Acquiring Your Hacks in VB.NET

Creating ECC200 in VB.NET Acquiring Your Hacks

After your preparatory routine, it s time to start looking around the Internet for the modifications you wish to add. Most, if not all, phpBB administrators look at a few select hack databases from which they download modifications and get support for them. These sites offer modifications and templates listed by category. You can often find many new features to add to your installation at one of these sites. Also, any hack database worth your time also has a support forum, where many of the authors and other experienced phpBB administrators can assist you with problems you may encounter along the way.

If you are browsing around the Web and see a phpBB board with a few nice modifications, but don t Tip

know what they might be called, feel free to ask the administrator. Most phpBB administrators will be happy to help you and point you in the right direction toward acquiring those modifications. It s a community for a reason!

The phpBB Group operates its own hack database, located at http://www.phpbb.com/mods/. If you already use phpBB.com for supporting your board software, it can be quite convenient to have your modification support in the same place. You can also find development guides and coding standards here as well, if you are adventurous enough to create your own hacks. The official phpBB hack database has a fair selection of hacks for you to choose from, divided into several categories. You can also download development tools from their database. Note that support on this site is limited to the hacks available in the official phpBB MOD Database. If you are looking for a wider selection of hacks to download, visit phpBBHacks.com, located at http://www.phpbbhacks.com/. (Full disclosure: I do consulting with phpBBHacks.com and was once a support team member there.) This site offers a full array of modifications for all versions of phpBB, including the deprecated 1.x series. The support forums are top-notch as well, with a team of hack developers waiting to assist. The signal-to-noise ratio at phpBBHacks.com s support forums is generally lower, mainly because it is not the official phpBB site, and thus concentrates most of its energy on modifying phpBB. phpBBHacks.com also offers a Site of the Month, which is usually a great example of a modified, professional-looking phpBB in action. I found it to be a wonderful resource when I was getting started with phpBB.

Some hacks out there really should be regular features of phpBB. Until that happens, you ll probably want to install those hacks on the phpBB boards you run. Other hacks provide cool features that you might find interesting. Table 11-1 lists some hacks that I recommend.

Caution A vast majority of hacks that use the database are written primarily for the MySQL database, as that is the most common database system used with phpBB. As a result, if you are using another system such as PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL Server, you may run into differences in SQL syntax from MySQL and will need to port (or find a knowledgeable user to port) the necessary commands to the other database system.

Records the IP address of users when they first register. It provides elaborate crossreferencing tools inside the Administration panel, as well. Displays the topic title of the thread where the last post was made on the forum index page, in addition to the date and the user. It uses permissions to ensure that privacy of forums is not breached, and also uses the word-censoring feature, if enabled, to curb offensive language.

URL*

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/ download/2975

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/ download/566

Permits authorized users to make an announcement that is seen in all forums, a feature conspicuously absent from phpBB 2.0. Permits authorized users to give users a karma rating and make comments justifying the rating. It can be useful in large communities where an assessment of problem users is needed. It can also be used to foster a reward system on your community. Enables users to e-mail links to topics, with a personal message enclosed. Again, this is another startling omission from the phpBB 2.0 feature set. Permits users to optionally enter their birthday, and displays their age on their posts. Additionally, when the users birthday arrives, they get greetings directly from your phpBB! Denies guest access to profiles, user groups, the member list, the search function, and similar information. This can be incredibly useful when fending off illegitimate bot registrations and when your board is under high load.

URL*

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/ download/345