Extension:AWC's Forum

MediaWiki extensions manual

AWC's Forum Release status: stable
Implementation	Database, Special page, Tag
Description	A full featured standalone forum for MediaWiki, including permission based restricted forums, stickies, announcements and locked threads, signatures, avatars, moderation abilities and an admin section.
Author(s)	AWCtalk
Latest version	2.5.12 (2011-05-05)
MediaWiki	1.15+
License	CC BY-SA 3.0
Download	AWC Forum Extension
Example	AWC (Monobook skin), COSC (Modified skin) and gardenology.org (Modified CSS)
Added rights Forum: Admin, Moderator, Can't View, Can't Post, Can't Delete, Can't Edit, No Sigs
Hooks used SkinTemplateContentActions EditPage::showEditForm:fields ArticleSaveComplete ArticleViewHeader UserLogout BeforePageDisplay
Translate the AWC's Forum extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Check usage and version matrix; code metrics

This extension creates a standalone forum within MediaWiki.

It uses MediaWiki's user authentication system so the forum users details are identical, and the log in process is transparent and perfectly integrated.

Users can create new threads/topics, where others may posts replies to. Users may also quote posts, and edit their own posts (permissions dependent).

Moderators can edit, delete and move threads. Moderators can also make these threads 'stickys' or 'locked'.

Admins can give and remove the permissions required to be a moderator, and may add and remove many restrictions on users forum accounts. Admins may also make changes to the forums, such as add and delete categories and forums, make 'announcements', make changes to many forum configuration settings and do general 'maintenance'.

Highlighted Features

• Traditional forum style layout
• Mediawiki syntax, templates, includes and use of other extension tags in thread posts
  
• Permission restricted forums based on Mediawiki groups (image)
• Forum tag and Poll tag
• Multi-Language support on all forum text
• Displaying templates (or includes {{:page_name}}) at the top of forum section's (based on individual forum section (image)) and also a global header
• Editing of skin HTML code via AdminCP
• Editing of CSS via AdminCP
• Word Wikification
• Forum Hooks
• SyntaxHighlight GeSHi Buttons
• And all traditional forum functions; Stickys, Announcements, Locking, Moving, Splitting and Merging of threads, Thread subscription, PM system, New activity indicators, Emoticons, Avatars (three methods available: URL linking, wiki img tag, forum upload (depends on Admin settings and server restrictions)), Who's Here and more...
• Screen Shots
  * Custom Wiki Skin and custom Forum CSS style
  -- Children of star clan (Green and White)
  * Custom Wiki Skin
  -- Staatsschutz (Light Gray)
  * Custom Forum CSS
  -- Lcarsmemoryalpha (Black)
  

Successful Testing

• Mediawiki Version 1.15.x and newer
  

This is not limited to, but personal testing i have done.

• PHP 5.2.4 (PHP5 and up is required)
• Databases
  - MySQL 5.0.51a
  - SQLite 3.4.2-2 (limited testing)
  - Postgres 8.3.9 (limited testing)

Download & Installation

1. Download the AWC Forum extension
2. Upload the awc folder to the extension folder
3. Add the following to LocalSettings.php:

   require_once( "$IP/extensions/awc/forums/awc_forum.php" ); # AWC
   

4. Run the installer
5. Go to your "Special pages" and you will now see a link to your forum

User rights

In order to install this extension you must be a Sysop.

User Instruction Manual

The user manual will detail every feature, where they are located and how to use them.

At this point, it is still being written, so not everything is covered, but contributions are welcome to speed up this process, so to make it easier for others using this extension, hence the reason for using a wiki medium. It should also be pointed out, that as this extension is changing rapidly, some sections have not been documented as of yet on purpose, due to known forthcoming changes/recent changes, and there are parts of the manual that may already be outdated.

The User Instruction Manual is available here

Support

• AWC's official webpage can be found here

See also

• Extension:LiquidThreads
• Extension:WikiForum

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