Upgrading the forum plugin to 1.8

I have been working on the new 1.8 version of the forum for almost 2 months, simply because version 1.7 was completely broken. It used PHP 5.3 constants which didn't work on 99% of the users machines. This problem has now been corrected in the new 1.8 version, but that's not all that changed. All topics, forums and forum categories now use the sluggable behavior for pretty URLs. Furthermore, the Installer has been rewritten completely for faster and easier usage. The main purpose of this post is to direct you in the 1.8 upgrade process as there are many things you need to do.

Overwriting an older version

You will need to overwrite ALL files within the plugin. Basically every view, every model, every controller, etc has been modified in some way; primarily to support the new slugs. Sorry to all those who have changed the HTML.

Patching your plugin

The new installer system creates a legacy config file to be used for future upgrades and to maintain the current installation. If you are doing a fresh install, you can skip this step. Once you have updated all the files, you will need to patch your installation to build that config file. You can do this from within the install controller.

yourdomain.com/forum/install/patch

The patch process will require 3 things: the database config you want to use, the table prefix value (if you have one) and a checkbox that determines if you used the plugins native user table or a pre-existing one.

Upgrading the database

With the new slug changes, it requires you to upgrade your database tables with the new column and all rows to be populated with their slug equivalent. This process takes 2 steps to achieve, the first having you run an SQL command from within the installer. You can access this process at the URL below.

yourdomain.com/forum/install/upgrade_1_8

The second step requires you to use the Cake console and to run the slugify shell. This shell will populate all the empty slug rows (it can be used any time, not just the upgrade process). Your shell command may look like the following.

cake -app /path/to/app slugify
Fresh install

If you are running a fresh install, the process is extremely simply. Just go to the install controller, hit the "Begin Installation" button and follow the steps. The process will check your database for conflicts, create the tables, patch the install and create the admin user. I tried to make it as simply and straight forward as possible.

See if it's working!

Whether you did a fresh install, or patched an old one, the last thing to do is actually use the forum. You should be checking to make sure all the slugs were generated, the pages work, the links link correctly, so on and so forth. If you find a bug or problem, PLEASE report it to me so I can fix it.

Enjoy! (Sorry for the long wait time)

Cupcake and Uploader plugins updated

I want to thank everyone who has tested my forum plugin, and thanks again for all the people who reported bugs and features! The plugin is coming along nicely and I have a few features planned for the future. Cupcake has been updated again to provide more multi-byte character support and fix all the reported bugs. Additionally, I have added a quick-reply feature which can be enabled or disabled through the settings.

The Uploader plugin has also received an update, for there was a major bug, the validation never worked! This was my fault because it seems like I removed a reference variable to the parent model (&$Model) which would never update the primary model outside of the behavior, and in turn the validation never worked. I also updated the plugin with multi-byte support.

Come have a Cupcake, open beta released!

The time has arrived, I have pushed my Cupcake Forum plugin into public beta. You may now download and use the plugin as you wish, but be weary because its still in beta, so problems may arise. If you run into a bug, please post it on the GitHub issues. I also want to thank Matt Curry for testing the plugin beforehand, just like he tested the Uploader plugin, so give him your thanks as well. Heres a quick overview of Cupcake:

The Cupcake Forum is a slimmed down version of the popular bulletin board system, packaged into a plugin. The plugin can be dropped into any CakePHP application and will run smoothly with a bit of configuration. The plugin comes bundled with all the basic features of a stand-alone system, some of which include topics, posts, users, polls, moderators, staff and more. For a full list, view the chapter regarding Features.
Donations

I was originally going to only sell the plugin, but chose against that, simply because it doesn't deserve to be purchased, if anything CakePHP as a whole does. So instead I have added a donation button underneath all the download buttons. So if you really really love my scripts, donate, or else ill take all my scripts down! Yeah maybe.

Cupcake forum plugin, it's pretty delicious

If you have been following me on Twitter, you may of heard me mention a new CakePHP plugin I am developing, a forum plugin. Well I am officially announcing it as the Cupcake Forum Plugin. It is basically complete, but I would like to run a few more tests and perhaps get an "installer" type script. Alongside this announcement, I have uploaded the forum plugin onto this domain as a demo, and will be using it as a support forum for all my scripts. Click the screenshot of the forum to view the demo.

Cupcake isn't as robust as regular forum systems, that would be absurd. Instead it has all the necessary basic features for fully utilizing a forum. Some of those features include: users and profiles, topics, replying, sub-forums, read topics, flood protection, topic auto lock, hourly post and topic limitations, access levels and permissions, moderators, searching, locking mechanisms, sticky and important topic types, topic and post reporting and many more. Oh and that's not all, it also comes bundled with a built in administration panel where you can manage all aspects of the forum, instead of having to do it manually in the database.

I will be releasing the plugin sometime this week. If you have any suggestions for features, be sure to send me an email or reply to this entry. Looking forward to all your feedback on this, it took quite a while to develop!