MBoard
PHP message board

PHP message board (MBoard)
Version: 1.21 from 19th April 2005
Originally written on 11th July 2004 by Klemen Stirn (info AT phpjunkyard DOT com)
PHPJunkYard.com - Free PHP scripts
PHP message board
Support and developers forum

PLEASE NOTE: I cannot provide free installation support for this free script! Please use the above e-mail address to contact me ONLY about possible bug reports, suggestions or comments! Thank you!


COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright 2004-2005 Klemen Stirn. All Rights Reserved.

The MBoard may be used and modified free of charge by anyone so long as this copyright notice and the comments above remain intact. By using this code you agree to indemnify Klemen Stirn from any liability that might arise from it's use.

Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is expressly forbidden. In other words, please ask first before you try and make money off this program.

Obtain permission before redistributing this software over the Internet or in any other medium. In all cases copyright and header must remain intact. This Copyright is in full effect in any country that has International Trade Agreements with the United States of America or with the European Union.

Removing copyright notice ("Powered by" statement)
Removing any of the copyright notices without purchasing a license is illegal! To remove PHPJunkyard copyright notice you must purchase a license for this script. For more information on how to obtain a license please visit the site below:
http://www.phpjunkyard.com/copyright-removal.php


DESCRIPTION

A simple message board where your visitors can post messages and replies.


Requirements


>> Quick installation

Open file settings.php in your favorite PLAIN TEXT editor (like Notepad or Wordpad on Windows systems, DO NOT use MS Word or similar editor) and set these variables:

Save and close the settings.php file.

Go to your FTP client and FTP to the public directory on your server (where the rest of your website is; usually "public_html", "www" or "site") and create a folder where you will install MBoard.
Example: /public_html/mboard
Corresponding URL: http://www.yourdomain.com/mboard

Upload all MBoard files to this folder. The "images" folder (all files in this folder) must be transferred in BINARY mode, other files in ASCII mode (refer to your FTP client instructions for details on how to set transfer mode properly).

Within the MBoard directory create a folder called "msg". It must be named EXACTLY "msg", CaSe SeNSiTiVE! Names like "Msg" or "MSG" will result in an error! Make sure this folder is world-writable - on UNIX (Linux) servers you must CHMOD (set permissions for) this folder to 777 (rwx-rwx-rwx). Corresponding URL: http://www.yourdomain.com/mboard/msg

Make sure that the PHP scripts have permission to write to files threads.txt and counts.txt - on UNIX (Linux) servers you must CHMOD (set permissions for) these two files to 666 (rw-rw-rw).

If you have done all this your message board should work now. In your browser open your MBoard, for example:
http://www.yourdomain.com/mboard/mboard.php and test it. You can delete messages by clicking the red [X] icon and entering your admin password.

You may edit header.txt and footer.txt files to add your own header and footer to the links page. You will have to use full image URLs in the code. For example instead of <IMG SRC="images/image.jpg" ... > use <IMG SRC="http://www.yourdomain.com/images/image.jpg" ... >! Same goes for any Javascripts or CSS files if you are calling them from within the header or footer.

Good luck with the script!


>> Adding / Translating bad words list

As of version 1.1 MBoard can search for bad words in the comments and replace them with ****. Files with bad words list are stored in folder "badwords" and have two letter names. For now only English version is available (named "en.php").

Before adding new words please install MBoard and test it so you are sure it works properly!

To add new bad words open the en.php file in your favorite PLAIN TEXT editor (like Notepad or Wordpad on Windows systems, DO NOT use MS Word or similar editor), find the comment saying INSERT NEW BAD WORDS BELOW THIS LINE and add new bad words in this format:

"BADWORD" => "REPLACEMENT",

For example if "asfhkjhfasf" is a bad word you would add this line to the file:

"asfhkjhfasf" => "a**********",

Don't forget to add a comma ( , ) after the line!

If you are translating the bad words file I suggest you leave the English words and add new ones in your language as explained above. Then save the file as two letter country code php file. For example, if you are translating the file in French, you should save the file as fr.php (CaSe SeNSiTiVe!). Upload fr.php to your "badwords" folder, go to settings.php again and set $settings['filter_lang'] to "fr" (file name without .php).

Now test the MBoard again. If you get an Error or Warning when you try to post a new message this means something is wrong with your language file. It either can't be found (check the name of the file, on most servers names are CaSe SeNsiTiVe!) or something is wrong with PHP syntax in it (make sure all the words are added in
"BADWORD" => "REPLACEMENT", syntax).

Please send me the translated file. If you translate the bad words file to your language please send it to info AT phpjunkyard DOT com (or contact me through PHPJunkard.com contact form) and I will make it available to others for download. You may include your name, website URL and e-mail address and I will give you proper credit (translated by John Doe. Visit www.yourwebsite.com).


>> Troubleshooting

What is CHMOD and FTP?

I have prepared a simple FTP and CHMOD tutorial which will help you FTP files to your server and set correct CHMOD settings.

My message board doesn't work, HELP!

Here are a few things to check:

  1. did you upload the images folder in BINARY mode and all other files ASCII mode?
  2. did you create the "msg" folder? Remember the name is CaSe SeNSiTiVE! Did you CHMOD it to 777 (rwx-rwx-rwx)? You should be able to open this folder for example by typing http://www.yourdomain.com/mboard/msg in your browser.
  3. are threads.txt and count.txt files world writable? CHMOD them to 666 (rw-rw-rw) if you are on a UNIX server
  4. if images don't display correctly check if you uploaded them (the entire "images" folder) correctly. The images folder must be placed within the mboard folder, for example http://www.yourdomain.com/mboard/images
  5. go through the entire setup process again carefully

Since these scripts are free no support is guaranteed. If you can't get the script to work please go through this readme file again carefully and repeat the installation step-by-step (also delete old files and folders from the server). Also please feel free to post any questions or problems you might have in PHPJunkyard forum!


>> Stay updated!

Join my FREE newsletter and you will be notified about new scripts, new versions of the existing scripts and other important news from PHPJunkYard.
Click here for more info


>> Please rate this script

If you like this script please rate it or even write a review at:

Rate this Script @ Hot Scripts


>> What else?

That's it! If you use PHPJunkYard free scripts or any portion of their code please place a link to PHPJunkYard.com on your website. I won't sue you if you don't, but I believe it is a fair trade for a free script/code. Think about it. You can find link suggestions here.

Best regards,

Klemen Stirn
PHP JunkYard
http://www.PHPJunkYard.com