RN Forums Permissions and Groups

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:35 pm

I just confuddled my fresh RN install with the import of other data... the dreaded mysql error 1064 and more when trying to set forums permissions. (test site, whew!)

While I'm trying to get that sorted out with a fresher install, i realized that i am not an expert regarding nsngroups and forums groups and how they work together. I've always used nsngroups for blocks, modules and messages permissions. It's easy peasy wonderful stuff. And for forums I used forums permissions (which i'm not expert at either.)

Something changed in nsngroups somewhere, maybe before RN days, and now I'm all confused as to why nsn groups are showing up in my forums groups and what I'm suppose to do about it.

In other words, is there some info on RN Groups How-To, particularly as it relates to setting up forums and their permissions? Perhaps I didn't have the right search string but i've come up empty this morning.

registered · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:27 pm

I cannot remember which version of NSN Groups started the management of even forum groups, but since NSN GRoups has not changed much in several years, I'd say it was quite some time ago.

Basically, you create the groups you need within NSN Groups. To control the non-phpBB stuff, you add users to the NSN Groups. However, as you may have noticed, it will not assign users to groups in the forums. It WILL create the group for phpBB, just not add the users.

So, after you create the groups you need using NSN Groups, you go to the forums to now assign forums to groups and then users to groups (for forum purposes).

Hope this helps.

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:49 pm

Actually M. and Cody, I believe that the relationship between nsngroups and forum groups is a lot more complicated. If you create a group in nsngroups and add a user beyond the moderator that group and its users will show up over in forums when you look at usergroups. If you add another user thru nsngroups also that user will be added the next time you look at usergroups in forums. However, if you add a user in forums that user will not be reflected back over in nsngroups.

If you delete a group in nsngroups that group gets deleted from forums. I'm not sure what the effect would be if you had done things with that group over in forums; it could be you would screw things up royally.

Given these complicated relationships (and I'm just touching the tip of the iceberg here) I would recommend that you treat nsngroups and forums groups completely separately. There is nothing you can do to keep a forum group from getting created when you create a nsngroup but I'd just ignore it over in forums and only use the groups I created there.

Also interesting, if you create a group over in forums using the ACP for forums that group does not get carried over to nsngroups. So it's a one way thing. Likewise, if you first create a group in nsngroups and it's carried over to forums and then you go into the forums acp and delete the group, it doesn't get deleted from nsngroups. Of course that makes sense in a way. The PHPBB authors know nothing about nsngroups while the nsngroups authors know about forums groups. Still I think this kind of incomplete integration is filled with potential problems.

Best to just keep them separate in my opinion. Maybe even adopt a convention of sticking a prefix on any nsngroups you create so you aren't tempted to use them over in forums.

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:13 pm

Well, I didn't believe it as I had not remembered it that way, so, I had to satisfy my "curiosity". You are indeed correct Mr. K! Thank you for the correction.