zCommunity 0.8.1 Beta Now available! (supports SMF 2.0 RC1 and 1.1.8)

[Charles Hill]

Link to Mod

zCommunity 0.8.1 Beta
by Charles Hill

Description:
Powerful and flexible blog add-on for your Simple Machines forum.  Tons of options and features for one or an infinite number of blogs.  Use the Blogging Community mode to add a blogging community to your site or be selfish and just have your own blog.

Extreme flexibility because of the huge number of both admin-only options and individual blog settings.  You could have a community blog in which all your members can post articles.  You could have a blog in which only a select few members can post.  You could even have a wiki-style blog in which literally anybody can post/modify articles (even guests).  This is possible because you can add specific members to a blog's "Users Allowed to Post Articles" list or you can add entire member groups to a blog's "Groups Allowed to Post Articles" list.  And each blog's lists are their own.

Instructions:* READ BEFORE INSTALLING *
Uninstall previous versions of zCommunity before proceeding (this includes deleting the old zCommunity directory manually if you installed it manually).

note:  Make sure you uninstall any previous versions of Blog Community also.

Upload the zCommunity folder (from the compressed archive package that ends with __files) to your forum's main directory *BEFORE* installing the changes to your SMF Forum via the package manager installation package.

* IMPORTANT *  Please please please make sure you understand that this is an alpha version, and that you should backup your site's files and database prior to installation.

Compatibility:
SMF 1.1.x
SMF 2.0 RC1

Other:
- Cross-browser compatible (tested in: Firefox 3, IE7, Google Chrome, Opera 9.63)
- Fully XHTML compliant
- Search engine friendly... (dynamic meta data, dynamic sitemap.xml, and other search engine optimization)

Features:
Modes...
- Disabled
- Single Blog
- Single Blog (hidden)
- Blogging Community

Permissions System
- Separate permissions system from your forum
- Straight-forward, easy to understand permissions that you can give to your forum's member groups
- You can even choose to give some administrative permissions to member groups

Plug-Ins System
- Drop 'n Go plug-in system which allows for infinite extensibility of your zCommunity
- Installing a plug-in is as simple as dropping a single .php file into the zCommunity/Plugins folder on your server

Themes System
- Installing a theme is as simple as uploading a theme to the zCommunity/Themes folder on your server

Blogging Community mode...
- Users in member groups with the "Can create their own blog" permission can do exactly that
- Set maximum # of blogs each user can make
- Permissions to allow users to set access restrictions and posting restrictions for their blog(s)
- As an admin, you will be able to use any user's blog control panel

Single Blog mode...
- Just the admin can make/use a blog

Single Blog (hidden) mode...
- Same as above, except only the admin can see it

Side windows..
- A number of standard windows included: Categories, Most Recent, Archives, Tags, Who's Viewing, Most Commented, Recent Comments, Polls, etc.
- Add any number of custom windows (which support bbc)
- Reorder ALL side windows however you want (including custom windows)
- Left or right justify the side windows
- Enable/disable any of the windows
- Turn the side windows off completely if you want

Community Page...
- Only available for Blogging Community mode
- Has its own side windows and custom windows
- Has blocks in addition to the side windows (example: the blog index is a block)
- Other standard blocks: Community News (more to come)

Blog by Blog Settings...
- Each blog has its own unique settings
- Easily extensible (can add any number of new blog settings by modifying one array in the source files)

Blog Themes...
- Blog themes system which allows blog owners to make a blog use its own template / theme design
- Template files are easy to modify with moderate knowledge of CSS and HTML and at least a basic knowledge of PHP

Blog Preferences...
- Blog preferences are unique to each user
- Allows users to customize the way they use your blogging community
- Easily extensible (can add any number of new blog preferences by modifying one array in the source files)

Change Log:
0.7.0 Alpha - First release of zCommunity

0.7.1 Alpha - Minor bug fixes (and installation separated into two parts)

0.7.2 Alpha - Minor bug fix

0.7.3 Alpha - Several fixes and improvements
   Can now assign permissions for post-count-based member groups
   Administrator and Global Moderator member groups now listed permissions page as well
   SEO improvements (meta keywords/description options for community page and keywords option for blogs)
   A few other minor things
   
0.7.4 Alpha - Bugs fixes, improved forum integration, more stable + easier installation process

0.7.5 Alpha - Bug fixes

0.7.6 Alpha - Bug fixes

0.7.7 Alpha - Restructured templates, bug fixes

0.7.8 Alpha - Bug fixes, improved performance

0.7.9 Alpha - Bugs fixes

0.8.0 Beta -
   bug fixes
   template improvements
   additional maintenance functions / improvements to existing maintenance functions
   many other fixes and improvements
   
0.8.1 Beta -
   installation fix
   minor bug fixes

Notes:
Redistributing the code of zCommunity without express written permission is prohibited.  All rights are reserved by the developer.

Please visit Degrees of Zero for the latest news and updates related to zCommunity.

To see it in action: Dev Site (test accounts are: test/test2/test3  password: test)

zCommunity © 2008-2009 Charles Hill

[Sweetwater]

Hi Charles,

Seems like a great MOD. 

Is there a link on a members profile to their BLOG??

Regards,

Sweetwater

[ilikeitalot]

Looks awesome.  It would be perfect if it could be used for more than one board.  Then members could have their own board/blog.  Hmm... wonder how much modifications would be required to make that happen.  Anyways, great job there!

[Charles Hill]

Actually, it wouldn't require much modification at all.  I will work on another blog mode that will allow for multiple blogs.

Hi Charles,

Seems like a great MOD. 

Is there a link on a members profile to their BLOG??

Regards,

Sweetwater

Right now this mod only supports one blog for your entire forum.  When I finish adding the extra blog mode for multiple blogs, I'll be sure to add a link in member profiles to their blog (if they have one).

[Nibogo]

Thank you , great mod !!!

[cr34t1v3]

mod is working fine.
sorry for asking this simple question, but i can't find it.
where can i see the board ID?

[cr34t1v3]

found!
admin -> board -> mouse over 'modify' button

[cr34t1v3]

One more thing...
If i create new topic, the blog categories shows.

But, if i already have post in my board, how can i categorize them? because i didn't see the 'blog category' when i edit them
And if i created a new post and place the topic in a certain blog category, i can't edit it and move it to another category.
am I missing something?

[Charles Hill]

One more thing...
If i create new topic, the blog categories shows.

But, if i already have post in my board, how can i categorize them? because i didn't see the 'blog category' when i edit them
And if i created a new post and place the topic in a certain blog category, i can't edit it and move it to another category.
am I missing something?

Sorry about that.  I had intended for you to be able to change the blog category of topics in the modify post page.  I have fixed it, and updated the mod package.

[cr34t1v3]

i've installed the mod.
so, what should i do now? uninstall it and re-install it?
i prefer manual edit, if its ok for you, please give info what & where should i modify.

[Charles Hill]

All that was required was a small change to the blog mod code in Post.php (and I moved it).  So if you look in the blog.xml file for the changes made to Post.php, that's all you need.

[cr34t1v3]

i've moved the script, but still not working, blog category not showing on edit.
i noticed i more thing, if i created a topic and assigned a blog category for that topic, and then i edit it, the blog category don't show up and after i saved it, the topic become uncategorized.

[Charles Hill]

Are you sure you applied the changes correctly?  It is working perfectly for me.

[cr34t1v3]

i'm pretty sure about that...change the post.php only, isn't it?

[Charles Hill]

Ya just post.php

[Charles Hill]

Are you sure you are trying to post in the board that you designated as your blog board?  Are you sure the blog is enabled?

Make sure you put the code for the blog mod (inside Post.php) in the right place.  The location of this code is important.

[cr34t1v3]

yes, i'm sure.
i tried to create new topic, the blog category menu is exist and the topic showed in the blog.
i attached all of the modified files, if you don't mind, please check it
i've double checked everything, i'm pretty sure that i don't skip a thing.
thank you

[ilikeitalot]

Actually, it wouldn't require much modification at all.  I will work on another blog mode that will allow for multiple blogs.

No pressure here (lol) but do you have any idea when you might get this feature added?  I've been working on my own mutli-user blog customization where each blog owner is the moderator of their own board, but it's lacking many of the features that yours has.  If you were gonna have this done sometime soon, I'd much rather use yours.  Just a rough ETA would be great.  Thanks dude!

[Charles Hill]

Actually, it wouldn't require much modification at all.  I will work on another blog mode that will allow for multiple blogs.

No pressure here (lol) but do you have any idea when you might get this feature added?  I've been working on my own mutli-user blog customization where each blog owner is the moderator of their own board, but it's lacking many of the features that yours has.  If you were gonna have this done sometime soon, I'd much rather use yours.  Just a rough ETA would be great.  Thanks dude!

I am going to be developing this functionality for my own site anyways, so it'll most likely be about a week or so.

@ cr34t1v3:
I will look at those files you attached, and let you know where the issues are.

[Charles Hill]

I've attached your Post.php that I fixed.  Sorry I forgot one little thing in the blog.xml file.  I'll update the package on the customization site now also.