iphone forum reader (touchbb)

Hangin' Around Joined: Jul 15, 2008 Posts: 49

This might be the wrong place to post this, since I did not write it. But definately you guys might want to consider collaborating or otherwise adding this in to the next version of ravennuke. (mobile tech is the future afterall).

I came across this app in the iphone app store.
http://www.messageforums.net/iphoneforumreader.php

(you need to register to download the latest version of the script)

At first it didnt quite work with the latest Ravennuke. But after some communication with the admin and a few days later, voila! now I can easily read the forums on my RN site using the iphone. no pinching or zooming on every page required!

Here are a few of the features:

• View posts in their original format
• Images in posts are resized to fit the screen
• Post replies to current topics
• Easily create new topics
• Quickly switch between different forums
• Internal web browser and email composer
• Create your own forum from within the app
• Account data securely stored in keychain
• Use the app in portrait or landscape mode
• Supports native cut, copy and paste
• No annoying ads in the paid app

Very Happy

Site Admin/Owner Joined: Aug 27, 2002 Posts: 17088

Thanks for this. We will take it under consideration Smile

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:38 am

We've run in to a snag getting TouchBB to work with RN v2.4..
The author of this script spent a solid 3 days trying to get it to work, but was unable to do so. Unfortunately, the issue is WAY above my head as well.

Chris has asked me to post what we know here in the hopes that someone on the RN team could quickly identify what has changed between 2.3 and 2.4 that would cause the script to no longer function.

In his words, "I know the problem lies in the "yacookie" function not being called because the auth() command for phpBB2 is not detecting the logins. Ask them to look at lines 361 to 430 to see the login code."

Here is that snipit of code:

Code:

// later version of phpBB2 supported brute force attack detection


  if (@version_compare($board_config['version'], '2.0.19', '>=')) {


    $sql = "SELECT user_id, username, user_password, user_active, user_level, user_login_tries, user_last_login_try FROM " . USERS_TABLE . " WHERE username = '" . str_replace("\\'", "''", $username) . "'";


    if (!($result = $db->sql_query($sql))) {


      touchbb_die(GENERAL_ERROR, 'Error in obtaining userdata', '', __LINE__, __FILE__, $sql);


    }





    if ($row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result)) {


      if ($row['user_level'] != ADMIN && $board_config['board_disable']) {


        touchbb_die(GENERAL_ERROR, 'Board disabled');


      } else {


        // If the last login is more than x minutes ago, then reset the login tries/time


        if ($row['user_last_login_try'] && $board_config['login_reset_time'] && $row['user_last_login_try'] < (time() - ($board_config['login_reset_time'] * 60))) {


          $db->sql_query('UPDATE ' . USERS_TABLE . ' SET user_login_tries = 0, user_last_login_try = 0 WHERE user_id = ' . $row['user_id']);


          $row['user_last_login_try'] = $row['user_login_tries'] = 0;


        }





        // Check to see if user is allowed to login again... if his tries are exceeded


        if ($row['user_last_login_try'] && $board_config['login_reset_time'] && $board_config['max_login_attempts'] && $row['user_last_login_try'] >= (time() - ($board_config['login_reset_time'] * 60)) && $row['user_login_tries'] >= $board_config['max_login_attempts'] && $userdata['user_level'] != ADMIN) {


          touchbb_die(GENERAL_MESSAGE, sprintf($lang['Login_attempts_exceeded'], $board_config['max_login_attempts'], $board_config['login_reset_time']));


        }





        if (md5($password) == $row['user_password'] && $row['user_active']) {


          $autologin = (isset($HTTP_POST_VARS['autologin'])) ? TRUE : 0;





          $admin = (isset($HTTP_POST_VARS['admin'])) ? 1 : 0;


          $session_id = session_begin($row['user_id'], $user_ip, PAGE_INDEX, FALSE, $autologin, $admin);





          // Reset login tries


          $db->sql_query('UPDATE ' . USERS_TABLE . ' SET user_login_tries = 0, user_last_login_try = 0 WHERE user_id = ' . $row['user_id']);





          if ($session_id) {


            // logged in!


            $userdata['session_logged_in'] = 1;


          } else {


            touchbb_die(CRITICAL_ERROR, "Couldn't start session : login", "", __LINE__, __FILE__);


          }


        } elseif ($row['user_active']) {


          // Only store a failed login attempt for an active user - inactive users can't login even with a correct password


          if ($row['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS) {


            $sql = 'UPDATE ' . USERS_TABLE . ' SET user_login_tries = user_login_tries + 1, user_last_login_try = ' . time() . ' WHERE user_id = ' . $row['user_id'];


            $db->sql_query($sql);


          }


        }





        if (!$session_id) {


          $redirect = (!empty($HTTP_POST_VARS['redirect'])) ? str_replace('&amp;', '&', htmlspecialchars($HTTP_POST_VARS['redirect'])) : '';


          $redirect = str_replace('?', '&', $redirect);





          if (strstr(urldecode($redirect), "\n") || strstr(urldecode($redirect), "\r") || strstr(urldecode($redirect), ';url')) {


            touchbb_die(GENERAL_ERROR, 'Tried to redirect to potentially insecure url.');


          }





          $message = $lang['Error_login'] . '<br /><br />' . sprintf($lang['Click_return_login'], "<a href=\"login.$phpEx?redirect=$redirect\">", '</a>') . '<br /><br />' .  sprintf($lang['Click_return_index'], '<a href="' . append_sid("index.$phpEx") . '">', '</a>');





          touchbb_die(GENERAL_MESSAGE, $message);


        }


      }


    } else {


      $redirect = (!empty($HTTP_POST_VARS['redirect'])) ? str_replace('&amp;', '&', htmlspecialchars($HTTP_POST_VARS['redirect'])) : "";


      $redirect = str_replace("?", "&", $redirect);





      if (strstr(urldecode($redirect), "\n") || strstr(urldecode($redirect), "\r") || strstr(urldecode($redirect), ';url')) {


        touchbb_die(GENERAL_ERROR, 'Tried to redirect to potentially insecure url.');


      }





      $message = $lang['Error_login'] . '<br /><br />' . sprintf($lang['Click_return_login'], "<a href=\"login.$phpEx?redirect=$redirect\">", '</a>') . '<br /><br />' .  sprintf($lang['Click_return_index'], '<a href="' . append_sid("index.$phpEx") . '">', '</a>');





      touchbb_die(GENERAL_MESSAGE, $message);


    }


  } else {

If anyone could please look at this it would be greatly appreciated. As this script works with RN 2.3, Vbulletin, phpnuke, etc - it would be really awesome to get it working with the latest RN. As Chris pointed out, people have made over 70,000 posts using the TouchBB lite version alone, and the numbers continue to grow everyday.

Thanks!

Involved Joined: Jul 25, 2006 Posts: 354

Does this still not work with ravennuke?

Does ANY iphone forum related apps work with ravennuke?

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:30 am

As far as I know, this does not work with RN 2.4+.
though that was months ago and this app developer has since released many updates that just might have nudged it into working.

I still use it on my pre-2.4 RN sites. Very handy!

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:46 am

What happens when you try? Error messages would help Smile

.

registered · Site Admin Joined: Jun 04, 2004 Posts: 6437

There is a similar app for Android called Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login!, but it only works with phpBB 3 forums.

I am not sure what would have changed between 2.3 and 2.4 that would have caused problems for TouchBB, but if you could confirm the current errors, I would be very interested in resolving them.

EDIT: Added URL to Tapatalk

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:09 am

I just noticed that Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! also runs on iPhone. You must install an addon to your forum (it works with several - phpBB 3, vBulletin, IPboard and Simple Machines). It might be helpful to have that addon work with phpBB 2 for RN (or make sure it works with RN's integration with phpBB 3).

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:34 am

I dug up the email conversation I had with Chris. Here are a few more pieces of info. Unfortunately, I don't have a 2.4 RN site installed any more, otherwise I would gladly help out with further testing.

Me

Quote:

...Touchbb let me set up an account for a RN 2.4 site, but it appears that private or registered forums are not recognized, even if you are in a group with access to them, whereas RN 2.3 did recognize private groups...

Chris

Quote:

...My hunch is that my script is logging in to phpBB only, while they have another cookie that they rely on. The reason why touchbb.php is not working is because it doesn't think it's logged in. the phpBB auth commands are returning 0 for viewing of your forums. I tried going into the Your_Account module in RN, but there is just so much code all over the place that I can't find out what's going on...

That combined with my notes above are as far as we got with this back then. Like I said, for all I know it works now. And if you dont use private forums, it should definitely already work.

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:04 pm

Tapatalk doesn't work it only works for phpbb3 and up.

and I didn't get any errors with touchbb - i read it wasn't compatible and didn't even try

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:17 pm

Since RN doesn't use phpBB's login approach (even for phpBB 2), I doubt it works with RN at all (public or private). Still, it's an interesting tool. Since Tapatalk provides software that must be integrated with your forum, it might be easier to make that work with RN, which would give us iPhone and Android clients, potentially with either phpBB 2 or 3. Not sure about ALL the functionality (e.g. photo upload). That said, I have a lot on the plate at the moment, so I'm not sure when I can look at this. But I am interested...

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:32 pm

Anything that works with PhpBB3 should work with the bridge that I am working on. The bridge is taking a lot long than I thought since I am doing a lot of work in in Your Account and removing forum dependencies.

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:44 pm

touchbb also requires downloading a script into the forum, kguske. wasnt sure if you caught that or not. and it did work without issue up to 2.3. 2.4 just seems to have private forum issues.

Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:19 am

Thanks, tehw1n, I didn't realize that touchbb required a script for the forum and appreciate your confirmation that it worked with 2.3. Still, since it's only for iPhone, I'd rather invest limited time in a tool that has a wider range. That said, knowing that it worked with 2.3 might enable us to identify a quick fix, and if so, we will certainly share it with you and the touchbb developer.

registered · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:13 am

I can't recall when we moved the forum scripts from includes to under modules/forums. Was that with 2.4? The only other thing I can think of if its JavaScript based and could there be conflicts now with jQuery or other scripts we added?

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:47 pm

Did this or tapatalk ever get to the point where it was working with ravennuke 2.4