Hello. As usual, I'm doing coding. My latest project is a Joomla bridge component that works with the standalone version of eFiction, the writing / fan fiction archival script. 

I've worked out the pseudo code going from Joomla to eFiction, including synched login from the Joomla side. My problem is going in the reverse direction. What is the best way to allow an external third-party product to synch login with Joomla so that, when the person logs into the standalone product, (s)he also logs into Joomla.

Currently (though I hear this will change in Version 1.5) Joomla doesn't really have easy hooks into its core, so I cannot readily use the $my variable outside of Joomla. That said, what's the best workaround for this?

Oh, btw, when I get done with this product, I am releasing it as GPL/GNU to the community. Thanks in advance for the help!

Regards,
Brat.

Hello there! Did you unzip the package before you tried to install it? Either the XML file is genuinely missing, or you just have to unzip first. 

Regards,
Brat.

In all fairness, SEF is a beast all unto itself. There are several tools out there which enable you to catch some URL writing problems. Also, too, SMF itself (without the bridge) has had SEF problems. You're talking about several pieces of very sophisticated software all having to work together - there are bound to be a few issues here and there.

Or, if worse comes to worse, you can do what I've done in the past - write your own SEF routines.  Still, it's probably best to notify the core programmers of these problems so they can be properly fixed.

And as I've said before, if your primary goal is to build a social networking site, this bridge has the better functionality.

Regards,
Brat.

Hi there. I don't remember where I read this, and I don't use it, but Joomap I think has special instructions you have to follow to install. Is there some documentation that was released with it?

Regards,
Brat.

Hello. Not sure exactly what's going on, but I have found a few "link bugs" in JSMF. It could be a simple matter of bad link code (in other words, the label is right but the link itself points to the wrong place). Open up the code file(s) and take a look; post the code here if you can - this makes it so much easier to see exactly what's going on. 

Regards,
Brat.

Please excuse my long absences. I am still in the midst of my Mamblog Hack-a-Thon (just part of my "Site That Refuses To Launch", as I have lovingly deemed it). Thus far, several cool features implemented. 

However, just for ya'll, I took a breather and finished my first pass at the SMF Signature Plugin. Please do not confuse this plugin with one of similar name that allows members to set various SMF features through CB.

Right now, the plugin defaults to put the SMF signature right under where the SMF Info plugin leaves off (i.e., under the Karma and other stuff). However, you can easily change this by going into CB's Tab Management area and changing where the tab falls. I didn't remember offhand the code to automatically have this default to the area right underneath the main CB profile avatar, so if anyone knows where this is offhand, please let me know so I can go in and fix the code.

This plugin is taken directly from the current SMF plugin code base, so you should't have any problems. Of course, if you have any difficulties, please let me know. Thanks!

Regards,
Brat.

Sorry for the silence - I've had this bug up my butt to modify Mamblog and that's what I've been up to for anyone who cares to know. 

That said, I read that the plugins are stable. At this point, they belong to Joomlahacks, but I can play with features and such. Has the Topic Subscriptions code been modified (only authorized forum staff ant the subscription owner should really see these)? Also, has anyone done the CSS improvements to the posts plugin? And yeah, the poor neglected Signature plugin (I'm sorry - again, I blame this on the Mamblog stuff I've had to handle  )...

Anyway, I just need to get up to speed as to where things are currently before I jump back in. Thanks!

Regards,
Brat.

The numbering is really just a crude, down and dirty ordered list I threw in the SMF Posts plugin. Unfortunately, this is hard-coded in, and not elegant. I may be able to add some CSS options to it so you can set this in your Joomla template's CSS file. Let me know.

Ugh... the signature thing! I'd let that slip due to a crazy work week. If the plugins are stable enough at this point (let me know, Wolverine), I can go in and play with a signature plugin. Regarding not touching the user profile... that's kinda hard to do, when you want people to be able to alter signatures and so forth. Please explain exactly what you mean by not wanting members to access the forum profile at all.

Regards,
Brat.

Okay, I'm not sure how to edit this either. However, I think this may point you in the right direction - anyone feel free to jump in if I'm wrong.

I believe the file you need to look at for this version of JSMF is:
administrator\components\com_smf\admin.smf.class.php

This file seems to contain all the routines for the bridge related to user creation and synchronization.

Of particular interest are:

function syncUsers (starting on or about line 404)
function createSMFUser (starting on or about line 548)

I don't have time to tear through the code previously used for this fix in the last version, but this is where I'd start. Hope this helps!

Regards,
Brat.

For whatever it's worth...

If you really, truly want SMF on a different database (and there is a valid reason for this need for some webmasters), the so-called "official" bridge by Ortisio is designed to support that. Please bear in mind that, as Wolverine said, the J-bridge is designed for tight integration with CB and other Joomla extensions - meaning, stuff is best left on the same DB to better ensure things function well.

Ortisio's bridge is not so tightly integrated, but to the team's credit it wasn't designed specifically to be. However, it does play well with CB, and for some site owners that's sufficient integration for their needs.

In any case, first determine what's really important to you, and then implement the best solution to fit your needs. 

Regards,
Brat.

Quick question - did you ever try to manually set the session length for SMF in SMF's administration section?

Regards,
Brat.

Sure thing! What Wolverine meant in detail is that you need to open the CSS file associated with your desired SMF theme, and then copy and paste the entire contents of that file into your Joomla template's template_css.css file.

I'd strongly recommend that you append SMF's CSS at the end of the Joomla template CSS file. Often times (in fact, every time  )SMF's CSS file contains CSS codes controlling links, paragraphs, etc. - yep, just like Joomla. That means you're gonna have duplicate CSS codes, and you'll need to edit the "merged" template_css.css (Joomla CSS) file accordingly. There is a bit of "trial and error" to the whole thing to get the look you want, but it's not heinous.

I'm dealing with all this now for my current projects, so don't hesitate to ask more questions as needed.

Regards,
Brat. 

Hey, Wolverine, could you repackage the distro for the SMF plugins? I'm getting ready to do some more work on those, and I want to be sure I'm working with the right versions.

Right now, I'm looking at two requests I've received:

1) Separate signature plugin so that sig appears under the main CB profile image.

2) Show posts by member group.

Thanks!

Regards,
Brat.

Deksonyu, I believe your problems are UTF-8 related. From what I understand, this is not a trivial issue. There are several factors that can affect UTF-8 compliance, such as your actual database (for example, did you make sure it handled UTF-8 when it was created?), the version of PHP you're using, and other related issues.

I don't recall the threads offhand, but I remember seeing this discussion in the official Joomla forums. Go there and do a search on UTF-8 and see what you get. To be brief, people are still searching for the "right" solution to hold them until Joomla 1.5 is released. But, there are some workarounds and fixes that may work, and you can find those there.

Regards,
Brat.

Sorry, I've been unavailable for a few days. Here is my response to the last post.

1) The ability for users to modify any aspect of their profile within SMF is an SMF function. The plugins simply display or provide links to profile information. What a user can or cannot do in the actual SMF profile window is not really affected by the plugins. Regarding the signature, you have to consider that SMF sigs can get rather creative and graphical, again depending upon what an SMF administrator has enabled. That's why the plugins address the functionality desired by the majority. If you want the sig in the CB header, a separate Signature plugin would be needed. If enough people want/need this, I may consider doing it.

2) If you're seeing UE_SHOW_HIDE_TEXT, that means you didn't put the translation text in the proper CB file. Please reread the provided instructions, as these tell you exactly where this should go. If you're missing the file that contains the sample language, please let me know.

3) Thread subscriptions is a toss-up. Again, I chose to include what most people seemed to want. However, I can understand why someone may not want this. There could be a case for this being something separate that could be turned on and off so to speak. In addition, and I don't recall off the top if this exists, there could be an option in SMF where topic subscriptions can be made non-public. If not, if enough people want the topic subscriptions to be conditional, this could be programmed into the plugins.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Brat.