Usergroup Permissions

[rcarroll59]

I can't seem to get my usergroup permissions setup correctly to control view privileges for the "GUESTS" usergroup.

Here's an example for a new category that I've created:

1.) Usergroup permissions are refreshed from forum software and the "GUEST" usergroup permissions are set to "no" across the board.
2.) The "GUEST" usergroup is set to have no permissions in the new category's "Usergroup Access Permissions".

The result is that guests can still see the new category.

To make matters even more confusing, If I remove permissions for all usergroups in the new category, only guests can see it. When a member logs in, the new category is not viewable...not even to members of the "ADMINISTRATORS" group.

Photopost version 8.03
phpBB version 3.0.10

We have an almost identical setup (different versions) on another site that works fine, but just can't get it figured out on this one.

Thanks

[Chuck S]

Well then something about your groups are off. I do not use phpBB 3 but I did write the integration so I know it works. I would need to actually see your site.

Like I show in our phpbb3 integration file the guest group is usergroup 1.

I know in our application the permissions work fine because they are handled the same way in every last integration we just pass the users usergroup to a function and then apply the permissions.

I would need ftp access admin login and url so I can debug your usergroup and category permissions. I need to know exactly what info is being passed from phpBB3.

You can send this data through the contact us link.

[Chuck S]

Your usergroups where not the default phpbb3 groups from a fresh install. Your groups where like 4860 and above which was a little strange.

I deleted all your groups and refreshed them to make sure all the right groups are right. You will have to reset usergroup permissions.

You can reset your category permissions and then give things a try as I modified your integration file to look for your guest usergroup of 4860 not 1 which is a fresh phpbb install.

[rcarroll59]

Thanks Chuck, that took care of the guest problem. Have one more problem though.

In order for a usergroup member to receive the category permissions I have set for that particular usergroup, the usergroup has to be set as the member's default group in phpBB. Any ideas to get around that?

This not a new problem. It's just something that never mattered before because our permission requirements were pretty simple and as I stated above, our other site has no problems with what we're trying to do with this one.

Sorry, it's a 9 year old forum that's been upgraded & modified over the years. That might explain the non typical usergroup numbers.

[Chuck S]

I do not use phpbb3 and not every forum has additional usergroups. I know I wrote this phpbb3 thing when it was brand new. where in the database are those additional fields stored? what is field name in what table?

[Chuck S]

Since phpBB3 is free I am going to download it and do a clean install just to see they did not change anything but if there is no standard for group id's anymore that makes it kinda hard to align things as we need to set a default guest group in the application and a default registered group if no group entry exists for a regular user.

[rcarroll59]

Sounds good. Hope you find something, but it's kinda looking like I might have to do some work on my old phpbb installation to try to get back in-line with a new install.

[Chuck S]

Yeah no idea I am just gonna check out a clean install as I can but it seems kinda weird that your groups are that high in number.

[rcarroll59]

Chuck, I've done some testing with a fresh install (photopost & phpbb3) and I still can't get category permissions to work properly. Photopost v.8.22 seems to only apply category permissions to a particular usergroup if that usergroup is set as the user's "default" usergroup which is a phpbb3 setting (['group_id']).

I'm no programmer, but I have found a code difference in Photopost's integration file (phpbb3.php) between v.8.22 and v.7.1 when it comes to that ['group_id'] variable. Not sure if that's creating my problem or not, but I do know that I can replace the newer phpbb3.php file (v.8.22) with the older one (v.7.1) and get permissions to work the way that I need them to work. I just don't know if I'm creating other problems by using the older phpbb3.php file.

Could you please verify whether or not the latest integration file is working properly and if you say it is, can I just use the older or is it creating problems somewhere else?

Thanks

[Chuck S]

Yes I can add in the other part in the newer file.

You can send me an email through the contact us link and I can send you an updated file

$mgroups is we also query additional usergroups the user might belong to. In the newer file it looks like the only group we follow is the group_id group so adding in the $mgroups and $vbgroups lines should work fine.

[rcarroll59]

Contact info sent...thanks Chuck.

[Chuck S]

Ah well will send you the file I did and I updated the build as well.

[rcarroll59]

That seems to have did it Chuck. I edited the default usergroup id's to match my old existing forum and it works there also. This is really gonna be a great help in our old site's new setup.

Also learned a little about setting up & testing upgrades before going live with them. I think that's gonna help me in the future.

Thanks again.

[Chuck S]

Yep if your old install has those whacky huge non standard usergroup numbers editing that is a must.

Glad to help.

[Chuck S]

I did update the build with any fixes I did to the phpbb3.php file to allow additional usergroup permissions to be added to the main group we already pull.