I'll start up a community based website within a while and I am looking around for different free forum software. I've been a punbb/fluxbb enthusiast and contributed with a few plugins, unfortunately I see no future in those projects. So I am looking for an alternative.
I gave a brief look on mybb source and in general it looked clean and readable but I have a few questions that you guys can quickly answer and be of very much use for me.
Where and how do the templates get stored? Editing them from the admin interface will do it, but I would prefer to edit them manually using my editor.
Where are plugins stored and how does this affect updates?
What can hooks to and what can't they do? The list of hooks looks small, I like that, but I wonder if there's any limitations associated with that. For example, I want to place ads after the first post in a thread or eventually replace a few entries in the forumview, is there hooks inside those loops?
Those are my questions, a few links so I can read a bit about the history of mybb would also be welcome.
Judgin from what I've seen so far this looks like a very capable and robust software, I like the looks of the officially supported themes too.
Welcome to MyBB, Plainas!
The templates and CSS are really stored in the database, and can be edited through the Admin CP interface. You can easily copy and paste the template into an editor and code away with it, then just paste your modified code back into the AdminCP to save the template. I do it quite often!
Plugins are mainly stored in a seperate folder (./inc/plugins/), but some of the larger plugins will add files elsewhere. They don't really affect updates in a sense - they are easily disabled if you're worried they will interfere. The only problem with plugins and updates is if the plugin has something that isn't compatible with older versions - for example, if you're trying to use a 1.4.4 plugin with a 1.4.3 forum, it might not work (understandably!).
There's already a plugin to add adverts after the first post - but hooks are placed in essential places throughout MyBB code, and they let you modify practically anything. I'm in the middle of writing a Plugin Manual for our Wiki, so hopefully it will be a little bit more clearer in the next few weeks or so.
I'm not sure where a history of MyBB will be, but you can try reading the Announcements forum I guess - all the major news topics are in there.
Help and support here at MyBB is quite good, and fast, so if you ever need anything we're here to help...
templates are in the database, but there's an export / import function. still, it's actually easier to edit them in the admin cp (because you can edit, then reload the page to see your changes live). As for the annoying javascript in admin cp, you can just turn it off, and use cut&paste if you need an editor for more complicated edits.
plugins are in inc/plugins, for official plugins you can check for new versions, but how to update them depends on each plugin and it's your responsibility to do it.
you do a lot but not everything with hooks... if you find that you can't do something in a hook, you just change the code. It's not nice but sometimes it can't be avoided, there can't be a hook everywhere.
lol.. is there an echo in here..
Thank you tomm, that was fast and helpful.
Ok, I understand now why templates are edited using the admin interface. I like the idea of storing them in the database.
By affecting the updates I mean this: If I install a couple of simple plugins, when I update my forum to some minor release, will I have to reinstall the plugins?
What's the typical update procedure?
Quote:you do a lot but not everything with hooks... if you find that you can't do something in a hook, you just change the code. It's not nice but sometimes it can't be avoided, there can't be a hook everywhere.
That's exactly what I want to avoid. I consider that to be a thing of the past. In fact this plugin system is one of the reasons I am strongly leaning towards mybb.
For some people hack the source might be fine deppending on how their ofrum is managed. Not for me personally.
Quote:lol.. is there an echo in here.. Toungue Toungue
lol
A minor release (security only) consists of just changing files, and this won't affect plugins at all. You won't even have to touch them.
With a major release, such as 1.4.3 to 1.4.4 (one which requires database, template, file changes etc.), you just need to deactivate them. It's a simple one-click for each plugin, and if they are coded right, all they do is turn off. Do the upgrade, and then switch them back on again.
Simples!
Sounds ok.
I'll come back to this thread if I have more questions.
thank you all.