Issue with forum integration

[kobra]

Should have been:

Why not put up a module to integrate another

[yellow1912]

Should have been:

Why not put up a module to integrate another

Because I dont use it ^^ (forum). But yeah, once I finish the current proj im working I may spend several hours on a new module for this.

[kobra]

People want to:
1. Login to ZC and the forum at the same time
2. Create account for both at the same time
3. Pull new posts from forum

etc....

And seems like it is causing a headache for many users using phpbb. Yet with SMF and some other forum softwares, you can accomplish all that with several lines of codes, so it becomes a big puzzle for me, why would you want to stick with phpbb that much?

But yeah, once I finish the current proj im working I may spend several hours on a new module for this.

and

Yet with SMF and some other forum softwares, you can accomplish all that with several lines of codes,

Several lines of code is gonna take you SEVERAL HOURS?

[yellow1912]

to make sure it work under all circumstances, kobra, you dont want me to break ZC registration and login process, do you? And it is an estimation, i dont want to say several minutes and then cant make it ^^

[rainthebat]

This idea of using SimpleMachinesForum is realatively new compared with phpBB. The latter software has been around for a while and has big popularity, many customized templates, and many addons. However, I am discovering that SMF has some seriously clean coding behind it, which makes things oh so much more fresh and fun to work with. Yellow1912 claims that integration would be easy using something like API, and that would be a great draw for me. I looked at integrating phpBB3 using various methods, and got a real big headache... One needs to be a (good) professional programmer to have success with that!

As Kobra stated, people use phpBB3 because that is what the default (integrated) forum for Zen Cart and has some pre-integration coding done for it. Also, people hear the name so much (due to popularity) it sticks in their heads, and they read posts touting phpBB3 over SMF and become hooked (even if they hear that another forum software might possibly be better).

I am guilty of strangely being attracted to phpBB3, even after temporarily switching to SMF to test. But after this last time of failure of integration I am probably giving phpBB3 up for good (as far as using with Zen Cart goes). I can only take so much beatings from software that likes to remain incredibly elusive instead of just showing me everything (which is why I love Zen Cart to the end).

[rainthebat]

Yet with SMF and some other forum softwares, you can accomplish all that with several lines of codes, so it becomes a big puzzle for me, why would you want to stick with phpbb that much?

Is this really going to be "easy"? As in, does the word easy represent the well experience php'er or the 6 month php newbie?

[yellow1912]

For ppl who look into a way to integrate smf:

http://www.simplemachines.org/commun...?topic=48220.0

Hint:
You will also want to look at smf's api and ssi file.

And to avoid modifying ZC's core code, please look at the notifier class:
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.p..._API_Tutorials

GLuck ^^

PS: I happened to stumble upon a phpbb integration tut as well, pretty short but i dont know if it's for phpbb3 or not.

[misticloudz]

People want to:
1. Login to ZC and the forum at the same time
2. Create account for both at the same time
3. Pull new posts from forum

etc....

And seems like it is causing a headache for many users using phpbb. Yet with SMF and some other forum softwares, you can accomplish all that with several lines of codes, so it becomes a big puzzle for me, why would you want to stick with phpbb that much?

Yellow1912, you seem to know a fair amout about integrating SMF with ZC. I've been working on it but for some reason I just can't wrap my head around it! What I'm trying to do is pretty much exactly what you're saying; I want customers to be able to login to both at the same time/create an account for both simultaneously, and to be able to pull new forum posts/current topics and have them displayed in a sidebox. I'm normally pretty good at puzzling out code (i'm kind of a newb) but for whatever reason it's all just staying gibberish to me. Do you have some pointers for where I should start, and what files I should be editing? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Tiff :-)

[starcad]

Well I know this is an old post but I was hoping yellow 1912 may still be around and could provide a few more details. What I'm looking for is to be able to integrate Zen into Tiny Portal along with SMF. If anyone has any ideas or details could you please post them and share. Thanks.