miniBB :: Complete User's GuideVersion 1.7, Oct 30, 2003 Copyright (c) 2001-2003 miniBB.netPermission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
miniBB ("minimalistic bulletin board") is linear (non-tree) version of highly customizable bulletin board. It inherits most popular features from the bulletin boards the planet has at this moment, with one exception: it is very small by size (2-5 times smaller than usual boards), very fast and FREE. Also, it uses specific functions that are not included in other forum systems. Since we only need bulletin board community (not email server, not Microsoft product, not moonwalker), we made it really fit to everyone's needs. Mostly miniBB is designed for small and medium Internet-sites, but also can be used in large projects. We will talk about this a little bit later. miniBB is written using popular language PHP. First version is based on mySQL database, versions 1.1 and higher also support PostgreSQL (requires separate module), since version 1.5 also supported by Microsoft SQL module. But it is possible to extend miniBB for working with other databases that are supported by PHP (see below). miniBB has a user-friendly interface, the simplest administration panel, also many necessary administration options. We hope, it also has helpful FAQ :). For more information about features, refer to our "feature list" on miniBB.net. You are always welcome for feedback, suggestions and questions in our support community. This guide refers to almost all miniBB features and possibilities. It is created both for user and administrator, and is included in miniBB package as "default" FAQ. You can use this manual as basic user FAQ for your page under GNU Free Documentation License described below. If you are using this guide as FAQ in your forums, you can remove all administration and developers guide, described in "Installation", "Customization", "Administrative options" and "Some notes for developers" sections. Some options described in this manual requires basic HTML and PHP knowledge. If you are on beginner-user level, just read it :). miniBB offers users and administrators most popular features:
Why do you need miniBB? The answer is: miniBB is SMALL, SIMPLE, FAST and POWERFUL as ever. miniBB requires PHP4 to be installed on your server. For the miniBB version 1.x, you'll need mySQL server 3.22.32 or higher, PostgreSQL server (see PostgreSQL module readme for requirements), or MSSQL server (see MSSQL module readme for requirements). There are no limitations about server type or OS. For more details about requirements, check our site. We have tried to design miniBB as small as possible. ZIP-compressed fully working version takes only about 90 Kb in size, and uncompressed (without manual) - only about 180 Kb! And less code means: less bugs, less memory eating, more speed. Of course, it depends on your server's power to make fast all database requests, and execute scripts. But, we have tested miniBB on more than 50000 records (enough for medium site!) and can conclude that it works very fast even on average servers. Even faster, than other "ultimate" boards :). Despite that, it includes most popular user and administrator options, that makes use of it clear and simple. If we talk about limitation of posts, there is actually no limits. miniBB 1.x is based on mySQL, and mySQL can support up to 50,000,000 records. So, if you have a board with 1000 posts per day (who has? tell us! :) ), your forums will be filled after... 130 years! :) And you can easily boost this value by using PostgreSQL. miniBB has a strong support by us, also as by other developers who took (or will take) part in. You can give us any questions on miniBB net, report bugs, make new suggestions. You are always welcome! Also, other developers are always welcome to develop new features. Especially, if you are a student, this is real to take part for you in serious project, that can help you with study project and your references :). As for technical support (installation etc.), it is, actually, not free from our side. miniBB itself is a GPL project (read more on Free Software Foundation about GPL license), and you can copy/distribute/modify all scripts under terms of GPL. But you can not remove all our copyrights from scripts and templates and offer miniBB as "your" commercial product. For making this possible, you can buy miniBB (for a VERY small amount of $:) ). Read more about technical support on our site. We are really not interested in receiving big money for miniBB project. For us, it is possibility to offer free product instead of many free products we are using. But a little compensation could be possible :). InstallationFor correct working, miniBB needs to have the following structure: [IMG] [LANG] [TEMPLATES] bb_admin.php bb_codes.php bb_default_style.css bb_functions.php bb_func_checkusr.php bb_func_confpwd.php bb_func_delmsg.php bb_func_deltopic.php bb_func_editmsg.php bb_func_editprf.php bb_func_forums.php bb_func_ldisc.php bb_func_lng.php bb_func_locktop.php bb_func_man.php bb_func_movetpc.php bb_func_pthread.php bb_func_ptopic.php bb_func_regusr.php bb_func_search.php bb_func_sendpwd.php bb_func_stats.php bb_func_sticky.php bb_func_txt.php bb_func_unsub.php bb_func_usernfo.php bb_func_usrdat.php bb_func_vforum.php bb_func_viewip.php bb_func_vthread.php bb_func_vtopic.php bb_plugins.php bb_specials.php bb_style.css COPYING index.php setup_mysql.php (or whatever you module is) setup_options.php Optionally, there can be also install files and modules for different databases. [IMG], [LANG], and [TEMPLATES] are system directories. It is strongly recommended to NOT rename them. They mean:
Read more about this below. Other files means following:
Begin installation of miniBB is very simple. You need to create some database on your SQL server (f.e., "miniBB") with this command: create database miniBB; Then unpack your minibb zip package to some place on your server. Find the file called "setup_options.php". This is your main setup file. All engine is based on it. Open options file with some plain text editor on your computer. We recommend Metapad, or simply Notepad. You will find a bunch of option variables, but it is not necessary to edit all of them in this 1st step. We will edit only necessary, and explain the others later. Let's begin.
You need set correctly mysql user name, password, host and database. According to user privileges, it must be SUPER-USER, which can also create tables (if you will create them from the web like via install from browser). So, stop now if you're done. We did enough for setup. Next step - you need to create structure of your database. In the main directory, You will find _install.php file and, for mySQL for example, _install_mysql.sql file. "Sql" file is actually your dump. If you have capabilities to make database from shell, you can run it and insert all tables manually - but we do not recommend it, this is only for real professionals who are knowing what they do. Run from your browser the _install.php file, it will create all tables according to their names in setup_options.php and insert all necessary values. Usually, it takes 1-2 seconds. First screen will welcome you to enter setup. Click on "continue". If everything you typed in options file is correct, script will make all necessary tables described in .sql file. If not, pay attention to your config. After "OK", you can start building your community! Easy, isn't it? :) But first, DELETE the _install.php file, also as ALL .sql files from directory. We don't need them anymore. miniBB engine is using cookies for registered users and admin log in. No PHP sessions are used. Please refer to "logging" section for more info. So, turn on cookies in your browser for that stuff. Do a login to your admin page. Usually is "bb_admin.php", but since your are renamed this file (did you?..), only you know what is admin panel URL :). So, go to that panel, and probably you will be prompted for your admin login and password. Enter them, and you must go in admin panel. There you will see a bunch of options for your miniBB forums. We will describe them later, but now we need to create some forums. So, click on "Add forum" link and... follow instructions on the screen! We guess, it will be very easy to create some forums. Our system HAS NO subcategories and possibility to sort forum titles by categories. Why? Possibly because that is really not necessary for some site's forum. Let's look at many sites: usually they have 5-6 forum titles, and they are splitted by 2-3 categories. Do you think that is really important? We guess no. Another side of this question is: "I have so many forums, so they look on the first page like a pack of garbage, that's why I need to categorize them." This is a question of forum policy - and we don't recommend you to create more than 10 thematical forums for 1 site. Usually, 5-6 is REALLY ENOUGH. More forums are scaring users, and incorrectly strong categorization is decreasing board's popularity. Bulletin Board is a place where users can fast and simply post questions and get answers, and it is very bad, if users don't know WHERE to post their message, because in this case they are simply turning out. So, before creating forums, REALLY THINK OUT their structure and minimize forums count as strong as possible. Also, we don't recommend to give forums "large names". Be as laconic as possible. First, it is more rememberable, second, large names do not fit in topics or threads listing pages. When you enter miniBB as administrator, you are also logged in as simple user. You can make posts under your name, edit other posts, make deletions etc. We'll talk about it later. Only one: by default, you should also see "admin panel" link beneath every page. And you can automatically reach your panel following this link. CustomizationAt this moment, your miniBB should be running already! You can go to index.php and check this :). But, there is a lot of other options that probably you want to change. So, let's refer to setup_options.php again:
That's all, folks! We did the advanced miniBB setup. After that, your forums will work according to your needs and preferences :). But, you need to do something corresponding to your page's design, didn't you? So, let's go to the next level. Templates are used to separate HTML code from PHP. They are located in "templates" directory and are usual HTML files (or TXT files - if we talk about email templates). If you don't like our templates, you can change them or design yours. It is important to save all variables (they look like usual PHP "variable variables": {$...}) like shown. We don't recommend editing templates with WYSIWYG editors. Try to work with "clear" code, since all PHP variables included in templates will not work in HTML separately. We hope, that it will be enough for you to use any kind of simple text editor with our templates: they are very clean and tide, "hand-made". We tried to make all templates compliant to W3C recommendations. We can't guarantee, that they will work as 100% W3C standart works, but they look the same in different browsers. If you decide to change templates, you need to refer to the miniBB logic in building them. We hope, all templates names are pretty clear to understand, what they mean. Also, try to leave ALL the variables inside the templates as they shown, else we are not responsible for anything. Most templates are used in different operations (that's why we call this "mini-BB ;) ). F.e., user_dataform.html is used both for registering new user and editing user preferences, main_post_form.html is used on all posts, topics and editing pages. It is necessary to pay attention to email templates (begins with "email_" and ends with ".txt"). They have special format: first line of every template should contain SUBJECT<<...>> line, with some text instead of "...". As you understand, between "SUBJECT<<" and ">>" there is subject of email. Don't remove this line, else you emails will be garbled! If you have more questions about templates, ask on our support forums. Note: in main_header.html, you will find page title as <title>$title</title>. Don't worry about your forums will containing the same title on each page. Title is changing dynamically according to the page, f.e., on topic page it becomes topic name, and on topic lists it becomes forum name. This is very smart feature for search indexers (like Google or AllTheWeb for example) to INDEX your forum, since these engines are working mostly with page titles. Also, that's why we recommend to think about "right" forum names: as more simple they will be, as better. In this case, also don't forget to include (or change) META-tags in header. There is possibility to make a custom template and call it from the script. For example, you need to create separate page before user registration (agreement): you can add any custom template, which is not included in miniBB. Design your template as usual (all script pre-defined variables also work), put it in "/templates" directory and call from the script like: index.php?action=tpl&tplName=custom_template where tplName is a name for your created template (in this case, "custom_template.html"). In that way you can also create stuff like "Most loved topics and answers" with the direct list of topics, any FAQs, manuals, description pages, agreements etc., etc., as like as the WHOLE site! ;) For international (non-english) users, we offer "language packs" feature. You can find them on our page. If you have not found a pack for your language, you can fill it yourself and sent it to us :) In this way, you'll help many users from your country. Language packs can be found in "lang" directory. Usually, only "eng.php" pack is included for default english language on the board. Language pack name is changed in options file. Language pack simply contains PHP variables with their values. Note for editors: use ` instead of ' in the sentences, or use slashed apostrophe \'. It is better to use apostrophes instead of quotes, because of the engine's speed increase. We hope, it is pretty simple to understand, what's going on inside of language pack, if you want to change it :). Despite, there are some notes more:
Other variables are in assorting order. Another words, there is no order :) While working on miniBB, we have added them in "order of appearance". Just one more thing: if you will see a string like "Language variables miniBB vX.X", it means that, variables following this string are added or changed for corresponding version. If we add more features, we will also add variables, and for better finding they will be added in another section. Language packs describe ALL language used in board, incl. admin panel. Administrator can disable multilanguage feature. For this:
This prevents users to change language. Even if they type direct www link, they will be re-adressed to the main page. Important: language pack's filename can have only of 3 letters (examples: eng.php, alb.php, rus.php). If you have multilanguage forum, it would be a good idea to create many manuals on each language. By default, only manual_eng.html is included. If there is no manual for user's language, empty page will be displayed. CSS (cascading style sheet named bb_default_style.css) is designed to fit all font colors, table borders and sizes on the page in one file. It is included only once in main_header.html. It is W3C compliant. You can edit it as you wish, to fit your forums design to your page's design. On our site, you will some free examples of another styles/skins. Even if you don't know CSS, it is very easy to change mostly a couple of colors in HEX, fonts and sizes in pixels/points. Some example CSS skins downloadable from our site can also contain icon packages and image backgrounds and it's easy to add your own background to any CSS skin. You can find skin parameter description in CSS file itself - all main parts of it have small notes explaining the meaning of subsequent font/color/border and other parameters. Administrative optionsYou can go to the admin panel "by hand", typing in your browser admin panel's filename which you have entered in options file. But usually, you only need to login as admin into forums, and you'll see admin panel link at the bottom of each page. Admin panel is very small and very simple. Here is the list of options:
"Hidden" admin forums optionsPrivate forums. Only site owner can define private forums and users which are allowed to post and view them. Edit bb_specials.php file, find variable $clForums=array(); and add $clForumsUsers[]=array();. clForums array defines closed forums ID(s), and clForumsUsers[] elements defines users which are allowed to post in this forum. Oh, sounds too difficult, here is an example: $clForums=array(1,3,6); $clForumsUsers[1]=array(2,5); $clForumsUsers[3]=array(10,11); $clForumsUsers[6]=array(12,22); That means: forums with IDs 1,3,6 are private. Users with IDs 2 and 5 are allowed to post and view forum under ID 1, users with IDs 10 and 11 are allowed to post and view forum under ID 3, users with IDs 12 and 22 are allowed to post and view forum under ID 6. It seems a little bit difficult, but usually site has only one private forum and 5-10 allowed users, thus not everyone needs this feature - that's why we have not implemented graphical interface for it. If you don't want to have private forums, leave these arrays blank (but don't remove them!). Note: topic titles from private forums don't appear on statistics, last discussions, user info and search pages. Only list of closed forums is available on the first page. Anyway, is allowed user or admin is logged, they will appear everywhere. Note 2: it is not necessary define admin ID (1), because admin can enter any private forum and has full access to it. Archive forums. Site owner can create so called "archive" forums. Edit bb_specials.php with array variable $roForums in it. Like in private forums (see above), add read-only comma-separated forums IDs into this array. In read-only forums, no one except admin can make or edit posts. Post-only forums. Site owner can create so called "post-only" forums. That means, users can do anything except for creating new topics in these forums. It is very useful, if you combine your forums with guestbook or news flash, for example. Edit bb_specials.php with array variable $poForums in it. Like in private forums (see above), add read-only comma-separated forums IDs into this array. In post-only forums, no one except admin can make or edit topics. Example: $poForums=array(1); That means, forum with ID 1 is "post-only". If you have "post-only" forum as guestbook, for example, or just want to redirect user to some thread exactly when he is clicking on forum's title to view topics, you can define it in bb_specials.php as $redthread array. Example from our forums: $redthread=array(8=>355); means when user visits some forum with ID 8, he will redirected to the topic with ID 355, so the full URL will be like action=vthread&forum=8&topic=355. This is optional feature, it is not necessary to include this array if you don't need it. User rankings. miniBB doesn't use ranking system (user ranks like 'Administrator', 'Member' are displayed only, and if it is anonymous user, nothing is displayed). But it is possible to define special user rankings, for "special" members (for example, most-active-poster-of-all-time). Open bb_specials.php for that, find $userRanks array, and edit it. It is based on PHP syntax, so let's give an example with no more talk: $userRanks=array(1=>'Boss', 17=>'Team member', 9=>'Team member'); That means, user's rank with ID 1 is Boss (of course! :), and users with IDs 17 and 9 are "Team members". These rankings will be displayed under nickname in every post. In this way, you also can define so called "avatars" (just use your imagination, how to do that). Registered-users-only forums. These forums mean, that only registered (and logged correspondly) users can make new topics, new posts and edit their messages here. Variable $regUsrForums=array(); in bb_specials.php means array of forums IDs which are protected. Example: $regUsrForums=array(1,2); That means, forums with ID 1,2 are only for registered users. Moderators definition. Moderators are people who can help admin in managing forums (read more in moderators section. Variable $mods=array(); in bb_specials.php defines the the array of user IDs which have moderators possibilities. Example: $mods=array(11,22); That means, users with ID 11,22 are moderators. By default, moderators have access to any forum. But you can also EXCLUDE moderators for some forum, if you don't want to give access to it. Example: $modsOut=array('11>2','11>3'); This excludes moderator with user ID 11 from forums with IDs 2 and 3. Note that array values are actually STRINGS, and you need to set them up in quotes or apostrophes! It's not necessary to add this new value if you don't need this. Excluding last discussions. If you want to exclude some forum from "Last discussions" list, you can set it in the bb_specials array $lastOut. For example: $lastOut=array(6); excludes forum with ID 6 from "Last discussions" list on the first page. It's not necessary to add this new value if you don't need this. Sorting specific thread in DESC order. Beginning from version 1.6, you specify the ID of the thread (topic), which messages can be sorted in DESC order. By default, every thread is sorted in ASC order. Specially useful for questbooks. For this, set new array in your bb_specials.php file: $themeDesc=array(355,11); will set DESC order for topics with ID 355 and 11. Note that this option will not affect page listing in last discussions and topics list. When some topic is splitted by pages, last replies will be available when you click on topic's title. If you have such kind of sorted thread (like guestbook), it is better to exclude it from last discussions and set the exact redirect (see "Post-only forums"). Deleting messages. Only admin is allowed to delete user messages. Admin needs to be logged into the system. For deleting any message, go to the topic/thread list and click on "Delete" on the top of the message. You'll be prompted once again, then choose "Yes", and the post will be deleted. NOTE: you can not delete FIRST message and if you do so, the system will report an error. That's because the first message in thread list is TOPIC TEXT in reality. If you want to delete first message, it means you want to delete the WHOLE TOPIC. For this, see "Deleting topics". After delete, message is not available for recovering. Deleting topics. Only admin is allowed to delete user topics. Login, go to the bottom of topic page. You will find something like "delete topic". Click on it. After prompt, topic will be deleted, and all associated posts, too. After delete, topic is not available for recovering. Editing messages Board administrator can edit ANY message from the forum at any time, plus, if it is "new topic text", he can edit also topic title. However, it is possible only if administrator is logged. After admin edited topic, only he can edit it once again. For message author it is prohibited. Read more about editing in "forum-wide options" below. Moving topics. Only administrator can move topics from one forum to another. Moving topics is a specific operation, we don't recommend to do it often (since many users will not understand what's going on). Do it only if topics thematics is not the same as the one of a forum. After decision, login as admin, go to the bottom of the topic page, click on "Move topic" and move topic correspondly to the forum you want. You can move topic only to the "another" forum, else there is no sense for this action (don't move topic to the same forum ;) ). When moving topics, only forum info is updated, nor datetime or anything. Locking topics. This is very smart "censorship" operation, which prohibits users from making new posts in special topics. For locking topic, log in as admin, go to the bottom of each page. You will find kinda "lock topic" link. When you press it, topic will be locked. On an old place instead of "lock topic" you should see "unlock topic" link. Click on it, and topic will be unlocked. Both topic's author (if he is a registered user) and admin can lock/unlock topics. Even if admin has locked this topic, registered author can unlock it - if the corresponding value not set in your options (see above). "Stickying" topics. "Sticky topic" means the topic, which will be shown on the top of the topics list every time. This is useful for some announcements or really hot discussions, which you want to present first. Sticky topics appear ONLY in topics list. Last discussions page stays untouched! Last discussions is actually fresh meat, there is no necessarity to show sticky posts every day, in the time when new stuff is going. Sticky topics are available for setting both for admin and moderators. For stickying topic, go to the bottom of the thread and find the "Make sticky" link. Just click on it. When the topic is already sticky, you will find the "Make unsticky" link. Sticky topics also can be locked. If you lock sticky topic, and then unlock it again, the sticky status will be kept, and vice versa. Viewing subscriptions. This feature was added in miniBB 1.2. Entering topic, logged admin can view which users are subscribed to this topic ("Subscriptions" link). Entering view panel, admin can also delete unwanted subscriptions, checking boxes near user's email. Note: if there are no subscriptions, link will not appear. Actually, admins preferences doesn't change anything special. As usual user, Admin can go to that panel and edit something, but all forums-working datas (Admin email, login and password) are taken from options file. In the admin panel, you will find operation called "Restore Admin data in database", clicking on it, you will automatically copy (or insert) your options data to corresponding Admin field in database. Then you can choose another email and other stuff (ICQ, for example) that will be shown on the "about user" page. So, your email shown in the above mentioned user info page can be independent on the email in the setup options file. If you are using "Direct email" plugin, you can set another email for emailing admin, so you can have 2 different emails for system messages and direct user emailing. ModeratorsIn miniBB concepts, moderators are people who can:
Moderators have no admin's privileges and have no access to the administration panel. Moderators privileges are not splitted by forums. Moderator can do his job in any forum - until this is excluded in options (see above). Each moderator can be defined only by administrator in bb_specials.php file (see above). Each moderator has special description near his nickname (defined in $l_moderator variable in language). If moderator has special rank, his rank will be displayed instead of it. Forums-wide user optionsThere is "liberal" users hierarchy in miniBB. Topics can be made both by anonymous users and registered users. Let's see what happens.
User info is displayed on the separate page. On the threads page, you'll find only user's nick and, if this user is registered, a "member" beneath. Clicking on it, you'll get all possible info about user, which either is specified/allowed or not (see below). NOTE: by clicking on user's nickname, you "quote" his nickname in the reply form! All user logins are made via cookies, that need to be enabled in a browser. User login form is located on every topics or threads page, as well as on the first page. You need to type your login and password correctly. Cookie passwords are saved in encrypted format. Depending on forums setup, user login can expire in different time. Usually it expires within 1-2 hours, but administator can also make more longer expire (especially on international forums). Cookies renew mechanism also allows users to stay logged during longer periods of time - until the browser is closed. In any case, we recommend to do logout before you are leaving forums. Anonymous users also receive cookie that goes from one page to another. Enjoy comfort :). All users can change forums' language, entering "Language" menu. This option is available for "international" forums, but only if there are other language packs available. Entering forums for the first time, user's language is set to board's default language (whuch is set by admin) automatically. When user choose another available language, default language is ignored and set to user's choosed. Language settings are saved in a cookie sent to user. Forums administrator can disable this feature: if only one language is available, users can not change it. It this case, they can be re-adressed to the main page. At any time, users can delete browser's cookie, entering language menu and checking "Delete language settings" box. If something wrong happens via delete, users can use this link: "{URL_TO_FORUMS}/index.php?action=language2&deleteLang=on". Language change is working only in forums interface. Email notifications are sent to user on default forums language. For registering, just click on "Registration" menu and fill in the form. Necessary fields are:
Depending on what option current forum has, you can be registered just after filling the form, and can login to forums straight forward after it. Otherwise, if administrator has set avoiding of open registration, you'll need to check for the password your email first. When open registrations are forbidden, your password will be generated by the system, that's why you need to enter the correct email-address. New topic form is placed at the bottom of each topics listing page. You need to type topic's title ("New topic") and body ("Message"). At least, "New topic" field must be filled in. If you write in it and don't write in "Message", message will be automatically equal to topic's title. New post form is located at the bottom of each threads page. Note: if the anti-spam protection is enabled (usually it is), you can make posts and topics only once-per-defined-time. Usually, this time is 1-2 minutes - and it means, you can make posts not often than 1 per 1-2 minutes as well. Note 2: before making a post, make sure you have corresponding ENCODING for this. F.e., if you have to make post on non-english language, let's say, chinese, be sure your browser encoding is set to it. To do it:
Note 3: text breaks (newlines+carriage returns) are automatically converted to "physical" breaks. Note 4: don't use a lot of apostrophes, quotes and specific tags in your messages. Actually, they are converted to "real" HTML-tags like "'" (apostrophe), "&" (& sign) etc. As you see, HTML special char takes at least 4 times more space than usual symbol. So, if topic's title limitation is set, let's say, to 70 symbols by administrator, your sentence can contain maximum 17 special symbols. Practical example: your topic is "Quick brown fox jumps over lazy dog's ears & nose" (49 symbols). Actual title is converted to: "Quick brown fox jumps over lazy dog's ears & nose" (58 symbols). If the limitation would be 50 symbols, the sentence would be cutted to "Quick brown fox jumps over lazy dog's ears" (minus "nose" minus 5 special-symbols). Email notifications can be enabled or disabled by forums admin. Usually, on large forums they are disabled. If enabled, every user who makes a post, can subscribe to them. Notifications are sent to user's email when someone replies to the topic after this user. Users can subscribe to notifications even if they are not topic authors. Users can also unsubscribe from notifications. For that, got to the desired topic and find "Unsubscribe" link instead of notifications checkbox, and just click on it. Note: notifications are sent on default board's language, even if user has choosed another available language. If you are using links like http://www.minibb.net (beginning with "http://", "https://", "ftp://", "www" or "mailto:"), they are automatically converted to "real" links. But, when checking "Disable" box, links ARE NOT automatically highlighted, both as BB-codes (see below). In miniBB, there is no possibility to include HTML in topics or posts. They can contain only "BB-codes" - special HTML-code replacements, that "emulate" HTML code. Since HTML is not supported in our board, most popular BB-codes are good alternative when posting new message or topic. Currently, miniBB supports following codes:
Note that the case of BB codes doesn't matter. You can type "[URL]" or "[uRL]" or whatever. Only opening and closing tags ([urL]...[/uRL]) are important, also tags CAN NOT CONTAIN SPACES! There is no necessary to know exactly what do you need to type for corresponding tag. Each template message form contains JavaScript buttons that helps you to insert these tags into your post. Both anonymous and registered users can use BB-codes, but also you can DISABLE BB-code in your post, checking "Disable" flag. Usually this is not necessary, because BB-codes allow posts be more organized and good-looking messages. But if you need to post something using not BB-code, but actual info containing BB-code, it is useful. For avoiding BB-codes, you can also put spaces inside them. It is possible to combine tags with each other, f.e., to make "bold+italic" or "bold link". But be careful again with opening and closing tags correspondly. Example: 'This General Public License [b]does not permit[/b] incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General Public License instead of this License. Return to [url=http://www.fsf.org/home.html]GNU's home page[/url]. FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to [email=gnu@gnu.org]gnu@gnu.org[/email]. Other ways to [b][url=http://www.fsf.org/home.html#ContactInfo]contact the FSF[/url][/b]. Comments on these web pages to [email=webmasters@www.gnu.org]webmasters@gnu.org[/email], send other questions to [email=gnu@gnu.org]GNU[/email]. [b][u]Copyright notice above[/u][/b]. [i]Free Software Foundation, Inc[/i]., [i][u]59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA[/u][/i]' produces: 'This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General Public License instead of this License. Return to GNUs home page. FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org. Other ways to contact the FSF. Comments on these web pages to webmasters@gnu.org, send other questions to GNU. Copyright notice above. Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA' If you need to post 100% "tagged" URL, it is better to do it with tags, since automatic replacements can't work in some cases. F.e., the following example will not work: [b]http://www.minibb.net[/b]. It is only "bolded", but not "highlighted". For bolding url links, use [url] tag. Note: you can use tags also for multi-line text. Example: [b]Text1 Text2[/b] (text contains two paragraphs) produces: Text1 Text2 ADVANCED: Admin can use "color tags" for various text colors in messages:
This option is not available for simple users, because of its restrictions and format. Do you want your forum to look like a rainbow? We guess, not. Please, use this code very carefully and only when it is really necessary. As admin, you can use ONLY correct hex-code of color, containig combination of 6 capitalized letters A-F + digits 0-9. "#" sign at the beginning is necessary. Values like "red", "yellow" won't work. Example: [font#FF0000]Attention![/font] produces red-colored "Attention!". These examples will not work:
By default, there is no "hot button" for this option in the templates. Users also can use any HTML decimal codes in their messages. This is done mostly for international forums, when user's encoding is set to different language, in which he posts a message. You can use any code beginning from "&#" and ending with ";". For example, it is useful for displaying both BB-codes with their interpretators. This: [b]Use bold[/b]: [b]Use bold[/b] will produce: Use bold [b]Use bold[/b] Note that decimal codes are not replaced back, when you edit your message. They are displaying like they are. Topic posters can quote other messages. There is no "quote" BB-code included, as on some bulletin boards. Instead of it, you can use "italic" style to separate quotes. For better comfort, there is a "quote" link near every post made. For making a quote, you need to select some text and press this link. Selected text will be automatically inserted into reply box at the bottom of the page. This feature is based on JavaScript code and works only in Netscape 4.9, Netscape 6.x and Internet Explorer 5.x-6.x. Topic authors can lock their topics, if they think it is correct. In order to do it, topic author needs to be logged in. At the bottom of the topic's page he must see small "lock topic" link. Clicking on it, topic becomes closed. Nobody except topic author or administrator can lock the topic. If topic was locked by admin, topic author can unlock it ONLY if it is defined in forum options (in most cases it's not). Registered users (and only registered) can edit THEIR messages, but only if they are cookie-logged and only if the time of the message is not expired. For this, just click on "Edit" near each post (if it is your message, you'll see the link, else not). When editing message, "automatic highlights" are replaced with "real" BB-codes, so there is no need to delete them once again. Also, "real" HTML tags are replaced back to codes. Via editing, user can add new BB-codes, links etc. - like in any new post or topic. User can edit only his POST, not topic's title, even if he is the author of the topic. After message is edited by user, info about that is displayed near each post. There is no way to delete your message and edit topic's title, if you are topic's author. Only admin can do this. After administrator has edited user's message, for user, it is no way to edit it once again. For editing user preferences, you need to log in and go to the "preferences" appearing in menu. You can type new data for your account, except login, that can not be changed. If you don't want to change your password leave the password field and go next to the fields you want to edit, you don't need to write your password once more, 'cause are already logged. Then done just press submission button below. This action works exactly like registration: you need to type grammatically correct data. Thus, you can not change your email to the one of someone who already registered (incl. admin's email ;) ). Updating preferences, you don't need to enter password, if you don't want to change it. Just leave these fields blank. Two exceptions:
Login, go to the preferences, type new password 2 times in "password" fields. Your password will be updated to the new one. Note: after changing password your old password will not be valid, and you will need to re-login on the login page. If you will edit more settings, you'll get the message "not allowed" or something similar. miniBB passwords are encrypted with md5 algorithm. There is no way back to know out the original password. If you have forgotten your password, we can't restore it anymore, but we can change it, by generating new random password. Follow these steps to receive new password:
You can quickly search forums for keywords. Search panel is placed under the "Search" link in menu. You can search text in topics and posts, in topics only, in poster names, by all words, any words or the whole phrase. Search results are sorted by post time in descending order (new posts are shown first). Also remember that search phrase length can`t be more than 100 symbols. Also minimum length of any word is 3 in "Any words" type of search and at least one word must be more than 2 symbols in any other type of search. This was made to protect your server in case, if somebody will try to attack it with lots of simple search queries, like, for example, searching letter "a" in all posts and topics, which will lead a large number of search results to be returned by database server, thus it can become overloaded. Beginning from miniBB 1.3, there is also more complicated search. You can choose "match whole words" option which actually means you will search only WHOLE words (if you type "nick", the sentences containing "nick" will be found, but not such words as "nickname" or "snickers"). Also, you can search within defined period of days, when posts were made. If you want to expand your search, it is always better to set this to big amount, f.e., of 365 (1 year) days. Note that searching for username is NOT affected by this "search-within-days" option. In the "statistics" menu, you can get all available information about forums. This is the most "not needed" part of a forum. In statistics, you will find:
Beginning from miniBB 1.3, you can define period of days which will be used in calculating stats (this setting affects only most popular topics and most viewed topics, username stats are NOT affected). Some notes for developersPlease, don't read this section if you are unfamiliar with PHP, mySQL and programming at all, more so - DON'T try described below. First version of miniBB was supported only by mySQL database. Since version 1.1, we have developed also PostgreSQL module. We have attached all SQL-calls in a separate file. Depending on this file, other database modules (f.e., ODBC) can be made. We plan to work on it in near future, but every developer who can help us in making another DB module is welcome. You'll get all necessary credits. Making a DB module is average simple. Since SQL functions are mostly the same (at least, by logic), in many cases you just need to make another database connection which is supported by PHP, and design database request if necessary. SQL requests mostly are parsed into array pointers, which can be accessed, f.e., via mysql_fetch_row() function. Probably, most databases can support this operation. In other words: just look, how mySQL parser works, and include other commands :). Note: don't change names of variables, like $result or $sus, because some are called from the outside script. Here is an example: elseif($n==16){ if(!$sus) $result=mysql_query("SELECT forum_id, forum_name, forum_desc, forum_icon FROM forums ORDER BY forum_order ASC"); $row=mysql_fetch_row($result); } In this request (numbered as 16 and used for accessing forums info) we use $sus, $result and $row variables. Usually, $sus means "second user stack" and answers for fetching result array, if specified. Since $result is made global, it's pointer is saved in a memory, and we can call it once again (read more in PHP manual about this). Including from your own PHP script If you are the creator of your own PHP site, you probably have the same header and footer for the whole site. As usual, they are .php files, and are included in, for example, index.php. Since miniBB owns the same index.php in its structure by default, you can change the name of miniBB's index to something else. For this, in setup_options.php add the variable: $indexphp='index.php?'; where its value is equal to miniBB's index file, plus '?' sign. Otherwise, this variable can be used for your script, when you include miniBB's index from .php. Note that this feature was implemented only beginning from miniBB 1.4. If you have templates from older versions, you'll also need to correct them (change all direct links inside to "{$indexphp}". By default, $indexphp is not included in setup_options.php - to avoid misunderstandings. Including forums from your own script requires a knowledge of PHP and things what are happening inside of miniBB. If you simply include your board using include(); errors you will get errors will be like "Headers already sent" or similar. This could happen when user logges in to the forums, and cookies are set (of course, they can not be set, because some of your HTML stuff goes before include(); ). In this case, miniBB is a stick on two ends. The most efficient solution is to include your board this way: <? $displayForum=1; if((isset($_POST['mode']) and $_POST['mode']=='login') or (isset($_GET['mode']) and $_GET['mode']=='logout') or (isset($_POST['action']) and ($_POST['action']=='language2' or $_POST['action']=='pthread' or $_POST['action']=='ptopic' or $_POST['action']=='editmsg2'))) $displayForum=0; if($displayForum==1){ include $DOCUMENT_ROOT."/inc/header.php"; include ($DOCUMENT_ROOT."/forum/forum.php"); include $DOCUMENT_ROOT."/inc/footer.php"; } else { include ($DOCUMENT_ROOT."/forum/forum.php"); } ?> In this example, you need to set $indexphp='forum.php?'; in your options file. Forum uses header and footer which probably are used by another scripts, too. Just do NOT DISPLAY header and footer, or another screen information BEFORE miniBB sends some header (cookie or redirect). In PHP scripts, no tabs were used by us. All functions and operations are separated by newlines only. Most of the comments were removed in final miniBB release, however, there are some very necessary comments left, that will help you understand what's going on. Also, in many string variables cases we have used apostrophes ('') instead of quotes (""), because that increases the speed of the scripts dramatically. GNU Free Documentation LicenseVersion 1.1, March 2000 Copyright (C) 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. 0. PREAMBLE The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other written document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others. This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software. We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference. 1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS This License applies to any manual or other work that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. The "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language. A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (For example, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them. The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format whose specification is available to the general public, whose contents can be viewed and edited directly and straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose markup has been designed to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. A copy that is not "Transparent" is called "Opaque". Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML designed for human modification. 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VERBATIM COPYING You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3. You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies. 3. 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If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a publicly-accessible computer-network location containing a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material, which the general network-using public has access to download anonymously at no charge using public-standard network protocols. If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public. 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Such a compilation is called an "aggregate", and this License does not apply to the other self-contained works thus compiled with the Document, on account of their being thus compiled, if they are not themselves derivative works of the Document. If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one quarter of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that surround only the Document within the aggregate. Otherwise they must appear on covers around the whole aggregate. 8. TRANSLATION Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License provided that you also include the original English version of this License. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original English version of this License, the original English version will prevail. 9. TERMINATION You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance. 10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/. Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. |
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