How To Place Forums On Your Website

In order to add your customized forums to your website, so as to make them available to users, you will need to create a number of pages which will work together to manage all aspects of your site's online discussion forums.

Homepage (Browser):

The first, and main, page, which will contain a complete list of forums for users to choose from, can be set up by entering the "sys:dsc-browser" tag into the page's CMS "Source" editor at the particular spot on the page that you would like the forum browser to appear.

When entering this tag, however, you will need to include various attributes so that the system knows where the connected pages are located. Specifically, you will need to include the following attributes: "signup-path," "moderation-path," "search-path," "profile-path," and "xslt."

The resulting tag should look something like this:

<sys:dsc-browser signup-path="..." moderation-path="..." search-path="..." profile-path="..." xslt="...">

The ellipses (...) should all be replaced with the actual paths to the various pages.

The "xslt" attribute specifies the stylesheet to use in the page's display, and should either be filled in with one of the default stylesheets provided with the module (all of which end in "phpbb.xsl," such as "browser-phpbb.xsl") or some custom designed stylesheet of your own.

Signup Page:

The signup page is just for users to login to the system or create a new account so that they can access your discussion forums.

It should make use of a signup form that you can create with the "XForms" module and then place on the page using tags such as <sys:login xmlns="..."> and <sys:xform xmlns="...">, with the ellipses (...) replaced with the actual file path of the desired form.

Moderation Page:

The moderation page, which will allow your forums' moderators to review posts in order to determine whether or not they should be published, can be formed by entering the "sys:dsc-moderate" tag into the page's "Source" editor at the location where you would like moderation content to appear.

As with the main browser page, you will need to include attributes that indicate the paths needed to access the other forum pages. In the end, the tag should look something like this:

<sys:dsc-moderate browser path="..." signup-path="..." search-path="..." profile-path="..." xslt="...">

Search Page:

The search page, which will provide users with a search form that can be used to locate particular posts or threads, can be set up by entering the "sys:dsc-search" tag into the page's "Source" editor at the location in which you would like the search form to appear.

Again, you will need to include the file paths for the other connected forum pages within the tag. In the end, it should look something like this:

<sys:dsc-search browser-path="..." signup-path="..." moderation-path="..." profile-path="..." xslt="...">

Profile Page:

The profile page, which is used in editing and displaying users' personal profiles, can be formed by entering the "sys:dsc-author-profile" tag into the page's "Source" editor at the location in which you would like the profile content to be displayed.

As always, you will need to include the file paths for the other forum-related pages as well. The tag should end up looking something like this:

<sys:dsc-author-profile browser-path="..." signup-path="..." moderation-path="..." search-path="..." xslt="...">

When users select their own profiles, they will be presented with a form allowing them to edit their personal information.

When users select another person's profile that they do not have the right to edit, they will just be displayed with the information that the user in question has entered into his/her profile.

An alternative is to create two separate pages with the "sys:dsc-author-profile" tag: one with the attribute "mode=edit" and one with the attribute "mode=view."

The resultant tags, when entered into the "Source" editor window, would look something like this:

<sys:dsc-author-profile browser-path="..." signup-path="..." moderation-path="..." search-path="..." xslt="..." mode="edit">

<sys:dsc-author-profile browser-path="..." signup-path="..." moderation-path="..." search-path="..." xslt="..." mode=""view">