Drupal and Forums

I am running a phpBB site myself but am also thinking about integrating it with drupal, or even convert the database to drupal before it gets too big. I have som questions myself though.

1. Setting posts as settings or flagging them as announcements is something I need to do, but you say this is integrated in Drupal?

2. Also I want threads that have recently been posted in to appear at the top of the forum. Is this possible?

3. Is there no way of making forums private? Or locking down threads?

4. How do installation of modules and updates work? It seems to me like it is simply a matter of installing some files with no need for manual editing of files. Am I understanding it correctly?

Thanks.

just some issues left over from when i upgraded from 4.6.
its all good.... i dont have many registered users and... they are not active... so its nothing to worry about...
i had the same problem with submitting stories... until i got past the number i already had then everything was fine.

Craig.

You should be able to do this with different templates (e.g. node-forum.tpl.php, node-book.tpl.php ...).

About the picture, I remember I used to mess with it a while, when I first took the forum online, but I somehow forgot what I did. I even did some posts about this.

If you want it to look more like php, you can replace the links with buttons. I did this once on Drupal 4.6:
I posted how to do this here:
http://drupal.org/node/56127

But somehow I like the standard text links better now.

Anyways, If you want to get the phpBB/vB look, simply add a border around each post (in the css file for the forum) and one around the header, use some small repeating png file for the background of the header and add the buttons (maybe you need to modify the code for 4.7). Its really not all that hard to completely clone phpBB if thats what you are after.

Andre

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

Im using the forum module from here: http://drupal.org/node/77074

get the css code from the phpBB theme you are going to use. (i dont have the css all figured out yet myself.
And get the icon set you will be using from there also.

This is a work in progress and im sure there are other ways of doing this... but its more of a learning process for me.

post back with any changes you can come up with and i'll do the same.

Craig.

put this in your template.php file:

/**
 * Format the forum listing.
 * Reference: phpbb theme subza, file: index_body.tpl
 * @ingroup themeable
 */
php function phptemplate_forum_display($forums, $topics, $parents, $tid, $sortby, $forum_per_page) {
  global $user;
  // forum list, topics list, topic browser and 'add new topic' link

  $vocabulary = taxonomy_get_vocabulary(variable_get('forum_nav_vocabulary', ''));
  $title = $vocabulary->name;

  // Breadcrumb navigation:
  $breadcrumb = array();
  if ($tid) {
    $breadcrumb[] = array('path' => 'forum', 'title' => $title);
  }

  if ($parents) {
    $parents = array_reverse($parents);
    foreach ($parents as $p) {
      if ($p->tid == $tid) {
        $title = $p->name;
      }
      else {
        $breadcrumb[] = array('path' => 'forum/'. $p->tid, 'title' => $p->name);
      }
    }
  }

  drupal_set_title($title);

  $breadcrumb[] = array('path' => $_GET['q']);
  menu_set_location($breadcrumb);

  if (count($forums) || count($parents)) {
    $output  = '<div id="forum">';
    $output .= '<ul>';

    if (module_exist('tracker')) {
      if ($user->uid) {
        $output .= ' <li>'. l(t('My discussions.'), "tracker/$user->uid") .'</li>';
      }

      $output .= ' <li>'. l(t('Active discussions.'), 'tracker') .'</li>';
    }

    if (user_access('create forum topics')) {
      //$output .= '<li>'. l(t('Post new forum topic.'), "node/add/forum/$tid") .'</li>';
      $output .=  l('<img class="icon"
                    src="'. base_path() . path_to_theme() . '/templates/subza/images/lang_english/post.gif" />'
                    ,"node/add/forum/$tid",NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, TRUE
                   );
    }
    else if ($user->uid) {
      $output .= '<li>'. t('You are not allowed to post a new forum topic.') .'</li>';
    }
    else {
      $output .= '<li>'. t('<a href="%login">Login</a> to post a new forum topic.', array('%login' => url('user/login'))) .'</li>';
    }
    $output .= '</ul>';

    $output .= theme('forum_list', $forums, $parents, $tid);

    if ($tid && !in_array($tid, variable_get('forum_containers', array()))) {
      drupal_add_link(array('rel' => 'alternate',
                            'type' => 'application/rss+xml',
                            'title' => 'RSS - '. $title,
                            'href' => url('taxonomy/term/'. $tid .'/0/feed')));

      $output .= theme('forum_topic_list', $tid, $topics, $sortby, $forum_per_page, $forums);
      $output .= theme('feed_icon', url("taxonomy/term/$tid/0/feed"));
    }
    $output .= '</div>';
  }
  else {
    drupal_set_title(t('No forums defined'));
    $output = '';
  }

  return $output;
}

/**
 * Format the forum listing.
 * Reference: phpbb theme subza, file: index_body.tpl
 * @ingroup themeable
 */
function phptemplate_forum_list($forums, $parents, $tid) {
  global $user;

  if ($forums) {

    $description = '<table width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" border="0" class="forumline">
                     <tr>
                       <th colspan="2" class="thCornerL" height="25" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Forum&nbsp;</th>
                       <th width="50" class="thTop" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Topics&nbsp;</th>
                       <th width="50" class="thTop" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Posts&nbsp;</th>
                       <th class="thCornerR" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Last Post&nbsp;</th>
                     </tr>';

    foreach ($forums as $forum) {
      if ($forum->container) {
        $description .= '<tr>
                          <td class="catLeft" colspan="2" height="28">
                            <span class="cattitle">
                             '.l($forum->name, "forum/$forum->tid").'
                            </span>
                         </td>
                         <td class="rowpic" colspan="3" align="right">&nbsp;</td>
                        </tr>';
      }
      else {
        $new_topics = _forum_topics_unread($forum->tid, $user->uid);
        $forum->old_topics = $forum->num_topics - $new_topics;

        if (!$user->uid) {
          $new_topics = 0;
        }

        $description .= '<tr>
                         <td class="row1" align="center" valign="middle" height="50">
                           <span class="new">
                             '.theme('forum_list_icon', $forum->last_post,$forum->num_topics,$forum->num_posts).'
                           </span>
                         </td>';

        $description .=   '<td class="row1" width="100%" height="50">
                             <span class="forumlink">
                             '.l($forum->name, "forum/$forum->tid").'
                               <br />
                             </span>';

        if ($forum->description) {
          $description .=   '<span class="genmed">
                              '.filter_xss_admin($forum->description).'
                                <br />
                             </span>';
        }
        if ($forum->moderators) {
          $description .=     '<span class="gensmall">
                                  Moderators
                                '.l($forum->moderators).'
                               </span>';
        } else {
            $description .=   '<span class="gensmall">
                                 Moderators: none
                               </span>';
          }

        $description .=      '</td>';

        $description .=      '<td class="row2" align="center" valign="middle" height="50">
                                <span class="gensmall">
	        	         '.$forum->num_topics . ($new_topics ? '<br />'. l(format_plural($new_topics, '1 new', '%count new'), "forum/$forum->tid", NULL, NULL, 'new') : '').'
                 	        </span>
                              </td>';

        $description .=      '<td class="row2" align="center" valign="middle" height="50">
	        	        <span class="gensmall">
	        	         '.$forum->num_posts.'
                	        </span>
                              </td>';

        $description .=      '<td class="row2" align="center" valign="middle" height="50" nowrap="nowrap">
	        	         <span class="gensmall">
	         	         '._forum_format($forum->last_post)
	         	          .l('<img class="icon"
                                       src="'. base_path() . path_to_theme() . '/templates/subza/images/icon_latest_reply.gif" />'
                                       ,"forums/$topic->last_post",NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, TRUE
                                     ).'
                	         </span>
                              </td>';

       $description .=   '</tr>';
      }
    }

    $description .= '</table>';

    return $description;

  }

}

/**
 * Format the topic listing.
 *  Reference: phpbb theme subza, file: viewforum_body.tpl
 * @ingroup themeable
 */
function phptemplate_forum_topic_list($tid, $topics, $sortby, $forum_per_page, $forums) {
  global $forum_topic_list_header;


  if ($topics) {

    $description = '<table width="80%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" border="0" class="forumline">
                      <tr>
                        <th colspan="2" align="center" class="thCornerL" height="25" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Topics&nbsp;</th>
                        <th width="50" align="center" class="thTop" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Replies&nbsp;</th>
                        <th width="100" align="center" class="thTop" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Author&nbsp;</th>
                        <th width="50" align="center" class="thTop" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Views&nbsp;</th>
                        <th width="150" align="center" class="thCornerR" nowrap="nowrap">&nbsp;Last Post&nbsp;</th>
                      </tr>';

    foreach ($topics as $topic) {
      // folder is new if topic is new or there are new comments since last visit
      if ($topic->tid != $tid) {
          $description .=  theme('forum_icon', $topic->new, $topic->num_comments, $topic->comment_mode, $topic->sticky)
                                  .check_plain($topic->title)
                                  .l(t('This topic has been moved'), "forum/$topic->tid");
      }
      else {
          $description .= '<tr>
	                     <td class="row1" align="center" valign="middle" width="20">
                               '.theme('forum_icon', $topic->new, $topic->num_comments, $topic->comment_mode, $topic->sticky).'
                             </td>';

          $description .=   '<td class="row1" width="100%">';

          $description .=     '<span class="topictitle">';
          $description .=         l($topic->title, "node/$topic->nid");
          $description .=     '</span>';
          $description .=   '</td>';
          $description .=   '<td class="row2" align="center" valign="middle">
                               <span class="postdetails">
                                '.$topic->num_comments . ($topic->new_replies ? '<br />'. l(format_plural($topic->new_replies, '1 new', '%count new'), "node/$topic->nid", NULL, NULL, 'new') : '').'
                               </span>
                             </td>';

          $description .=   '<td class="row2" align="center" valign="middle">
                              <span class="name">
                               '.theme('username', $topic).'
                              </span>
                            </td>';

          $description .=   '<td class="row2" align="center" valign="middle">
                               <span class="postdetails">
                                 '.$topic->views.'
                               </span>
                             </td>';

	  $description .=   '<td class="row2" align="center" valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">
                                <span class="postdetails">
                                '._forum_format($topic->last_reply).'
                                  <br />
                                '.$topic->name.'
                                '.l('<img class="icon"
                                    src="'. base_path() . path_to_theme() . '/templates/subza/images/icon_latest_reply.gif" />'
                                   ,"forums/$topic->last_post",NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, TRUE
                                  ).'
                               </span>
                             </td>';

          $description .= '</tr>';
    
      }
    }
  }

  $description .= '</table>';
  $description .= theme('pager', NULL, $forum_per_page, 0);
  return $description;
}