Developer Information

Information for developers to enhance your existing PunBB installation.


Table of Contents


Syndication

This script extern.php is used to include information about your board from pages outside the forums and to syndicate news about recent discussions via RSS. The script can display a list of recent discussions (sorted by post time or last post time), a list of active users or a collection of general board statistics. The script can be called directly via an URL (for RSS), from a PHP include command or through the use of Server Side Includes (SSI).

The scripts behaviour is controlled via variables supplied in the URL to the script. The different variables are: action (what to output), show (how many topics to display), forum (the ID of the forum to poll for topics) and type (output as HTML or RSS). The only mandatory variable is action.

Possible/default values are:

Here are some examples using PHP include().

Here are some examples using SSI.

And finally some examples using extern.php to output an RSS 0.91 feed.


Website Integration

Integrating PunBB into your website code is easy if you know a little PHP. By including PunBB's script common.php, you gain access to all PunBB global variables such as $db and $pun_user. However, in order to include this file, you need to define a constant called PUN_ROOT. This constant should be set to the relative path to your PunBB forum directory. For example, if your website front page is located in /home/user/public_html/ and your forums are located in /home/user/public_html/forums/, your PUN_ROOT should be './forums/'. The PHP code to accomplish this could look something like this:

define('PUN_ROOT', './forums/');
require PUN_ROOT.'include/common.php';

Once you've included common.php, you can access and utilize all of PunBB's global variables and functions. Typically, you will be most interested in the $pun_user array. This array holds information about the current user. Another interesting variable is the database object $db. How to use these variables in your own script is out of the scope of this document, but here's a small example showing you how to print a simple message greeting the current user on your website front page:

Hello <?php echo pun_htmlspecialchars($pun_user['username']); ?>!

In addition to defining PUN_ROOT, you can define a number of other constants to alter the behaviour of PunBB when including common.php. The two most interesting of these constants are PUN_TURN_OFF_MAINT and PUN_QUIET_VISIT. If PUN_TURN_OFF_MAINT is defined when including common.php, PunBB will not exit and display the maintenance message if the forums are placed into maintenance mode. You generally don't want this message to appear on your website front page, so defining that constant is a good idea. The other constant, PUN_QUIET_VISIT, prevents PunBB from updating the current user's last visit data in the database so that a visit to the front page doesn't count as a visit in the forums. This is also desirable behaviour in most cases. It doesn't matter what value you set these constants to, but setting them to a value of 1 is probably a good idea. Example:

define('PUN_TURN_OFF_MAINT', 1);
define('PUN_QUIET_VISIT', 1);

Please note that these constants must be defined before common.php is included.


Admin Plugins

Admin plugins are modules for the PunBB admin interface that can be installed by simply dropping the plugin script in the plugins/ directory. See the example plugin for information on how to write your own plugin. Here are a few notes of interest for aspiring plugin authors:


Database Tables Reference

The following is a complete list of all PunBB database tables and their respective fields. Primary key fields are underlined.

bans

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
username varchar(200) NULL The username this ban applies to.
ip varchar(255) NULL The IP address(es) or partial IP address(es) this ban applies to.
email varchar(50) NULL The e-mail address or e-mail address domain name this ban applies to.
message varchar(255) NULL A message that is displayed for the banned user.
expire int NULL A UNIX timestamp representing the day when the ban expires.

categories

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
cat_name varchar(80) 'New Category' The name of the category.
disp_position int 0 The vertical display position of the category (relative to other categories).

censoring

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
search_for varchar(60) The term to search for.
replace_with varchar(60) The term to replace search_for with.

config

Field Type Default Description
conf_name varchar(255) The name of a configuration variable. General configuration options start with the prefix o_ and general permission options start with p_.
conf_value text NULL The value of the configuration variable conf_name.

forum_perms

Field Type Default Description
group_id int The user group for which these permissions apply. Primary key identifier together with forum_id for this table.
forum_id int The forum in which these permissions apply. Primary key identifier together with group_id for this table.
read_forum tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
post_replies tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
post_topics tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.

forums

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
forum_name varchar(80) 'New forum' The name of the forum.
forum_desc text NULL A description of the forum.
redirect_url varchar(100) NULL The URL to redirect users to upon clicking the forum link on the index page.
moderators text NULL A serialized PHP array of moderators.
num_topics mediumint/int 0 The number of topics the forum contains.
num_posts mediumint/int 0 The number of posts the forum contains.
last_post int NULL A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the last post was made in the forum.
last_post_id int NULL The ID of the last post that was made in the forum.
last_poster varchar(200) NULL The username (or guest name) of the user that made the last post in the forum.
sort_by tinyint/smallint 0 0 = Display topics sorted by last post. 1 = Display topics sorted by topic start.
disp_position int 0 The vertical display position of the forum (relative to other forums in the same category).
cat_id int 0 The category in which the forum resides.

groups

Field Type Default Description
g_id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
g_title varchar(50) The name of the group.
g_user_title varchar(50) NULL The title of users in this group.
g_read_board tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_post_replies tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_post_topics tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_post_polls tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_edit_posts tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_delete_posts tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_delete_topics tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_set_title tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_search tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_search_users tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Deny. 1 = Allow.
g_edit_subjects_
interval
smallint 300 Number of seconds after post time that users in this group may edit the subject of topics they've posted.
g_post_flood smallint 30 Number of seconds that users in this group have to wait between posts.
g_search_flood smallint 30 Number of seconds that users in this group have to wait between searches.

online

Field Type Default Description
user_id int 1 ID of the user (always 1 for guests).
ident varchar(200) Identification string for the user. Username for logged in users and IP address for guests.
logged int 0 A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time for the user's last activity.
idle tinyint/smallint 0 0 = User has been active within the last "Online timeout" seconds. 1 = User has timed out.

posts

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
poster varchar(200) The username (or guest name) of the user that made the post.
poster_id int 1 The user ID of the user that made the post (always 1 for guests).
poster_ip varchar(15) NULL The IP address the post was made from.
poster_email varchar(50) NULL The guest e-mail address (if supplied).
message text The actual message contents.
hide_smilies tinyint/smallint 0 0 = Let users decide whether to show smilies as images or not in this post. 1 = Never show smilies as images in this post.
posted int 0 A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the post was made.
edited int NULL A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the post was last edited.
edited_by varchar(200) NULL The username of the user that last edited the post.
topic_id int 0 The topic ID in which the post resides.

ranks

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
rank varchar(50) The rank title.
min_posts mediumint/int 0 The number of posts a user must attain in order to reach the rank.

reports

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
post_id int 0 The post the report relates to.
topic_id int 0 The topic in which the reported post resides in.
forum_id int 0 The forum in which the reported post resides in.
reported_by int 0 The user ID of the user that reported the post.
created int 0 A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the post was last edited.
message text The report message.
zapped int NULL A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the report was zapped (marked as read).
zapped_by int NULL The username of the administrator or moderator that zapped the report.

search_cache

Field Type Default Description
id int 0 The primary key identifier for this table.
ident varchar(200) Identification string for the searcher. Username for logged in users and IP address for guests.
search_data text A serialized PHP array of search data (e.g. post ID's, sort direction etc.).

search_matches

Field Type Default Description
post_id int 0 The post this match relates to.
word_id mediumint/int 0 The word this match relates to.
subject_match tinyint/smallint 0 0 = Match is in the post message. 1 = Match is in the topic subject.

search_words

Field Type Default Description
id mediumint/int An integer identifier for this table.
word varchar(20) The indexed word (primary key).

subscriptions

Field Type Default Description
user_id int 0 The user that subscribes to topic_id. Primary key identifier together with topic_id for this table.
topic_id int 0 The topic user_id subscribes to. Primary key identifier together with user_id for this table.

topics

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
poster varchar(200) The username (or guest name) of the user that posted the topic.
subject varchar(255) The topic subject.
posted int 0 A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the topic was posted.
last_post int NULL A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the last post was made in the topic.
last_post_id int NULL The ID of the last post that was made in the topic.
last_poster varchar(200) NULL The username (or guest name) of the user that made the last post in the topic.
num_views mediumint/int 0 The number of times the topic has been viewed.
num_replies mediumint/int 0 The number of replies that have been posted in the topic.
closed tinyint/smallint 0 0 = Topic is open. 1 = Topic is closed.
sticky tinyint/smallint 0 0 = Topic is a regular topic. 1 = Topic is a sticky topic.
moved_to int NULL The forum to which the topic has been moved.
forum_id int 0 The forum in which the topic resides.

users

Field Type Default Description
id int The auto-incrementing (identity) primary key identifier for this table.
group_id int 4 The user group to which this user belongs.
username varchar(200) The user's username.
password varchar(40) The user password as an 40 byte SHA1 hash or an 32 byte MD5 hash.
email varchar(50) The user e-mail address.
title varchar(50) NULL The user custom title.
realname varchar(40) NULL The user's name.
url varchar(100) NULL A link to the user's website.
jabber varchar(75) NULL The user's Jabber address.
icq varchar(12) NULL The user's ICQ UIN.
msn varchar(50) NULL The user's MSN Messenger e-mail address.
aim varchar(30) NULL The user's AOL Instant Messenger username.
yahoo varchar(30) NULL The user's Yahoo Messenger username.
location varchar(30) NULL The user's geographical location.
use_avatar tinyint/smallint 0 0 = Don't show avatar to other users. 1 = Show avatar to other users.
signature text NULL The user's signature.
disp_topics tinyint/smallint NULL The number of topics to display on forum page (uses forum default if left blank).
disp_posts tinyint/smallint NULL The number of posts to display on topic page (uses forum default if left blank).
email_setting tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Show e-mail address to other users. 1 = Hide e-mail address, but allow form e-mail. 2 = Hide e-mail address and disallow form e-mail.
save_pass tinyint/smallint 1 0 = Don't remember user between visits. 1 = Remember user between visits.
notify_with_post tinyint/smallint 0 0 = Include only topic subject in subscription notification e-mails. 1 = Include both topic subject and post content in subscription notification e-mails.
show_smilies tinyint/smallint 1 Show smilies as images.
show_img tinyint/smallint 1 Show images in posts.
show_img_sig tinyint/smallint 1 Show images in signatures.
show_avatars tinyint/smallint 1 Show avatars.
show_sig tinyint/smallint 1 Show signatures.
timezone float 0 The user's timezone.
language varchar(25) 'English' The user's preferred language for the forum UI.
style varchar(25) 'Oxygen' The user's preferred style.
num_posts int 0 The number of posts the user has made.
last_post int NULL A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the last post by the user was made.
registered int 0 A UNIX timestamp representing the date the user registered.
registration_ip varchar(15) 0.0.0.0 The IP address used when registering.
last_visit int 0 A UNIX timestamp representing the date/time the last visit by the user commenced.
admin_note varchar(30) NULL A user note only viewable and editable by administrators and moderators.
activate_string varchar(50) NULL A temporary storage string for new passwords and new e-mail addresses.
activate_key varchar(8) NULL A temporary storage string for new password and new e-mail address activation keys.