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p8pBB bridge

Full-featured bi-directional integration of phpBB 3 forum with Joomla! CMS. 

Forum is displayed inside Joomla! template as usual component.

No hacks of core files. Community Builder, JomSocial and EasySocial integration. XMap and AlphaUserPoints plugins.

SEF URLs and enhanced SEO for the forum.

Basic forum customization and modification options.

Extension information

Compatibility:

5.x maintained

4.x maintained

3.x not maintained

Type:
Commercial
License:
GNU GPL
Demo:
click here
JED:
click here
See also:
p8pBB bridge light
p8pBB comments
Translations:
click here
Price:
$59.00

  Buy now

  • Installed as usual Joomla! extension.
  • 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).
  • No hacks to Joomla! or phpbb3 is required.
  • Bi-directional synching of login/logout in either Joomla! or phpbb Bi-directional synchronization of registrations in either Joomla! or phpbb.
  • Bi-directional synching of changing profile data in either Joomla! or phpbb including language, timezone settings and Joomla profile fields (fields by User - Profile plugin and custom user fields since Joomla 3.7).
  • Bi-directional synching of Backend user manager in either Joomla! or phpbb (add/edit/delete/block/unblock/activate actions).
  • Silent account transfer of either Joomla! or phpBB user after logging in either Joomla! or phpBB.
  • Most phpBB profile-related changes are triggered by Joomla! user plugins - certain Joomla! 3rd-party extensions are able to synchronize the profile data after changing forum profile.
  • SEF URLs.
  • Extra SEO features: using forum's descriptions and topics first post as meta description, optional inclusion of forum alias in topic URL, optional including of all parent forums in topic URL, append or prepend sitename to meta title.
  • Forums and posts titles aliases for URLs.
  • Configurable page title structure - ability to choose first word.
  • Ability to skip phpBB info pages after login/logout in the forum.
  • Joomla! pathway can be inherited from phpBB.
  • Ability to use Joomla! articles as phpBB registration introtext, "Terms of use" and "Privacy policy" text.
  • Ability to assign any phpBB custom profile field to Joomla! "Name" field.
  • Assign Joomla usergroups to phpBB groups with synchronization on profile edit. 'Newly registered users' phpBB group can be only synced on phpBB 3.1.
  • Ability to redirect phpBB registration and lost password to Joomla! equivalents, phpBB profile to any URL.
  • Redirecting of forum user profile to Community Builder or JomSocial profile.
  • phpBB login and registration restrictions are applied in Joomla!
  • Optional disable of 'System - Cache' plugin for forum pages.
  • Community Builder basic support (users created and deleted in the forum are created and deleted in Community Builder) + advanced integration (avatars, profile fields and connections synchronization of changes, PM links in CB profile and login module, phpBB signature field type, posts count and rank image in CB status area), user's forum posts tab.
  • JomSocial basic integration (users registered in JomSocial are created in phpBB) + advanced integration (avatars, profile fields and connections synchronization of changes, user's forum posts application, forum links in profile menu, auto-creating of phpBB forums and groups for JomSocial groups, synchronizing groups join, leave and delete, link to phpBB group's forum in JomSocial group page).
  • JomSocial application displays user's posts in his profile.
  • EasySocial  integration (users registered in EasySocial are created in phpBB) + advanced integration (avatars, profile fields synchronization of changes, user's forum posts application).
  • EasySocial application displays user's posts in his profile, new topics/posts activities in stream.
  • EasySocial badges and points for topics/posts creation.
  • AltaUserPoints (ex AlphaUserPoints) integration (new topic and new post rules).
  • Plugin for OSMap sitemap extension.
  • Ability to use current Joomla! language in phpBB (phpBB language can be switched via JoomFish).
  • Ability to block posts with certain keywords in subject or message text.
  • Fast and elegant, no additional database queries are executed upon none-account related actions.
  • Detailed installation instructions are supplied.
  • Highly-configurable 'Latest Activity' module to display recent forums topics/posts.
  • Highly-configurable 'Forum Tags' module to display most indexed phpBB search words (requires phpBB Native Fulltext search index).
  • Highly-configurable 'Forum Attachments' module to display links to recent attachments.
  • Highly-configurable 'Statistics' module to display phpBB statistics (total number of posts, topics, members and newest member).
  • Configurable 'Login' module (displays clickable avatar with link to user profile and number of unread PMs for logged user. Guest user sees contents of usual selected module).
  • JComments avatars plugin.
  • Joomla! search plugin for searching phpBB forum.
  • Joomla!-to-phpBB users converter with support of JomSocial, Community Builder, EasySocial and Kunena avatars and profile fields.
  • phpBB-to-Joomla! users converter with support of JomSocial, Community Builder, EasySocial avatars and profile fields.
  • Ability to use native Joomla mailer for all outgoing phpBB emails with editable HTML template.
  • Filtering of displayed and accessed forums by current Joomla language.
  • Native Joomla smart search plugin to index forum titles and post subjects with optional first or all posts texts.
  • 30% discount for "p8pbb comments" extension.
  • Free installation on request.

Frameless mode requires using of special phpBB templates. The main purpose of this is to create the proper HTML structure and avoid CSS conflicts with the Joomla! template. We have modified standard phpBB template and in most cases it will feet your Joomla! template, though we don't guarantee that and some small CSS modifications can be required from your side. Special phpBB style jProsilver (fork of usual Prosilver) is supplied. Note that we don't sell these styles. Any phpBB3 template can be modified to be used in frameless mode. Our demo forum works with the bridge and uses frameless mode, you can switch modified templates in your forum profile right here.

We also offer a paid service of Kunena-to-phpBB3 conversion which carefully converts all Kunena data including smilies, ranks, attachments, users, moderators and avatars from either Community Builder, JomSocial, EasySocial or Kunena. Converter can be used for converting large Kunena forums (tested on forum with 5000+ members and 25000+ replies). Kunena 6.2.3+ is required, price on demand.

Want a new feature? Why not? Please Contact Us!

  • Joomla 4.4 or higher installed and working correctly.
  • phpBB 3.3.12+ installed and working correctly.
  • Apache 2.0+ web server with mod_rewrite, also working correctly. May work on Nginx. May work on IIS with mod_rewrite like http://www.micronovae.com/ModRewrite/ModRewrite.html. We don't help with configuring IIS or Nginx rewrites.
  • PHP 8.1 or higher.
  • MySQL >= 5.7.
  • Either same database or different MySQL users for phpBB and Joomla.
  • Enabled Joomla! options "Search Engine Friendly URLs" and "Use Apache mod_rewrite".
  • Joomla! and phpBB should be installed on same domain.
  • Joomla! should be installed in the root domain folder (i.e. http://site.com, not http://site.com/joomla/), phpBB should be installed and loaded in the first-level domain folder (i.e. http://site.com/phpBB3, not http://site.com/joomla/phpBB3/, not http://site.com)
  • phpBB GZip compression should be disabled.
  • Same cookie domain settings for Joomla and phpBB.
  • Few lines of code should be added in Joomla! .htaccess file for phpBB 3.0.12 and in phpBB .htaccess file for phpBB 3.1.1+.
  • Usernames shouldn't be allowed to be changed by user in both systems (possible to change it only in backend).
  • We can't guarantee that the bridge will work with any phpBB MOD, i.e. it won't work with SEO MOD (but note that the bridge has its own SEO features) or phpBB Gallery or phpBB Likes.
  • We can't guarantee that the bridge will work with any phpBB style or any Joomla template, CSS conflicts between style and template are possible and it's not our responsibility to fix them (though we can help with minor issues for free).
  • Specially adopted phpBB style for wrapped (frameless) bridge mode is required (adopted Prosilver is supplied). Joomla extensions should not load MooTools library if you have phpBB 3.1.1. Adoptation of phpBB styles and resolving CSS conflicts require developer knowledge (HTML, CSS, Javascript).
  • There can be conflicts with Gantry templates and Gantry template can't be used with Joomla.
  • Small patch for RocketTheme phpBB styles can be required.
  • Advanced CB integration requires CB 2.7.x.
  • Advanced JomSocial integration requires JomSocial 4.2.4+.
  • Advanced EasySocial integration requires EasySocial 3.9.x+ or 4.0.x.
  • phpBB can have issues with Gantry5 Joomla templates.
  • Using 3rd-party SEF Joomla extensions may require using same database for Joomla and phpBB and is not recommended.
  • This component won't work with 'Wordpress for Joomla' by corePHP (there are conflicts between WordPress and phpBB).
  • The price includes 1 year non-recurrent subscription. Support, downloads of product addons and new versions will be available within subscription period.

03 Sep 2024 - ver. 5.2.2:

  • Fix: broken search in phpBB 3.3.13.

10 Jun 2024 - ver. 5.2.1:

  • Feature: new settings "Auto-delete Topic Activity" and "Auto-delete Post Activity" for EasySocial to auto-delete activities on associated topic/post delete.
  • Fix: broken links in ACP since phpBB 3.3.12.

20 Oct 2023 - ver. 5.2.0:

  • Feature: Joomla 5 compatibility.
  • Change: PHP 8.1 as min, Joomla 4.4 as min.
  • Fix: smart search indexing issue with the topics without posts.

05 Aug 2023 - ver. 5.1.1:

  • Fix: issue with smart search plugin.

01 Aug 2023 - ver. 5.1.0:

  • Feature: new 'Smart Search - p8pbb bridge' plugin for native Joomla smart search component (com_finder). The plugin allows to index forum titles with optional descriptions and forum images, forum topic subjects with optional first post or all posts texts. Allows to define Joomla access levels for phpBB forums to filter search results for specific Joomla users using native Joomla ACL.

25 Jul 2023 - ver. 5.0.0:

  • Fix: issue with manual Joomla user activation with phpBB non-default password complexity.
  • Change: Joomla 3 support dropped.
  • Change: PHP 8.0 as min.
  • Change: AltaUserPoints support dropped.
  • Note: Community Builder plugin updated to 5.0.0.
  • Note: if you see any AltaUserPoints-related warnings after installing the new package, please install it again.
  • Important note: once a new package is installed, please delete the phpBB environment cache folder, i.e. /your-phpBB-folder/cache/production.

20 Mar 2023 - ver. 4.1.8:

  • Fix: users not synced with PHP 8.1+
  • Note: please update Community Builder plugin as well.

28 Aug 2022 - ver. 4.1.7:

  • Fix: Joomla 4 compatibility, no modules displayed in wrapped mode.

26 Apr 2022 - ver. 4.1.6:

  • Fix: Gantry5 compatibility.

21 Feb 2022 - ver. 4.1.5:

  • Change: new OSMap plugin. Please re-enable and re-configure "OSMap - p8pbb bridge" plugin.
  • Fix: Joomla 4 compatibility.

04 Oct 2021 - ver. 4.1.4:

  • Fix: phpBB 3.3.5 compatibility.
  • Change: phpBB 3.3.5 as minimum requirement.
  • Note: please update CB and EasySocial applications as well.
  • Note: jprosilver 3.3.5 is available for download.
  • Note: phpBB 3.3.5 introduced important change in topic URLs: the forum alias or ID is not included anymore, all topic URLs are started with /topic/ prefix followed by topic ID or alias.

05 May 2021 - ver. 4.1.3:

  • Fix: broken phpBB lost password redirect.
  • Feature: CB plugin update: new "phpBB Status" custom field which can display phpBB user rank or number of posts.
  • Fix: Joomla > phpBB users copy on MySQL 8.
  • Fix: phpBB > Joomla avatar update for EasySocial 4.0

25 September 2020 - ver. 4.1.2:

  • Fix: broken phpBB reset password link.

07 September 2020 - ver. 4.1.1:

  • Fix: "Redirect After Logout" in phpBB not working.
  • Fix: Joomla 4 compatibility.

12 August 2020 - ver. 4.1.0:

  • Feature: filtering of displayed and accessed forums by current Joomla language.

26 June 2020 - ver. 4.0.8:

  • Fix: possible SQL injection with sh404sef.

16 March 2020 - ver. 4.0.7:

  • Fix: not all forums are included in Joomla pathway.
  • Changes: minimum phpBB 3.3.0 is required.
  • Fix: usergroup changes in ACP.

16 March 2020 - ver. 4.0.6:

  • Fix: phpBB->Joomla users import.

14 Jan 2020 - ver. 4.0.5:

  • Fix: phpBB 3.3.0 compatibility.

07 Jan 2020 - ver. 4.0.4:

  • Feature: phpBB 3.3.0 compatibility.
    Feature: jprosilver 3.3.0.

05 December 2019 - ver. 4.0.3:

  • Fix: escape of characters in blocked keywords.

30 September 2019 - ver. 4.0.2:

  • Fix: phpBB 3.2.8 compatibility.

07 February 2019 - ver. 4.0.1:

  • Fix: code improvements.
  • Note: CB plugin or EasySocial application should be updated as well.

26 November 2018 - ver. 4.0.0:

  • Fix: JomSocial activities can't be commented and liked.
  • Fix: EasySocial 2.2.x phpBB->Joomla avatar sync issue.
  • Feature: ability to sync phpBB avatar URL with Joomla custom field.
  • Changes: phpBB 3.2.4 as minimum.
  • Changes: PHP 7 as minimum.
  • Changes: Joomla 3.9 as minimum.
  • Changes: Joomla 4 Alpha 5 support.
  • Changes: p8pbb bridge requires either same database or different MySQL users for phpBB and Joomla.

26 March 2018 - ver. 3.3.3:

  • Fix: various improvements.
  • Change: AlphaUserPoints support dropped in favor of AltaUserPoints (official AlphaUserPoints successor).
  • Updated: CB plugin and EasySocial application.
  • Note: this is the last version with Joomla 2.5 and phpBB < 3.2 support.

07 March 2018 - ver. 3.3.2:

  • Fix: HTML email override fails on certain servers.
  • Fix: HTML email override crops subject to 64 chars.
  • Fix: users import on Joomla 3.8
  • Fix: Joomla user name and custom user fields not synced with mapped custom phpBB profile fields on Joomla user registration.

11 November 2017 - ver. 3.3.1:

  • Feature: append pagination info (Page X of Y) for all meta titles and descriptions of all pages helps to have unique titles and descriptions.
  • Feature: new Latest Activity and Attachments module setting 'Friendly Posts Only' allows to display posts from phpBB friends only.
  • Feature: ability to use native Joomla mailer for all outgoing phpBB emails with editable HTML template.

01 July 2017 - ver. 3.3.0:

  • Feature: new module 'p8pbb bridge - Statistics' to display phpBB statistics (total number of posts, topics, members and newest member). See module demo in sidebar of our forum.
  • Feature: new module 'p8pbb bridge - Login' to display avatar and number of unread PMs for logged user. See module demo in sidebar of our forum.
  • Fix: post reporting on phpBB 3.2
  • Feature: synchronization of Joomla custom fields (since Joomla 3.7)
  • Note: this is the last version to support Joomla 2.5 and phpBB 3.0.

27 April 2017 - ver. 3.2.22:

  • Fix: bad FAQ link with enabled phpBB setting URL rewriting.
  • Fix: updated CB plugin - message "Please visit forum once for enabling phpBB moderator links" is not removed.
  • Fix: PHP 7 issue with phpBB registration errors in Joomla.
  • Feature: JComments avatars plugin.
  • Fix: Joomla 3.7 compatibility.

12 January 2017 - ver. 3.2.21:

  • Fix: latest activity module.
  • Fix: Joomla 3.6 phpBB session user, changes: use JFactory::getSession()->get('phpbb_user') to retrieve logged forum user data.
  • Fix: JomSocial application updated for JomSocial 4.2.4.
  • Fix: Joomla->phpBB timezone sync issue.
  • Fix: Community Builder plugin update.
  • Feature: new EasySocial application for EasySocial 2.0.
  • Feature: phpBB 3.2.0 support
  • Note: this is last version which supports Joomla 2.5 and phpBB 3.0

14 July 2016 - ver. 3.2.20:

  • Feature: support for official phpBB 3.1 extensions 'Pages' and 'Board Rules'.
  • Fix: '&' char issue on password reset.
  • Fix: groups batch add members from phpBB ACP sync to Joomla usergroups.
  • Fix: Joomla 3.6 compatibility.

10 May 2016 - ver. 3.2.19

  • Feature: Xmap plugin changed to OSMap plugin.

25 December 2015 - ver. 3.2.18:

  • Feature/Fix: allow to sync 'Newly registered users' phpBB group on phpBB 3.1.
  • Fix: Joomla 3.4.6 compatibility

06 November 2015 - ver. 3.2.17:

  • EasySocial bug on user save/activation without correct usergroups.

26 October 2015 - ver. 3.2.16:

  • Feature: EasySocial support of avatars and profile fields for Joomla -> phpBB users import.
  • Fix: JomSocial 4 compatibility for user PM popup integration.
  • Fix: broken activities since phpBB 3.1.6

09 June 2015 - ver. 3.2.15:

  • Fix: user save issue on phpBB 3.0.x.
  • Fix: locked topics were not displayed in recent activities module and profile user posts.
  • Feature: new setting 'Unread Posts Only' for attachments module allows to display attachments from unread posts only.
  • Fix: ampersand in passwords is not recognized in phpBB login.
  • Fix: timezone update from phpBB to Joomla.
  • Feature: attachments module setting 'Filter Mode' allows to display first or last topic or post attachment only.
  • Fix: EasySocial 1.3.28 compatibility.

03 March 2014 - ver. 3.2.14:

  • Feature: 'No Avatar Image' setting for latest activity module helps to use custom image if user doesn't have an avatar.
  • Fix: new phpBB user not activated via EasySocial email activation link.
  • Fix: phpBB usergroups - Joomla usergroups not synchronized in phpBB UCP.
  • Fix: phpBB 3.1 attachments in reply to PM issue (jprosilver style should be updated, next phpBB cache purged).
  • Fix: initial Joomla 3.4 compatibility.

02 January 2015 - ver. 3.2.12:

  • Fix: broken frontend phpBB usergroup add/remove synch with Joomla in phpBB 3.1.
  • Fix: various phpBB 3.1 issues.
  • Fix: updated EasySocial app.

15 December 2014 - ver. 3.2.11:

  • Feature: EasySocial support for phpBB to Joomla users import.
  • Fix: various phpBB 3.1 compatibility issues.

12 November 2014 - ver. 3.2.10:

  • Fix: custom phpBB profile fields are not updated during registration in mapped Joomla extensions fields.
  • Fix: no activity notifications in JomSocial and EasySocial.
  • Fix: phpBB logout.

08 November 2014 - ver. 3.2.9:

  • Fix: broken search plugin.
  • Feature: phpBB 3.1 compatibility.

16 October 2014 - ver. 3.2.8:

  • Fix: EasySocial application view notice.
  • Feature: thumbnails creation for attachments module with resize/crop generation methods.
  • Update: Community Builder 2.0 compatibility.
  • Update: phpBB 3.1 pre-alpha compatibility.

07 September 2014 - ver. 3.2.7:

  • Feature: 'Private Group Forum' setting for JomSocial application: if existing JomSocial Group is saved as Private - permissions of all groups for associated phpBB forum are changed to 'No access' role (except for Administrators and Moderators).
  • Fix: JomSocial group save.

26 August 2014 - ver. 3.2.6:

  • Feature: 'Activities Comments' setting for EasySocial app allows to disable comments for bridge stream activities.
  • Feature: 'p8pbb bridge - Attachments' module allows to display recent attachments from forum.
  • Feature: native EasySocial notifications (alerts) for new forum topics and posts.

01 August 2014 - ver. 3.2.5:

  • Feature: Joomla permissions for backend access.
  • Fix: Joomla login redirect to forum.
  • Feature: EasySocial stream activities for new posts and topics.
  • Feature: EasySocial points and badges for new posts and topics.

09 June 2014 -  ver. 3.2.4:

  • Feature: ability to block posts by keywords in subject and message.
  • Fix: restore password from phpBB for Joomla 3.3.
  • Fix: phpBB user activation after JomSocial activation.
  • Feature: EasySocial application to display user posts in profile, avatar and profile fields update synch from EasySocial to phpBB.

08 May 2014 -  ver. 3.2.3:

  • Fix: issue with restoring password from phpBB for Joomla 3.3.

05 May 2014 - ver. 3.2.2:

  • Feature: better RokBB and RocketTheme styles compatibility.
  • Feature: canonical meta tags for forums, user's posts, group members pages.
  • Fix: invalid phpBB password update on cookie-based Joomla login.

19 February 2013 - ver. 3.2.1:

  • Fix: phpBB activities are not displayed in JomSocial stream.
  • Improved phpBB password reset synchronization with Joomla.
  • Improved registration date synchronization.
  • Fix: incorrect password update in phpBB after update in JomSocial 3 profile.
  • Feature: phpBB->EasySocial  advanced integration.

30 October 2013 - ver. 3.1.0:

  • Fix: issue with post links to other sites with same path as phpBB.
  • Fix: issue with 'Administrate user' link in CB plugin.
  • Fix: issue with link to latest post with disabled setting 'Include parent forums'.
  • Feature: optional disable of 'System - Cache' plugin for forum pages.
  • Fix: issue with updating password from backend profile.
  • Fix: issue with activating/deleting Joomla users from phpBB inactive users list.
  • Update: JomSocial 3 compatibility.

29 July 2013 - ver. 3.0.9:

  • Fix: issue with search plugin not returning results.
  • Ability to apply phpBB forum read permissions to list of topics in Latest Activity module.
  • Fixed issue with users import in Joomla 3.1.4

07 June 2013 - ver. 3.0.8:

  • SEO improvement: removing duplicate title of topic print view page.
  • Improvement: added compatibility with email authentication in Joomla, user can login with email in phpBB now if he was authenticated by email in Joomla.
  • Fix: issue with non-https links in Xmap plugin.
  • Improvement: removed previous document base overwrite.
  • New features in latest forum activity module: new setting 'Only Unread Items' which allows you to display i.e. only unread topics, and 'Show Unread Status' which highlights unread topics or posts. 'Show Replies Count' allows you to display count of replies in topic.
  • Improved handling of topic canonical link, added next/prev meta tags for topic page.
  • Corrected remembering login behavior in redirect to phpBB page with missed phpBB session

28 Apr 2013 - ver. 3.0.7

  • Fixed issue: updating phpBB avatar in CB with disabled avatar upload.
  • Fixed issue: copy of phpBB users to Joomla with certain mapped JomSocial fields.
  • Fixed issue: Joomla 3.1+ compatibility.
  • Feature added: new setting 'Skip Unanswered Topics' of latest activity module, it allows you to select forums which unanswered topics won't be displayed.

26 Feb 2013 - ver. 3.0.6

  • 'Max Title Chars' setting was not applied in activity module.
  • New SEO settings 'Prepend title with' and 'Append title with'.
  • Fixed issue with synchronizing custom phpBB fields with CB.
  • Updated the code for new activity stream in JomSocial 2.8.3.

21 Jan 2013 - ver. 3.0.4

  • Fixed submenu toolbar items for JomSocial 2.8.0.
  • Added Joomla-to-phpBB and phpBB-to-Joomla users converters.

13 Jan 2013 - ver. 3.0.3

  • Fixed Joomla search plugin in Joomla 3.
  • Improved Joomla 3 support.

31 Dec 2012 - ver. 3.0.2, unified version for Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.0

  • Added native Joomla version updater.

19 Dec 2012 - ver. 3.0.1 and 1.1.16:

  • Added ability to synchronize changes of Joomla profile fields with phpBB fields.

30 Nov 2012 - version 3.0.0 for Joomla 3