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surferboy · Oct 26, 2004, 03:40 PM

I am currently developing a Members Only type website. I am learning how to make it password protected with php and mysql. I am interested in creating a link on the website that will allow users to participated in a forum.

How hard is it to integrate a forum into your own website? I'd prefer to keep it secure within my own website rather than have people go and use one of the free forums. I am a definite beginner, but am willing to learn a little if tackling this task is "do-able".

Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

Amorya · Oct 26, 2004, 06:45 PM

http://www.phpbb.com

The software is free. It can be made members-only dead easily too

benandkelley · Oct 27, 2004, 12:39 AM

phpbb

I agree. It's a great software package. Easy to install, easy to modify, and easy to manage. And it's free!

philzilla · Oct 27, 2004, 03:52 AM

i wonder if phpBB 2.2 will ever come out? it seems like they've been promising it forever.

Eyenovation · Oct 27, 2004, 09:12 PM

Also take a look at www.vbulletin.com
Not free, but much better support, IMO.

*it's the same software used at MacNN

Amorya · Oct 28, 2004, 07:05 PM

Originally posted by philzilla:
i wonder if phpBB 2.2 will ever come out? it seems like they've been promising it forever.

I've been playing with the betas - work is definitely being done and it's looking great!

Amorya

PurpleGiant · Oct 28, 2004, 07:50 PM

If you are after something with less features, but more 'manageable', check out www.minibb.net

Turnpike · Oct 28, 2004, 08:13 PM

phpbb is easy and good. depends on how much you need though... if you don't need all the extra features, try something smaller.

Coding a bulliten board type thing has been a goal of mine for a while. I've got it all designed, just haven't gotten around to coding it... oh well. Anyway, coding the most basic of boards isn't really that complicated... when you start adding features is when it gets trickier.

surferboy · Oct 28, 2004, 10:48 PM

Thanks for the input. I really like the looks of phpbb- I think I will try it. However, I don't want to venture into it until I have a little better idea of how to create my MySQL database. When I eventually take the plunge, I am not sure what to expect. Does phpbb create html documents with php scripts in them? What I need to figure out is how to incorporate the bulletin board into the site I am already building. I am sure it will make more sense as I play with it- but if anyone has experience with it, any words of wisdom are appreciated. Thanks again- great suggestions.

PurpleGiant · Oct 28, 2004, 11:00 PM

Originally posted by surferboy:
Thanks for the input. I really like the looks of phpbb- I think I will try it. However, I don't want to venture into it until I have a little better idea of how to create my MySQL database. When I eventually take the plunge, I am not sure what to expect. Does phpbb create html documents with php scripts in them? What I need to figure out is how to incorporate the bulletin board into the site I am already building. I am sure it will make more sense as I play with it- but if anyone has experience with it, any words of wisdom are appreciated. Thanks again- great suggestions.

phpBB basically does all the work for you except making it 'look' like your site. I would recommend following the instructions and just installing it now. It's by far the best way to learn. The trickiest part of phpBB is finding the right files to fully integrate the look/layout into your own site. The actual forum management is a piece of cake.

philzilla · Oct 29, 2004, 04:03 AM

Originally posted by PurpleGiant:
The actual forum management is a piece of cake.

mmm... cake...

Amorya · Oct 31, 2004, 11:09 AM

Originally posted by surferboy:
Thanks for the input. I really like the looks of phpbb- I think I will try it. However, I don't want to venture into it until I have a little better idea of how to create my MySQL database. When I eventually take the plunge, I am not sure what to expect. Does phpbb create html documents with php scripts in them? What I need to figure out is how to incorporate the bulletin board into the site I am already building. I am sure it will make more sense as I play with it- but if anyone has experience with it, any words of wisdom are appreciated. Thanks again- great suggestions.

You don't need to understand about MySQL just to use PHPBB (or be an admin). It's only when you want to change the software (in either look or functionality) that you need to.

As others have mentioned, making a nice, unique theme for PHPBB is hard. I recently sold one for $200, and that was just a guy coming across a forum of mine and asking if he could use the theme too! There are plenty of similar, boxy-looking designs for PHPBB, but it takes a while to come up with something totally unique. (It is possible - it just takes a lot of time and creativity!)

Actually making the themes is not hard. It's basically HTML, with a few extra items embedded in. Take a look at the default theme that comes with the board for information. It's the designing that's the difficult part!

If by "integrating with your site" you meant using the PHPBB usernames/passwords system for pages you've created, or putting a list of recent threads on the homepage, or something like that - it's also pretty easy once you know how. But you do need to know a fair bit of PHP to get to that stage...

Amorya

surferboy · Oct 31, 2004, 02:44 PM

What I would like to do is use PHP and MySQL to password protect the website in general. Once in the website, I would like to have a link to the forum. If you are logged into the website, you should be logged into the forum. That's about it.

I am currently learning how to make the website dynamic using PHP and MySQL. Just at the reading stage, though.

Thanks for the insights.

PurpleGiant · Oct 31, 2004, 05:34 PM

Originally posted by Amorya:
(It is possible - it just takes a lot of time and creativity!)

That's a cool, clean theme you've got there. Nice work

Amorya · Oct 31, 2004, 07:27 PM

Originally posted by surferboy:
What I would like to do is use PHP and MySQL to password protect the website in general. Once in the website, I would like to have a link to the forum. If you are logged into the website, you should be logged into the forum. That's about it.

I am currently learning how to make the website dynamic using PHP and MySQL. Just at the reading stage, though.

Thanks for the insights.

You can use PHPBB to password protect your website...

The code goes something like this:

[php]
<?

define('IN_PHPBB', true);
$phpbb_root_path = 'forum/';
include($phpbb_root_path . 'extension.inc');
include($phpbb_root_path . 'common.'.$phpEx);

//
// Start session management
//
$userdata = session_pagestart($user_ip, PAGE_INDEX);
init_userprefs($userdata);
//
// End session management
//

if ($userdata[user_id] <= 0) {
die('You are not logged in!')
}
[/php]

That code means that only logged in members of your forum can view whatever page you stick it on. You'd probably want to put a link to the login page as part of the error message...

Amorya

surferboy · Oct 31, 2004, 10:35 PM

Sorry, but I cannot achieve supposedly the simplest of tasks: I cannot even install phpBB onto my mac. I am trying to test out the forum using the apache server built into my powerbook.

I downloaded PHPBB from the website; unzipped it; copied all of the unizpped contents into a folder called 'forum', put this folder into the folder that contains all my website documents (called kjocwebsite); I put this folder (kjocwebsite/forum) into the folder /Library/WebServer/Documents; I then point my browser to http://192.168.2.21/Library/WebServe...ll/install.php (the 192.168.2.21 is my computer's website address as given in the sharing preferences on my computer); and I get the following error: Not Found

The requested URL /Library/WebServer/Documents/kjocwebsite/forum/install/install.php was not found on this server.

Apache/1.3.29 Server at minime.local Port 80.

I feel as though this little task ought to be simple- yet I am pulling my hair out trying to accomplish this. I kept all the files in their respective folders and subfolders. The only thing I did different was create a folder called 'forum' and put this into the folder that contains my website.

Any thoughts?

philzilla · Nov 1, 2004, 04:25 AM

Originally posted by surferboy:
I then point my browser to http://192.168.2.21/Library/WebServer/Documents/kjocwebsite/forum/install/install.php (the 192.168.2.21 is my computer's website address as given in the sharing preferences on my computer); and I get the following error: Not Found

The requested URL /Library/WebServer/Documents/kjocwebsite/forum/install/install.php was not found on this server.

try http://192.168.2.21/kjocwebsite/forum/install/install.php

/Library/WebServer/Documents/kjocwebsite is the file path, not the path your browser needs.

also, i think you have to manually setup the database before phpBB can work it's magic. search the forum, and you'll find plenty about that (usually from me, or simon)

surferboy · Nov 1, 2004, 04:54 AM

wow, you are absolutely right. i typed that address and i got the install screen. i have not gone through the install yet, but at least i got that far. dumber question: why did the browser want that path and not the file path?

philzilla · Nov 1, 2004, 07:45 AM

Originally posted by surferboy:
dumber question: why did the browser want that path and not the file path?

http://192.168.2.21/ points to /Library/WebServer/Documents on your Mac, as do http://127.0.0.1/ and http://localhost/ (unless you go out of your way to change things). the browser wanted that path so that it could parse the document properly, via Apache & PHP.

Simon Mundy · Nov 1, 2004, 06:45 PM

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Nudge, nudge.

philzilla · Nov 1, 2004, 07:47 PM

ahem.

see, i don't have to continually pimp my book, when you guys do it so well