Modding IP Board

[WD1983]

First I would like to start off by saying that I know I'm new here and I'm not really a web developer. I've used GoLive & Dreamweaver to do websites before and know a fair amount of Flash, but I don't know coding at all (other than some rudimentary HTML that I learned in high school.

 

I've gotten the videos and I've been watching them, so far I'm still in the basics of learning php.

 

 

The reason I'm starting this thread is because I sought out to learn php simply to mod my IP Board database to include some features that are offered through the vBulletin software but not IP Board software.

 

I have all the php files from both and what I really want to do is reverse engineer the files from the vBulletin and use that to create the mods for the IP Board.

 

 

Essentially, what I'm asking here is what videos would be most important to learn how to do what I wish to do?

 

I don't want to go through all of them if it's not necessary.

 

 

Thank you in advance for any help I get on the matter.

[falkencreative]

I've gotten the videos and I've been watching them, so far I'm still in the basics of learning php.

Can you clarify -- which videos have you gotten?

 

The main things I would suggest you look at after you have the basics of PHP down are object oriented PHP (OOP) and the MVC (Model/view/controller) pattern. They are pretty standard concepts that most larger systems implement.

 

As a word of warning though... what you are trying to do sounds potentially pretty difficult -- you'll be dealing with two very different codebases, and combining the two may be a challenge. I would definitely make sure you do your research and ensure that IPBoard doesn't already have the functionality you are looking for, or that someone hasn't already created something similar that you could adapt to your needs.

[WD1983]

Can you clarify -- which videos have you gotten?

 

The main things I would suggest you look at after you have the basics of PHP down are object oriented PHP (OOP) and the MVC (Model/view/controller) pattern. They are pretty standard concepts that most larger systems implement.

 

As a word of warning though... what you are trying to do sounds potentially pretty difficult -- you'll be dealing with two very different codebases, and combining the two may be a challenge. I would definitely make sure you do your research and ensure that IPBoard doesn't already have the functionality you are looking for, or that someone hasn't already created something similar that you could adapt to your needs.

 

I've got a whole set of videos. The php basics, advanced php, php shopping cart, php oop (login & discussion), php tagcloud, javascript, jquery, oop php, and a few other web development tutorial videos.

 

I've looked high and low to see if there were already these features, either already included or other mods, but unfortunately there aren't. I spent hours looking and came up with nothing, so I figured I'd teach myself enough about php & mysql to do it myself.

 

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To clarify, the things I want to do could probably be done from scratch, I believe, I just thought maybe a reverse engineer type thing would work better, but it sounds like that might not be the case... though someone did use the vBulletin script to turn it into a mod for an earlier version of the IP Board.

 

The reputation system and infraction system for vBulletin are much more advanced than the simple ones IP Board offers.

 

The only other thing I want to do is to allow the size of a member's avatar to be larger as they advance up through member groups.

 

Speaking of member groups, the IP Board doesn't even currently allow their built in reputation system to have member groups be promoted due to reaching a certain amount of reputation points like vBulletin, which is another reason I would like a mod for a rep system like vBulletin.

 

So those are really the only mods I'm trying to make here.

Edited August 31, 2011 by WD1983

[falkencreative]

In that case, I would definitely look at the OOP videos and then the OOP/MVC login system, not to learn how to do a login system specifically, but to hopefully understand OOP, MVC and sessions. You may or may not need to do the advanced PHP course... you probably can skip it for now, and possibly come back to it if it turns out you need that information.

 

For your reputation mod, you may try to find an existing reputation mod, and simply add to it. Working off an existing mod will probably be easier than starting from scratch/trying to modify the base IPBoard mod system.

[WD1983]

In that case, I would definitely look at the OOP videos and then the OOP/MVC login system, not to learn how to do a login system specifically, but to hopefully understand OOP, MVC and sessions. You may or may not need to do the advanced PHP course... you probably can skip it for now, and possibly come back to it if it turns out you need that information.

 

For your reputation mod, you may try to find an existing reputation mod, and simply add to it. Working off an existing mod will probably be easier than starting from scratch/trying to modify the base IPBoard mod system.

 

Thank you.

 

The thing about the mod is that it's for a version of the software that I don't have. I believe it's for 2.x (not sure exactly which) and I'm using 3.1.4 and it's not compatible, so I can't use it on mine to even check the code in it.

 

IP Board (as you may know) already has a reputation system, but it's much different than that of vBulletin and that's why I want that version instead.

 

If there's any specific information about the systems that I want to make a mod for that would help guide me in the right direction, let me know and I'll post it. I'm still the beginner of beginners regarding php, so any help I can get is very much appreciated.

 

Thanks again.

[WD1983]

The more I examine the code in the php files for the IP Board, the more think I might be better off just paying someone to do the mods for me. I mean, if someone wanted to do it free of charge, I wouldn't complain, but I'm not going to ask for a freebie here as I don't feel that would be fair.

 

While I am picking up php and the oop part of it, it seems there's also some java in the script that I don't understand because I don't know even a little about java.

[falkencreative]

I'm not sure regarding your comments about Java... I think you are referring to Javascript, not Java, which are two separate things.

 

Realistically, you may be better off hiring someone to do these mods, rather than trying to do it yourself. True, money will be involved, but this would mean you don't necessarily have to learn PHP/Javascript and spend the time struggling with the issue yourself. You'll probably get higher quality code, and won't have to spend time debugging things if/when you run into errors. If this is the direction you end up going, I would either post on the official IPB forums, or perhaps there are IPB customization forums that you could post on.

[WD1983]

I'm not sure regarding your comments about Java... I think you are referring to Javascript, not Java, which are two separate things.

 

Realistically, you may be better off hiring someone to do these mods, rather than trying to do it yourself. True, money will be involved, but this would mean you don't necessarily have to learn PHP/Javascript and spend the time struggling with the issue yourself. You'll probably get higher quality code, and won't have to spend time debugging things if/when you run into errors. If this is the direction you end up going, I would either post on the official IPB forums, or perhaps there are IPB customization forums that you could post on.

 

I did mean javascript, I just didn't type it out, since I do know the difference between the two.

 

I'm actually still interested in learning php, to an extent. I'm actually a designer and all the work I do is GUI based... meaning I'm used to using GoLive & Dreamweaver to create my web pages, and now Flash. So coding really isn't my strong suit.

 

What I've considered doing is just hiring out a freelancer to do the coding for me, instead of going onto the IPB forums for it. I don't know what would be the best option, obviously. I would actually like to pick which would be more efficient and what would get the job done the best (not fastest).

[falkencreative]

What I've considered doing is just hiring out a freelancer to do the coding for me, instead of going onto the IPB forums for it. I don't know what would be the best option, obviously. I would actually like to pick which would be more efficient and what would get the job done the best (not fastest).

Actually, I was suggesting getting a freelancer... What I meant was you'll probably have the best luck finding someone who knows what they are doing at an IPB specific forum, like the official IPB forum, or forums that specifically deal with IPB theming/customization. If you want to go with someone when will be the most efficient, I'd suggest finding someone who has build IPB mods in the past and has samples to show (rather than someone who perhaps has PHP/Javascript knowledge, but hasn't worked with IPB).

[WD1983]

Actually, I was suggesting getting a freelancer... What I meant was you'll probably have the best luck finding someone who knows what they are doing at an IPB specific forum, like the official IPB forum, or forums that specifically deal with IPB theming/customization. If you want to go with someone when will be the most efficient, I'd suggest finding someone who has build IPB mods in the past and has samples to show (rather than someone who perhaps has PHP/Javascript knowledge, but hasn't worked with IPB).

 

Thanks.

 

I'm going to try and see if I can start to figure it out myself, but I'm also going to be looking into finding someone who can do it for me or help me with it.