Drupaltin Wish List

[Jordan]

Next anticipated release: Drupaltin 5.x-2.0

Below are some possible additions and improvements for future Drupaltin releases. Please feel free to add to the list.

1. Better login system - fix current bugs
2. Easier installation
3. User Protect module embedded within the Drupaltin module NO LONGER NEEDED IN 2.0
   
4. User location support in vBulletin profiles
5. Forum Activity (Recent threads/posts) block
6. Forum Info (Unread posts/private message links, users online) block
7. Guaranteed support for existing Drupal installs
8. User roles added automatically in Drupal based on vBulletin Usergroups
9. Support for theming Drupal and vBulletin together (eg. http://www.vbdrupal.com/forum/)
10. Search integration
11. Unified user profiles
12. Database prefix support
13. Choice of Drupal style registration (simple registration)
14. Avatars and signatures bridged from vB to Drupal (Won't see until Drupal 6)
    

Color	Represents
Green	Top priority, expected in the next release!
Blue	Expected in next major release (5.x-2.x)
Purple	Starting development soon, expect in a near future release.
Red	Help needed! PM Jordan and offer a hand in the development!
Black	Would like to see it in a future release, but it will be some time yet.
Gray	Not even being considered at this point. May never be implemented.

[OmgWtfIDiedLol]

Originally Posted by Jordan

Next anticipated release: Drupaltin 5.x-2.0

Below are some possible additions and improvements for future Drupaltin releases. Please feel free to add to the list.

1. Better login system - fix current bugs
2. Easier installation
3. User Protect module embedded within the Drupaltin module
4. User location support in vBulletin profiles
5. Forum Activity (Recent threads/posts) block
6. Forum Info (Unread posts/private message links, users online) block
7. Guaranteed support for existing Drupal installs
8. User roles added automatically in Drupal based on vBulletin Usergroups
9. Support for theming Drupal and vBulletin together (eg. http://www.vbdrupal.com/forum/)
10. Search integration
11. Unified user profiles

What do you mean by Unified User Profiles and Search integration?

[Jordan]

Originally Posted by OmgWtfIDiedLol

What do you mean by Unified User Profiles and Search integration?

If you goto Home and then My Account you will see your Drupal usercp. If you click User CP, obviously you will see your vBulletin usercp. I want to integrate those together to make one profile/usercp

Search integration means that the search for at drupal will look and work the same as the search here on the forums. They will both have the ability to search in either drupal or vbulletin.

[Brook]

Why not just ditch one profile? If the Drupal one can be made more like 'myspace' ie with friends list etc then we could just put a simple redirect in the member profile template in vB, so whenever a user is directed there it just goes to the Drupal profile.

Creating a link to 'find all posts by this user' should be easy enough too so long as the Drupal profile ID is the same as the vB user ID (the number).

Regarding search, just create a search module where people can select the forums or the site, then whichever option is choosen the selected search can be performed (I think you can search via the url in vB). The other option is to simple use google to power the search - I do this because searching is so server intensive anyway.

I think the 'main' thing to get sorted would be for an automatic way for usergroups to be synched. Not nesc drupaltin trying to guess or work ouk what permissions should be taken vb usergroups, but just a drupal usergroup created with the same (or similar) name and assigned to the users. Then all we have to do is make sure both sets of permissions are what we want them to be.

I also think everything should be done with modules or plug-ins so that it is easier for people to upgrade both platforms and/or choose which ones they want to use

I'll try and think of some more suggestions!

[Roi Danton]

Originally Posted by Brook

Why not just ditch one profile? If the Drupal one can be made more like 'myspace' ie with friends list etc then we could just put a simple redirect in the member profile template in vB, so whenever a user is directed there it just goes to the Drupal profile.

I think the only way for Drupaltin is to leave the two profiles accessible so all modules/PlugIns for both products work. As far as I understand the problem, the reason for the unified user system lies in synchronizing the password and email from an user; and that this both settings have to set by vb. Regarding this case the best way is to remove only these settings from Drupal profile edit IMHO.

The rest of the vb/Drupal profiles/UserCP should be left as they are. So users still can go to the edit page in Drupal, but they see no email and password field ... only a link to the Email and Password edit page of vb-UserCP.

IMHO that's the most transparent way and leaves the most functionality of both Drupal & vb.

Originally Posted by Brook

just a drupal usergroup created with the same (or similar) name and assigned to the users. Then all we have to do is make sure both sets of permissions are what we want them to be.

Agree to that.

[Brook]

I don't really follow what you're saying - but if you mean that users on a site will have 2 profiles that's not good. Which is why I thought just ditching one would be best, and simply keep the best one (drupals if it allows friends network etc). By profiles I mean this page: http://forums.theoverclocked.com/member.php?u=358 (so that would no longer exist, as it would simply redirect to the Drupal one like this: http://www.theoverclocked.com/user/358)

To me that sounds like the easiest and best way, especially as the userID is the same (358 in your case).

What did you have in mind exactly?

(edit: basically that's possible then as the IDs are the same in this build already and so a simple bit of redirect code can be placed in the member profile template in vB to do the redirecting)

[Roi Danton]

I referred to the plan of Jordan to redirect the EDIT tab in Drupal's "My account" to vb UserCP due to sync of password & email. I wouldn't redirect the EDIT tab, I only would hide the fields for changing password & email in Drupal. So profile features of Drupal modules still works.

Originally Posted by Brook

(edit: basically that's possible then as the IDs are the same in this build already and so a simple bit of redirect code can be placed in the member profile template in vB to do the redirecting)

That's right, it's easy to implement. But I would prefer this redirect only as an option in Drupaltin. When vb and Drupal are different sections - differ by content/by style - it's more senseful to have it's own user profile for each section. Furthermore if users never see the vb user profile, the vb's Custom Profile Fields won't be visible, too (in a default vb installation).

So redirection is fine as an option, but not as a default feature.

[Brook]

Having it as an option is fine by me - I would choose to keep one single profile per user to keep the site as uniform and as professional looking as possible (it would also b eless confusing for the users).

You could always use a conditional, so admins can see the vb profile but all other users get redirected.

Does Drupal not allow custom fields then? (I'm not all that clued up on it).

[Roi Danton]

The default Drupal module "Profiles" supports Custom Profile Fields. Hm, so the best way is to sync them with vb - one more (minor important) task for Drupaltin:

• Sync Custom Profile Fields between Drupal and vb

[Brook]

How would you sync them? By duplicating info? Wouldn't that be a waste of DB space? Esp for larger sites with hundreds of thousands of members?

Or would it just 'read' info from the others?

[lozootmaniac]

Well why not make the drupal profiles out of it...? Then just keep the vB ones. Saves trouble and time.

[Jordan]

Well thanks for the great discussion about the user profiles. What I have in mind will hopefully be what all three of you suggested all in one.

I'd like to basically eliminate the drupal profile. The problem lies in modules which are added to drupal. I would have it so if a module added a field to the drupal profile, the vB usercp would automatically add it to the "Edit Options" section, or perhaps I could create a whole new section like "Edit Site-wide Settings."

I want to stay away from relying on userids as much as possible. There are several reasons why, which should become apparent on the next release

[Brook]

Hi Jordan... one of the big draws of me using Drupal is to try and get the profiles like teamsugar.com (which uses Drupal)... will we still be able to do that?

They have friends list, OG groups list, Latest Photos etc etc - it's a bit like myspace but with Drupal :-)

[Keyz]

Hey Jordan...

With vB controlling profiles, I wanted to check with you whether the variety of functionality that Drupal profiles can have would be sacrificed.

**Edit: just noticed Brook posted while I was typing... we have the same question**

I don't yet quite know how to accomplish it all, but for my site I will be having very advanced/detailed user profiles that will be a central hub for my users to display and work with all of their user-submitted content on the site. My profiles will show a variety of the given user's content (such as teasers and links to the user's galleries of images, video, audio), comments from other members, latest blog post teasers, and blocks from several Drupal modules, such as Buddylist, Favorite Nodes (for bookmarking articles, images, etc throughout the site), Organic Groups that the user belongs to, etc. Some of the content would be directly on the profile, and some would be linked to in tabs specifically for that user (such as a tab to a page where the user can view all of the articles they are still finishing writing or are pending moderator approval via the Workflow module).

Here are some rough examples from other Drupal sites of what I'm after with my user profiles:
http://adrenalinehub.com/thomjjames
(note the multiple tabs of additional user-specific content... their blog, their galleries, etc)

http://www.mtv.co.uk/user/Shes_Not_There
(a bit more simple than my intent)

http://teamsugar.com/user/TeamSugar
(note all the Drupal-based user content)

http://www.projectopus.com/ryanmcmahon

Anyhow, I'm hoping that these kinds of things will still be possible with Drupaltin.
Again, thanks for your amazing work on this

[Jordan]

Well it looks like the profile integration will have to go on the back burner for a little bit. I don't want to sacrifice any functionality, and I want everyone to have the option of Drupal profiles still.

It will be a lot of work but I'll keep it on the list for sure.

Brook, I'm not sure which modules they use to do that, but I see what you mean. When I start with the profile integration, I'll definitely let you guys know so I can get some insight on my work/thoughts throughout the process.

As of right now I'm focusing on the login system and prefix support. I have a pretty good angle on the new login system and let me tell you, it should ROCK

[gman]

I think that being able to use either Drupal profiles or vBulletin profiles has to be an option. Excluding one off-hand alienates one group of potential sites owners.

Trying to find the balance between vBulletin admins who are adding Drupal to their site (and thus are vBulletin experts and Drupal novices) or the Drupal site owners who are adding good forums (and have the opposite skills) is going to be hard.

So far it seems that Drupaltin is keeping its hands as much off either as possible, which is a really great way to go.

Just on this side, Jordan, are you coming from a Drupal background or a vBulletin one. If Drupaltin becomes the solution that I need for my site(s), I may be able to give a hand at the Drupal coding (best API practices and all that). I am still trying to get my head around the approach you are taking.

[Jordan]

Originally Posted by gman

I think that being able to use either Drupal profiles or vBulletin profiles has to be an option. Excluding one off-hand alienates one group of potential sites owners.

Trying to find the balance between vBulletin admins who are adding Drupal to their site (and thus are vBulletin experts and Drupal novices) or the Drupal site owners who are adding good forums (and have the opposite skills) is going to be hard.

So far it seems that Drupaltin is keeping its hands as much off either as possible, which is a really great way to go.

I definitely agree. The next release will add a Drupaltin Options menu in the vbulletin admincp. I'd like to make nearly all necessary paths info and whatever else is ever needed in this options menu. It would sure beat the hell out of the current method of editing config files before install. So when the profile integration is added, I like your idea, I will make it an option in the Drupaltin Options to use one or the other. Not to worry, if you use vBulletin profiles the options in Drupal for modules will work for the vBulletin profiles

Profile integration is still back a ways on the roadmap though as some of the other features/fixes are more important.

Originally Posted by gman

Just on this side, Jordan, are you coming from a Drupal background or a vBulletin one. If Drupaltin becomes the solution that I need for my site(s), I may be able to give a hand at the Drupal coding (best API practices and all that). I am still trying to get my head around the approach you are taking.

I have very little knowledge of Drupal. I'm coming from a vBulletin background for sure. Any help with the Drupal module would be extremely helpful. One of the biggest things that needs fixed in the current module is the login form. I desperately need to correctly implement the form with Drupal's form api. The information is on the api site, I just haven't had the time to read up on it

[gman]

I was wondering why it was implemented that way. So is the goal to get both the login and logout scripts to reside in the module (or is there ever a need to call them from the vBulletin side). I will look into it on the side. Maybe I can help shore up the Drupal side of the code.

-Greg

[rory]

Integration between vBulletin and Drupal to a greater extent. Treat each forum post as a node, and vice versa. Also, integrate certain features such as private messaging and the buddy system.

[Keyz]

Originally Posted by rory

Integration between vBulletin and Drupal to a greater extent. Treat each forum post as a node, and vice versa. Also, integrate certain features such as private messaging and the buddy system.

Just out of curiosity (not putting the idea down, just I don't understand)... what would be the benefit of making vB forum threads/posts into nodes? What functionality would that add? Could you outline your thoughts on this a bit? In a recent Lullabot podcast, Dries (Drupal founder) outlined the reasoning for why comments (which equal vB posts) cannot be nodes in the current configuration without overloading the system (and some prospective plans on how to improve that in the future)... I suspect that the same issues would arise in attempting to make nodes for vB posts (threads, maybe - I don't know).

So far as the buddy/PM system... the Forum Info (Unread posts/private message links, users online) block feature expected for the next release of Drupaltin should help a bit in that respect. Hopefully my understanding is correct, but I believe links to the user's vB PM area will be able to be included in Drupal (such as in a block, or embedding in the user's profile or nodeprofile). The same might be possible for vB buddylists... though there is also the Drupal buddylist module, which would work too. I haven't got that far in my customization yet (and hopefully ultimately Drupaltin will automate these adjustments), but what I expect I might do is change vBulletin's references in the templates/system to point to Drupal resources when appropriate (e.g. to the user's Drupal profile, adding a Drupal buddy, etc). Or I might just remove some of the links within vBulletin for directly adding a buddy, and have them visit the Drupal profile to do that.