Outbuffering for integration with Joomla and errors

[Acyd Burn]

Yes, the bug tracker is the best place.

As for the auto-login hook... well, there is one. It is integrated into the authentication modules. But of course it depends on the needs...

[naderman]

As for the append_sid changes, it's kind of the question whether you call that "fixes". append_sid was not meant to used in this way. I'm in favour of having some central function that can be used to modify URLs but I don't think changing all places that use append_sid on an unfinished URL is the way to go.

[mariusvr]

I understand that the append_sid function was not designed to be a URL parsing for complete URLs, but the hook works so well that it would work great that way. The current code causes any external application that has SEF enabled to break their URLs. However, JFusion currently has code in it that checks and patches up any part of the URL that is not handed to the hook, but it would be more efficient if complete URLs are parsed through append_sid and we did not need to run a regex on the output to fix these up. There are some other issues with the action URLs that are sent to the current filename, which works from within phpBB3, but not when the current filename is index.php (instead of ucp.php).

The changes that need to be made are very simple (as you could see from my example), but there will be dozens of places in the code where this will need to be made. Also since you are working on a newer branch of phpBB3, it would have to be modified in both branches. I could also commit these changes directly to the SVN if you would wish this.

These issues are already bypassed in the current JFusion release and these changes are not essential for JFusion to work. However, I thought that I might be able to contribute to making the phpBB3 work even better when integrated. As there is no point in raising issues, if you don't want to pitch in to help get them fixed.

Let me know if there is interest in the phpBB3 development team for these changes to be implemented.

Thanks, marius

[Acyd Burn]

Nils is right and this will change in 3.1.x, but not for 3.0.x. And even if append_sid() is not meant for URL/Parameter manipulation it should still operate on a full URL where possible. I also do not think there are that many occurrences...

[mariusvr]

You guys have been fantastic in helping the frameless mode of JFusion. Since we are the first software to implement this function (as far as I am aware), it seem fair that I return the favour and improve some phpBB3 code specific to external integration. Your code works perfectly for phpBB3 in normal mode, but since we are doing something extraordinary with frameless integration the code can use some minor tweeks.

We at JFusion are a firm believer in the spirit of GPL software and glad to help out anyway we can with the phpbB3 project. I am working on the JFusion 1.1.1 Beta at the moment which will be released this week. After that I can work on full URL parsing and correct action urls for forms.

Just to keep you all excited, we have a phpbB3 search plugin for Joomla and a discussion bot already coded and going through the testing stage at the moment.

Thanks, marius

[mariusvr]

Hi All,

Just giving you an update on what is happening

I have done a review of all "append_sid" and "$template->assign_vars(array(" statements of the phpBB3 source code (there are quite a few). A patch file with the changes required for proper frameless integration has been created and is undergoing testing by myself. The patch makes sure the append_sid is called on the full url, of both template urls and redirect urls. This will allow for better frameless integration and allows for integration with systems that use SEF urls.

It will be ready for submission into the phpBB3 bug tracker in a couple of days. Is there a phpBB 3.0.5 release planned anytime soon?

Thanks, Marius

Update: I have added a txt file with some of the changes I have made to give a better insight into the changes.

[mariusvr]

What is the policy of phpBB3 for changes in the code? Can only minor changes be included in 3.0.x releases and would my changes be classified as major (because a number of files are affected) or minor (as the function of phpBB3 is not altered at all, it just changes appending of parameters after append_sid to before this command). It would be hard for me to keep these changes as a seperate mod, as it would require me to reapply these changes to the modified files after each phpBB3 release (I understand that phpBB3 upgrades keep any existing mod unchanged, however people would have to download an old phpBB3 version, overwrite the changed files and then upgrade to the latest version)

The proposed changes would not only benefit users that want to integrate phpBB3, but also benefit phpBB3 users that run it standalone, as it opens up SEF to be a standard feature of phpBB3 (since append_sid would be a central url parsing function).

Would it be possible to have a voice chat with one of the phpBB3 developers about this? My skype username is: mvrijnsoever

Thanks, Marius

[Acyd Burn]

What is the policy of phpBB3 for changes in the code? Can only minor changes be included in 3.0.x releases and would my changes be classified as major (because a number of files are affected) or minor (as the function of phpBB3 is not altered at all, it just changes appending of parameters after append_sid to before this command).

Only minor changes are applied to the 3.0.x code - your changes are heading towards "major" changes, though could be also considered for 3.0.x. This has to be seen.

It would be hard for me to keep these changes as a seperate mod, as it would require me to reapply these changes to the modified files after each phpBB3 release (I understand that phpBB3 upgrades keep any existing mod unchanged, however people would have to download an old phpBB3 version, overwrite the changed files and then upgrade to the latest version)

The automatic updater merges it's changes and mods are preserved. I do not see a reasoning why someone should download an old phpBB3 version.

The proposed changes would not only benefit users that want to integrate phpBB3, but also benefit phpBB3 users that run it standalone, as it opens up SEF to be a standard feature of phpBB3 (since append_sid would be a central url parsing function).

The proposed changes only changes appended variables to already parsed urls, for example /viewtopic/t-293-some-title.html?highlight=x - SEF is possible with this too. Also, the hook was never meant to allow SEF urls.

Would it be possible to have a voice chat with one of the phpBB3 developers about this? My skype username is: mvrijnsoever

Please use the bug tracker for this. It is meant for tracking bug reports, changes, patches, as well as communication among the developers.

[mariusvr]

The automatic updater merges it's changes and mods are preserved. I do not see a reasoning why someone should download an old phpBB3 version.

At the moment I have a series modified phpBB 3.0.4 files. Have you got an automated way of creating these automatic updater files?

The proposed changes only changes appended variables to already parsed urls, for example /viewtopic/t-293-some-title.html?highlight=x - SEF is possible with this too. Also, the hook was never meant to allow SEF urls.

At the moment the SEF urls with phpBB3 integrated into Joomla look like:
yourdomain.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php/t,293/&highlight=x

This phpBB3 generated URL is an invalid url (look at the slash followed by an ampersand) and requires JFusion to use an additional regex_replace on the output buffer to fix these appended variables after phpBB3 has finished. Therefore you can not have "full SEF" with the current phpBB3 code. Also once you start to look at more advanced ways of creating short SEF urls, you want to have the full URL available, not just half and fix up the wrong ampersands later.

Since you sound skeptical of my proposed changes, it might be better if i submit some different integration bugs of phpBB3 first. On many occasions the serverpath is used for creating urls and redirections. Since the serverpath is different from what phpbB3 expects (a differently named file in a different directory is calling phpBB3), the forum does not function as planned in the integration (new thread submissions go to the phpBB3 index.php file, etc). Again we have found ways around this by manually catching these wrong paths in the hooks and the JFusion frameless code. However it would be great if phpbB3 could integrate into different applications without these additional checks.

With the great interest in integrating phpBB3 into different applications (there have been some phpbb3 blogs and phpbbweekly discussions), I thought you might appreciate to have phpBB3 fully compatible "out-of-the-box" with external integrations. This will make it much easier for people to integrate phpBB3 without spending their time on catching these wrong urls.

Thanks, Marius

[Acyd Burn]

The automatic updater merges it's changes and mods are preserved. I do not see a reasoning why someone should download an old phpBB3 version.

At the moment I have a series modified phpBB 3.0.4 files. Have you got an automated way of creating these automatic updater files?

If JFusion require code changes you would need to package them as a MODX file. Then you do not need to care anymore, since phpBB updates (the user updating phpBB) will not destroy the changes. You do not provide fully modified files, you only provide instructions on what exactly changed. And you also do not provide updates or installation files.

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As of yet i haven't seen any reports submitted...