[Billspaintball]

Note - The following troubleshooting tips work on vB 3.7 & 3.8, they have not yet been proven on vB 4.0

Usage

The hack is pretty useless without some usage instructions so here they are.

We can use conditionals to hide or display depending on a number of things such as
Logged in or out status,
or restrict to members of a specific usergroup.

We do this by using conditionals in php tags where the normal content of a webpage would go.


If you want something only accessable to a certain usergroup, use this code in your webpage. This example is only visible to members of usergroup 6.

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

You can use a simple variation of this to restrict entire pages to a certain usergroup.
For example,

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

You can of course use multiple usergroups by just modifiying the if statement a little.
For example:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Another use is to display different content to users depending on if they are logged in or not. For example

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Another use is to restrict advertising to people who are not logged in.
For example

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Of course you can play around with conditionals to do a whole range of things, these are just brief example snippets.



Troubleshooting

If your reading this chances are you are having problems.

Here are some common causes and fixes.

1. Headers already sent or cookies already sent errors. Chances are that there is something, even just a space before the 4 lines of code in part 1. Edit this and ensure that there are no spaces before it.
   
   
   
2. Path problems are the next biggest problem. Your paths must be exact else it will not work. Double check that all paths are correct.
   If you are unsure what the path is place the following code in a page all by itself.
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   Name this file something like path.php then upload it to your website, browse to it and it will show you the exact path to your sites root.
   
   
   
3. Appears to login ok, but wont show you as logged in
   Often caused by the vB cookie path setting.
   To fix log into you vB admin area;
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   
   
4. Subdomains and cross site logins
   This is a known issue with many scripts (not just this one), sometimes fixable sometimes not. Its caused by vB, PHP and your hosts security measures.
   
   First change your "cookie domain" settings.
   vB Admin > Control Panel > Cookies and HTTP Header Options > Cookie Domain
   Change it from being blank to
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   You may need to set a post referrer in your whitelist.
   vB Admin > Control Panel > General Settings > Post Referrer Whitelist
   Instructions on what to enter are listed where you change this setting.
   
   That should fix it if your forum is a subdomain.
   
   If that fails then,
   Open your /forum/login.php file and look for this code:
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   Below that add
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   Now save this and overwrite the file on the server with this one.
   
   A further reported work around is to make a copy of the required Forum Forum files on your second Server. Then you must set in the config.php on the second server to use the ip of the server with which the VB-Database is running.
   
   
   
5. 404 Error on expiring passwords
   Cause - When redirected for expired password you are redirected to the directory that your login script is located in, not your forums root.
   
   Fix - Edit phrase called
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   Your current phrase should be
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   change it to
   
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   where ../forums/ is your forums directory.
   
   
   
6. Still got problems?
   It may be a conflict with somthing already in your site.
   To check this we can just make a simple page.
   Call it test.php and use just this code in it.
   (Make sure there is no whitespace before the 1st line)
   
   

   Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
   Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

   
   Naturally, change paths to fit your forums, then upload it.
   Browse to it and run it.

[abdobasha2004]

thaanks
reserved

[BlackJacket]

Reserved till i get my site up. I have been waiting for this. Glad it wasnt long!

[BlackJacket]

Is this correct or a typo -

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Do you mean login_inc.php?

Where do we put the login_inc file included with this hack? Any special directory, or whichever directory we are running the script?

Thanks.

*Edit -

Also, do these statements work with the new VB code?

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

[Neo_obs]

Originally Posted by NittoMOD

Is this correct or a typo -

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Do you mean login_inc.php?

Where do we put the login_inc file included with this hack? Any special directory, or whichever directory we are running the script?

Thanks.

*Edit -

Also, do these statements work with the new VB code?

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

The first is a typo, login_inc.php is what it is named (unless you change it)

And the statements do work.

However I do have an issue. I can't use the statements twice. Not sure what is going on but if I used the statement once, it doesn't work to use it again.

[Billspaintball]

Originally Posted by NittoMOD

Is this correct or a typo -

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Do you mean login_inc.php?

Whoopsie
Sorry about that, its just a typo.
login_inc.php is correct.
I will fix it.

Where do we put the login_inc file included with this hack? Any special directory, or whichever directory we are running the script?

Just put it wherever you want, as long as you change the path to suit it should be fine.
I normally just put it under something like mywebside.com/includes/

[Floris]

Your example code:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

In case a site has 14 or 51 usergroups they want to control, I think it might be an idea to use the array and check against it?

untested:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

[Billspaintball]

Originally Posted by Floris

Your example code:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

In case a site has 14 or 51 usergroups they want to control, I think it might be an idea to use the array and check against it?

untested:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

If you want to allow a number of groups that would probably be a better way of doing it.
Ive only ever used it to allow extra stuff for Admins and Mods so I never really had a need to optimise it for a large number of groups.

[BlackJacket]

Im getting this error -

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

My file paths are correct and there is no white space. Any idea's?

[Dr.osamA]

i ll try it

thanxxx
________
Lamborghini Jalpa

[djr]

Hiya Bill,

Do you think this could work as a wrapper in WordPress, where we use your authentication system to require people to authenticate against vB before they're allowed to post comments?

I can easily extend WordPress' comment section and would like to do something like (pseudo code obviously):

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Would it display the forum's username (if echoed correctly) or do we need the deluxe version for that? (which sounds like a better solution anyway, since I'd like to use the avatars as well). I don't care so much about all the other vB stuff, but would love to have this as a simple vB powered authentication system inside WordPress.

[bluerob]

Works on a standalone file, but won't work properly on my wordpress site.

The login boxes and what not appear, but after I am directed to the login.php file I am sent back to my wordpress page with the login boxes still showing.

I tried all the steps with the cookie settings and login.php file.

Moviecrematorium.com is my site. Any help would be appreciated.


Great plugin btw

[BlackJacket]

Originally Posted by NittoMOD

Im getting this error -

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

My file paths are correct and there is no white space. Any idea's?

Any help with this?

[David Regimbal]

Originally Posted by NittoMOD

Any help with this?

I too have the same issue as you =[

My Fix:

well, I'm using this in the root of the site for a custom html page. I feel like a dumbass because i looked at the source and it had "<html>" twice. So my "custom.php" file that I made all I included in it was:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

That seemed to work for me and fixed my issue. Hope this helps someone else.