By realskorpion on

I need a step by step tutorial about how to setting up a Drupal Forum. I was trying doing it but I failed and the documentation at Handbooks Drupal Site is minimal and very bad. I don't need a super Forum just a simple one but I need help. Thanks

⋅ Categories: Drupal 4.7.x

Comments

Toe’s picture

Toe commented

Go into admin -> modules and turn on the forum module. Then a forums link will appear on your admin menu (might need to refresh the page), click it. From there, click on the Add Forum tab. Enter a name for your forum, and optionally a description for it, and hit submit. You should now be able to see your forum if you visit yoursite.com/forum

Optionally, you can click on the Add Container tab and create a name for your container. Containers basically just allow you to group your forums. For example, if you look at the forum index page here on drupal.org, there's three containers in use: General, Support, and Development. Once you have a container setup, you can place a forum in that container by setting that forum's parent attribute.

frogasaurus’s picture

frogasaurus commented

Toe, I'm also having a problem setting up forums in a new Drupal installation. It appears from your post that the problem is that there is not a forums link in the admin menu.

I have followed your directions: Turned on the forum module, went to admin/modules, refreshed the web page, and a forum link isn't there. The closest I can find is administer/settings/forums, which doesn't have the ablitiy to add forums.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong and how to fix this?

syquest’s picture

syquest commented

If you don’t see a Forum link under Admin after turning on the Forum module, then make sure that you are logged in as User 1. Your problem may simply be Access Control (under Administer), which determines which users can access, contribute, and administer forums.

frogasaurus’s picture

frogasaurus commented

I have confirmed in administer/users/ that I am logged in as the user with ID 1. . . . While logged on as that user, I can see the administer/ selection available in the menu list, and it provides many options to administer, just no administer/forums/ option.

Also, when I go to administer/menus/ to see which menus have been enabled or disabled, the administer/forums/ selection is not an available menu item there.

Perhaps using the "add menu item" tab under administer/menus/ with the following settings will fix this?

Title: forums
Parent item: administer
Path: (What goes here?)

If this new menu item is configured properly and enabled in administer/menus/ will it provide the required access to administer/forums/?

Thanks.

syquest’s picture

syquest commented

It seems as if you haven't enabled the module. Lets step back to step one and try again...

1. Enable the forum module
- navigate to: administer>modules
- enable the module by clicking the forum “enabled” check box

2. Add forums
- navigate to: administer>forums
- add a forum by clicking the “add forum” tab and completing the add forum form

3. Enable forum menu*
- navigate to: administer>menus
- enable “forums” menu by clicking “enable” to the right of “forums” located in the “navigation” menu list.
*Completeing this step results in a "forum" link being added to your menu.

4. Set forum access for user groups*
- navigate to : administer>access control
- grant access by clicking the “forum module” check boxes
*This step is essential, otherwise no one will be ablt to see or contribute to your forums

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

note: http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/forum

Forums module requires Taxonomy and Comments modules to be enabled.

Step one.
Enable Forum, Taxonomy and Comments modules.

-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

frogasaurus’s picture

frogasaurus commented

I have verified in administer/modules/ that the following modules are checked as "enabled"

forum
taxonomy
comments

I did not enable these modules recently. I enabled them yesterday prior to posting my first post here. (After discovering the handbook reference you point out sepeck).

Now, with these three modules (and others) enabled, the following conditions are also true:

1. I am logged in as the user with ID 1.
2. In the administer menu, there is no "forum" submenu to select.
3. In administer/menus/, "forum" does not appear as a menu item to enable.

I am starting to wonder if something on the server prevented Drupal from installing fully/properly. If that is the case, then is it possible/feasible to manually tell Drupal the extra info it needs in order to administer forums?

Specifically, I'm thinking about using the "add menu item" tab under administer/menus/ with these settings.

Title: forums
Parent item: administer
Path: (Something here that tells Drupal the extra info it's missing.)

What do you think?

Also, looking at item #4 in your last post, syquest, I do not have an administer/access control item. Nor is there an access control item listed at administer/menus/.

Here's how my menu list appears:

* blogs
* compose tips
* content
* polls
* my account
* user list
* submission queue
* administer
o blocks
o categories
o comments
o content
o input formats
o logs
o menus
o modules
o settings
o themes
o uploads
o users
o help
* log out

Thanks.

frogasaurus’s picture

frogasaurus commented

This problem occured because my web host is using Drupal version 4.5.1 and the documentation that I've been using here at drupal.org is for Drupal version 4.7.

It turns out that the administration interface for forums is quite different for these two versions. After a bit of playing around I was able to figure out how to implement a forum in Drupal 4.5.1.

I hopes this helps out anybody else who is puzzled by the missing menus in their Drupal installation.

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

4.5.1 has heap big security issues. Please plan on taking your site through an upgrade as soon as your testing is through. Also, subscribe to drupal.org/security

-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

frogasaurus’s picture

frogasaurus commented

Thanks for the tips sepeck.

trantt’s picture

trantt commented

syquest,

I was able to create a new forum topic (by clicking on a forum's 'New forum topic') but for some reason, it wans't visible under its associated forum. What do I need to do to over come this problem? Here is mine original post http://drupal.org/node/84757

Thanks

syquest’s picture

syquest commented

I'm sorry, but I am having trouble understanding your problem. I've read your original post, but that didn't really clarify anything. That being siad, my comments may not directly address your concerns, but read on nonetheless...

When you post a new topic, you determine the parent forum in the required "categories" pull down menu. If the topics still don't appear, the problem may be an access issue. Navigate to "access control" and make sure you've properly set the forum mudule permissions:

administer forums
create forum topics
edit own forum topics

Good luck!

phuile’s picture

phuile commented

syquest, I have the opposit problem! I created a container and a forum within that container. I posted one comment to this forum. I have a user group called "executives" and I have ticked that they can access the forum in administer/access control. I have NOT ticked anything for anonymous users under the Forum module.

However, when I pretended to be a public user (i.e. not logged in), I clicked on Groups, and chose the executives group, I can still see the forum and the first message I posted. How can I make that disappear? I want this to be a private forum to be seen only by one group. How can I prevent any public user to see this forum?

Also, there doens't seem to be a "reply" function under my first post? Is this supposed to be correct?? I only see "add new comments"

Thanks!

Petre

P.S. I am also using Organic Group to set up some user groups - I have set up one Group so far (executives) but I am finding the documentation very minimal, and I am not sure whether I am linking these two things together correstly at all! Any advice is much appreciated!

syquest’s picture

syquest commented

I use the Path Access module to control access to forums.

1. Install module
2. Navigate to "Access Control"
3. Select "URLs"
4. Select "Edit" for anonymous user
5. Select "Access every page except the listed pages"
6. Enter "forum" in the pages text field

Good luck!

phuile’s picture

phuile commented

Thanks - I checked my modules list ... I got the "Path" module but I can't see any "Path Access" module. Are they different things? I am using Drupal 4.6 (to be accurate - my host uses 4.6) so can I install this module if it is different from "path"?

Petre

syquest’s picture

syquest commented

...and yes, you can install it. You'll need to download the 4.6 version of the Path Access module.

phuile’s picture

phuile commented

Thanks, syquest ... I will install that.

I asked this some where else but perhaps this is more appropriate - I also want to hide anything one Group created to users who are not part of the Group. For example, Group Handbook is automatically created when you create a group. How can I hide that from other users? Can I also use the Path Access module?

Thanks!

aiman_1988’s picture

aiman_1988 commented

hello
Can anyone tell me how to set a forum as primary link? Like i want to set forum as a (page) /node.
Please help me out. i would really appreciate that. Thanks

markscamilleri’s picture

markscamilleri commented

I deleted the menu link, how do I get it back????

trantt’s picture

trantt commented

1st, you will need to create a container
and then forum.

example:
1. create a 'Drupal' containner'
2. create 3 forums: theming development, module development, and php development(all of these forums will belong to Drupal container)

Drupal --> container

-->Theming development --> forum
------>subject 1 --> post by user
-------->subject 1a
-------->subjuect 1aa
------>subject 2

-->Module development --> forum
------>subject 1 --> post by user
------>subject 2

-->Php development --> forum
------>subject 1 --> post by users
------>subject 2
------>subject 3

ANother container
-->Another forum 1
-->Another forum 2

Toe’s picture

Toe commented

1st, you will need to create a container and then forum.

Actually, containers are optional. You can create a forum without first creating a container, and simply leave the forum's parent as root.

realskorpion’s picture

realskorpion commented

Hi, Thanks to everybody. Before you help me to solve the "problem" I had a Forum but it looks awful as a blasphemy and I think that I was doing something wrong. I wanna do a decent forum or at least a forum like the Drupal's Site. Thanks

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

So, you are looking at theming the look of your forum, not setting it up? Drupal.org forums are just stock Drupal forum that comes in the download.

In the (?q=admin/forum/configure) config section
Hot topics: 10
Topics per page: 25
Default Order: Date - Newest first

In the (?q=admin/comment/configure) comments conf
Threaded list expanded
Date - Oldest first
Comments per page: 200
Do not display comment controls.

This list is the modules used on Drupal.org and is current.

There is a template you can download from the theme section to change the look of Drupal forums (can't remember the name but someone will). There is also the theme snippets section of the handbook which can give some more generalized advise.

-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

Z2222’s picture

Z2222 commented

.

winman1’s picture

winman1 commented

forum - user groups - permision (moderators)

hi all,

i install drupal forum module + taxonomy_access module,
and I dont want to use vB or other forum in connection with drupal.

with drupal forum i miss few things:

when a registered user posts
his post goes to -> approval queue

users from another group can allow/accept this post to forum!
and where they do that? ( in vBulletin they do via mod cp )

I dont see this option in drupal default forum,
is there any module to support this?

Is there any private message system for drupal?

Thank you very much.

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

please see the handbook documentation for mention of and a link
http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/forum

Please also start a new thread.

-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

markscamilleri’s picture

markscamilleri commented


avagreen’s picture

avagreen commented

Setting up a Drupal forum can be a great way to build an interactive space for your audience. For instance, a CV writing company could use a forum to let job seekers ask career questions, share interview experiences, and exchange tips on crafting professional resumes. This not only builds community engagement but also positions the company as a trusted resource in its niche.