I will push out an interim of WP-United soon that will work better with WordPress 3.0. However, if you have already upgraded your WordPress, you will receive errors about make_clickable due to a few formatting changes in WordPress files (or a blank page).

To fix these, go to your phpBB root folder and open wp-united/wp-integration-class.php.

Go to line 341. It should look like this:

$cSet = str_replace('require (ABSPATH . WPINC . ' . "'/$fName","$cFor // ",$cSet);


Replace that line with the following code:

$finds = array(
'require (ABSPATH . WPINC . ' . "'/$fName",
'require( ABSPATH . WPINC . ' . "'/$fName"
);
$cSet = str_replace($finds,"$cFor // ",$cSet);


Then clear your cache (phpBB ACP -> Purge Cache).

This will fix your errors and allow you to use or install WP-United v0.8.5 with WordPress 3.0.

phpBB inside WordPress 3

However, please note:

• I haven’t done detailed testing yet with the new default theme (although it seems to integrate fine for me with CSS Magic on.)
• The new WordPresss multi-user blog features won’t work with WP-United yet
• Unlikely, but some other features may be broken — if you find them, please let me know

This marks a major shift in the way WP-United works conceptually. Prior to v0.9 we have always been a “phpBB mod”. The Setup Wizard was quite innovative for phpBB — certainly more so than most other phpBB mods. However, the phpBB ACP hasn’t served us well. It still requires some actions to be taken by the user to see the WP-United Setup Wizard, and in general, the rest of the ACP is a bit of a mess with too many options buried under menus.

Leveraging WordPress’ plugin system better

We’ve always used WordPress’ plugin system in WP-United, but most of the core code sat outside that, under your forum directory.

v0.9 will change that. Now that the panel is working, my plan is to move most, if not all, of the WP-United files (that currently sit under your-forum/wp-united) to a plugin folder in phpBB. I’d like users to be able to automatically download and install the plugin using the WordPress plugin browser — this will hopefully go a long way to achieving that.

However, we still have one snag: phpBB still requires some code edits. Over the last few versions, we’ve cut down the number of edits required significantly, but there are still plenty. In the interest of releasing v0.9 sometime this century, I will start off simply, by including instructions in the WordPress plugins panel with a link to the XML file containing instructions on editing phpBB.

While this should be fairly clear, it’s not a great solution in the long run. Every time a user has to manually edit files, things can go wrong (no arrogance here — I make mistakes installing it myself very frequently). I’d be interested in hearing people’s thoughts on how this should work for v1.0.

Likely way forward for v1.0

I’ve done a bit of thinking, and right now, I think the following would work best:

• Distribute a customized version of the AutoMod engine with WP-United.
• After the user fills in the WP-United basic settings in WordPress, we inspect the phpBB installation. If AutoMod is already installed there, we give a link to a zip file and ask the user to install it using their pre-existing AutoMod (likely they are already comfortable using it)
• If they don’t, we give them a choice: install manually or automatically. An automatic installation would back up phpBB files and apply changes the bast way we can. The inner-workings of AutoMod would be hidden from the user. A manual installation would be the same as planned for v0.9.

Alternative: A pre-mod option

The idea of a pre-mod option is for WordPress users who haven’t already installed phpBB. They could go to the plugin browser, and in a couple of clicks, install a fully integrated, WP-United phpBB. The phpBB install could even be completely managed — hidden in a plugin subfolder and exposing forum pages via permalinks.

This would undoubtedly be cool, and would bring in tons of new users while reducing support requests — but I can see that maintenance would be a big problem. With each release of phpBB I would have a lot more work to do, and that would take time away from what’s important: Maintaining the WP-United core. In addition, users who installed this way would get a nasty shock when it came to installing new phpBB themes: they’d still have to learn how to do mod edits then.

The only way I think this would work is having a user-contributed repository of pre-edited themes at WP-United.com so that phpBB turns into an end-to-end point-and-click install for WordPress users. Maybe this is something we can consider for v2.0. (However, hopefully by that time, phpBB will already be sporting a decent plugin system).

Due to the above, I’ve discounted this option for now, but I am excited about the possibility for a future version.

Your thoughts?

I’d be interested in hearing from users with a WordPress (rather than a phpBB) background as to how the install should work in an ideal world.

Thinking from a WordPress administrator’s perspective, is a completely managed phpBB install desirable? Or would you rather have a separate install which requires some management (and the inevitable bugs that accompany it)?

If we, in the long run, opted for the former, would you be interested in contributing to the community by helping to maintain one-click-install repositories of modified phpBB code and themes?

It is safe to create new posts — the database will not be rolled back. However, you will have access problems from time to time.

• blog.php is gone: WP-United will no longer need it, making installation for new users much simpler.
• The way WordPress is called has changed: it will now be compatible with nearly all plugins, without needing most plugin fixes.
• The installation process is in the process of being changed. The Wizard / Setup Page is being moved from phpBB to WordPress, and will be much easier to use. Below is a sneak preview. Highlights include an interactive filelist for setting paths, tabbed/sliding menus, much more clarity in options, and (hopefully) no more “Step 5″ blues.

New Control Panel 1

New Control Panel 2

While you are welcome to check out and test v0.9, it is still in the process of undergoing open heart surgery. Many portions of code are temporary and subject to change, and the new control panel is not yet finished.

I envisage that things will start to crystallize in 2 weeks or so, and then hopefully testing will be easier and more people can follow along — watch this space!

I will be back on a regular schedule from the end of next week too.

I normally manage to check off forum posts at lunch times and in the evenings, that that just hasn’t been possible recently. Thank you to everyone who has been helping out on the forums — especially DeaconFrost, Vertical, and all the other regulars.

I am still tight for time before I go, but have managed to clear the Installation Support forum today, and hope to do the same for the Bug Report forum too.

Once I’m on holiday, I should get a bit more time to catch up — including a long haul flight or two to spend a bit of time working on v0.9 . It is essential that I proceed on v0.9 as WordPress 3 is looming ever-closer.

If you have e-mailed with a support request, I am sorry for the tardy response — but my priority is finishing off existing requests and catching up with the forum. I will be accepting more requests when things quieten down a bit. Meanwhile, the offer still stands for experienced members here to subcontract on support requests– if you are interested, please let me know.

John

Visit the download page to get the latest version. Upgrade instructions are included.

The detailed list of changes is as follows:

• Fixed plugin fixer not covering all global variables
• Fixed plugin fixer not working with plugins that use PHP short tags
• Suppress errors during the WP-United Setup Wizard for people with open_basedir restrictions
• Fixed: If forum and blog are both in root directory, add explicit “index.php” to the forum link
• Added more classes to the login / userinfo widget to facilitate styling.
• NEW option: cross-post excerpts or full posts. Three choices: Excerpt / full post / ask each time
• Removed inline JavaScript for smilies. All WP-United JS moved to wp-united/js/wpu-min.js
• Fixed tags/categories not showing up properly on cross-posted posts
• show “cross-post” in past tense in force xpost box if already xposted.
• added two new configuration options, SHOW_BLOG_LINK, and WPU_INTEG_DEFAULT_STYLE — full info in options.php
• Fixed problem links in reverse integration, e.g. on phpBB FAQ page
• fixed uncategorized category checked when selecting cross-posting
• changed <br /> and <p> BBCode translations to \n rather than [br]
• Stopped allowing submission of blank cross-posted comments
• Fixed smiley path in cross-posted comments sometimes not correct
• User mapper is now case insensitive when looking for suggested phpBB username matches
• Added new option, WPU_SHOW_TAGCATS, to suppress display of categories & tags in cross-posts
• Fixed avatar and other details not synced when deleted by user in UCP
• Added option in options.php to define templates on which the WordPress header/footer should not appear, and pre-filled it with some shoutboxes.
• Installer auto-purges cache again when finished to ensure WP-United tab appears

It is in need of a little love — the Setup Wizard instructions are still for v0.7.1. It will potentially form the basis of a wiki, but more importantly, should be included with every download as a canonical reference source, so people can read it when setting up.

I don’t expect anyone to take the whole thing on, as it is actually a very big job — oddly enough, writing about all the possible installation scenarios of WP-United and the possibilities available, could take up hundreds of pages. However, if you fancied updating a page or two, it would very much appreciated. Also, any “tips or tricks” or troubleshooting you have from your experience, would be gratefully received.

You can download the manual from SVN, here. It is in ODF, and it would be great if it could stay that way — if you are using software by The Man, you can download an ODF add-in to open and save the format. (For downloads, I will convert it to PDF, and probably many other formats. The key is keeping the source in ODF).

If you do decide to update, post your intentions here so we don’t tread on each others’ “editing toes”. Also, feel free to give yourself and your site credit at the back of the manual.

Thanks!

At various times, WP-United has been translated into German, French, Italian and Swedish. However, they are all out of date — some more than others.

If you would like to help translate, here’s how:

1. Download a set of translation files, and modify them for your language:

• The main WP-United language file
• The WP-United admin language file
• The WP-United permissions language file

These links will always point to the most up-to-date English files we have. Translating is easy — open them up in a decent text editor, and modify the strings. Give yourself credit at the top of the file, and make sure you save it in UTF-8 (without Byte Order Marker).

To view the current state of language files, you can browse through them here.

In order for the translation to make it into the download file for release, we need a full translation of all files, not just the main file.

2. create an install.xml for your translation.

This part is slightly more technical, but will tke significantly less time than the actual translation. Once you have your translated files ready, download one of the existing language install files, and modify it for your language.

Currently, the Swedish file is the most up-to-date, so you can use that as a template — you can get it here. All you need to change in this file are the author details, and the copy paths, replacing “sv” for swedish, with the code for your language.

3. Done!

When you’re done, zip up the files and send them to me (you can post them on the forum, or by PM). I will then include them in the next release.

Please note that, from release to release, translations do need changing — I will contact you to try to obtain an update once language strings have been finalised. However, you will not be obliged to keep it up to date.

Merci Beaucoup, Viele Dank, Gracias, 谢谢!

However, in the meantime, to stay up-to-date with WP-United developments and releases, follow us on twitter: #wpunited .

You can also find WP-United on Facebook: Search for WP-United and become a fan!

Get it from the downloads page. To upgrade from v0.8.x, simply copy over all the new files in /root, and then purge your phpBB cache. For upgrading from older versions, or installing fresh, please see the README included.

• NEW: auto-installer replaces the manual wpu-installer.php
• Fixed comments closed for global announcements when they shouldn’t be.
• Fixed unreliable display of comment date/time
• Added better error catching for when WP-United isn’t installed properly
• Fixed timezone of cross-posts
• Improved BBCode & magic URL checking in cross posts
• Fixed errors with user blogs list, and improved login_userinfo template tag
• Fixed username incorrect when editing cross-posted posts
• Fixed integration error message after updating password or username under some circumstances
• .. and a few other bug fixes too dull to list here.

Happy blogging!