Changelogs: Forum v5.0.0

A new version of Forum has been released, version 5.0.0. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, report an issue on the GitHub repository.

Version: 5.0.0
Tested On: PHP 5.4.3, CakePHP 2.3.8, Composer
Requires: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 2.3, Composer
Commit Hash: d5ad0cdf0a133aef3e4472747242b2331e053339
Changes:

  • New design and layout using Titon Toolkit
  • Integrated more seamlessly with Admin v1.1.0
  • Includes the new post rating and access system from v4.1.0
Developer Notes

This update contains a complete rewrite of all the views. This means that all the old classes, markup and structure has changed. Be sure to update your code if you used custom layouts or views.

If you have not upgraded to 4.1.0 yet, be sure to run the upgrader from the command line or else 5.0.0 won't work correctly! If you are doing a fresh install of 5.0.0, this upgrade is not required.

Console\cake Forum.upgrade

Changelogs: Forum v4.1.0

A new version of Forum has been released, version 4.1.0. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, report an issue on the GitHub repository.

Version: 4.1.0
Tested On: PHP 5.4.3, CakePHP 2.3.8, Composer
Requires: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 2.3, Composer
Commit Hash: 93d289d69281e1432150fa88d34083a565b1fcab
Changes:

  • Added new access setting to ForumToolbar.verifyAccess()
  • Added a new post rating feature which allows for up down scoring of posts
  • Added email template support to subscriptions through Forum.settings.subscriptionTemplate
  • Added custom image icon support to forums
  • Refactored Forum table so that accessRead, accessPost, accessReply, and accessPoll all point to ARO records
  • Removed aro_id column from Forum (use accessRead instead)
  • Renamed certain session variables to be prefixed with Acl instead of Forum
  • Replaced ForumHelper.gravatar() with UtilityHelper.gravatar()
Developer Notes

A new post rating feature has been implemented, which allows logged in users to rate a post up or down. When posts reach a specific negative threshold, the post will be buried and the avatar and signature of the user will be removed. Five new settings have been added for ratings: enablePostRating, showRatingScore, ratingBuryThreshold, rateUpPoints, and rateDownPoints.

The other major change is the refactoring of the forums table. The old columns accessRead, accessPost, accessReply, and accessPoll were pretty much useless after the 4.0.0 migration to ACL. In 4.1.0 I changed them to point to ARO records allowing full control over who sees and does what. With this change the aro_id column has been removed, which is mimicked by accessRead anyways.

Be sure to run the upgrade script from the command line.

Console\cake Forum.upgrade

Changelogs: Forum v4.0.0

A new version of Forum has been released, version 4.0.0. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, report an issue on the GitHub repository.

Version: 4.0.0
Tested On: PHP 5.4.3, CakePHP 2.3.1, Composer
Requires: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 2.3, Composer
Commit Hash: bcea4ec25587acf89af064463088ba5eb981e8e3
Changes:

  • Replaced the custom ACL system with CakePHP's ACL
  • Replaced the admin system with the Admin plugin
  • Replaced the reporting system with the Admin plugin reporting system
  • Replaced the logging system with the Admin plugin logging system
  • Integrated the new Utility 1.4 features
  • Integrated the TreeBehavior where applicable
  • Rewrote the InstallShell and UpgradeShell
  • Removed the Profile model (the old fields should now be part of the users table)
  • Removed Spanish and Swedish locales (too many strings changed)
  • Removed user profiles (all user related code should be handled outside of the forum)
  • Added a ForumUser model that extends from the base User model
  • Added counter caching for topics and posts for the User model
  • Added counter caching for poll votes and options

Changelogs: Forum v3.3.0

A new version of Forum has been released, version 3.3.0. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, be sure to report an issue on the Github repository.

Version: 3.3.0
Tested On: PHP 5.4.3, CakePHP 2.3.0, Composer
Requires: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 2, Composer
Commit Hash: 3fbe1526b2be48402c15ee67541306252d0fc992
Changes:

  • Requires PHP 5.3 and Composer
  • Upgraded Utility plugin to 1.3.x
  • Upgraded Decoda to 5.x
  • Added FORUM_DATABASE and FORUM_PREFIX constants
  • Added avatar mapping support in Forum.userMap.avatar
  • Added support for layout overrides through Forum.viewLayout
  • Updated shells, models and controllers to use the new FORUM_* constants
  • Updated to HTML5 doctype
  • Fixed localization not changing
  • Fixed search not working for guests
  • Replaced jQuery with Mootools
  • Replaced Markitup with Decoda
  • Replaced database settings with Forum.settings and Configure
  • Renamed CommonHelper to ForumHelper
  • Renamed settings to be camelCase
  • Moved around search and login forms
  • Lots of polish and fixes

Changelogs: Forum v3.1

A new version of Forum has been released, version 3.1. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, be sure to report an issue on the Github repository.

Version: 3.1
Tested On: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 2.0.5
Requires: PHP 5.2, CakePHP 2
Commit Hash: 0536b72ed1bca3d6b19f2f886af9e1afe5737de1
Changes:

  • Added Spanish locale (courtesy of jasanchez)
  • Updated Decoda to 3.3.1
  • Updated TypeConverter to 1.3
  • Updated AutoLoginComponent to 3.5.1

Changelogs: Forum v3.0

A new version of Forum has been released, version 3.0. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, be sure to report an issue on the Github repository.

Version: 3.0
Tested On: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 2.0.3
Requires: PHP 5.2, CakePHP 2
Commit Hash: 29a069931bc3dfd5f6ec88e69cf870b34aa3ce0d
Changes:

  • Updated to CakePHP 2.0 (not backwards compatible with 1.3)
  • Updated Decoda to 3.3
  • Updated AjaxHandlerComponent to 2.0.1
  • Added a way to load custom configuration outside of config.php by creating a custom.php file
  • Changed ToolbarComponent to ForumToolbarComponent to not conflict with DebugKit
  • Removed cakeError() usages and used the standard HTTP exceptions

Changelogs: Forum v2.3

A new version of Forum has been released, version 2.3. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, be sure to report an issue on the Github repository.

Version: 2.3
Tested On: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 1.3.8
Requires: PHP 5.2, CakePHP 1.3
Commit Hash: 443daf4c4cb6dbad60ef997b067fb0b6f4a88889
Changes:

  • Added status to the admin users list
  • Added statusMap as a type for CommonHelper::options()
  • Added a way to quickly activate/ban a user from the admin panel
  • Changed it so topic count is always increased regardless of settingPostCount
  • Fixed a bug where topic creation won't auto subscribe
  • Fixed instances where Forum.userMap wasn't being used
  • Fixed user list to only display active users
  • Removed join date from topic viewing
  • Removed the login() and logout() methods from UsersController
  • Updated the Forum.routes config
  • Updated ToolbarComponent to use the Forum.routes.login route

Codebase Upgrades: Upgrading Forum v2.x to v2.2

In the newest 2.2 version of the Forum plugin, a subscription system was added. This system allows for users to subscribe to topics and forums and then receive email notifications at specific intervals. This feature required minor database changes so a new upgrade shell was added to handle this. You will only need to run the upgrade shell if you are upgrading from 2.0 or 2.1. If you are doing a fresh install, you can ignore this post and the upgrade shell.

Begin by downloading the latest 2.2 tag and uploading and overwriting the older version. Your forum will be broken until you run the upgrade shell and the following command. Once the command is executed, simply follow the on-screen instructions.

cake -app /path/to/app upgrade
Setting up the subscription notification cron

For the subscription emails to be sent out, the subscription shell will need to be triggered. The best way to accomplish this is to setup a cron job to be triggered every 24 hours (or another time of your liking). If you are unable to setup a cron job, you will need to disable the subscription system via the forum admin settings.

0 0 * * * /path/to/cake/console/cake -app /path/to/app subscription

By default the shell will find all new activity within the past 24 hours via the database timestamp (which is separate from the cron interval time). You can change this using the timeframe parameter. For example, if you want to send emails every hour instead of every 24 hours (quotes are required).

0 * * * * /path/to/cake/console/cake -app /path/to/app subscription -timeframe "1 hour"

Hopefully this small guide helps you upgrade to 2.2, enjoy!

Changelogs: Forum v2.2

A new version of Forum has been released, version 2.2. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, be sure to report an issue on the Github repository.

Version: 2.2
Tested On: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 1.3.8
Requires: PHP 5.2, CakePHP 1.3
Commit Hash: 2a779098aae9e701a2502dd6140986074cbe4b28
Changes:

  • Added a subscriptions system for topics and forums (Issue #10)
  • Added a UpgradeShell which can be executed via console to handle complex version upgrades
  • Added a SubscriptionShell that can be setup via cron jobs to send user subscriptions at specific intervals
  • Added the AjaxHandlerComponent and TypeConverter to manage AJAX requests
  • Added topic subscriptions to the users dashboard
  • Refactored the InstallShell to use ConnectionManager::getDataSource() for all database queries instead of a Model, which fixes association errors (Issue #11)
  • Fixed any minor issues

Changelogs: Forum v2.1

A new version of Forum has been released, version 2.1. Please download the new tag or view the documentation. If you have any questions, be sure to send me an email or comment on this post. If you run into any problems, be sure to report an issue on the Github repository.

Version: 2.1
Tested On: PHP 5.3, CakePHP 1.3.8
Requires: PHP 5.2, CakePHP 1.3
Commit Hash: 93c192eebf704a997eb1a90ff1a394b28d8dacfb
Changes:

  • Added a users dashboard
  • Added Decoda validation during topic and post creation
  • Fixed the problem with using $this->here for form action URLs (Issue #9)
  • Updated Decoda to v3.1