AlterBrains

I have joomla in mysite.com, and phpbb3 3.0.7 PL1 forum in mysite.com/forum. Is this ok?

Yes, it is ok, Joomla! 1.5.9-1.5.x is required.

I have SEF enabled in Joomla. Can the forum not using SEF?

No, enabled Joomla! options "Search Engine Friendly URLs", "Use Apache mod_rewrite" are required.

What will happen to admins, moderators, users of phpbb? How are they going to show in Joomla (authors, registered, publisher)?

They all are usual users in Joomla (usergroup 'Registered').

Are there any security issues with the bridge? Please explain.

We don't have any security issues now, any reported will be fixed asap.

Why other bridges reset the passwords, and you don’t? How do you decode them?

Our bridge doesn't decode passwords, it is impossible in both Joomla and phpBB.

Please point me to a point-by-point difference between the light and full bridge version.

Main difference is:
Light version allows only basic integration - login/logout/registration from phpBB to Joomla and no frameless integration to Joomla.
Full version allows more options:
http://alterbrains.com/joomla-extension ... ridge.html
Light version has GPL license and the code is not encrypted, full version has commercial license and is encrypted (IonCube PHP loader is required).

Are both the light and full versions, non-invasive?

None of them requires changes in core files, only full version requires adding few lines of code into .htaccess file of Joomla.
Light version uses custom phpBB authentication plugin.

Please explain me how would I upgrade if some newer version of phpBB or joomla comes? (Please explain a. only phpBB upgrade, b. only joomla upgrade, c. both upgrade)

The bridge is usual Joomla extension and upgrade is just installing the new version of extension in Joomla (no de-installation is required). We offer default phpBB styles prosilver and subsilver2 modified for using phpBB in frameless integration, once they are changed in phpBB we also update them.
Light version may require manual copying of the new version of phpBB authentication plugin.

If i use any of your two bridges, and then decide to separate joomla and phpbb3, is there any problem? Will they work stand-alone?

No problems, both Joomla and phpBB will work separately. The only possible issue is related to users transfered from Joomla to phpBB and vice versa. If they didn't manage to login once the bridge is installed they will be forced to reset password to login in the system where they were copied, because phpBB and Joomla have different password storage methods. Using our bridge there is no problem for phpBB user copied into Joomla to login in Joomla with his phpBB password and vice versa, passwords will be updated correctly after that.

Please explain how to unistall your bridge once i put it.

Uninstall it as usual Joomla extension, remove few lines from .htaccess (for full version); switch to default phpBB authentication method (light version).

In my phpbb i have created more fields for my users, e.g. occupation, car, sport, whatever. How is this going to get integrated in Joomla?

In full version you can associate any fields from profile in Community Builder or JomSocial to any phpBB profile fields. Editing profile in either phpBB or Joomla will update data in both systems.
Same fields synchronization is possible for transfering users between Joomla and phpBB.
Avatars synchronization is also possible - changing avatar in Joomla (CB or JomSocial) changes it in phpBB and vice versa.

Your registration doesn’t show the terms of use etc. the normal phpbb3 forum registration does. Why? How can i sync the registration as in phpbb3?

No, out phpBB registration has standard phpBB terms of use:
http://alterbrains.com/joomla-forum/user/register.html

I want my users to go only through one registration, e.g. through the phpbb registration. Is this possible? What are advantages/disadvantages?

Full version of the bridge has option to redirect phpBB registration to any page, so you can use any other registration.
You can also manually redirect any Joomla registration to phpBB page.
Advantages/disadvantages - it's completely up to you, the result is always same - registered user.

Interesting that i tried to login through your phpbb3 forum and got timed out. And was able to register later with Joomla.

You will see the login error normally. Probably it was our server issue or your connection.

What will happen after the merge to my users that have space or underscore in the login names? Would they be able to login to phpbb3 only? Would they be able to login to joomla and phpbb3? Please explain in detail.

They will be able to login in both systems in full version. Light version - these users will be logged in Joomla after login in phpBB.

My forum has about 2000 members, and my joomla about 10 members. Is this any problem for the integration?

No problems here.
For full version:
You can copy all phpBB users into Joomla, or use the option of silent transfer: phpBB user logs in Joomla or phpBB - and if same phpBB users exists and no user with same lowercased username and email is presented in Joomla - he will be inserted as new Joomla user and logged in Joomla and phpBB.

Are currently any issues with the current versions of light and full bridges?

No, we don't know any current issues now and any future possible issues are fixed asap. The bridge is quite stable and we receive bugs very very rare.

Thanks a lot for the quick help!

Admin wrote:

I have SEF enabled in Joomla. Can the forum not using SEF?

No, enabled Joomla! options "Search Engine Friendly URLs", "Use Apache mod_rewrite" are required.

Thanks. I'm insterested also to know what will happen to my non-SEF phpbb3 forum links? Are they going to be non-SEF after the integration? If not, how the SEF is going to decide how to display my forum links?

Some more questions:

I have separate databases and I want to keep it like that. I believe this is not a problem. How much percentage do you increase the sql queries after the integration? Please give me an estimate.

How long the integration with the full bridge you think may take for someone that has average joomla knowledge? Just a rough estimate.

About: "Works in frameless mode (displays phpBB as usual Joomla! component inside your Joomla! template, special phpBB templates are required) and in standalone mode (any phpBB template can be used)": what are the special phpBB templates? do you provide these? the standalone mode is done through a switch in your module config?

If i make in joomla a registered user to e.g. Publisher, what will happen to his phpbb3 account that i want to have him as regular member? please explain.

About "Forum titles aliases for URLs": since i have about 5000 posts in my forum after merge how this is going to work?

My forum is well searched by Google (and other search engines) and linked from its current ? non-SEF links (normal phpBB3). What is going to happen to these links after integration? are the non-SEF links still supported for my phpbb3 forum?

So if I have 2000 members in phpbb and 20 members in Joomla, after integration I'll have 2020 members both in joomla and in phpbb?

Is it possible to copy to joomla phpbb3 users, but not vice versa (not joomla->phpbb3)? How is this done?

thanks!

Thanks. I'm insterested also to know what will happen to my non-SEF phpbb3 forum links? Are they going to be non-SEF after the integration? If not, how the SEF is going to decide how to display my forum links?

phpBB doesn't have SEF links by default.

Some more questions:

I have separate databases and I want to keep it like that. I believe this is not a problem. How much percentage do you increase the sql queries after the integration? Please give me an estimate.
Separate databases are possible.

Queries are increased only on actions like login and logout. Usual browsing or posting doesn't increase queries for Jooma or phpBB.

How long the integration with the full bridge you think may take for someone that has average joomla knowledge? Just a rough estimate.

About 15-30 mins,

About: "Works in frameless mode (displays phpBB as usual Joomla! component inside your Joomla! template, special phpBB templates are required) and in standalone mode (any phpBB template can be used)": what are the special phpBB templates? do you provide these? the standalone mode is done through a switch in your module config?

Yes, the bridge has setting which activates either usual or frameless mode.
We provide modified standard phpBB styles prosilver and subsilver2 for frameless integration.

If i make in joomla a registered user to e.g. Publisher, what will happen to his phpbb3 account that i want to have him as regular member? please explain.

Joomla and phpBB usergroups aren't synchronized in any way.

About "Forum titles aliases for URLs": since i have about 5000 posts in my forum after merge how this is going to work?

Here is example usual URL generated by the bridge for forum:
http://site.com/forums/12.html (where 12 is phpBB forum ID)
And here is the URL with configured forum title alias:
http://site.com/forums/extensions.html (where 'extensions' is alias to forum with ID=12)

My forum is well searched by Google (and other search engines) and linked from its current ? non-SEF links (normal phpBB3). What is going to happen to these links after integration? are the non-SEF links still supported for my phpbb3 forum?

All non-SEF links are redirected to new SEF links with 301 status, so Google will show new links in search results and previous indexing won't be broken.

So if I have 2000 members in phpbb and 20 members in Joomla, after integration I'll have 2020 members both in joomla and in phpbb?

Yes, possible, after transferring users from Joomla to phpBB and vice-versa, if you don't have same users (users with same case-insensitive username or email). I.e. bridge can't copy Joomla user 'Admin' to phpBB if phpBB already has user 'admin'.

Is it possible to copy to joomla phpbb3 users, but not vice versa (not joomla->phpbb3)? How is this done?

Yes, the bridge has separate tools for transferring users between Joomla and phpBB. So you can copy user from either Joomla to phpBB or from phpBB to Joomla.

Thanks for the quick reply agian!

Hi there,

I've read through this entire thread, but I still have some questions before I buy the bridge.

I am currently using Rokbridge, but I need more integration such as avatars etc. from community builder.

Here are my requirements:

1. I currently use SH404sef on my Joomla site, and I have the forums installed at /forum, using the phpBBseo mod. I would still like them to be like that (i.e. I don't want my forum visually integrated into Joomla). Will that be OK?

2. The forum and Joomla are in different databases. Is that OK?

3. Will ioncube slow my site down or add to the server load?

4. I'd like the phpBB profile links to point to the community builder profiles. Is this possible?

5. I'd like the avatar from Community builder to be used in the phpBB forums. Is that possible?

6. I'd like some custom profile fields from the Community Builder profile to display in phpBB. Possible?

7. What happens if Joomla or phpBB update their code with a new release and it breaks the bridge component? Can we get updates/patches?

8. Do you have a plug-in that displays the users phpBB3 posts in their community builder profile?

Many thanks.

1. I currently use SH404sef on my Joomla site, and I have the forums installed at /forum, using the phpBBseo mod. I would still like them to be like that (i.e. I don't want my forum visually integrated into Joomla). Will that be OK?

No, no SEO mods for phpBB can be used.

2. The forum and Joomla are in different databases. Is that OK?

OK

3. Will ioncube slow my site down or add to the server load?

No, you won't see the difference.

4. I'd like the phpBB profile links to point to the community builder profiles. Is this possible?

Yes, bridge can redirect phpBB profile links to point to the community builder profiles.

5. I'd like the avatar from Community builder to be used in the phpBB forums. Is that possible?

Yes, once the user changes his avatar in CB it will also changed in phpBB.

6. I'd like some custom profile fields from the Community Builder profile to display in phpBB. Possible?

Bridge can synchronize CB fields with phpBB fields, so you can display phpBB custom fields in users info of topic page.

7. What happens if Joomla or phpBB update their code with a new release and it breaks the bridge component? Can we get updates/patches?

Yes, the license includes 1 year of all updates.

8. Do you have a plug-in that displays the users phpBB3 posts in their community builder profile?

Yes, the demo is here in this site, try http://alterbrains.com/cb/userprofile/admin.html

I have joomla site - mydomain.com and phpbb forum - forum.mydomain.com.
Will your bridge work? Or I have to move the forum: mydomain.com/forum ?

Yes, you should move to folder, i.e. mydomain.com/phpBB3

Hello,

I would like to buy PHPBB Brigde. But first I have some questions, after reading the requirements for the bridge.

1. public_html is where I install my joomla websites. Named, for example, "joomla". But as I read joomla site should be installed in the root, which is public_html. So the administrator, components, modules et cetera must be placed in public_html. Right? Well, but I have more domains and thus more joomla sites in the public_html. Does this matter? Is it possible to place only one joomla site in the root "public_html" and others in a folder as in "public_html/joomla"? In the public_html there are some other folders (errors folder and stats folder) and there is a .htacces and index.html.
2.Just to make sure. If the above is possible. Can I place a subdomain (forum.mydomain.com) for PHPBB and use your bridge to link it with joomla aka Jomsocial, which I am using?
3. Kunena forum 1.6.2 is currently installed on the domain.com/index.php/forum. Can I convert this to PHPBB while I want it in a new subdomain?

Thanking you in advance for your answers.

Best wishes,
Natasja

1. Joomla should be installed in domain root folder and be accessed via /index.php, not /joomla/index.php
2. Joomla and phpBB should use same domains, forum.mydomain.com is not possible if Joomla is installed in mydomain.com.
3. Yes, you can convert this version of Kunena, but all the conditions above should be followed.