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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
 Posted - 17 February 2002 : 21:23:24
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I'm working on modifying my forum to add GROUP capability. I've seen the other discussions on Usergroups, but this isn't what I need. As the admin, I want to be able to assign users to groups myself and then use groups as part of the Allowed Member list for forums.
I have already modified the DB to include groups and I've added an admin page to add, modify, and delete groups and assign forum members to groups. The code for the rest (assigning groups to forums, etc.) is bouncing around in my brain at the moment. 
I thought before I continue my development that I would see who else has been working on this sort of thing. No sense in reinventing the wheel afterall!
Nikkol |
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Nathan
Help Moderator
USA
7664 Posts |
Posted - 17 February 2002 : 22:01:07
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quote:
I've seen the other discussions on Usergroups, but this isn't what I need.
quote:
As the admin, I want to be able to assign users to groups myself and then use groups as part of the Allowed Member list for forums.
So. . . what do you think Usergroups are then??
Nathan Bales - Romans 15:13
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Snitz Exchange | Mod Resource |
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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
Posted - 17 February 2002 : 22:09:37
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Usergroups as Morpheus73 was developing where a user could reply to a topic and become a member of a group. I don't want that. I want to be able to assign users to groups myself through an admin interface.
Then, based on the groups a member was assigned to and the Allowed Member list (in my case an Allowed Group list, as well), users can view, post, and reply to topics in a particular forum.
Nikkol |
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Nathan
Help Moderator
USA
7664 Posts |
Posted - 17 February 2002 : 23:00:52
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Its just different ways of going about it. Your way seems to be alot cleaner, sure makes alot more since.
There are alot of powerful things you can do with usergroups beyond just assigning them to secure forums though. . .
Nathan Bales - Romans 15:13
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Snitz Exchange | Mod Resource |
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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
Posted - 17 February 2002 : 23:11:47
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I'm open to suggestions. Since, I feel a need to do this anyway, why not make it more robost?
I'm going about this the easiest way possible right now, so that modifications to the original code are minimal. 
Nikkol |
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GauravBhabu
Advanced Member
4288 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 00:03:42
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I have worked on the same concept. What I have done is Create ForumGroups.
Each ForumGroup consists of
Categories | Forums | Topics | Posts
The next is to have UserGroups
UsersGroups Can be assigned to one or more ForumGroups
When a User is removed from a UserGroup he will be denied access to the ForumGroup(s) relating to that UserGroup. He may though retain the access to ForumGroup(s) if he is member of another UserGroup which may have access to the same ForumGroup(s) or can be denied access to the ForumGroup(s) even if he is a member of another UserGroup(s) having access to the ForumGroup(s).
basically this will mean two level authentication
UserGroup(s) Authentication
ForumGroup(s) Authenticatin
First the user is validated on the basis of UserGroup then he will be validated on the basis of ForumGroup
There can be an option for a user to join a UserGroup when viewing or replying to the Topics in a ForumGroup(s) which is open to all Users. This will be done by just choosing "Yes I want to Join" prompt.
You can see the ForumGroups at my site. UserGroups are not implemented yet.
www.forumSquare.com - GauravBhabu - It is difficult to IMPROVE on Perfection, There is no harm in Keep Trying. |
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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 00:24:04
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Okay, so with Forum Groups, you've just added one more level of organization, yes?
What if you have a UserGroup that you want to assign to a forum and not to a whole ForumGroup?
My idea is to first create Groups that can be assigned to Forums (as Members can be now). Maybe later I'll add the functionality to assign Groups to Categories as well.
Nikkol |
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Nathan
Help Moderator
USA
7664 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 00:40:08
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You will have to consider a cascading structure. . . . Whats done at board level affects everything. . . whats done at cat level affects cat whats done at forum level affects forum ect.
Also, consider admin feaures. You should be able to assign groups admin/moderator status.
Nathan Bales - Romans 15:13
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Snitz Exchange | Mod Resource |
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Morpheus73
Average Member
Denmark
597 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 02:11:56
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Glad someone else than me picked up on the discussion concerning UserGroups.
I´ll try to get time to wrap up my version within this week. Yes in my version Users can sign up for group membership via topics. But I´m also building an inteerface for admin to assign users to the different available usergroups - so it´ll work both ways. - If you don´t want users to be able to sign up, this feature can be turned off at admin level.
Like Guravbhabu, I´m also using the groupcat MOD and modifying it heavily. I´m using it as a foundation to turn Snitz into a CMS solution where each group of cats will be a "website"
instead of Groups of cats | Categories | Forums | Topics | Posts
mine will have to be viewed as Website | Individual pages | Sections under pages | content under pages | comments on content a.s.o.
However the usergroup mod won´t require you to user groupcats - it´ll work independantly on a normal Snitz forum also.
Like you I´m using a second set of select boxes, to allow moderators to assign usergroups.
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GauravBhabu
Advanced Member
4288 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 02:12:12
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quote:
What if you have a UserGroup that you want to assign to a forum and not to a whole ForumGroup?
That can be controlled in a similar way the Moderators are Managed
quote:
My idea is to first create Groups that can be assigned to Forums (as Members can be now). Maybe later I'll add the functionality to assign Groups to Categories as well.
Once a Group is created, it is open for creating Categories under the Group and then Forums...which are then open for topic/Reply posting
quote:
You will have to consider a cascading structure. . . . Whats done at board level affects everything. . . whats done at cat level affects cat whats done at forum level affects forum ect.
Also, consider admin feaures. You should be able to assign groups admin/moderator status.
Each Group has is controlled by Group Owner. Then there are Moderators at diffferent levels in the Group. Group owner can assign/remove Moderators
www.forumSquare.com - GauravBhabu - It is difficult to IMPROVE on Perfection, There is no harm in Keep Trying. |
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Morpheus73
Average Member
Denmark
597 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 06:11:30
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would it be possible to get a glance at your code for this, G? - I´d like to see how you administer the DB tables and the IsAllowedMember function?
I´m using the existing ALLOWED_MEMBERS table, but has added an ALLOWED_GROUPS field in the table. - However I´m having some difficulties updating just the one or the other from Post_inc - something with the settings of the field.
Basically it seems like the system you are working on resembles the one I´m using excepts that I use Topics Table to store all content, - but the Groupsystem seems to be compatible with eachother. - will you be releasing this as a MOD at some point?
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GauravBhabu
Advanced Member
4288 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 06:22:37
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I am waiting for 3.4 release. Then I will modify it to include several Mods I have integrated on my site plus few I am working on. The modified version will have about 20-30 mods preinstalled and hope to release after testing with new version.
www.forumSquare.com - GauravBhabu - It is difficult to IMPROVE on Perfection, There is no harm in Keep Trying. |
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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 08:18:54
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The code I have so far requires a GROUPS table, a GROUP_MEMBERS table, and then I also created an ALLOWED_GROUPS table. The more I look at it though, I'm thinking of getting rid of the ALLOWED_GROUPS and just use the ALLOWED_MEMBERS. This would require modification to the table, I'm thinking something along the line of:
ALLOWED_MEMBERS
FORUM_ID
USER_ID (will either be the memberID or the groupID)
USER_TYPE (can be either 1-member, 2-group)
I've identified what I think are the sections of code that need to be modified to make it work: the inAllowedMember function, the listbox code in post.asp, and the newForumMembers function in post_inc.asp.
Am I thinking along the right lines here, or am I way off base?
As an added twist I'm also thinking of allowing groups to be members of other groups, but the coding for that would be more difficult.
Nikkol |
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Morpheus73
Average Member
Denmark
597 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 09:30:40
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That´s exactly how I have done it, except my GROUPID represents a topic ID - but else you are absolutely right. - how about we cooporate on this - Then we can do an admin panel that will allow admin to choose between no groups, topic as groups and seperate groups - this way we´ll have all the features we both want - The advantage with topics as groups is that you can handle a group as a topic, that means moderation, email on new signups, hold/reject members, a.s.o. All the engines for that is already in the base code. from the admin panel admin can also assign members to different groups. -
Another big advantage I see in letting people sign up for groups is that on large boards with many different moderators, the moderators can handle their individual groups + you can have open groups where everyone can join. - less work for the admin.
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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 09:51:57
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Hey Morph. Sure we can cooperate. I totally understand you're reasoning on making the topics groups. My reason for not doing it is because my organization has paying members. I want to be able to allow or not allow access to certain areas based on whether or not they've paid.
Anyway...I have the admin panel for manually assigning members to groups (but of course I have a GROUPS table also). Now I'm trying to get the Allowed List to work...that where I'm stuck at the moment
Email me and we can discuss the development further. 
Nikkol |
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Morpheus73
Average Member
Denmark
597 Posts |
Posted - 18 February 2002 : 10:06:12
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I´ve sent you an email nikkol. take a look.
Well using my method with topics as groups will give you the same advantages - actually a few more - it is when a user replies, that he becomes member of the group (set in IsAllowedMember to check reply status) - this way your users can sign up for a group, but he isn´t granted access until a moderator or admin has validated his reply. - this way you can control memberships in accordance with payments - also it allows you to let different moderators control their own groups, less administration for admin - just make sure you dont have corrupt moderators ;)
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