directly copying passwords joomla dbase - smf dbase

[thellie]

i've been messing around, trying to work out how best to set up the new website, and am thinking it would be good to keep the smf forum locked down just for our volunteers...

in which case i wanted something for guests and ordinary registered users, and have looked at joomla 1.5 for this. the question i had was, if a registered user on the joomla site decided to become a volunteer, would they have to register again on the smf forum...?

doesn't look like it - i just set up a user in joomla and smf with same username (i smf i used the admin register new member option)
...then copied their varchar password from the joomla database into the varchar password field in the smf dbase, went to the login field and logged in using the same short user password.

ie on joomla - username: billy pwd: bill23 backend pwd: h3jddjf9wj2h38fhdnkwk2d99

create on smf a new user - username: billy, any old password, then go to the dbase paste the 'h3jddjf9wj2h38fhdnkwk2d99' into the new users pwd field.

okay so that sounds a little longwinded, but i reckon i can set up a page where i can pull the relevant new volunteer's name from joomla dbase, then create a new user record in the smf dbase, just dropping the username and backend pwd.

it's dependent on being able to access your mysql dbase, at least to test it (i think).

does that make sense? are people doing this already? are i missing something obvious? i've got a heavy cold, so it's quite probable...

[Kindred]

joomla and SMF use different encryption and hashing methods, so you can not just copy the password from table to table.

[thellie]

huh. so why did it work then?

bit previous marking it solved if i could get it to work - i'm thick, me.

the only difference in the field construction was one had 64 varchars, and the other had 100.. is that the thing? neither of ther paswords in the dbases used anything other than alphanumerics.

[thellie]

the cold has passed pretty much, and i'm off the meds... thinking clearly now...

i tried it again and it didn't work this time. i have a horrible feeling, embarrassingly horrible, that i probably used the same user password for each of the two accounts, which is (i think) the only explanation as to why this would work on two different hashing systems.

sorry for doubting you kindred

[Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail]

Kindred meant everything that he said. The encryption is just different between SMF and Joomla especially Joomla 1.5.x.

The trick is to use JFusion but it works only with SMF 1.1.x version not 2.0 RC version. Your can copy user and password from SMF to Joomla or vice versa.

Another abandoned project but working mod is SJSB. Google it and you might find a way on how to use it.

Personally, I don't bother using Joomla anymore.

[thellie]

i've decided to keep the two separate - i'll use joomla as a front end website for guests and regular members, and keep the smf for our registered volunteers and admin areas. they'll have to have two logins but once they've registered as volunteers they can change the login details to match.

once sjsb comes out (any idea when the stable version of 2.0 is due?), then i will look at bridging the two.

i'm not a coder at all - i can go through php and mysql and alter bits and pieces of stuff, and can follow instructions, but more than that is over my head at the moment, and i don't have the time to learn it.

if there is a better pre-built option to joomla, with plenty of mods, i'd be interested to hear what it is.

[Kindred]

I like the mod-portals that install directly into SMF. EZPortal, SimplePortal, TinyPortal, PortaMX...

[thellie]

i'm using simple portal for some bits already. tried ez portal but found it a bit limited.

i think joomla will be fine for front end stuff - it's seems more elegant than the smf portals, and i don't have the time or knowledge to create my own theme.

[Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail]

You can always buy one like you are buying for your Joomla. There is decent SMF themers around that you can buy theme from or have your own customized theme. It will work great with your SMF forum and portal and all the mods.

[thellie]

yeah i realise that, but i work with a non-governmental organisation in thailand, so we don't have the funds to pay for that sort of thing.

hostgator have given us free hosting for a year, and i'm doing everything else for free.

[Kindred]

Actually, I have been corrected.

Copying the password from Joomla to SMF *SHOULD* work (although it will ask for a password re-type the first time you log in). SMF will detect that the password exists but is using the wrong encryption/hash...   and will ask the user to resubmit.

[thellie]

ah ok... i don't remember getting that though (the cold was at its peak that day). this was using the "register new member" in the admin area of members, not as a user registering themselves after having copied the dbase password across. maybe it acts differently in that case?

it worked the first time, failed the second time, and i haven't had time to try again.

do you know if the sjsb project will start up again when the stable version of 2.0 arrives?

and, more importantly, do you know when 2.0 will officially roll out the hangar?

[Kindred]

the only timeline I can give you is: RC4 will be out when it's ready. 2.0 final will be out shortly after that.

I have no clue about SJSB. I stopped using Joomla when I decided to keep it all within the forum and started using EZPortal.

[thellie]

haha so it's 'piece of string' time... ok, i'm a patient lad

cheers for the info.