Creating a phpBB Extension Using Only BHW Forums and AI

[Mark Eternally]

I would like to create a free extension, which I truly do not know how to do by myself, using only the BHW Forums and AI. This means, I will post within other sub-forums of BHW to ask for help, which I will need, and work the entire project (apart from testing), in threads within BHW, and track those other threads from this Journey thread. For example, I may ask for help in the Web Design forum, or PHP & Perl forum. I will use AI tools for testing code, and refining ideas. This project will require knowledge of HTML, CSS, phpBB, BHW, OpenAI products, and maybe some other gems.

I thought about the Joint Venture forum, but this is not really a "let's make money together" type of project. Also, I think this Journey would be a great reflection of the current usefulness of BHW for a fairly simple project. If I can get help with this project from within BHW on this, then it shows how others could do the same.

Within BHW, I have a Journey thread entitled, "Building a Successful Online Forum" in which I explain that I am playing with online forums and learning how to make them successful. I also mention that I am using free forum software called "phpBB". phpBB is an open source forum solution, and it allows for the creation of extensions, which extend the functionality of the forum. One example of an extension I have mentioned in that thread is an advertisement extension that places a banner with code of my choosing at various places within the forum. There is one extension that I would very much like to see, but the development of that extension stopped and the fork was way too complicated for me to tackle, so I would rather just start with a clean slate.

THE EXTENSION IDEA

Gamification.

Develop a phpBB extension that rewards forum users for their involvement in the forum community.

As such, the phpBB extension will be named, "Rewards".

Initial Features:

• Create a ACP, MCP, and UCP page to manage/view the Rewards.
• Create a database entry/modification/delete capability.
• Display a Reward on every user's Profile.
  • Every post will earn the User a set Reward, based on the settings within the ACP.
  • By default this Reward would be set to 0.25, which means for every 4 posts the user earns 1 Reward.
• The "Reward" can be named something else in the ACP. If the Admin(s) want to name the Reward "Clams" then they can do so, but the default name is "Rewards".

Future Features:

• Rewards can be preset graphics which identify the user's Reward(s).
• More robust rules for automated Rewarding.
• Possibly tie into a future extension which provides a monetary system within the forum.

Since this will be a product created through BHW, the extension will use the "SocietyofBHW" as the developer name. This means the extension will be stored in the "/ext/societyofbhw/rewards" directory.

Terminology:

ACP	Admin Control Panel
AI	Artificial Intelligence
BB	Bulletin Board
BHW	Black Hat World
CSS	Cascading Style Sheets
HTML	Hypertext Markup Language
MCP	Moderator Control Panel
PHP	PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
UCP	User Control Panel

Let the games begin!

 

[Mark Eternally]

Posted Need Help Developing phpBB Extension, in the PHP & Perl subform.

 

[Mark Eternally]

Apparently I will NOT be posting in the Web Design forum.

You must be Jr. VIP, Marketplace seller or above and warning free to post in this section.

I am a non-paying member of BHW. So sad for me.

 

[Mark Eternally]

Posted Looking to Hire phpBB Extension Developer in the Hire a Freelancer forum.

 

[krilca]

It's prolly easier to test/update existing Advanced Points System

 

[PHPInjected]

Apparently I will NOT be posting in the Web Design forum.



I am a non-paying member of BHW. So sad for me.

Yes, you must be either a Jr. VIP or Marketplace Seller to post in the marketplace here on our forums.

Should you ever decide to upgrade, it can be done easily here: https://www.blackhatworld.com/account/upgrades

Note: Don't purchase the Pink Premium option if you intend on opening a marketplace thread. Check out our user permissions grid here for more information: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/updated-bhw-member-levels.889577/

Good luck with your project!

 

[Mark Eternally]

It's prolly easier to test/update existing Advanced Points System

That was my initial thought as well, but then I started looking at the code and it quickly got confusing. That extension has so many features already I do not want to spend a bunch of time learning how it works, breaking functions, and so forth. I would much rather just start fresh.

Good luck with your project!

Thank you.

 

[Mark Eternally]

Setting up a domain for testing.

I will install phpBB 3.3.12 onto this site.

Then I will install the skeleton extension extension and make a vanilla code for the Rewards extension. I will most likely post the vanilla code into the PHP & Perl thread, Need Help Developing phpBB Extension. And finally, I will disable the skeleton extension after it is used.

 

[krilca]

Just to be clear, you basically want to do [number-of-posts]*0.25=[rewards]?

 

[Mark Eternally]

Just to be clear, you basically want to do [number-of-posts]*0.25=[rewards]?

Yes, that is the starting point.

I am very aware that alone is easy, however, every time I have tried it alone it does not work. The furthest I have gotten it alone is the database portion is created but does not get written to, and the data is not properly displayed on the user profile or in the UCP.

In addition to the simple calculation would be the database side of keeping track of special Rewards users have earned.

 

[nirose]

Is there any reason you picked PHPbb for this? Why not use something like SMF that already has Karma as a core feature? Then you can extend it to fit your needs.

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Karma

 

[krilca]

Yes, that is the starting point.

Gotcha, just trying to understand the full picture. Would users be able to spend those rewards?

Is there any reason you picked PHPbb for this? Why not use something like SMF that already has Karma as a core feature? Then you can extend it to fit your needs.

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Karma

Karma on SMF is not the same as OP's idea.

 

[nirose]

Karma on SMF is not the same as OP's idea.

Probably not 1 to 1 requirement, but it could be extended just as any PHP script.

It already has got a reward system, admin/user interface, and database already set up, OP could limit it to post creation, disable user interaction, and design it however they want.

That's what I meant by "extending"

 

[Mark Eternally]

Is there any reason you picked PHPbb for this? Why not use something like SMF that already has Karma as a core feature? Then you can extend it to fit your needs.

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Karma

I already have a number of forums running phpBB. I will take a look at SMF for other projects, but phpBB seems to be doing well for the sites it is on. I would like it to be a little easier for extension and style/theme/template development, but so be it.

Gotcha, just trying to understand the full picture. Would users be able to spend those rewards?

I did think about giving users the ability to spend the Rewards, but then I decided that would be a different extension, but one that could tie into the Rewards extension. I mentioned this as a future feature, "Possibly tie into a future extension which provides a monetary system within the forum."

The Rewards would be trophies. I also thought about calling it Trophy. Some examples of Rewards:

• Post, get Rewards
• Be a Member for a set period of time (1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 10 years, et cetera), get Rewards
• Create X amount of new threads, get Rewards
• Be the first to respond to a new thread, or just respond to a thread, get Rewards
• Post X amount of posts in a specific forum, get Rewards

Karma on SMF is not the same as OP's idea.

Agreed.

 

[Mark Eternally]

Setting up a domain for testing.

Domain is up. SSL Cert is active. DNS has propagated.

I will install phpBB 3.3.12 onto this site.

phpBB 3.3.12 is installed.

Then I will install the skeleton extension extension and make a vanilla code for the Rewards extension.

phpBB Skeleton Extension is installed and enabled.

I will most likely post the vanilla code into the PHP & Perl thread, Need Help Developing phpBB Extension. And finally, I will disable the skeleton extension after it is used.

...working on this part....

 

[Mark Eternally]

...working on this part....

Apparently I forgot to delete the ./install directory, which stopped the extension from running. I deleted that directory, and the extension started working.

Made an extension skeleton. Will post more about that in the Programming subforum.

 

[roydan]

Apparently I will NOT be posting in the Web Design forum.



I am a non-paying member of BHW. So sad for me.

You can post in this web design section. You just accidentally posted in the marketplace.

 

[Mark Eternally]

Thanks for the link to the Web Design forum!

You can post in this web design section. You just accidentally posted in the marketplace.

I am posting about this all over the BHW forums.

So far, IRT this project, I have posted in the Hire a Freelancer forum, PHP & Perl forum, and the Journey forum.

When the web design aspect of the extension kicks in, I will probably be posting in the Web Design forum about that. If any graphics are needed beyond something simple or what Gemini can produce, I might post in the Images, logos & videos forum.

Part of the reason for posting this as a Journey is not to show how much money is made from this, but to show that we are, hopefully, sitting on a rich environment that can help us build products, as well as showing the process of developing a digital product. If someone reads this and has their own digital product idea, from reading this they may realize they can ask in various BHW forums for help throughout their creative processes.

 

[Mark Eternally]

Currently learning about phpBB Extension Development. The documentation is not for beginners.

 

[Mark Eternally]

Currently learning about phpBB Extension Development. The documentation is not for beginners.

I have almost decided to change my entire life's purpose to rewriting the documentation for writing phpBB Extensions. I asked someone else about it, they said it is probably a user error. Probably.

Still reading and trying to figure this out.