would've gone that way, but I can definitely see how it worked for your site's specific needs.

I'm very curious to see how this evolves and -- if you want to continue it as time goes on -- how some of its cooler functionality might be migrated to more 'native' Drupal solutions as well. Congrats on the nice work! :)

--
Jeff Eaton | I heart Drupal.

--
Eaton — Partner at Autogram

eaton’s picture

A 'Drupalish' way of looking at it is that Forum discussions are just one kind of content that should behave in the same way that all other types of content do.

On many sites, the forums are a completely different beast and require their own 'silo' of functionality and management tools. While I'd love to see the functionality necessary to implement this in mini-modules (and the integration to tie them all together CLEANLY), I can see this module being a HUGE help for sites that want LOADS of forum functionality, but stripped and streamlined management for all other content.

Again, not disagreeing... And, having not yet seen the code, I can't say whether it's cleanly implemented, a spaghetti-ball, or what not. :)

--
Jeff Eaton | I heart Drupal.

--
Eaton — Partner at Autogram

pug’s picture

To be fair this module was created to suit our own needs, and we only decided recently to submit it to the drupal community as a module because we saw a need for something like this due to our own difficulties getting the drupal forum to work as we wanted it to.

We like drupal, and liked everything about the way it works and how it's possible to develop for it, but the one area we felt it was lacking was a fully featured forum in the traditional sense.

Sure it may be possible to get a lot of the functionality of our forum by combining lots of different modules, but we couldn't do it, and I know from reading through the forums here that other people had the same problem as us.

If people don't want to use it that's fine, but this forum was developed purely for people who are used to using phpbb or other popular forums and wanted to get the same look feel and functionality of those popular forums out of drupal with very little effort or expertese required by the site admin.

venkat-rk’s picture

If people don't want to use it that's fine, ...

I think there is already a lot of interest and I can only see it growing once you publish the code.

I am reminded of the Acid Free module for media management which I think started out without using drupal nodes as the base, but implements it currently (AFAIK).

It is still early days with your module, so don't feel that the honest feedback is negative in any sense.

daniel.hunt’s picture

It is still early days with your module, so don't feel that the honest feedback is negative in any sense.

All feedback is good feedback :)

pug’s picture

I think there is already a lot of interest and I can only see it growing once you publish the code.

That's good to hear :)

It is still early days with your module, so don't feel that the honest feedback is negative in any sense.

As Zoro said all feedback is good feedback, and we appreciate all comments both good and bad.

I didn't mean to give the impression that I took offense from any critisism I was just implying (probably poorly) that we didn't want anyone to feel we were trying to push this module as a replacement to the drupal one, but just put it out there for people to take or leave as they see fit.

tester75’s picture

I have been evaluating both Joomla and Drupal. Forum with distributed administration is critical for my site. Now I’m waiting for this module. Please get this out to public soon:)

daniel.hunt’s picture

Please get this out to public soon

I'll do my best to get a public beta out as soon as physically possible - I was doing some final testing last night to make sure that everything I wanted to work, did..... and not a single admin page was working :/

Something I changed over the past 2/3 days broke the entire admin section ... and I'll be damned if I know what it was :(

I'll fix it though, and as soon as it's repaired, I'll upload the first public version

*edit*
Actually, it looks like it's just "DeletePost()" and "AddForum()" that are throughly a wobbly ... I'll get it, but after work and XMas shopping today, oh, and XFactor :p

daniel.hunt’s picture

daniel.hunt’s picture

If you downloaded the beta 1 version of this module, you are advised NOT to use it on a live site.
The module is currently being rewritten in order to make it more secure.

Sorry
Daniel

daniel.hunt’s picture

Just a teaser update - I've rewritten a very large chunk of the system in an attempt to make it (infinitely) more secure.

Beta 1 had 29 (yes ... that's right) global variables that have since been removed and replaced with various methods that use static variables within themselves.

This let to all sorts of problems, as you can imagine, that related to the threadid and how it wasn't set, when in actual fact, it was.
Anyway - the global variables change is the first major modification, the second is the SQL. I've modified the SQL that I use as much as possible so that it conforms to the drupal %s, %d and so on.
The third major change, is the changeover to drupal l() for links. That was a difficult move, but it was worth the hassle involved.

Took a bit of time, but it's done now, and it's (mostly) working.

I've also ironed out one or two quirks with thread subscriptions not working quite as they should, as well as tweaking the thread displays slightly.

I don't doubt that I've overlooked some bugs, and there are a number that I'm already aware of (mainly to do with submissions forms for admins that don't always return the user to a relevant page after admin'ing something)

I'll be posting back soon with a public download for this, so keep your eyes peeled! :)

Daniel

scroogie’s picture

Sounds great, thanks a lot!

daniel.hunt’s picture

No problem! :)

THIS IS NOT A FINISHED MODULE YET - DO NOT USE ON A LIVE SITE
I really can't stress that enough

Well, beta2 is finally ready for download.
I've updated quite a large chunk of the module's code to (try to) conform to at least _some_ ( ;) ) or drupal's coding practices, as well as to re-learn what I thought I knew about coding :(

If there are any comments on this, good or bad, I'd appreciate some feedback. I'm sure that there will be some questions about why I did things certain ways too - the code may be difficult to follow for an untrained eye, plus it's a bit like a spider's web in some places. If anyone has any questions, feel free to air them - I'll reply as soon as I get a chance.

The code will _definitely_ be going through some changes in the near future, the size of those will depend on the number of problems with the new beta.

There are number of known issues with this beta:

  • Moderators - Individual forum moderators are NOT working at the moment. So for now, it's super-mods, or no mods. This is likely to change in the next beta, so don't worry about it too much for now.
  • Admin pages - The submission forms on most of the admin pages submit to blank pages. Again, the next beta will likely address these issues.
  • Subscriptions - These are working perfectly from my testing of them. However there is no email notification just yet.
  • New-Post icons - When a thread has been replied to, it's icon will change to one that dentoes a new reply exists (basically, it's grey normally, and turns gold when there's a reply). I've not yet been able to fully test this, and is currently set to remain gold for 60 minutes after the latest post, or until you have read the thread, whichever comes first. Ideally, this should remain gold for 60 minutes since your first sight of the notification - this is in case there are posts while you have been offline or afk for some time.

That's a short list, I can't think of any more offhand.

Anyway - good luck with the module, and PLEASE report anything you find, it can only help it's development!

Download link: http://www.unreal.ie/dl/drupal/uieforum.module.v1.0_beta2.zip

Daniel

vonsko’s picture

great job they say, well demo looks so impresive and iam going to check it on local, however i have few questions, cause you see i was using phpbb and iam succesfully import my posts and user from old phpbb base to drupal forum, so question is if it use diffrent tables than drupal nodes or something i will get clean forum right ? - so is there a possibilitie to import that ? or do something ?, currently iam using flatforum and it looks like about a month from now iam going to add there myown few functions like displaying profile_fields (yeah it helps a lot for example to signatures)... maybe if you tell me that i can import or simply move my posts tables it will get unnecesary...

poland // setting drupal mean new experience
jid: wonsey@chrome.pl

daniel.hunt’s picture

Thanks for the vote of confidence :)

That's an interesting problem, and one that I haven't considered yet.
I'll have to look into a script to import forum data from the drupal one to my own one, but it could be a bit messy... hmmm... well i'll look into it anyway.

daniel.hunt’s picture

*bumpage* - So, has anyone had a chance to check this out and see how it works for them?
I'm interested in hearing feedback - especially if it's related to usability, or security :)

Thanks
Daniel

daniel.hunt’s picture

Apologies for the double post...
This is an update for anyone interested, and I forgot to append it to my original post (which I can't edit for some reason)

Known Issues in v1.0_beta2
=====================

(Items that have been fixed are removed from this list and placed in Changelog for the next version)

  • Code at the top of uieforum.module should be in a separate function, and called from the callback functions. At the moment, it's being run by every page on the site - whether on the forum or not (thank you dikini)

Changes in v1.0_beta3
=====================

(Dec 2005)

  • Default CSS modified to use a bluish style instead of the drab grey one
  • CSS for "post_text" now forces: text-align:left ... due to IE's rendering of post text in the center of the tables (was fine in FireFox)
  • Edit-post bug fixed. It was using variables that didnt exist, so it was disallowing all edits unless they were done by an admin

Daniel

bomarmonk’s picture

This looks very nice. Sure from a developer's perspective it's great to modularize everything so that it's compact, maintainable, and customizeable. But as a user, sometimes you just want something that you can plug-in and use. Thanks for your work!

enky’s picture

thanks for such a great looking forums module,

I tried it on civicspace, it works well...

When I reply to a forum topic, a new
window opens, but, it shows up as a new thread,

Enky

daniel.hunt’s picture

thanks for that.
What database/php versions are you using?

This was a bug with beta1 iirc. I thought I fixed it in beta2 ...

Have you had a chance to look at the forum access control system? Is it easy to understand?

vonsko’s picture

hi iam lookin everyday to this post and i forgot to add my problems, yeah i know, it's too late but to next beta i think it might be useful, aww, i remember only this one: reply field seems not workin as it should mean - buttons look like it workin only in cleanurl mode am i wrong ?...

daniel.hunt’s picture

buttons look like it workin only in cleanurl mode am i wrong ?

I'm not sure as I've yet to test the beta2 in both cleanurl and non-clean.

I've coded most of the module so it'll work in both situations, but of course I've missed out on some parts - that's what beta's are for though :)

*edit*
I've just tested it and it's working perfectly in both clean url mode, and non clean url.
It is possible that it's only beta3 that this works with though

daniel.hunt’s picture

Beta 3 is now public! :)

As always, PLEASE report any problems as soon as you can, and any-and-all comments are very welcome.
I'm hoping that this will become useable on a live site soon, so if you're interested in this module, feel free to let me know what you think of it's current incarnation.

http://www.unreal.ie/dl/drupal/uieforum.module.v1.0_beta3.zip

Thanks,
Daniel

Changes in v1.0_beta3
=====================
(Jan 2006)
GetForumThreadCount and GetForumPostCount condensed to 1 function as they both carry out the same queries. This was slowing the load time of the main page to nearly 22 seconds .... Down to 6 seconds now (with ~30000 posts in the system)
Added functions: "zoro()" and "TIMER()" to aid in the echo'ing of debugging infomation

(Dec 2005)
Default CSS modified to use a bluish style instead of the drab grey one
CSS for "post_text" now forces: text-align:left ... due to IE's rendering of post text in the center of the tables (was fine in FireFox)
Edit-post bug fixed. It was using variables that didnt exist, so it was disallowing all edits unless they were done by an admin
Added function 'uieforum_process()' - it's used to house the old code that was originally at the top of the uieforum.module file. This code was being called for EVERY page on the site (even non uieforum pages)
- Function is called by callback functions to populate required variables for when needed
Removed some unneccessary database queries that related to getting a thread 3 times in a row, instead of just once (uieforum_process())
Forum listing now sorts by weight, then name
Minor inline commenting added
GetModuleName() moved from function.inc.php into main module file to prevent unneccessary include()'s
SQL improvements
- INDEX added to F_Posts and F_Threads for PostID and ThreadID respectively
- Modified various sql code in functions.inc.php in order to improve performance
- Various sql code statements modified to replace the word "numrows" with "postcount" to make it easier to understand, and remove unneccessary additional database calls to count posts
- Change LEFT JOIN to INNER JOIN in GetForums() as speed was becoming a problem with more than 30000 posts
Icon "newpost.gif" that links to the latest post in a thread was never included with the original beta1 or beta2, and it's location was hardcoded. This has now been changed
Extensive changes to how showthread.php (and therefore DisplayPost()) works
- UIE_Storage() function added to prevent multiple database requests for information (ie, post count and if a user is online or not)
- showthread.php no longer calculates if a user is online - this is done from within UIE_Storate(), and there fore within DisplayPost()
- showthread.php resets UIE_Storage's variables on every run
- DisplayPost() no longer accepts an "is_active" variable as that's precisely what UIE_Storage is for
- All relevant calls to DisplayPost() updated in every file

enky’s picture

hi Daniel,

Thanks a lot for releasing such a cool module,

I tried the latest beta3 version on civicspace 0.8.2, its working fine.

But, it would be nice, if the reply window shows up as "Reply", instead of "New Post".

Enky

daniel.hunt’s picture

Could you give a bit more information on the error please?

Or is it just an aesthetic thing? :) (if that's the case then no problem at all)

*edit again* I think I see what you mean. Is it the page header? and the [New Reply] text?

*edit* also - I'm still working on the performance issues. There's alot left to do on this front apparantly. It's mostly to do with the security subsystem I wrote to add to the drupal one.

It'll get there :)

daniel.hunt’s picture

Just a quick update - it appears as thought the performance hits that I've been noticing recently are being caused by the dynamic counting of posts and threads within forums, as well as posts within threads themselves.

It's looking more and more like these counters are going to need storing and updating in the database itself - something I was very keen on avoiding :(

Ah well - at least I know what's causing it now.

Another update - I've modified the security code to cache any security information that's searched for in the database.
If it's requested a second time, the cached info is returned instead of re-querying the database
This has helped to speed up the system a bit aswell

Daniel

scroogie’s picture

Why did you want to avoid storing the numbers? I know its redundant, but its work to be done on inserting, instead of work done on viewing (which is much more often). How do you currently calculate the number of replies? For example on the front page. You retrieve each forum and count the number of threads with a group by clause and an aggregation function over this group?

daniel.hunt’s picture

I wanted to avoid storing simply because it duplication of volatile data (for want of a better word)
The performance issues I was having were being caused by 3 main things.

1: The order of the sql restrictions in the WHERE statements that relate to the counting functions were slightly off - which meant that all threads on all forums were being counted all the time, instead of only the ones you have access to, and are viewing.
A quick bout rethinking, testing, and rewriting sorted this out and the time delays are nominal again.

2: The security system I wrote to supplement the built in drupal one wasn't caching the results it got

3: I had multiple database queries that took roughly a second to execute (ALOT) depending on where in the forum tree you were - with the most being made while you were at the forum root (obviously)
I rewrote this section so that a longer query with more defined WHERE restrictions so that only 1 (or at least, alot less) query(ies) would be required.

The forum has ~30000 posts, in ~1500 threads, in 18 forums, and page loads are back within respectable times again.
The next beta will be much better :)

Anyway - back to the storing of the numbers. This point will likely crop up when the forum grows to ~100,000 (rough guesstimate) posts, or possibly before that.
The extra demand on the server to perform multiple counts for every page load will no doubt end up with larger forums (or smaller servers) being dragged kicking and screaming down to the abyss of timeouts, but the changes I've made recently seem to have helped quite a bit.

I'm holding off on the static storage of the numbers for now though - while I obviously see the speed advantages, I want to see how the new www.unreal.ie website (being released soon) holds up to the demand with the new forum code. If the load is more than I anticipated then I will of course introduce the storage - but for now, I feel that the dynamic counting is working fine.

Thanks for your input though - and feel free to argue with me on this point - my mind isn't 100% made up yet :D

Daniel

deadhobo’s picture

I mentioned this in the #drupal-support and others seemed to agree. A great module (haven't goofed around with all that much yet), but the Install text is very simplistic and low level. Usually this is good, but for those that like to read the instructions but have an idea of what they are doing it is a bit of a waste of time. I do not suggest removing the easy to follow instructions, simply an addition of higher-level information at the top of the install text.

Perhaps something like
"If you know what you are doing, the installation is similar to most modules.
1. Extract and upload directories to server
2. Execute the uieforum.mysql
3. Enable in modules page
4. Go to admin >> uieforum >> add forum and create your first forum
5. You are all done. *NOTE* Do NOT remove the user groups included with the forum as they are required for the forum to function properly.

Didn't understand any of this? Read down for the simple instructions that will guide you step by step for each instruction."

I don't know, something really tiny to complain about, but just wanted to make a note. Anyway, thanks for making such a great module available to the community!

P.S. I would double check my install instructions before using them to actually install as I could be incorrect (very easily).

daniel.hunt’s picture

Thanks for the suggestion - I initially made the INSTALL.txt for complete and utter module-non-experienced-types... :)

I'll look into this for beta4, which should be released in the next week or so.
As I've said countless times already - do NOT use any of the betas on a live site :D

Daniel

deadhobo’s picture

Oopsie, too late.

:)

deadhobo’s picture

Not to be a pain, but when word-wrap isn't working... heh, I can't believe I am writing about this... but anyway, perhaps break up the text. Yes this makes no sense but here is what I am trying to say:

"Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla"

Makes you have to scroll side to side when word wrap isn't working.

"Bla bla bla bla
bla bla bla bla
bla bla bla bla"

Not perfect for widescreen monitors but nice for those of us using a ghetto text editor (word pad). No more scrolling side to side! This is of coarse an extreme example and would not be that narrow in the real world, but you get my drift.

Just trying to help inprove your documentation, sorry to be a pain!

daniel.hunt’s picture

Heh - another valid point

I'll rewrite the INSTALL.txt :p

pamphile’s picture

this is interesting... any working demo's ?

daniel.hunt’s picture

pamphile’s picture

thanks... my bad.... I should have read the entire first post :).

daniel.hunt’s picture

No problem at all :)
Let me know how you get on!

deadhobo’s picture

http://marsbot.org/uieforum

He says not to use it live.. but I live dangerously ;)

Now no spaming please! Seriously though... if I get too much crap I may have to disable anon posting... now play nice.

P.S. Zoro is a great guy and has helped me fix many problems with the board... I reccomend this forum 100% (I would say 110%, but I am not affiliated with him and not in marketing). Long live #drupal-support on EFNet!

pamphile’s picture

#drupal-support on EFnet ? Great, you can use http://drupalirc.com to log on

Marcel

deadhobo’s picture

Sorry, not on EFNet, on irc.freenode.net.

Doh!

zim’s picture

I've tried to use the beta on my site. It was easy to install, but after some basic "tests" seems to be a bit unstable yet.
The unique real problem found was the use of some characters like 'é' or 'ñ' -it doesn't accept them, it shows weird characters-. It's only a codification problem, anyway =)
Anyway, it looks "stronger" than the forums.module ;)

ZiM.-

daniel.hunt’s picture

Ouch - that character set error looks terrible ... (I've just tested it on my own installation of the new beta4 ... yet to be released ;) )
I've always assumed that those errors are caused by serverside apache setups - basically, they're using the wrong charsets or something similar.

I'm gonna have to look into this now, cause those chars pop up everywhere :/

Thanks for the bug-hunt ;) If you find out anything else about it, be sure to let me know :p

Also - if you monitor connection statistics at all you'll notice something in the region of 50/60 database connections to load the main forum listing (if you have a large database) - this has already been cut to about 10% of this, so that means an immediate improvement in speed.
Another user that was testing beta3 while talking to me on irc was getting errors, as his host was limiting the number of mysql connections that he was allowed. When I gave him the current non-public beta4 the problems disappeared.

Thought you'd find it interesting :)

Daniel

scroogie’s picture

I guess you use ISO encoding in the database? Had a similar issue with one of my scripts once. If you want to use UTF-8, you have to set the tables up as UTF-8, deliver UTF-8 headers for all http output and use the utf-8 safe php functions.

daniel.hunt’s picture

I use whatever's default ... so I presume that it's ISO that I'm using.
*looks into it*

Can you give me more info? :)

scroogie’s picture

If I recall correctly mysql uses ISO-8859-1 (Latin1) as default, you can see this in phpmyadmin on the front page and on the database page.

daniel.hunt’s picture

thanks - I'll look into it.

:)

satos’s picture

How its going?

daniel.hunt’s picture

I haven't had time to solve this problem yet - I presume it's jsut a simple change to do with creating the database though?

deadhobo’s picture

Because of the recent XSS vulernabilities, I have temp. disabled the module for UIEForum.

Sorry for any inconviences,
Tim

daniel.hunt’s picture

Sorry for this deadhobo - I'm working on a solution!

deadhobo’s picture

The demo is back online now at http://marsbot.org/uieforum

Again, please don't flood it with crap, but you may post in the chit-chat forum if you wish to test it out.

daniel.hunt’s picture

Thanks for that deadhobo - greatly appreciated :)
Make sure to keep me informed!

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well - after some extensive code changes, beta 4 is now available
http://www.unreal.ie/dl/drupal/uieforum.module.v1.0_beta4.zip
and as always - the forum on http://test.unreal.ie is running the latest version

Again, I'll note that if you use this on a live site it's entirely up to you, but this module is not finished yet, so ....
As well as that, the moderator functions are not quite working correctly. This will be remedied in the next version

If anyone is interested - this version boasts immense performance improvements over betas 2 and 3. If you were previously noticing slow page loading times, then these should be all but gone with this version.

Changes in v1.0_beta4
=====================
(Jan 2006)
INSTALL.txt rewritten to include a quick-install subsection.
INSTALL.txt reworded
INSTALL.txt + CHANGELOG.txt reformatted to make it easier for reading in
 editors without wordwrap
File structure redesigned to make installation easier
Default icon locations changed to make installation easier - everything now
 goes into "modules/'.GetModuleName().'/uie" (modules/uieforum/uie by default)
 - forum_icon_path, forum_smilies_icon_path, forum_formatting_icon_path
Modified [New Post] text to read: "Reply"
Added a "force" variable to CurrentForum to force a check for thread counts
 in a forum (similarly with GetForum())
Massive amounts of changes to forum security subsystem to allow caching of
 previously requested database searches
All instances of: "uieforum'" were removed and replaced with:
 "'.GetModuleName()" - to help with renaming the module
Added ability to delete security groups - this was previously missing (my bad)
Admin pages now return to the main admin page after a delete/edit (instead
 of a blank page)
Post->Title, Content, and EditReason weren't showing up correctly because of
 some addslashes() and stripslashes() anomolies - this has now been fixed
Added optional components to admin >> configure section
 - Enable BBCode
 - Enable Smilies
 - Enable online status indicator
 - Enable user ranks
 - Enable registered-date display
 - Enable post counts
 - Enable signatures
 - Enable (user) post counts
 - (forum) thread + post counts
 - Resulted in DisplayPost() being changed
 --- Use the above settings to improve system performance times, by disabling
     almost all of the counting/replacement statements and functions
Javascript for [URL] BBCode updated to force "http://" onto the front of
 any link if it doesnt already exist there
BBCode buttons for bold/italic/underline...etc restored to new-post page - it
 was disabled by accident during an initial revision. Now working again
uieforum_process() added to the search function
"char"'s replaced with "varchar"'s (accidental typo - thanks TachyonXV) in
 the .mysql file
Improved GetLastForumPostTest() query speed
Various SQL statement improvements
 - Also added extra filters to some functions to prevent post/thread counting
   if disabled by the system admin
Minor CSS changes to uieforum block
Editing posts is no longer restricted by the 15-second rule (or whatever the 
 system admin has configured the timeout to be) - for admins
Moderator controls for individual forums are provisionally working - NOT YET
 FULLY TESTED!
chx’s picture

I feared that some may try it so I tested it first. I was able to enter well known XSS vectors.
--
Read my developer blog on Drupal4hu. | The news is Now Public

--
Drupal development: making the world better, one patch at a time. | A bedroom without a teddy is like a face without a smile.

daniel.hunt’s picture

I've been talking to chx over irc about this - thank you very much to chx for both finding and reporting this problem.

I'll get to work on it :)

Phillip Mc’s picture

Hi Zoro,

Shame about the problems with this.

There's one or two features that would add a lot of value to the Drupal forum.module

Is it possible to improve the Drupal forum.module instead of, what appears to be, doing a huge amount of work to re-invent the wheel instead of simply improving it?

There is already a lot of third party forum integration modules already available. phpbb being one of the more prominent/popular ones.

Don't get me wrong, I think the ideas you have is great. but if improvements were made to the drupal forum.module, not only would everyone benefit, but, contributors would be able to help iron out problems. Like the problems it has at the moment.

phil

daniel.hunt’s picture

I've had this exact conversation/argument/flamewar with a few different people already :)

I've little doubt that this module will _eventually_ be ported into drupal's node based system, but I honestly don't feel that adding module after module after module just to get a system to behave like a 'normal' forum system is the right way to go about things.
Not to mention the possible problems that could pop up when doing this.

I've given my path alot of thought throughout the development of the module, and I still believe that for now, this is the best way to proceed.

One of my major gripes with drupal is it's modular construction. Sure, in thery it's a superb way of going about things, but in practice it can sometimes become a system's downfall. That's how I see the current "omg, drupal isn't like phpbb" threads that are popping up here so frequently :)

I'm looking to provide a possible solution with this module, but I fully expect to receive alot of flak about how I've gone about with it's non-drupal design.

I've just completed another MASSIVE update to the code to make it ready for a beta5 release, and with it I've made it more drupal-like. But I've still not incorporated it into the node-system :)

Daniel

Dublin Drupaller’s picture

but I honestly don't feel that adding module after module after module just to get a system to behave like a 'normal' forum system is the right way to go about things.
One of my major gripes with drupal is it's modular construction

Once you get more into Drupal and run into any difficulties with anything, you'll appreciate the modular basis of Drupal, Daniel. If Dries had the same attitude, Drupal would never have become the success story it is today.

And for what it's worth I was thinking of doing something very similar to you a while back, i.e. tweak my own bespoke "Watercooler" forum for Drupal instead of improving the existing one. Ditto for the fleximax.module.

After giving it some thought, I felt it was best to just do the bespoke forum as a once-off and then use the ideas learnt from doing that to improve the core forum.module that comes with Drupal..

It's a long way of going about it, but, from a bigger picture point of view, it's much better for the community and the Drupal project that we all push in the same direction...as opposed to a direction that suits individuals.

Following the "Drupal approach" means that as soon as the forum.module is updated, *everyone* can jump in and work with it, as opposed to spending time getting their heads around how I might have done something.

So I can see Phils point..you appear to be doing an extraordinary amount of work, when updating the existing forum.module might have been much simpler and more valuable to the community. At the same time, I appreciate that you're new to Drupal and are putting a lot of energy into your own forum.

I think it's inevitable the good ideas will be incorporated into the main forum.module anyway as a patch and maybe an extra few MYSQL tables to go with it..so long term we have the best of both worlds.

So stick with it Daniel and try to conform to the Drupal coding standards as much as possible, so it will make patching the Drupal forum.module easier

Cheers

Dub

Currently in Switzerland working as an Application Developer with UBS Investment Bank...using Drupal 7 and lots of swiss chocolate

daniel.hunt’s picture

Thanks for taking the time out to reply Dub - some good points raised there.

While I don't want to get into the "to drupal or not to drupal" arguement again, I'll say that I definitely see the drupal side of the coin.

With the amount that I've learnt from porting my existing forum code over to drupal's framework (albeit not entirely drupal-ish) I'm sure that the inevitable direction that I will take will be to move over to drupal entirely and create a forum.module patch to make it into what I (and many others) expect it to be.

I've found that the whole topic of forums has been an incredibly touchy one to break into, and I'm also aware that my current way of going about things is very much against the grain. However it's all adding to my experience, and I look forward to working with other drupal modules, configuring them and uploading possible patches for others to examine and use.

As well as this, I can also see why modular construction is a good method to employ - but for every solution there is a draw back :)

Thanks again,
Daniel

satos’s picture

Awesome work! ;)

BTW, i think it'll be a good idea to write ".forum"-->".uieforum" converter. :)

daniel.hunt’s picture

Thanks :)
and I know ... I'll get onto that as soon as the thing is acutally useable though :p

vph’s picture

will this module be converted to 4.7 ? And if so, when ? :) :D

daniel.hunt’s picture

Yes it most certainly will :)
And when? Probably when it goes out of beta status, but possibly before that.

daniel.hunt’s picture

Damn this thread is getting very long...

http://www.unreal.ie/dl/drupal/uieforum.module.v1.0_beta5.zip
Beta 5 is now online!

I've included the changelog between beta4 and beta5, but suffice to say it's a hell of alot better now than it was :)
There have been quite a few enhancements in this version, including (but certainly not limited to) the xss vulnerabilities that chx pointed out to me. His initial bug-find actually led to a whole host of problems that I had previously been aware of but hadn't yet fixed, to be fixed.

Again, I'm putting in the disclaimer that this should _NOT_ be used on a live site unless you really don't mind that this is an unfinished project (and let it be on your own head aswell...) so don't blame me if your site curls up in a ball and refuses to answer when spoken to.

Changes in v1.0_beta5
=====================
(Jan 2006)
Extensive improvements made to DisplayPost() and the GetPostTitle/Text/
 EditReason functions
Modified uieforum_admin() to remove the extra, unneccssary step in deleting
 a post
Included the bbcode.module codebase to parse all bbcode
Added left/center/right buttons to the bbcode quick-click area on the new
 post page, and modified bbcode-filter.inc to use extra codes
Moderator controls are now more extensive.
 - Editing/Moving/Deleting threads in forums is now possible for mod
 - Editing/Deleting Posts
BBCode/smilies on uieforum can be applied to content throughout the site
 - Code for BBCode has been replaced with the BBCode module (created by 
   Goba (http://drupal.org/project/bbcode) with his permission
ParseCode() removed and replace with a drupal's hook_filter()
Extensive changes to how text is parsed before entry into database
 - Previously, data was not being entered correctly .. Parsing now working
   correctly
Breadcrumbs now display an admin customizable name instead of the module's name
 - This was a very annoying problem that was the source of a number of
   complaints. Users were unable to change the name of the root breadcrumb
Individual anchors for posts (and #lastpost) modified to use drupal l() (in
 DisplayPost())
Extensive changes to the display of posts in a thread
 - Post headers on posts in threads now have a drop down list containing
   admin functions such as delete(post) / split (thread)
 - Edit/Quote links removed from header, along with the post id (which is
   now contained within the drop down list)
 - Edit/Quote links placed in a new DIV alongside the signature area, as seen
   on many forum systems already in use on the internet. Location can be 
   further refined in the CSS file
 - Edit/Quote text now only appears if the user in question has access to the
   facility
 - Changed signature CSS details to make text 80% by default
Smiley path problem fixed
Errors relating to admin editing a forum/thread fixed  (drop down list wasn't
 being populated correctly
 - Change INNER JOIN back to LEFT JOIN in GetForums()
Added a safeguard on the admin pages when moving a forum to prevent a forum being
 placed into one of it's children - this would cause a horrible infinite loop
Added checks for the existence of forums/threads/posts when editing
Main forum listings now include forums with no posts/threads within them
 - Neccessity for non-empty forums has now been removed
 - Auto-greeting post for new forums is now optional
Admin/Mod permissions for editing a post now fixed (bracket in the wrong place)
Javascript links repaired for bbcode + smiley images
 - needed to remove drupal l() in order to make them work (filter_xss was parsing
   the code and removing the javascript portions)
When no forums exist, the admin-set title is displayed instead of "UIE FORUMS"
XSS_Filter now added to the hook_filter implementation (optional - not filtered
 by default when hook_filter does it's thing, it's forced to run by uieforum when
 displaying text itself)
EditReason is now parsed by hook_filter (it wasn't before)
Thread-splitting/merging is now working
 - Last poster and last post time details are also update for the old and new thread
 - Thread Merging is only function between threads in the current forum (to prevent
   any security problems)
README.txt updated to include new features
Modified INSTALL.txt slightly
Moving posts between threads is now possible
satos’s picture

I'm getting this error message when i'm opening forum thread:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: filter_xss() in /home/transfor/public_html/modules/uieforum/uieforum.module on line 1552

daniel.hunt’s picture

you need 4.6.5 :(

(or you can comment out that line)

*edit*
Just to clarify on that point, xss_filter doesn't exist in Drupal before 4.6.5 (or so I believe), and the previous versions of this module weren't using it anyway.

If you comment out that line
$text = filter_xss($text);

to
// $text = filter_xss($text);

... it should be ok

satos’s picture

And please... Add UTF-8 support for the forum: i cant use cyrilic. :(

daniel.hunt’s picture

well if you can tell me how ... :)

satos’s picture

He-he... well, i dont know. :) But... other modules for Drupal works fine with UTF-8. But not yours. ;-)

After 10 minutes: I'v figured out how to work with UTF-8. :-p You need mySQL version 4.x to work with it. Older versions do not support UTF output (imho :-p ). So it works fine! Hooray! :)

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well the reason other modules work fine with UTF-8 is because they use an entirely different set of database tables :)
Which have obviously already been configured correctly :p

Unfortunately, it's just one of the many drawbacks of coding this module to be external-to-drupal in so many ways.
That said, it has it's benefits too :)

satos’s picture

What about converting forum module to uieforum? It is not funny to copy 2.000 messages from the old forum 1 by 1. :)

daniel.hunt’s picture

*ugh* ... trying desperately not to think about that for now :)

joshua_cohen’s picture

Keep up the great work! I can't wait to make use of this forum on my site! Forget the nay sayer's, every bit of work you put into this can only help Drupal in the end.

Regards,

Josh

daniel.hunt’s picture

:D thanks for the kind words.

I'd also like to point out that despite this module's beta status, I feel it's ready for a live test.
http://test.unreal.ie will be moving to http://www.unreal.ie next friday, at which point every user will then be using uieforum.module (renamed to forum.module for consistency, but hey - that's easy to do)

Mind you I have no reason to doubt my code do I? ;)

daniel.hunt’s picture

Actually, in case anyone's not happy with how the forum displays threads, I've altered the display a bit so it creates a greater distinction between each post.

Instead of it being one large table, I've made put each post (And it's information) in an individual table, and placed that table in a div with a pretty border.
It really does look a whole lot better now.

*edit* --> for the next version that is :p

daniel.hunt’s picture

I've been afk for a few days so I've not gotten anything more done on the module.
As the new unreal.ie website will be launching tomorrow, I'll make my final modifications to the new version of the forum code today and upload it for tomorrow.

joshua_cohen’s picture

Looking foward to it!

Josh

satos’s picture

Cant wait to test new version. ;)

daniel.hunt’s picture

"hint hint" :)

As is always the case with a public release, bug hunters have had a whale of a time finding those tiny little impossible-to-find problems that I thought I had ironed out weeks ago.

Once the minor little setbacks are sorted I'll be releasing uieforum.module as forum.module for anyone who wants it. I've already renamed it for the new www.unreal.ie site, and I'm working on it as it is now.

:) Thanks for your interest :p

satos’s picture

Ehm, i think it is not need for now - cause there is no converter from old forum to new.
I dont want to kill my old forum just to test the new one. ;)

satos’s picture

How is it going? :)

"Argh, we need more sources!" (c) Черт знает что :)

daniel.hunt’s picture

:) This is the changelog so far.

That's all I've done on it, for the past couple of weeks. I'm mainly taking feedback from the users of the forum on www.unreal.ie and seeing what I can do to make it better.

If you want to see it in action you can have a look at the forums there, and create an account to test the posting system.
I'd be happy to email you a copy of the current source if you really want it, but as I said, it's currently "forum.module", not "uieforum" :)

Daniel

Last Updated: 09 Feb 2006 by Zoro


Changes in v1.0_beta6 - this version was used on www.unreal.ie
==============================================================
(Feb 2006)
Added admin-configurable "default edit reason" that will be displayed if no reason
 for editing a post is entered (rather than not showing the text - which may
 become optional (don't know yet))
 - Ah feck it, code modified slightly.
   - Reasons are shown if entered
   - If no reason entered, default reason will be displayed (as set by admin)
     - If no default reason entered, reason text will not be displayed
Modified the bbcode file to make url's in posts open in new windows
Modified DisplayPost
 - Moved user - rank above avatar and removed <br> from user name to remove some
   empty space.
 - Fixes bug that was preventing user rank from displaying
Fixed bbcode filter for [quote] - the new way of doing this was preventing quotes
 in quotes in quotes .....
 - Now working
Links in posts now open in a new window


(Jan 2006)
DisplayPost() is now used to force an output of a div within a table. It's inner
 workings haven't changed too much, but the showthread.php file now controls how
 the layout is displayed (and that's be main change I suppose ... tables only, to
 tables within a div for each post)
Minor bug fixes relating to Sticky'd threads not displaying in the sorted order
 correctly - if threads were unsticky'd, they were incorrectly updated in the
 database
[img] tag updated in javascript file to use the more common bbcode image tag
 - Also repaired a broken regex for [img=]
Code in top of newpost.php file that controlled if a user could edit a post, or
 reply to a thread, or whatever ... is now fixed. A monstrous mixup when I wrote
 it first meant that it was just a load of gay. But it should be fine now.
Added titles to the bbcode formatting bar links
daniel.hunt’s picture

Just a quick update on a problem I've just discovered

I've issued a bug report ( http://drupal.org/node/49336 ) on something that's affecting the moderator control system.
Until I figure some way to work around this (or if the bug is sorted out) I don't think I should release the code for this beta.

If any of you still want it despite this (it really only affects the moderator section) then I'll happily upload it anyway.

satos’s picture

If any of you still want it despite this (it really only affects the moderator section) then I'll happily upload it anyway.
;) No matter right now. ;)

nathandigriz’s picture

Is this a later beta than 5? If so then yep. Give us a link.

BTW, This same bug show in another module but I forget which. I am thinking it was the paypal subscription module where I tried to do membertype 1a,membertype 1b,....and so on. I'll see if I can dig it up.

daniel.hunt’s picture

Yeah it's a Drupal problem unfortunately.
I'm looking at alternative ways to do this, but tbh - it's a pain in the hole now :(

And yes it'll be a beta06 if I do release it!

brenda003’s picture

Why are you renaming it to forum.module? I'm looking to use this with the og_forum.module, which makes it so that I cannot run normal non-og forums. Would it be possible to run both this forum and the built in drupal forum?

daniel.hunt’s picture

if they're both named forum.module then I'd imagine that it won't work very well at all....

My reason for renaming it is because end users expect some kind of consistency. www.domain.com/uieforum is slightly more vague than www.domain.com/forum, as well as it being easier to remember (for new users) as it's always just "forum".

Recently, I've been toying with the idea of simply rewriting the current drupal forum module, given the extensive experience and knowledge that I've built up with this uieforum one, but I've not thought it through yet, and I'm not comfortable enough with drupal's inner working just yet for that to happen.

Also - the new beta will likely be "uieforum.module", with instructions to make it "forum.module", rather than being the other way around!
I can't give a date for that yet, but as you can see from the changelog that I've posted, there have already been quite a few changes. And still more to make!

Work on the new beta of uieforum is still in progress, but as it's public code, anyone is free to pick it up and modify it as they see fit. I'd still appreciate some form of communication with myself, so that any changes they make could worm their way into the full version though.

I (we) found that the organic groups module simply didnt do what it was supposed to when it came down to the forum system, but if you have different experiences with it, could you report back?

brenda003’s picture

I'd love to report back, expect I can't ditch my regular forums to use og_forum until I find an alternative! I'd like to try out UIEforum, how difficult would it be just to rename it so that it doesn't conflict with the regular forum module? This is assuming og_forum uses things from the core forum module, of course, which seems to be the case.

I guess I'll take a look and see what I can come up with when I get a chance. It looks pretty good, though.

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well the current version that's publically available uses uieforum.module.
The only one that doesn't is the next version that's still in development. So you can still give the current version a try as it's completely separate to the drupal forum!

brenda003’s picture

Am I being dense? I can't find where to download it. :P

chook’s picture

I just installed a clean drupal 4.6.5 and uieforum beta5 and when I tried to add a forum, I get the following errors.

warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #1 is not an array in /var/www/six/includes/menu.inc on line 351.

warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /var/www/six/includes/common.inc:384) in /var/www/six/includes/common.inc on line 192.

This is on my linux box at home where I test things and I have not done much to setup my apache/php setup, so this may be the source of the problem. I'm using php 5.0.5-2 and mysql 4.1.12.

Thanks,

Charles

daniel.hunt’s picture

That's not nice at all...
have you much experience with php coding? Can you track down the file that's causing the problem?

daniel.hunt’s picture

www.Unreal.ie has finally moved over to drupal - and with it, the new uieforum module.
It's publically available over on the unreal.ie site, and the latest beta will be available for download soon!

http://www.unreal.ie/dl//movies/StoryOfUIE.avi

Friends of all ages with gaming at heart
Some are new members, and some from the start
Always learning more of Unreal and it's art
We've grown as a whole, one great, green part.

Many Times I've been asked, who is it that are "we"?
And: What does it mean to be UIE?
There's only one thing it could possible be
The finest and greatest Unreal Community.

We started out simply, not a care in the world
With no knowledge of what, was about to unfurl
The (K)nights of the round table, called "Regular Game"
Were established at first, with one simple aim:

"Dawn dusk or drunk, shall no man feel shame,
Sundays and Thursdays, remain never the same,
We reside on the server, Games3 is it's name,
Our aim is now clear, never to be changed"

This is the Ultimate Story
Of unreal dot ie,
Good and bad times had by us
And how we came to be,
Listen closely to these words
Maybe then you will see
This is the Ultimate Story of
U – I – E

As hours went by, and days and weeks
For greener fields we went to seek
Until one day, we cried out in frustration
And so began, our onward migration.

L.O.V.E was our saviour, for scouting ahead
And laying foundations for our new bed
Khannie and Pug, CrimsonGhost and Zoro
Then set out to work, for a brighter tomorrow

The first month of '05 was the reckoning at last,
All players and friends, ready to leap from the past
Unreal.ie, was born on that day
Our lives forever changed, in a very good way

Crying out from the rooftops, numbered but a few
Our calling had come, our destiny due
A web and games server, all we had to our name
A group of poor players, hiding in from the rain.

This is the Ultimate Story
of unreal dot ie,
Good and bad times had by us
And how we came to be,
Listen closely to these words
Maybe then you will see
This is the Ultimate Story
of U – I – E

When the sun shone down, on the green fields of Eire
Not a moment too soon, for the gamers we were.
For out of the blue, came servers a plenty
Numbered at 3, just right, not too many

Time ticked forward, as it relentlessly does
No on can stop it, not even us.
A year has now passed, and a new life begins
Our old skin now shed, thrown to the green bin

Our time is numbered, in no way at all
We continue to grow, healthy and tall.
Many have said what good friends we've become
Friends to all, Enemies to none.

6 servers, 1 website, Teamspeak and Shoutcast
Our options are endless, we got here so fast.
Support from our peers, our allies, our friends
Has helped us to grow, no the sight of an end.

The reigns will be passed, in times to come
To those that have proven, care for all and not some
The spirit in which, we have started so strong
Helps all those who visit, feel as though they belong.

And so let me leave you on this final note,
The post that spurred us, by L.O.V.E it was wrote:
"I've bought the domain, all we need is a server"
Leading us here now, with unheard of ferver.

This is the Ultimate Story
of unreal dot ie,
Good and bad times had by us
And how we came to be,
Listen closely to these words
Maybe then you will see
This is the Ultimate Story (This is the Ultimate Story)
This is the Ultimate Story (This is the Ultimate Story)
This is the Ultimate Story Of

Of U – I – E

deadhobo’s picture

I thought it was beautiful... ;) The video was a bit distracting but still good!

Congratulations on the site upgrade! Looks great

/me asks the question on every ones minds
Soo... whens the new beta?

P.S. Now this thread is definitely long enough! ;)

daniel.hunt’s picture

heh :)
As I said above, I've been afk for a while - very little work got done this week either.

There's a small mountain of requests for minor changes, and when they're all complete then it should be ready for another stab at a beta.

I'm also looking at a script to import the forum data from the drupal database, but tbh it'll probably be a pain to do :)

Thanks for the continued interest though ;)

deadhobo’s picture

I will reply with a longer entry later, but I am away and noticed two issues and just didn't want to forget to look into them:

Long words do not automatically break, causing the page to get streched. Check http://marsbot.org/uieforum/&c=showthread&ThreadID=19&page=1 with a small browser (800x600) for an example.

Previews do not show "Visitor" status.

Also it reports visitors as being registered on 1969.. I am sure this is just a placeholder, but the visitors (obviously) have not registered. Perhaps some code you forgot to take out.

Thanks for the continued work on this module and I will be back soon.

EDIT: Also the "Reason for editing" Should not be displayed (or say that there was none listed) when the user leaves the box blank.

deadhobo’s picture

When is beta 6 going to be released? I am looking forward to the conversion to forum.module (unless I have to manually edit *every* post in the forum.

On another note, the only bug I have noticed since the last post is the displayed path (I don't know what to call it) is doubled. Here is an example:
Home » uieforum » General » Welcome to General» Welcome To General

While "Welcome to General" is only linked the first time it is mentioned, it really does not need to be linked at all. You are on that page so why link to it? The final part of the path is correct and does not link to anything.

Thanks to zoro for your continued development on this module!

daniel.hunt’s picture

Yeah I found (and fixed) that iirc :)

As for beta6? You're welcome to the code as it is right now, but you should know that the changeover to forum.module will require a bit of database tomfoolery on your part ... not much, but some :)

I haven't looked at the moderator problem (due to a discrepancy in drupal's code) yet, that really does have to be sorted before this goes public. So either the drupal code needs fixing (it does anyway, but I was told it's unlikely to happen) or I should find another way to do what I do.

*edit* typo above and:
There's been an update to my bug report (http://drupal.org/node/49336) - it looks as though the bug has disappeared in the current HEAD version of 4.6.5.
I'm looking into upgrading to it on the unreal.ie site now, and when that happens I'll double check if it still happens.

I got your mail hobo - Admins cannot bypass the post-delay time at the moment. There's a problem with my if statement that is supposed to cover that, but it's proving to be a tricky little wh*re :)

As for the double (or multiple) posting problem - I have found that to happen on unreal.ie as well. The way the safeguard works, is to check the time a user last posted a message (by querying the database) and then to compare that time to the current one.
It would appear that if a user can force through multiple POSTs before they get physically added to the database, then this safeguard won't actually kick in until 1 of them is added. Each subsequent page after that will give the error, but as the POSTs have already happened then I believe the messages will all be posted to the database anyway.

I have a feeling that using a little javascript magic to disable the submit button as soon as it's pressed (so it can only be pressed once) may help to solve this problem.

Do you have any suggestions?

deadhobo’s picture

Well the problem with the submit button I don't see as a huge one as long as the delay permissions are properly applied. It could effectively DDOS the site, but the reason why it crashed my site was that it was actually *posting* tens of times a second. It the motivation is taken away, the problem no longer retains it's fruits ;) I am not a huge fan of java script and use the NoScript extention for FireFox (gotta love it). Perhaps just another check box in the admin section?

And okey-doke about bypassing the delay. Not a huge deal so I wouldn't worry about it that much. Good luck fixing it regardless

As far as your bug report, I have never tried that sort of thing. Now that my site is working again, I'll see if I can recreate the bug on my site. No clue what the version is though so if they are correct in it disappearing in 4.6.5 your issue might be fixed.

One final question: Has the smiles panel been improved? I really don't like the way it works in beta 5 (you know that) and I just ended up disabling it. Again, if it hasn't been updated, no big deal, but its one of the major things I think needs work. ("ENTER YOUR DAMN RANT NOW!!!!" comes back to mind as well ;) ).

EDIT: Changed subject (again, I cant spell....)

daniel.hunt’s picture

Approx. 1 month or so ago, I was approached and asked if this module would ever make it to Drupal 4.7
I answered that it would, but that I couldn't say when...

Well, it's now almost converted to the current 4.7 codebase :D
There are still a few teething problems that I've yet to iron out - but it's nearly ready ;)

Just thought I'd keep you all informed!
As soon as it's ready I'll upload a public version

joshua_cohen’s picture

Zoro,

How goes it? I keep checking this post every day hoping to see an update! I'm very excited to incorporate this module into my site.

Thanks,

Josh

daniel.hunt’s picture

I'm currently switching jobs, so I've not done much coding on the system!
But I'm looking at moving over drupal's node system, using what I've learnt from doing this forum....

We'll see though :)
But thanks for your interest!

joshua_cohen’s picture

I hear you. I just switched jobs as well and haven't had any real time to work on my site. The beta seems to work really well, and I don't mind running a beta on my site, but I'm waiting for the switch to "Forum" rather than "UIEForum" before I really begin making use of it.

Thanks,

Josh

zim’s picture

Do you have a estimated date of release?

ZiM.-

daniel.hunt’s picture

Not as such, I'm currently working on moving unreal.ie over to 4.7 (RC1). And the forum is proving to be a tad ... unwilling :)
I've already converted it for 4.7 (b6), but something in RC1 is causing it to fall over and pretend it's a toaster or something :)

Don't worry, I've not forgotten about this!

Daniel
www.unreal.ie - The home of the Irish Unreal Tournament Community - and the best forum module for drupal available

PakWaan’s picture

Your forum looks terrific - I will be anxiously awaiting it's release!

andre75’s picture

What is the latest version and where can it be downloaded?

-------------------------------------------------
http://www.opentravelinfo.com
http://www.aguntherphotography.com

daniel.hunt’s picture

Beta5 is still the latest version that's publically available (linked to a few posts above this one)

As I stated before, I'm in a new job now, so my free time is not quite the same as it used to be (add to that an addiction to World of Warcraft....) so I've not made much progress with the module as of late.
I am working closely with a tester to iron out some of the small problems that have cropped up in the past few weeks. Don't worry though, I'll post here when there's an update!

andre75’s picture

Thanks. I am wondering why you don't have a CVS account yet.
Anyways, do you know if your forum will work with the listhandler module?

Andre

-------------------------------------------------
http://www.opentravelinfo.com
http://www.aguntherphotography.com

daniel.hunt’s picture

Mainly because I was trying to get the project that I created (node 38829) assigned back to my name before I did so ... it mysteriously get removed from my project list quite some time ago you see.
And I've yet to find out why that happened or how to fix it... :/

andre75’s picture

I am not sure I got that ;-). Hope your account works out, since this module really should be there. It offers a lot of features.
I have to try it out soon. I am working on a new site and I am seriously thinking about your forum module.
I would feel more comfortable if you had a cvs account, as I am always afraid that support for a module is being dropped.

Can the module work with listhandler:
http://drupal.org/project/listhandler

Listhandler uses Mailhandler to insert posts via email. So basically the question is, can posts be inserted via email?

Andre

-------------------------------------------------
http://www.opentravelinfo.com
http://www.aguntherphotography.com

sepeck’s picture

That project is assigned to your name. Please email the Infrastructure list if you are still having issues.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

daniel.hunt’s picture

Thanks for the reply - my problem is that it's not listed on "My Projects".
It _WAS_ there, for about 2 days I think, but then it disappeared and hasn't come back since.

I can see on the module information page that it's listed as belonging to me though.

daniel.hunt’s picture

double post..

satos’s picture

Zoro, what about converter from built-in forum to uieforum? How is it goes? :-P

daniel.hunt’s picture

erm ... it doesnt ... yet :)

I made a number of changes to the core functions in order to make it more efficient (I've noticed that submitting posts is a tad slow) but when I actually put those changes to the test the entire system buckled and came crumbling down like a wooden house on fire :) So I had to undo them and I'll look at it again this week :p

*sigh* World of Warcraft is nothing more than a drain into which time pours :)

joshua_cohen’s picture

Don't give up man! The world awaits your Forum Module.

Josh

gravyface’s picture

I cannot find this anywhere, nor do I know the status of this module. unreal.ie is down. The "project thread" has no links to download this and there's another clone of this post, framed in a pink box, that said something to the effect of "this module is being completely rewritten". CVS browsing comes up fruitless.

Please tell me I'm being dense and I missed it in all the clutter and confusion that we call "community" on drupal.org.

<rant>I really wish Drupal.org would suck it up, swallow its pride, and install some project management software a la SourceForge to organize this chaotic ball of confusion. </rant>

sepeck’s picture

If the contributor has NOT checked his contribution into CVS no download link will appear in the project. Please contact the contributor for your refund.

It's good that you have felt the need to express your opinion the volunteers of this community in such a contructive manner. As we now know now and understand your opinion for the volutnteers and contributors of this community we will know how to address all your future requests.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well - thanks for that insightful rant there. I'll remember to think of you the next time I sit down for a coding session with this baby shall I?

http://www.unreal.ie/download/ut2k4/drupal/uieforum.module.v1.0_beta5.zip

The downloads section on unreal.ie is undergoing a revamp, which is probably why you couldn't access it before now. But don't get your knickers in a twist - this is all entirely voluntary.

TheDarkFlop’s picture

Yargh... why does my roomate have to put the back button on the side of the mouse? I just lost my whole post... ugh.
anywhos now thats off my chest.
Great job so far man, many humbly await your module. It shall be quite fantastic, especially when I don't have the time right now to figure how to rework the current forum module to be all fancy.
Also,I had a few questions.
Will the module when it is released, work with 4.7?
Will the latest beta 5 work with 4.7, and would it be stable enough
for a live site?

Much appreciation man...
Keep up the good work...

-Thedarkflop

daniel.hunt’s picture

The latest beta will _NOT_ work correctly with 4.7 as far as I can remember.
I had to make a number of changes in order to port it to 4.7 (there are alot of coding differences after all) - but yes it is possible :)

I can't give a date for when it'll be public, but the current beta is stable enough for a 4.6 site! I had intended to bash out a full version 1.0 this weekend, but I got food poisoning on Saturday, and I can currently count to about 15 without losing concentration .... :(

Thanks for the kind words though - it's great to see an interest in the module!

charleyramm’s picture

This looks fascinating. I hope it will become a stable module for 4.7, I may even have a go at helping once I get this php thing down.
Is this code released under a license, or just 'he who dares' for now?

daniel.hunt’s picture

"He who dares" is an interesting phrase :)

Feel free to modify the code if you want, just be sure to link back to this thread :)

Phillip Mc’s picture

does the UIEforum have an option to display IP addresses with posts?

one of the most irritating aspects of forums is people posting replies to themselves in order to bump a post. If IP addresses were displayed it usually deters from people having conversations with themselves.

Phil

andre75’s picture

I would not post to a forum that shows my IP address in public. Always consider the user first!
I can reconnect my DSL router in less than a minute to get a new IP anyways.

Andre
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.opentravelinfo.com
http://www.aguntherphotography.com

ilbeppe’s picture

Thanks for the work!!!!!!!!

When the new beta for 4.7.x??

daniel.hunt’s picture

The next version released will be a 4.7 one.
Unreal.ie admins are beginning testing of new modules for use on the site when we move to 4.7 - so whenever that happens (short term .... hopefully :p) there'll be a "version 1" release of this module too!

ilbeppe’s picture

The bbcode button doesn't work with beta5 and 4.6.6!
I don't know why? Any suggestion?

daniel.hunt’s picture

I'm not sure what the problem is so I don't know how I can help you ...

I've not had a problem with the bbcode buttons in quite a while. There were some initial javascript errors, but that was a very very long time ago now!

Can you give me more information?

ilbeppe’s picture

When i click on the buttons nothing happen. I don't know why. No errors was displayed.

daniel.hunt’s picture

hmmm - sounds like a javascript issue, but i can't tell from just that information :)

What operating system + version?
What browser + version?
Did you follow the install.txt correctly?
Are there any other drupal features that aren't working correctly?

Any extra info at all would be handy :)

ilbeppe’s picture

I have these error Compilation failed: characters with values > 255 are not yet supported in classes at offset 143 in /home/httpd/vhosts/termopili.org/httpdocs/drupalvecchio/modules/search.module on line 265. because i have an old php version! And i have the safe mode OFF! The search module don`t work correctly. And for run the login i have commented this line in user.module

FROM this:

$old_session_id = session_id();
session_regenerate_id();
db_query("UPDATE {sessions} SET sid = '%s' WHERE sid = '%s'", session_id(), $old_session_id);

TO this:

//$old_session_id = session_id();
//session_regenerate_id();
//db_query("UPDATE {sessions} SET sid = '%s' WHERE sid = '%s'", session_id(), $old_session_id);

I follow the install txt correctly.

Red hat, the problem was with all browser!

Thanks for the interesting!!!! :-P

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well that error code shows that there's a problem with the search.module file, and not my forum module :p

But as for the actual problem itself...
what version php is running on the server?
and is there anything else that's broken for you?

Berlueur’s picture

(I just installed this module BTW. Great work! I like this module a lot! I wish every string was prepped for localization, though -- I had to translate several hard-coded strings right into the module's files. It seems that the date functions are not ready for internationalization, either.)

Same results for me -- the smilies and BBCode buttons do not work for me. Nothing happens. I'm running beta 5. They don't work in any browser -- Firefox, Safari, Camino on a Mac.

In Firefox's JavaScript Console, I get something like "Process is not defined".

The actions pop-up menu (Delete Post, Move Post, and so forth) do not work either. Same kind of error message in the console: "uieforum_admin_edit is not defined".

I'd really like to get this working -- especially for the moderation functions.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Berlueur’s picture

Forgot to report this: another bug I've seen is that upon having confirmed a thread's deletion, UIE seems to want to show the thread ID that was just deleted... This results in a garbled display.

daniel.hunt’s picture

interesting - those functions should be fine ....

I'll have a look, no doubt it's just a typo :)
As for the dates/localisation thing ... next version ;)

arcane’s picture

1. Anonymous users cannot access the forum, I get access denied. I do have the check box ticked off under access control, access uieforum, for anonymous user role.

The url I am linking the menu item to is: http://www.xxxxxxxxxx.com/?q=uieforum

2. The fonts seem messed up with the kearning. I am using the Kubrick theme.

3. I am using Drupal 4.6.x

I am thinking I am missing something simple with problem1.

Any help would be appreciated!

daniel.hunt’s picture

Hmmm - try this:

Administer >> UIEForum

And on the main list of forums (there's probably only 1 there) click on "Edit forum" for the root forum.

Then Click: "Access for group: 'access forum'"

?

renholm’s picture

To get around the problem with "Process is not defined", simply remove the leading / in "/modules/" (post_include.php:4) :

$ForumTable .= "<script language=\"JavaScript\" src=\"/modules/".GetModuleName()."/new_post_scripts.js\"></script>";

It should be something like this:

$ForumTable .= "<script language=\"JavaScript\" src=\"modules/".GetModuleName()."/new_post_scripts.js\"></script>";
daniel.hunt’s picture

Thanks for that renholm - I can see that if you have a site that doesn't use the root directory as the drupal dir, that it would give problems.
I'll have to be more careful about that in future - nice find!

Daniel

*edit*
The same problem is in showthread.php:8
Just change the '/modules/' to 'modules/'

Leeteq’s picture

Could you please post a list of the entries (on the access control page) this module will have in its version for 4.7?

Thanks.

.
--
( Evaluating the long-term route for Drupal 7.x via BackdropCMS at https://www.CMX.zone )

mcurry’s picture

This looks great! (sorry, late to the discussion - just found this posting.) This forum module looks great, despite some objections about duplication of efforts or overlap with existing modules. Sometimes, site admins want a simple solution that doesn't involve installing and configuring half a dozen separate modules...

Now then, given the intense (!) interest in this module, is there any way the community could help with development or testing of the next release? (Especially for 4.7 compatiblilty.) (That's one reason it would be nice to have it in CVS, I suppose.)

Michael Curry
Exodus Development, Inc.
www.exodus-dev.com - www.rubypowered.com

daniel.hunt’s picture

Hey Michael,

Thanks for the interest in this project. I'm not 100% sure what can be done by others at this stage... My main task at the moment is learning how drupal's node system works so that I can integrate my work with drupal more fully. Once this is done, alot of the code-duplication can be removed (such as the bbcode module which I've physically placed within my module - not a great idea for individual module updating).

This project is really just something to provide us (unreal.ie) with a forum that works well within drupal - and it does that at the moment :)
When we move to 4.7 in the coming weeks the code will be swapped with my 4.7 testing code, and then I'll be looking at the best way to move over to drupal's node system completely.

When everything is done and ready to go, with uieforum being built into drupal's node system, I'll be compiling an easy-install guide, which contains all modules that are required for the forum to work - and work well. This will include the bbcode module, a smilies module (possibly a modification of the one that exists here already), the bbcode formatting bar module (which sucks at the moment - our one is much nicer), as well as the smilies formatting bar and a custom security system module that helps to make the entire uieforum system work.
I wrote the security system to make up for some of the failings of drupal's own one - but there have been some significant changes made since then (I believe...) so I may have another look at that and see if Organic Groups now does what it's supposed to do, or possibly one of the other ones.

Either way, I want to make drupal a competitive OS CMS ... which it may be right now, but without a reliable and useable forum system (in the VBB/ikonboard/phpbb ... etc sense of the word) - it most certainly is not :)

niteshade’s picture

Zoro, on behalf of newbies everywhere, thank you very much for this project. I'm a graphic designer by trade, and I'd like to spend as much time making my site look nice as configuring it. Not much of a coder. This is exactly what I'm looking for, and I applaud your effort. It's projects like this that get me excited about Drupal.

I will hold off installing this module for the time being. My infant site is 4.7, and I'm just getting comfortable with the system. If I can get the regular forum working decently, I think I'll wait for you to release the reconfigured forum under the drupal umbrella. Seems like a good idea to me.

Sometimes at the end of my own projects I find not relief, but rather an intense desire to start the whole damn thing over and get it right. Usually it's ten times better the second time, and takes a tenth of the time in the revision.

And I'll second the motion for a forum.module --> uieforum.module 2.0 converter. I know you're spending as much time as you can on this project, but for the sake of advance planning, can you give an approximate idea of how long it will take to swap your code? I hope you're able to reuse most of your base?

Thanks tons,
-Allan

www.artechne.com

jeeman’s picture

>I will hold off installing this module for the time being. My infant site is 4.7, and I'm just getting comfortable with the system. If I can get the regular forum working decently, I think I'll wait for you to release the reconfigured forum under the drupal umbrella. Seems like a good idea to me

niteshade, I could not of said it better. Same thing for me, I am anxiously checking this thread each day for news of the release of the new forum.module.

Zoro, if you need beta tester, let me know I am voluntering my site! ;)

andre75’s picture

I hope there will be a converter though. I am also running the Drupal Forums. I have spent a little bit of time theming them. Although I am not completely happy yet, its somewhat satisfactory.
Sample post:
http://www.opentravelinfo.com/node/540
I am also planning to switch to UIForum, but I hope that the CVS account can be worked out and that there will be more developers.
I know that Zoro is doing a wonderful job, but quite frankly having to rely on a single developer is a little scary.
Nonetheless I have great confidence in the project. This is what Drupal needs. I can't wait for the final release. In the meantime I will have my hands full moving my sites to 4.7 anyways.
I have made too many changes. I guess I will have to run a diff on every single module and include file.

Andre

P.S.: I have debated for a while if I should build a threaded forum or a flat forum. I think a threaded forum has several advantages, but right now you can see why I didn't do it :-)

-------------------------------------------------
http://www.opentravelinfo.com
http://www.aguntherphotography.com

ilbeppe’s picture

When the 4.7 release?

daniel.hunt’s picture

I know that Zoro is doing a wonderful job, but quite frankly having to rely on a single developer is a little scary.

I can completely understand this statement, and if the roles were reversed, I would probably feel exactly the same way.
Maybe if I finally get CVS up and running you'd be interested in chipping in? :)

As far as 4.7 work goes, the 4.7 version of the module is now working satisfactorily with our test site. It's not 100% perfect, and there are still a couple of issues that need ironing out and features that need adding, but it's almost there.
Right now we're dealing with theme issues (4.6 theme which uses 4.6 specific code) and until I fix them I can't be 100% confident that the forum itself isn't causing any of the errors that are popping up left right and center.

daniel.hunt’s picture

And I'll second the motion for a forum.module --> uieforum.module 2.0 converter. I know you're spending as much time as you can on this project, but for the sake of advance planning, can you give an approximate idea of how long it will take to swap your code? I hope you're able to reuse most of your base?

Ooooh, missed this one :)
The 4.7 code is essentially identical to the 4.6 one, but it uses the new Forms API, as well as a few other drupal specific updates.

There have also been some speed improvements, but I've pretty much frozen the 4.6 version of the module and with luck the 4.7 version will be a v1.0!

niteshade’s picture

I guess what I meant was a converter to the proposed system of using Drupal node types, without the extra DB tables. I think I'll use the UIE 1.0 (Drupal 4.7), but I'd feel more comfortable knowing that when the eventual switch to a more conventional system happens I can convert my data.

www.artechne.com

daniel.hunt’s picture

Ah I see what you mean now - Of course I'll be working on a conversion script from uieforum back to drupal if/when that change eventually occurs :D

xano’s picture

I have noticed the UIE Forum module some weeks ago. At that time I only saw a message that the code was being rewritten due to security issues. I've just found out this thread and I'm very happy to read the 4.7 version is almost ready. Drupals modularity is a very handy and powerful feature, but sometimes it can be annoying and it also happens that you can't set things up exactly as you want for there aren't any settings for that.

@zoro: When do you expect the 4.7 version to be completely ready?

daniel.hunt’s picture

Those security issues were actually ironed out in beta2 I think - But I left the warning there just in case there was something I'd missed.

The module (beta 6) has been running smoothly on www.unreal.ie for the past few months with very little changes being made to it. It's a good sign :)
As I said above, the 4.7 version of the module _IS_ working, it's just not quite "there" yet, so I'd rather not hand it over to anyone to use. It could still use a bit of a code-cleanup imo.

I'll be using CVS soon enough to keep track of everything, and to allow more people to look at the work I've done and make any improvements if they feel they're neccessary. Until then, stay tuned! :)

j611’s picture

it is really a great job.
but i do agree that the existing drupal forum module is good enough to do the forum job.

--------------------------------
我是医生
http://www.5413.org

daniel.hunt’s picture

Then I think we'll just have to agree to disagree :D

xano’s picture

Hey you, get offline :-P You're supposed to make that forum ready for a release ;-)

daniel.hunt’s picture

:D
If only I was being paid to develop it eh? :)

xano’s picture

You'll have our eternal gratitude ;-)

daniel.hunt’s picture

But that won't pay my rent will it? :P

bonobo’s picture

If it did, you would have one super-cool landlord ;)

Take your time -- it'll be done when it's done. We can wait.

-------
http://www.funnymonkey.com
Tools for Teachers

Berlueur’s picture

Hey,

I'm trying to lock some forums... but, unfortunately, the feature seems buggy or something.

Meaning, users can post without problems new threads in those locked forums. "New Thread" appears on the page and is very usable. The new post is created and appears just fine. It's strange, because I have the impression that at some point, the feature actually worked as advertised... Also, in case it's relevant: I just upgraded my install of Drupal (CivicSpace, actually). I'm now running CivicSpace 0.8.5, which uses Drupal 4.6.8.

One oddity I've seen that might be related to this problem is that the breadcrumb thingie (Home >> Forums >> Name of forum >> Name of subforum etc.) is also not working correctly. When clicking of forums' names, the breadcrumb is usually limited to Home >> Forums -- in other words, the subsequent forums/subforums do not appear.

Only in some limited instances does the breadcrumb correctly appear.

Could the uieforum tables in the database somehow have gotten wrong/corrupted, thereby confusing uieforum?

daniel.hunt’s picture

Locked Forums: This is certainly a strange one - it definitely worked before, I know that with 100% certainty, so I'll have to look at what could be causing it to fail the checks.

Corrupted Tables: Unlikely. Although I've yet to notice the breadcrumb issues that you're having (they work all of the time for me ... typical eh? :) ) it doesn't seem to be something that would be caused by that specifically. Try looking in the admin section for the forum module - do the forums appear indented as they should (parent/child relationships), and are there any forums missing?

*edit* Damn bbcode not working ....

Berlueur’s picture

Thanks for your response.

The parent/child relationships are fine in the admin section.

If you want to see the missing breadcrumb "in action", you can go to: http://berlue.com/bulbe/uieforum

I guess it won't provide you much information, but at least, you'll be able to see it with your own eyes...

asiafan’s picture

sorry for not reading through this long page, i have only a few questions:

when will it be available as a stable version for drupal 4.7?
can I restrict access to forums for only members?
thanks

daniel.hunt’s picture

1: No idea
2: Yes :)

adavidow’s picture

One of the features that makes Drupal forums unusable for my purposes is that there is no way that I have found to tie "new" to the concept "new to the logged in user".

So, there seems to be no way to mark everything on the site as "seen", or to see only those things that have been posted since the last visit (or since the last visit, or are still "new" to the logged in user"

Is there any support for that sort of personalized "what I have read/what's new to me" tracking in uieforum?

andre75’s picture

Thats not true. For once there is the tracker that always puts the latest posts first.
Also my forum shows a new link that works just the way you described. I don't remember doing anything special for it. If you don't see it, maybe your theme is messed up.

Andre

-------------------------------------------------
http://www.opentravelinfo.com
http://www.aguntherphotography.com

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well, the "what have I not read" works perfectly for me with this module. There's a thread subscription system that works in a similar way too ...

daniel.hunt’s picture

Beta 8

Get it while it's hot :p
As always - any questions? Just leave a comment here or use my contact form. For a more direct approach, skype me - daniel.hunt

Daniel

jweiss’s picture

sweetness!!! Off to play with the new version....

daniel.hunt’s picture

Heh :)
There weren't too many changes in this version - the major one was the moderator code that's been changed (god damn drupal and it's crappy access control :) )

good luck ;)

nathandigriz’s picture

I want to see visually how the administration looks.

daniel.hunt’s picture

Still a 4.6 yeah, I can send you the 4.7 code as it is, but don't expect a very enjoyable experience ;)

jeeman’s picture

Hey Zoro, I just sent you an email... I would be interested to test out your code for 4.7. Thanks a lot for the great work, and hope to hear from you soon! :)

deadhobo’s picture

I just want to put out my appreciation for the dedication that Daniel has to this project. He has helped me countless times with my site (http://marsbot.org/forum) and I can't thank him enough. I have been running hot-off-the-oven builds for nearly a year now and never had any serious problems (*knocks on wood*).

The latest beta is running on my site (on 4.6.8) and it's working great (if the forum seems a bit silent its because it's not in season). Daniel helped me with a side affect arising from my theme just this morning (not even close to uieforum's fault; basically the theme was styling EVERY table with the header image - dumb) and is a great guy to work with. I can't wait for the big v1.0 (my drupal senses say its close :p)!

cation555’s picture

First of all, Zoro, I would like to say that you've created an excellent module for Drupal. Your forum has all the features I'm looking for.

However, I've run into a slight problem (I'm a drupal n00b so please bear with me):

I can create and edit posts just fine.

However, when I try to delete/merge/split threads I get teh following message:

Not Found
The requested URL /admin/uieforum/edit/post/1 was not found on this server.

I am using drupal 4.6.8 (Civicspace 0.8.5) with uieforum beta 5

I would appreciate any insights into this problem.

Thank-you,

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well if you're using beta 5, you'll probably run into problems with adminning allright :) I dont think the code for any of that was included in beta 5, and if it was, then it wasn't very good at doing what it should :)

cation555’s picture

On a fresh install of civicspace, I get the following error message after I installed uieforum beta8 (as per the installation instructions):

warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /opt/lampp/htdocs/modules/forum/functions.inc.php:1477) in /opt/lampp/htdocs/includes/common.inc on line 192.

The same message appears when I try to login/logout of my site.

Do you know what may be causing this?

daniel.hunt’s picture

That's a standard php problem that happens quite often, depending on how you edit the files.

If you scroll to the very last line in the file (/modules/forum/functions.inc.php), and delete it, and the blank line above it (all the way up to the "? >") then it'll be fine.

cation555’s picture

I would like to request some clarification.

What would you like me to delete ----- (the '}' just before the '?>' ?

This is what I see towards the end of the functions.inc.php file:

.....
// Perform database queries to gather online user lists (used to see if the poster is currently online) $users = db_query('SELECT DISTINCT(uid), MAX(timestamp) AS max_timestamp FROM {sessions} WHERE timestamp >= %d AND uid = %d GROUP BY uid ORDER BY max_timestamp DESC', $calc, $uid); $total_users = db_num_rows($users); $is_active = false; if ($total_users == 1) $is_active = true; $useronline_list["'".$uid."'"] = $is_active; }
return $useronline_list["'".$uid."'"];
}
}
}
?>

Thanks,

daniel.hunt’s picture

Ah - no just the blank space AFTER the "?>"

The problem is that there's a space character, or a new line character (depends on the editor used, as well as a linux/windows file .... :) ) that's outputting to the browser. It shouldn't be there, so just remove it and everything should be fine.

cation555’s picture

Hi,

I tried your suggestion, Zoro, and it solved the problem I was having (using drupal 4.6.8).

However, a new problem popped up:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: wordfilter_filter() in /opt/lampp/htdocs/modules/forum/forum.module on line 1584

I commented out line 1584 and the forum seems to be working but no smilies/formatting options are visible (one can only preview/submit a post).

Unfortunately, my original problem remains. When I try to edit/split/merge threads I still get the message:

Not Found

The requested URL /admin/forum/edit/post/move/1 was not found on this server.
Apache/2.2.2 (Unix) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.2 OpenSSL/0.9.8b PHP/4.4.2 mod_apreq2-20051231/2.5.7 mod_perl/2.0.2 Perl/v5.8.7

BTW I must say that the interface of beta8 looks really sleek/professional.

cation555’s picture

oops...errant post

heine’s picture

Simply remove ?> from include files and modules. Problem solved.
--
The Manual | Troubleshooting FAQ | Tips for posting | Make Backups! | Consider creating a Test site.

sepeck’s picture

the trailing ? stuff now.

See http://drupal.org/node/545

Note that as of Drupal 4.7, the ?> at the end of code files (modules, includes, etc.) is purposely omitted.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

cation555’s picture

Hi,

I tried your suggestion, Zoro, and it solved the problem I was having (using drupal 4.6.8).

However, a new problem popped up:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: wordfilter_filter() in /opt/lampp/htdocs/modules/forum/forum.module on line 1584

I commented out line 1584 and the forum seems to be working but no smilies/formatting options are visible (one can only preview/submit a post).

Unfortunately, my original problem remains. When I try to edit/split/merge threads I still get the message:

Not Found

The requested URL /admin/forum/edit/post/move/1 was not found on this server.
Apache/2.2.2 (Unix) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.2 OpenSSL/0.9.8b PHP/4.4.2 mod_apreq2-20051231/2.5.7 mod_perl/2.0.2 Perl/v5.8.7

BTW I must say that the interface of beta8 looks really sleek/professional.

daniel.hunt’s picture

I'm glad to hear you like the look of beta8 - but I've NO idea what's causing your problem :/

Are you using clean urls?

arcane’s picture

Object not found!
The requested URL was not found on this server. If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 404
test.example.com
Tue Jul 11 13:20:00 2006
Apache/2.0.49 (Linux/SuSE)

Does anyone know if there is a work around. I was getting a similiar message in beta 5 & 6. Btw, I get this message when trying to perform any of the moderator functions, delete a post, split a post, etc...

daniel.hunt’s picture

That makes for some interesting reading ...

satos’s picture

When new beta for 4.7.2 will be available? :) My forums just stopped, 'cause of numerous errors.
::: Using beta8

daniel.hunt’s picture

Well as I stated in the email to you, beta8 is a 4.6 module ONLY. Simply planting the module in a 4.7 install of drupal won't work :)

cation555’s picture

I am not using clean urls.
Yeah my problem is definately a strange one.

Sifaka’s picture

It's been quiet here for a while,
any progress on the adaptation of uieforum for drupal 4.7.x?

You did a very good job!!!, but the forums on my website should be operational in september and I might need to search other solutions instead then.
Any idee when the 4.7.x version will be ready?

greetings,
Niele Geypens

Scouts en Guides Alken, Belgium - http://www.scoutsalken.be

zim’s picture

Hey, any news about this module? Or a estimated release date? o_O

ZiM.-

daniel.hunt’s picture

Hey - I've been doing a little minor behind the scenes work on it, and I'll be releasing the first non beta version soon. I want to have my resident beta tester (marsbot.org) test it first. There's been a bit of an overhaul with the moderator code - it actually works now ;)
I wouldn't be comfortable releasing a version that allows a moderator full, unrestricted access to the system now would I? ;)

Once the mod code is successfully tested (we're testing it extensively on unreal.ie as I speak) then it will be pretty much done and dusted for v1.0! I'm tempted to rewrite the security system though - I've noticed that it's simplicity gets a little too much to handle when you have a few forums that require moderating by different groups of users. It depends on if I have the time or not though.

I have had a look at CVS'ing the code, but to be honest, I'm confused as hell :) I'll have to read up a bit more on it, because all my initial attempts failed miserably :D

Sifaka’s picture

No need for a second tester?
The forums on my website does not need to be very stable because it's only for a scouting group.
nevertheless the moderater-functions will be extensively used because we wil have a group of 30 mods dealing with kids and parents who will try to use it in extreme ways :)
The most of the forum -if possible- will be not accessible to the outside world, because it is used by children.
if preferred we will only set up these internal forums so if things go wrong it is not presented on the entire internet :)
I have been looking to the tests on the uie-website and it looks very well.
You can reach me by e-mail, 'niele at scoutsalken dot be'

Kind regards,
Niele

Sifaka - Niele Geypens - Scouts and Guides Alken - http://www.scoutsalken.be

daniel.hunt’s picture

http://drupal.org/project/uieforum
http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/drupal/files/projects/uieforum-4.6.0.tar.gz

UIEForum is in the CVS repository! (at last ....)
It's also just been upgraded to v1.0 - no more beta status for this baby :)

Enjoy
Zoro

xano’s picture

Really great job!

Good luck for making the 4.7.0 version!

daniel.hunt’s picture

thanks :)