TgaForumBundle

What is that?

TgaForumBundle is a Symfony2 bundle aiming to synchronize Symfony2 with the forum software Vanilla.

Since it has been released, Symfony2 lacks of a complete, well-tested and powerful forum bundle. But why create a new system that already exists in the wild?

Vanilla is a modern, flexible, framework-based forum software providing a complete community platform. The aim of this bundle is to connect it to your Symfony application so you can use Vanilla as an extension of Symfony.

Install

Note: This bundle synchronize Vanilla with Symfony, and not the contrary: Symfony is the master, Vanilla is the slave. It means you should redirect Vanilla subscription and login (with a simple server configuration for instance) to your Symfony one.

Note: The bundle will create a Vanilla user when a user unknown by Vanilla log into Symfony successfully. The created user will have the exact same username in Symfony and Vanilla (that's the matching field).

Install Vanilla

Install Vanilla in your public directory (web) by downloading it from the official website and by running it into your browser.

Once fully installed, install the bundle.

Install Symfony bundle

Using Composer : composer require tga/forum-bundle

Add this line to your AppKernel.php file : new Tga\ForumBundle\TgaForumBundle(),

You have to configure the bundle in your config.yml file:

tga_forum:
    vanilla_path: "%kernel.root_dir%/../web/<your_vanilla_path>

Now, every user connecting/disconnecting throw Symfony should be also connected/disconnected in Vanilla.

How does it work? The Vanilla Kernel

The Vanilla kernel is a service (tga_forum.vanilla) able to boot Vanilla in the current context of Symfony. Once booted, all the feaures from Vanilla are available in Symfony.

Using the kernel, you have access to two methods : getUserManager and getSessionManager, managing the users and the sessions.

For instance, the AuthenticationSuccessHandler (connect the users into Vanilla when they connect in Symfony) uses the Kernel and the managers :

public function onAuthenticationSuccess(Request $request, TokenInterface $token)
{
    $userManager = $this->vanillaKernel->getUserManager();
    $sessionManager = $this->vanillaKernel->getSessionManager();

    $vanillaUser = $userManager->findByUsername($token->getUsername());

    if ($vanillaUser) {
        $vanillaUserId = $vanillaUser;
    } else {
        $vanillaUserId = $userManager->register($token->getUser());
    }

    $sessionManager->login($vanillaUserId);
    $userManager->trackVisit($token->getUser());

    return parent::onAuthenticationSuccess($request, $token);
}

smilesrg/TgaForumBundle

TgaForumBundle

What is that?

Install

How does it work? The Vanilla Kernel