SMF & WordPress

[ladynada]

Thank you jjgallow,
You are a blessing!

I just put my blog on live today!

nada

[jjgallow]

Hello Vandaahl,

What exactly does this plugin do? Does it give all existing SMF users a Wordpress blog?

Yes, sort of.

To let each user Truly have their own blog, you would use Wordpress MU, and the plugin is compatible with this....so yes (this is actually what I am ultimately developing for myself).


In most cases, it would be used between standard Wordpress and SMF.  Users who subscribe on your blog (Wordpress) instantly become members on our SMF forum as well, and you can integrate the forum and the blog together.

Keep in mind that Registrations, for now, would have to be limited to Wordpress registrations, as there is no current SMF plugin to communicate back to Wordpress.  That will be my next project 

Finally, keep in mind that if you have a developed site, you would have to take all your existing users and manually register them for both Wordpress and SMF.  This is because, while the bridge can handle new users correctly, it does not currently convert existing users automatically.

When I am certain that the plugin is stable, existing user conversion would be my final endeavour, to allow current wordpress and SMF communities to merge.  I believe this would have a tremendous impact, to have the best blog (Wordpress) and forum software anywhere (SMF) completely compatible with one another.

[jjgallow]

Hello ladynada,

Did you do this for http://heartdaughter.com?  Great site!  But too developed for this plugin.   The plugin is fine for sites with fresh, new SMF databases, but not this one (yet).

If you're launching a different, new site, perfect!  Let me know how it goes!


please read below if you are integrating into http://heartdaughter.com  :

Thank you jjgallow,
You are a blessing!

I just put my blog on live today!

nada

I don't think you should be activating this plugin so quickly on a fully developed site with many users.  If you really want to, at least read below.

Currently, WP_SMF  does this: you register a user or modify a profile in Wordpress, it copies that information to SMF.

That's great, but you have a HUGE site with many users.  What happens if someone registers in Wordpress with a username taken by someone in SMF?

The answer:  I'm not really sure.  It WON'T delete the SMF user.  There's a safeguard against that.  But the plugin is not developed well enough to handle this smoothly.  You could run huge problems, including the possibility that the new user unintentionally "takes over" the SMF user's account.  Big No No, for the moment.   I am working on this right now.


I suggest you deactivate the plugin, and let the users register separately for the moment.

If you WANT to use this bridge, I would consider these two changes necessary:

1.  Allow registrations only through wordpress, because users who register through SMF do NOT automatically have a Wordpress acount set up.  It only works from Wordpress TO SMF right now.   If all new registrations were through wordpress, they would automatically become SMF users anyway, and would be able to access either the forum or the blog.

2.  You would need to register all your current SMF users to Wordpress, manually, with the correct email.  You can do this in the wordpress admin, but it would not be fun.  Currently, this is the only way to be sure that a new user does not accidentally "take over" another SMF user's account (with the same username).


Or, you can wait a few days, and I'll fix more of these problems.  Currently, I'm not really encouraging fully developed sites to endorse this bridge.  It should work, but you are being a guinea pig with a well-developed site.  WP_SMF still has bugs, although not nearly as many.  It is best for TEST sites and NEW sites with no previous SMF users to complicate things.

If you keep the bridge, by all means, let me know how things go for you!  It will be invaluable to me.

[ladynada]

You are so wonderful to me, thank you for your thoughtfulness.

Good news.  I did not install it.  I only copied the code and pasted it to a file and put it in a folder with the original download.  Thank you very much though, for the warning.

Actually I only have 51 users.  I am setting up heavy on the blogs right now, I have 3, with 2 of them slated to be mirrors.

Please do not hurry, by any means, on my account.  I put the project of integrating my SMF with Wordpress on the back burner.  However, I do look forward with anticipation, to using your modification.  I would not mind manually registering 51 people and shutting off the SMF registration.

By the way, I thought a long time about integrating these two programs, and I concluded that there must be ONE user database; mostly because of not being able to register existing users on one or the other.  but who knows.. a nice util to run through the DB and match both might work.. but to have each ALSO have a sub routine to dupe each NEW registration from EITHER is asking too much, in my opinion.  So, I believe that you are on the right track.  As hard as it may sound, someday, an SMF sysop may have to make the choice to mass delete all his users, for the benefit of the integration.  I believe it is worth it.

nada

[jjgallow]

Hello Ladynada,

you should be okay then, although I would stick to wordpress registrations.

I will am working on making the script even more reliable, but for a 52-member site you shouldn't run into problems, imho.

If you do, let me know!


About the single database thing...The script will work on one or two databases, but I know what you mean...Actually having ONE member database.

It would probably lead to the best communication between the two programs, but it would also be very limiting in other ways.

For instance, a single member database would require considerable modifications, and even as a plugin, it would be very difficult to upgrade either wordpress or simplemachines to future versions. 

Since the whole advantage of the two programs is the tremendous developer community that constantly improves them, I believe that upgrade compatibility is a must.

As well, many larger sites would prefer a separate database for wordpress and smf.  In this case, a plugin which merged the member database would make this impossible.

So, although it may seem more convoluted, I still think two member databases with good communication is the way to go...although it is a big pain to make stable.

It's close!

cheers

[jjgallow]

Since creating a user that already exists in smf has become so apparent as a major flaw, I've fixed this. 

What this means is that wordpress will Never register a user who is already in the smf database.  This ensures that the smf user cannot be over-written.

I've also increased compatibility with wpmu, and included additional safechecks for the databases.

ladynada, this version will be much safer for you and others with larger communities.

I would still recommend user registrations only through wordpress, but just for simplicity.  Either way, both of your databases should be safe now.

I've called this "Version 1.03", and it is very close to being called stable.

You can get it here:

http://www.earthorbit.com/opensource


p.s...my next goal is to synchronise user deletion...so when you delete a user in wordpress, they're deleted in smf as well.

Please let me know....do people even want this, and, do you know of any good API code I could use?

cheers

[Vandaahl]

Here's a question: if a new member registers a Wordpress blog, and an account on the SMF forum is automatically created, will that SMF account still require the board admin/moderator to approve its activation? This seems like the safest option to me, bacause I like to have control over which new forum accounts get activated (to prevent spam).

[Ken.]

jjgallow thanks for your good work! Your code just keeps getting better all the while.

Here a question that I know you've heard before, but it's an issue that many of us face if we have an existing SMF user base... will your code at some point be able to work in both directions by picking up members who are already in SMF?

This latest post you made sounds like it's getting close;
"What this means is that wordpress will Never register a user who is already in the smf database.  This ensures that the smf user cannot be over-written."
It that saying the WP would include SMF members in it's WP member base, or is that still outside the scope of the code as it is written now?

Thanks Ken

[jjgallow]

Hello Vandaahl,

Great question.

To be as straightforward as possible, no.  the user will not require admin approval.
(but there's ways around it).

Currently, when a user registers in wordpress, the WP_SMF immediately writes to the SMF database, and the user is active.  This is simply an oversight, as the bridge is still in development.

There is one particularly easy way around it, even with the current bridge:

There are Many, many plugins available that will give wordpress the functionality to require such things as admin approval for user registration.  You could simply choose one of these plugins, and require admin approval to register at the wordpress end.  This would solve the issue.

Also keep in mind that I would like to create an SMF_WP plugin ...a twin bridge that plugs into SMF.  It would allow you to register users on SMF, and they would then copy to wordpress.  This would undoubtedly solve the problem, and I have every intention of creating this plugin soon.  This might also be the most logical long-term solution, as it is not meddling with the nature of wordpress, but rather allowing you to choose between wordpress and smf registration features. 

[jjgallow]

Hello Ken,

The code is not there yet, but it is Very close.  Basically, it is at a point where it will not screw up your databases by confusing itself.  This is a good starting point!  It does not, however, do what you are asking...YET.

  Here are my priorities:

1.  Finish basic bridge functions
       -all I have left is user deletion features.  I'll have this done tomorrow, hopefully (will be version 1.04)

2.  Provide a Database Synchronization feature.  Basically, it will take all Existing users who are in just one database (such as smf), and copy them to the other (such as wordpress).  While being in two databases, their accounts will be linked in such a way that they will appear as one.
      -I believe that THIS is what you are looking for!  I am almost there!   I'm hoping to do this by the end of the week.  Obviously, I did not want to add this feature until the basic bridge was more complete and stable.

3.  Enhance bridge with some integration features and fix other bugs, such as any remaining cookie, login and logout issues.

4.  Begin work on a twin bridge that plugs into SMF, which allows SMF to talk back to wordpress.  For instance, users could register on SMF, and instantly would be Wordpress users on the same account.

5.  take a break, and wait for bug reports to come in 

[Sky-hawk]

WP 2.2 + SMF 1.1.2

1.01, 1.02 - working
1.03 - not work - ''Blog profile was updated, but Forum Profile was not. Inconsistencies in the Forum database.''

p.s. way to the directory forum - ok.

Thanks for you work

[waremock]

Hello Ken,

The code is not there yet, but it is Very close.  Basically, it is at a point where it will not screw up your databases by confusing itself.  This is a good starting point!  It does not, however, do what you are asking...YET.

  Here are my priorities:

1.  Finish basic bridge functions
       -all I have left is user deletion features.  I'll have this done tomorrow, hopefully (will be version 1.04)

2.  Provide a Database Synchronization feature.  Basically, it will take all Existing users who are in just one database (such as smf), and copy them to the other (such as wordpress).  While being in two databases, their accounts will be linked in such a way that they will appear as one.
      -I believe that THIS is what you are looking for!  I am almost there!   I'm hoping to do this by the end of the week.  Obviously, I did not want to add this feature until the basic bridge was more complete and stable.

3.  Enhance bridge with some integration features and fix other bugs, such as any remaining cookie, login and logout issues.

4.  Begin work on a twin bridge that plugs into SMF, which allows SMF to talk back to wordpress.  For instance, users could register on SMF, and instantly would be Wordpress users on the same account.

5.  take a break, and wait for bug reports to come in 

Just wanted to say Thank You

[Vandaahl]

Yes you are doing a great job jjgallow!

[jjgallow]

WP 2.2 + SMF 1.1.2

1.01, 1.02 - working
1.03 - not work - ''Blog profile was updated, but Forum Profile was not. Inconsistencies in the Forum database.''

p.s. way to the directory forum - ok.

Thanks for you work

Hello Sky-Hawk,

Thanks for your feedback!  OK, fair enough, I have "fixed" this and updated to "Version 1.031" with a few other very small patches.

http://www.earthorbit.com/opensource

Basically, this error will come up when you try to update the profile of a user that is not linked through the bridge.  This includes all users created before you installed the bridge.   It also rejects users with other database errors, such as duplicate names registered in smf.

Without this function, the bridge would just write over the user(s) with the same username.  Only, the same username doesn't ALWAYS mean the same person.  One person could have their username  registered in wordpress, and another person have the same username in SMF.  This function stops one person from writing over the other. 

Please let me know if this makes sense, and what you think of it.  If you still think it's a bug, please let me know!

In this updated version (1.031), the function is STILL active, but will operate silently and not produce an error message.  As well, "admin" is now immune, as "admin" is always created before the bridge and thus is rarely linked properly.


Basically, this problem should not come into play unless you have existing users.  It might suck now, but I don't want this bridge ruining people's databases.  Safety first, features next.  Very soon, I will release a version which allows you to "link" all existing users, and solve the problem for everyone.

cheers

[jjgallow]

Hello waremock and Vandaahl,

Thanks,

I really appreciate it!

I have not dissapeared, but I did go away for the weekend to a place with no internet connection   

So, I'm a bit behind.  I will catch up and have a Version 1.04, with all basic features, by tuesday.

[jjgallow]

Hello Vandaahl,

I thought more about this feature, and I do not think it would hurt to have it.  I have included it in Version 1.04, and I'll see how it goes.  Basically, when a user registers in Wordpress, WP_SMF (Version 1.04) will check with SMF to see if admin approval is normally required.

If it is, then the user will be registered on SMF but will still require admin approval to post in the forum.

Here's a question: if a new member registers a Wordpress blog, and an account on the SMF forum is automatically created, will that SMF account still require the board admin/moderator to approve its activation? This seems like the safest option to me, bacause I like to have control over which new forum accounts get activated (to prevent spam).

[jjgallow]

Version 1.04 is done:

http://www.earthorbit.com/opensource/

Basically, this is the "final fix" for all of WP_SMF's basic features.

In particular, user deletion is now properly dealt with, and all features are now compatible with WPMU as well.

Other safeguards and features were also added.  In particular, I've added Vandaahl's suggestion of respecting SMF's registration settings for admin approval.

I think most people here want to see WP_SMF integrate their existing users.  It could do that now, but I want it to be safe and proper. 

Version 1.05 (what I'll work on next) will do that.  It will safely integrate existing users so that both previous and new members will work well with the bridge.  I'm tired though, and have put too much of my leisure into this.  I'll be back, but will be taking a break before updating 1.05.  If anyone else wants to take it on before me, go for it!

[jxk777]

HI,
I am very interested in this too. I am trying to switch from IPB 2.1.7 to SMF and I want to use Wordpress with SMF. My biggest problem right now is getting the conversion from IPB to SMF to work since the updated conversion script link doesn't work

With a little luck I'll find someone that has the working conversion so I can use this to finish my site, I'll be watching this thread for updates.

jxk
PS - thanks for your hard work!

[7summits]

Version 1.04 is done:
In particular, user deletion is now properly dealt with, and all features are now compatible with WPMU as well.

Other safeguards and features were also added.  In particular, I've added Vandaahl's suggestion of respecting SMF's registration settings for admin approval.

Hi jjgallow, thanks for your work. I am about to do some fresh installs of SMF & WPMU, so this might be useful. But can you let me know how this bridge would/could work in practice when combined with WPMU, what would be the way/order to do it and if there is a way to avoid Splogs?

[greynor]

Thank you jjgallow for the development of the plugin!

There is still a feature missing that would make me use the bridge:
Is it possible that you automatically create a new thread in a forum (you can define) by a user (you can select - or the current wordpress user) when you publish a new blog entry?