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[3.3.0] Forum Subs

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devspace
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[3.3.0] Forum Subs

#1

Post by devspace »

Manage Forum Subscriptions:

Manage member's forum subscriptions.

Compatibility:

Image Image

Image

Note:

If you are using any other version of this extension then it must be Disabled /Delete data and the original files deleted before installing this version - you will loose all settings.

Features:
  • When a forum has subscriptions there will be a new button at the bottom of the forum to show who is subscribed to that forum.
  • A list of all forums that a member is subscribed to will show in a new panel on a user's profile.
  • A new option is added to the ACP Manage Users that will allow an Admin to add or remove subscriptions for a user.
  • A listing is available in ACP > Users & Groups > User Utilities showing who is subscribed in each forum.
  • Ability to subscribe/unsubscribe a group to one or more fora.
  • Ability to mass email all subscribers to a forum
Language(s):
  • en
Version:
  • 3.3.0
Installation:
  • Download the latest release and unzip it.
  • Upload the unzipped files to [board root]/ext/devspace/forumsubs and enable it in the ACP
Configuration:
  • Set the permission "Can view forum subscriptions" for the groups/users.
Extension Download:

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Forum Subs

#2

Post by devspace »

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kennybroh
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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#3

Post by kennybroh »

I'm using this extension but seem to have one problem. When I look at user subscriptions it shows several users with multiple subscriptions to several forums. If that won't result in multiple notification emails I don't really care about that.

But the issue I do care about is the apparent lack of any ability to unsubscribe a user or group once they are subscribed by the extension. That's a potential problem for a number of reasons, some of which could be serious.

Is the function there but I just don't see it?

Any other ideas?

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#4

Post by kennybroh »

Ability to subscribe/unsubscribe a group to one or more fora.
I just saw this in the extension description. How do I do it?

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#5

Post by devspace »

kennybroh wrote: 11 Dec 2022, 20:17
Ability to subscribe/unsubscribe a group to one or more fora.
I just saw this in the extension description. How do I do it?
ACP > Users and Groups > Groups > Forum subscriptions - after selecting the group select/unselect the forum(s) that you the group subscribed/unsubscribed to.
kennybroh wrote: 11 Dec 2022, 20:15
When I look at user subscriptions it shows several users with multiple subscriptions to several forums. If that won't result in multiple notification emails I don't really care about that.
Not sure where you are looking (a screenshot would help) but to the best of my knowledge notifications will only be sent out once, as per the normal phpBB rules.
kennybroh wrote: 11 Dec 2022, 20:15
the apparent lack of any ability to unsubscribe a user or group once they are subscribed by the extension
Unsubscribing groups - see above.

Unsubscribing users - ACP > Users and groups > Manage users > [select user] > select Subscriptions from the top right dropdown and then subscribe/unsubscribe as appropriate.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#6

Post by kennybroh »

I would never be diving so deep into something like this, especially when it appeared from your prior post to be a non-issue. But in the course of my unsuccessful attempts to solve what seemed like a simple problem--unless I'm missing something which would make me very happy--it looks like there are a couple pieces missing here which could have substantial consequences.

Some of the forums on our board contain sensitive information to which access is limited to a small number of people, one of whom is being replaced by someone else. The bottom line is I've had no problem revising the appropriate forum permissions for the two of them, but the user who was removed remains as a subscriber to all of those forums which I've found no way to change.

This all started when I mentioned in my prior post that I did't know how to remove subscriptions for individual users, to which you responded as follows:
devspace wrote: 12 Dec 2022, 09:00
Unsubscribing users - ACP > Users and groups > Manage users > [select user] > select Subscriptions from the top right dropdown and then subscribe/unsubscribe as appropriate.
That seemed simple enough, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way at all. Although I ultimately found what you described after a lot of poking around, I still couldn't remove his subscriptions and in the process of trying every which way, I discovered what look like other potentially more serious issues. Some of my wheel spinning was my fault--I didn't see an advanced permission under "Misc" allowing users/groups to view subscriptions, which was set to "No" for everyone, including Administrators. I figured enabling that would do the trick, so following your instructions, I "selected" the removed user but "Subscriptions" is not in the drop-down.

user drop down.png

BTW, clicking the user's name instead of "Select", brings up a profile view which includes a static, non-editable list of the user's forum subscriptions, but nowhere in user administration is there any option to modify a user's subscriptions.

The only way I found to get to the list you described is through the UCP, where the option to Manage Subscriptions appears in multiple places. Selecting any of them displays the same list of my forum subscriptions which, as you indicated, I could mark and click "Unsubscribe". In my prior post I also mentioned duplicate subscriptions about which you said a screen shot might help. So here's what I saw, highlighting some of the many duplicates:

Screen Shot 2022-12-12 at 6.30.44 PM.png

I'm virtually certain those result from my having subscribed to a forum as a user and again later through the extension as a member of a group. So, yes, from this list I could remove duplicate subscriptions but how would I know which one I'm deleting? Independent of the rest of this, I would recommend the list display the source of each subscription, e.g., "User", "Registered User", etc., and maybe the date, instead of the last post. That would be nice, but it's definitely a minor point. But now we're getting to the real problems. That is a list of my subscriptions but I need to change the removed user's subscriptions which, after many hours going at it from every possible angle, I found no way to do.

Like mine, the Forum Subscription list and the removed user's profile page showed duplicate subscriptions to multiple forums I assume were created for the same reasons. My first step in making the switch between these two users was to change their group memberships and forum permissions. After that was done and confirmed (for good measure his user forum permissions were expressly set to "No Access" and the cache was flushed), having no connection to those forums whatsoever, the duplicate subscriptions remained unchanged. At the same time, notwithstanding full access permissions and membership in the group with a subscription, his replacement had no subscriptions whatsoever.

Unless I've missed some administrative function, that can only mean subscriptions aren't automatically synchronized with changes in group membership or forum access. I can't think of any argument against doing that, and aside from creating a real admin headache, it makes no sense for people to be notified of activity they're not allowed to see. That's especially true for sensitive communications where the mere fact of activity could have significance, not to mention the potential modification of notifications to include contents of the post as some extensions are designed to do.

OK, all of this is absolutely true, but my major priority was fixing this particular problem. This is a small, private board with comparatively few members so if I could have done that I sincerely doubt I'd have spent the time to write any of this. So, my first step was to unsubscribe the entire group and re-subscribe it once everything was cleaned out, which I'm sure would only subscribe the current members. Removing those group subscriptions worked the way it should, and the duplicate subscriptions attributable to his group membership were gone. But the user subscriptions still remained, leaving the removed user as the only subscriber.

I tried everything I could think of to get at the user subscriptions to no avail. Installation of the extension created an ACP module "Users and Groups/User Utilities/Forum Subscriptions" which was initially hidden. I tried turning it on, but get this error when I click it:

general error.png
I get the same error when I click Forum Subscriptions under Groups. It's possible I did something to the ACP Module settings to cause that but I must have maxed out my attachments, so I cant upload the settings. The Module is called FORUM_SUBSCRIPTIONS, the parent is Groups, and the file called by the module is "..\groups_forumsubs_module".

There is another "User Subscription" menu item under Users, but that just brings up the Forum Subscriptions which shows the subscriptions but has no option to unsubscribe. Clicking the user name just takes you back to the user admin screen. I also tried "Testing out the user's permissions" and bringing up the UCP that way. Although I couldn't really tell from the list whose subscriptions I was looking at, when I unsubscribed a forum it was my subscription that got removed. Same was true if I browsed to a forum. Subscribing/Unsubscribing affected my subscriptions even though I was theoretically operating with the removed user's permissions.

One final but not insignificant point. In addition to having no way to unsubscribe a user, I don't see any way to subscribe an individual user either. That is an important function too.

I'm at my wits end, so any help you can give would be appreciated. I hope the answer is not remove and reinstall the extension because there are many, many subscriptions that are fine and that would be killing a gnat with an elephant gun, like telephone computer techs who used to tell you to format your hard drive because something isn't working right.

Thank you.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#7

Post by devspace »

I am getting a bit confused with all of this but to answer some of the points.
kennybroh wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 02:44
I've had no problem revising the appropriate forum permissions for the two of them
How have you been "revising" permissions? You should just add/remove from a group.

In any event it would not affect the user who has been removed as notification permissions are checked at the time of sending the notification. It is not possible to automatically remove any subscriptions as there is the possibility that the user has subscribed to that forum themselves.
kennybroh wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 02:44
but unfortunately it doesn't work that way at all
Yes it does - I have just checked.
kennybroh wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 02:44
I "selected" the removed user but "Subscriptions" is not in the drop-down.
I don't know where that image has come from but it is not core phpBB.
kennybroh wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 02:44
clicking the user's name instead of "Select", brings up a profile view
That is standard phpBB
kennybroh wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 02:44
Unless I've missed some administrative function, that can only mean subscriptions aren't automatically synchronized with changes in group membership or forum access.
No you have not missed anything - there is no synchronisation.

Don't know about the duplicate but will try and look at it - probably after Christmas now.

I assume, rightly or wrongly, that you are testing this out on your test board before going live with it.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#8

Post by kennybroh »

Thanks for your quick response. I think we're misunderstanding each other somewhat. I'm going to divide my reply into two posts, this one dealing with a couple of random things, but primarily trying to explain why the extension really can and should automatically keep subscriptions in synch in at least two major situations. The second post focuses on my biggest problem and apparent discrepancies in how it works for you and for me.

(BTW, one really annoying thing that seems to be common to all boards, is if you're composing a post and your login timer expires, logging back in totally erases what you were writing. I learned that the hard way--twice--composing my earlier message to you. Now I copy the whole thing to the clipboard before I try to preview!)
devspace wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 13:35
How have you been "revising" permissions? You should just add/remove from a group.
Just add/remove from a group isn't enough. Forum permissions have two categories: Users and Groups. Users can have individual forum permissions independent of any group just like they can have individual and group subscriptions The forums I'm trying to remove a user's subscriptions from, were created before any corresponding group existed. In the beginning the removed user was given user forum permissions and was later included in a group whose permissions were similar but not identical. When I said I was "revising" forum permissions, I meant removing user forum permissions and removing him from the group.
devspace wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 13:35
In any event it would not affect the user who has been removed as notification permissions are checked at the time of sending the notification.
Are you saying merely removing forum permissions prevents a notification even if a user is still subscribed? Now I'm a little confused. What notification "permissions" are you referring to? There is a forum permission controlling whether a user is allowed to subscribe, but as we know the extension still reports group and individual forum subscription after this user's permissions were removed and set to "No Access".

The workaround for the group subscription (which I shouldn't have had to do) was unsubscribing the whole group and resubscribing the group after he was no longer a member. But the extension still shows his individual subscription which l can't remove, so what would prevent him from getting notifications?
devspace wrote: 16 Dec 2022, 13:35
It is not possible to automatically remove any subscriptions as there is the possibility that the user has subscribed to that forum themselves.
You don't really mean it's "impossible". From your example, you're saying you "shouldn't" do it because it might remove a valid subscription. I've described two examples where automatically synchronizing subscriptions won't remove any valid subscriptions and not doing that could create a bunch of problems.

Group subscriptions. A group subscription is really a "permission" enabled for the members of that group so I can't imagine why it would be handled differently from any any other permission, but when created by the extension it's an isolated event subscribing only the group members at that one instant and as you confirmed, it doesn't change as members are added or removed.

If an admin couldn't rely on groups it would be almost impossible to keep things straight for a board of any size. There's no circumstance where someone should retain a group subscription if they're no longer a member of that group, so if that's not handled automatically like other permissions, every time the membership changes someone will have to remove the entire group subscription and then re-subscribe the group. are fundamental to administering a board and building locks of administering a board and in subscription

most the primary are the primary

Do you agree someone removed from a group should no longer have that group subscription? And do you agree that But they do. The extension is teriffic because where appropriate an admin can make sure various groups gets notice for certain things. . I can't think of any reason why that shouldn't happen automatically, can you? Otherwise, someone must manually unsubscribe and resubscribe the whole group whenever people are added or removed, which really detracts from the usefulness of the extension.

To me the same applies to individual subscriptions to forums the user no longer has permission to see. You said it was impossible because the user might have an individual subscription, but a user without access to a forum cannot subscribe and shouldn't keep that subscription, so no harm is done by removing it while a lot of harm can result if you don't.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#9

Post by devspace »

First off - this extension does not synchronise and as there all the necessary tools already available to manage subscriptions it is not something that will be being added.

Secondly I am fully aware of how the phpBB permissions and groups systems work and if you were to create groups with the requisite permissions and add/remove members as necessary your life would be a lot more simple.
kennybroh wrote: 18 Dec 2022, 14:31
Are you saying merely removing forum permissions prevents a notification even if a user is still subscribed?
Yes
kennybroh wrote: 18 Dec 2022, 14:31
What notification "permissions" are you referring to?
I am referring to the fact that if a user does not have permission to access a forum then they will not get any notifications for that forum.
kennybroh wrote: 18 Dec 2022, 14:31
Do you agree someone removed from a group should no longer have that group subscription?
No

As I sai before you should be testing all of this on a test board - not a live board.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#10

Post by kennybroh »

Sorry-- I pressed send prematurely. I was still editing it.

But can you explain why a user who is no longer a member of a group with access to a forum should still have a group subscription? In fact, your extension doesn't even work that way. If I remove the member from the group, unsubscribe the group and then resubscribe it, that removes the group subscription for that member. So I don't understand your answer.

Also I do't know about the other tools to sync subscriptions. Can you tell me what they are?

Finally, when I tested this I didn't have any problems and this situation hadn't arisen. It was only when this user was removed from access to these forums that the problem surfaced.

Thanks

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#11

Post by david63 »

From reading this topic it would appear that this extension does not provide the functionality that you are wanting.

The way that I am reading it is that you want subscriptions applied to a group and not to the members of the group - that would require a considerable amount of work and I am not even sure that it would be possible.

I also feel that you do not fully understand how to best utilise the phpBB permissions and groups and you seem to be trying to do some things the hard way - perhaps reading some of the documentation may help as would, as has been suggested, you test things out more on a test board first.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#12

Post by kennybroh »

David-- I appreciate your reply, but I think you misunderstand what I'm saying.
david63 wrote: 20 Dec 2022, 08:59
...you want subscriptions applied to a group and not to the members of the group
Actually I'm saying just the opposite. I'm saying it should apply to all the members of the group, but that's not how it works now. When you create a group subscription it applies to the members of that group at that moment, and only those members. Members subsequently added to the group are not included, and members removed from the group still retain their subscription. If a subscription is created for a group, I don't understand why it shouldn't be synchronized to apply to the members of that group at any given time. That's how group permissions work and why they are so efficient; why shouldn't group subscriptions work the same way?
david63 wrote: 20 Dec 2022, 08:59
I also feel that you do not fully understand how to best utilise the phpBB permissions and groups and you seem to be trying to do some things the hard way
Again, I think you misunderstand what i said. The issue I am grappling with has nothing to do with my understanding of the use of groups and permissions, and I have read the documentation quite thoroughly. This particular issue, perhaps an anomaly, arose because only one person had a particular set of permissions when this forum was created, so he was granted user forum permissions and he subscribed to the forum individually. Subsequently, a group was created, having more generic permissions in multiple forums. At that time I was unaware of this extension and relied on users to subscribe to the forums as they chose. When I found this extension I created a group subscription to the forum in question and he was a member of the group at that time.

The problem came when for particular reasons he had to be replaced by someone else. His user permissions were removed and he was removed from the group. After that was done I noticed he actually had duplicate subscriptions to this forum. One was the group subscription, which as discussed above, he did not lose when he was no longer a group member, The only way I was able to get rid of that was to unsubscribe and resubscribe the entire group, a somewhat kludgy solution.

The other was the subscription he created for himself which he should not retain if he no longer has access to that group. Even though I've been told otherwise in this topic, I've found no function to remove that individual subscription. I can remove my own subscriptions from the UCP, but not someone else's.

In an earlier post I attached an image of the error message I get for a menu function that might do that, but I've not been told how to resolve that error.

If you still feel the same way, tell me what you are referring to.

Thanks

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#13

Post by david63 »

kennybroh wrote: 20 Dec 2022, 10:45
I think you misunderstand what I'm saying.
I am not misunderstanding what you are saying at all - perhaps we are using different terminology!

You want an extension where the subscriptions are applied to a group and all members of that group receive those subscription - this extension does not do that.

You say
kennybroh wrote: 20 Dec 2022, 10:45
it should apply to all the members of the group
but that is only what you would like it to do. I am saying that it should not because it was never designed that way.

What this extension does is apply the subscriptions to the members of a group at that moment in time - this is what the requirements for the extension were.
kennybroh wrote: 20 Dec 2022, 10:45
That's how group permissions work and why they are so efficient; why shouldn't group subscriptions work the same way?
Because the permission system is a complex sub system of phpBB and subscriptions do not have that level of complexity. Yes a whole sub systen could be written for phpBB but as far as I am aware you are the first person to want this so I would suggest that you create a topic in the Ideas forum at phpbb.com.
kennybroh wrote: 20 Dec 2022, 10:45
In an earlier post I attached an image of the error message I get for a menu function that might do that, but I've not been told how to resolve that error.
I have no isea how you arrived at that error but you have not explained how you arrived at the ACP image which is not standard phpBB. If you are using some other extension to modify the ACP then I would suggest that you switch back to the standard.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#14

Post by stone23 »

Hello, this extension seems not to work with phpBB version 3.3.9

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#15

Post by devspace »

stone23 wrote: 08 Jan 2023, 15:55
Hello, this extension seems not to work with phpBB version 3.3.9
In what way?

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#16

Post by stone23 »

I'm doing some testing because I'm getting a 504 error so I must have a conflict with other extensions.
I deactivate the other extensions of David63 which are installed on my forum to see if it could come from there...

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#17

Post by stone23 »

I still get the 504 error with all extensions disabled and after reinjecting the phpBB files

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#18

Post by devspace »

504 is a server gateway error - not sure how this extension would cause that and I certainly cannot recreate it.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#19

Post by stone23 »

Can you give me the host parameters compatible with the extension?

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#20

Post by devspace »

stone23 wrote: 08 Jan 2023, 19:23
Can you give me the host parameters compatible with the extension?
Not sure what you mean by that but could you check in your server error logs to try and identify the exact cause.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#21

Post by stone23 »

I'm sorry but I had extensions from David63 that still worked but since I installed your extension "forum subs" my problem is with all the extensions from David63 taken over from his...

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#22

Post by stone23 »

Is this fix applied in your extension updates?
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2631681

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#23

Post by devspace »

stone23 wrote: 11 Jan 2023, 20:17
Is this fix applied in your extension updates?
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2631681
That has never been a problem with any of these extensions.

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#24

Post by Neverlands »

Hello,
thanks for this extension!
Would it be possible to get something similar for topic subscriptions?

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Re: [3.3.0] Forum Subs

#25

Post by devspace »

Neverlands wrote: 11 Jan 2023, 22:31
Would it be possible to get something similar for topic subscriptions?
All things are possible, but I am not sure that it would be practical and currently I do not have the time to investigate.