VBulletin Bridge [Geodesic Solutions Community Wiki]

addons:bridge:vbulletin
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====== VBulletin Bridge ======

This //bridge type// allows you to bridge users with vBulletin software.

====== Steps inside vBulletin Admin ======
Since this bridge is //one-way//, changes made to user details((Such as when a new user registers, an existing user edits the user information, or a user changes the password.)) in the Geo software are also made inside vBulletin by the vBulletin bridge.  However, changes made in vBulletin are **not transfered** back to the Geo installation.  This means that if a user changes the password in vBulletin, or if a new user registers within vBulletin, that information will be "out of sync".

The solution to this, is to disable user registrations, user info editing, and password changing, from inside vBulletin itself.  Instead your users will make those changes in the Geo software, and the changes get copied over.  To accomplish this, follow the steps below.

<tip c n>**Note:**  These instructions were created for vBulletin **3.8.4**, how things are accomplished may be different in newer (or older) versions of vBulletin.  When that is the case you may need to consult the vBulletin documentation to accomplish a task.

Also note that the current bridge has been tested on newer vBulletin versions, and is known to work on **4.0** versions, including the newer vBulletin CMS.  If you do experience any problems with a newer released version of vBulletin, please contact support.  From time to time minor adjustments may be needed for the bridge to make it compatible with newer released versions of vBulletin.</tip>

===== Disable Registrations =====
Follow the steps below to disable user registrations.
  - Within the VBulletin admin, go to **vBulletin Options > vBulletin Options**, and select **User Registration Options**. <
  - For the setting **Allow New User Registrations** select **no**. <
  - In the admin, go to **Languages & Phrases > Search in Phrases**. <
  - Use the tool to search for "noregister" (without the quotes), and select the option for "Phrase Variable Name Only" <
  - Click **edit** for the phrase found, and change the text to reflect a more appropriate message regarding the location of the registration within the Geo installation. <
  - Save the changes. <


===== Convert Logout Links =====

Within the vBulletin text, you will need to change all the log-out links to "point" to your geo installation's logout page, the URL would end in((Note that **index.php** might be different if you use a different setting for your main file name for the site.  This is not typical however, most sites do use index.php.))
  index.php?a=17

You would search for "logout", "log out", and "log_out" in all languages & phrases, and convert any link to point to the Geo logout page, then do the same within the templates in vBulletin, altering the logout links to point to the Geo installation as mentioned above.  To help get you started, below are specific instructions for each link found as of the last time this document was last updated.

Logout link in language/phrase text:
  - In admin panel at **Languages & Phrases > Search in Phrases**, for the text **log out**, then click //find//. <
  - Click **edit** next to the entry that is found for **logout_error**. <
  - Find the part of the text that is linking to the log out, it will be something like: <code html><a href="login.php?{1}do=logout&amp;logouthash={2}">Click here to log out.</a></code>
Change the URL logout link to point to the logout page in the Geo software, so it looks something like this((change **example.php/listings/** to match your Geo installation location)):
<code html><a href="http://example.com/listings/index.php?a=17">Click here to logout.</a></code>
  - Save the changes.
<
  - In admin panel at **Languages & Phrases > Search in Phrases**, for the text **log out**, then click //find//. <
  - Click **edit** next to the entry that is found for **nopermission_loggedin**. <
  - Find the part of the text that is linking to the log out, it will be something like: <code html><a href="login.php?{3}do=logout&amp;logouthash={4}">Log Out</a></code>
Change the URL logout link to point to the logout page in the Geo software, so it looks something like this((change **example.php/listings/** to match your Geo installation location)):
<code html><a href="http://example.com/listings/index.php?a=17">Log Out</a></code>
<
  - Save the changes. <
  - Repeat for any other phrases that are found, that contain links to log out.  This does not include any entries that just contain the "log out" text but no <a ...> tag that links to log out. <

Logout link in templates:
  - In admin panel at **Styles & Templates > Search in Templates**, for the text **log_out**.
  - Double-click on the first found template **FORUMHOME**. <
  - In that template, find the logout link, it will be something like this: <code html><a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&amp;logouthash=$bbuserinfo[logouthash]"  onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')"><phrase 1="$bbuserinfo[username]">$vbphrase[log_out_x]</phrase></a></code>
Change the URL logout link, so it looks something like this((change **example.php/listings/** to match your Geo installation location)):
<code html><a href="http://example.com/listings/index.php?a=17"  onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')"><phrase 1="$bbuserinfo[username]">$vbphrase[log_out_x]</phrase></a></code>
Then save the changes.
<
  - In admin panel at **Styles & Templates > Search in Templates**, for the text **log_out**.
  - Double-click on the found template **navbar**. <
  - In that template, find the logout link, it will be something like this: <code html><a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&amp;logouthash=$bbuserinfo[logouthash]" onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')">$vbphrase[log_out]</a></code>
Change the URL logout link, so it looks something like this((change **example.php/listings/** to match your Geo installation location)):
<code html><a href="http://example.com/listings/index.php?a=17" onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')">$vbphrase[log_out]</a></code>
Then save the changes.
<
  - Repeat for any other places that found a link to log out, to replace the **href value** with a link to the logout page within the Geo software. <

We will be working to update the rest of the documentation, until then you can reference the legacy documentation found below.

===== Convert Registration Links =====

You can leave all the registration links as-is in vBulletin, and the changes made described in the [[#Disable Registrations]] section will point them to the Geo installation.

If you would prefer a 1-click solution where all registration links point to Geo installation however, you can change all the registration links to "point" to your geo installation's registration page at **register.php**, assuming that file has not been re-named.

You would search for "register" in all languages & phrases, and convert any link to point to the Geo register page, then do the same within the templates in vBulletin, altering the register links to point to the Geo installation as mentioned above.  You would use the same methods as we described in [[#Convert Logout Links]] to find the registration links (you would just be searching for register instead of log out).

===== Convert Log-in Links =====
Within the vBulletin text, you will need to change all the log-in links to "point" to your geo installation's login page, the URL would end in((Note that **index.php** might be different if you use a different setting for your main file name for the site.  This is not typical however, most sites do use index.php.))
  index.php?a=10

You would search for "login", "log in", and "log_in" in all languages & phrases, and convert any link to point to the Geo login page, then do the same within the templates in vBulletin, altering the login links to point to the Geo installation as mentioned above.  You would use the same methods as we described in [[#Convert Logout Links]] to find the registration links (you would just be searching for log in instead of log out).

===== Troubleshooting, Caveats, and "Known Issues" =====
The following are things to note with the vBulletin bridge functionality.  These are not necessarily due to any "bugs" or "problem" with the bridge, but are just the nature of how the vBulletin bridge works since it is a **one-way bridge**.

  - If you see an error to the effect of "config.php file could not be found" keep looking for that file.  Yes you may have found one but in a version update vBulletin has started using another one somewhere else in their software.  Yes that means there could be two of these files in their installation.  Look for that other config.php and insert the path to that file and test the bridge again.
  - There is currently no way to modify Vbulletin profile information settings 
through the bridge or current Geodesic Solutions installations. <
  - No password history support. <
  - No ban email support through Vbulletin.  At Registration and user info update Emails are checked against the Geodesic Solutions installation for duplication.  Depends on
the version and edition of Geodesic Solutions Software you have for any email banning facility that can be used. <
  - Only the Geodesic Solutions installation email verification system can be used. <
  - Only the Geodesic Solutions installation lost password facility can be used.  <
  - The username for a user cannot be changed within Geodesic Solutions installations and recommend that you not allow this in any other installations.  The admin can do this within the Geodesic Solutions installation admin panel and will have to be done for each individual installation connected by the bridge. <
  - User removal in Geodesic software will not remove the user in vBulletin as a precaution, as any time a user is removed from a Geo installation, NONE of the bridges will be affected, the user must be removed from each installation separately. <
  - If the "registration", "change email", or "change user password" facilities are left intact inside vBulletin, that can lead to user information being out of sync.  When this happens, it will need to manually be updated by the admin user. <
  - When a user is registered (or user info changes), if there is already a matching username OR e-mail in vBulletin, that user **cannot be created or synced** in vBulletin. <
  - If the password in Geo software and vBulletin get //out of sync//, **changes will not be synced for that user** as a security precaution, if the user pass doesn't match up that might mean the users are not actually the same person.  To fix you will need to manually update the password in both installations to ensure it is the same in both. <

====== Important Configuration for vBulletin 4.2.x ======

If using vBulletin version 4.2 (confirmed on 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 (all patch levels) as of this writing), you must make a small change to the vBulletin PHP code in order for the bridge to work correctly. If you need assistance making this change, open a Support Ticket with us.

Open the file **includes/functions.php** in the vBulletin install. Near the top, you should see:

<code php>
/* Navbar stuff
Dont use DIR here, the Dev scripts dont like it */
require_once('./includes/functions_navigation.php');
</code>

Replace the above code with this:

<code php>
/* Navbar stuff
Dont use DIR here, the Dev scripts dont like it */
//GEO EDIT: add DIR here, so that it works with the bridge
require_once(DIR.'/includes/functions_navigation.php');
</code>

and then save the file. This corrects a file include path that cannot otherwise be accounted for from the GeoCore side of things, and will allow the bridge to function normally.
addons/bridge/vbulletin.txt · Last modified: 2015/01/13 23:27 by geomatt
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