2. ASPRunnerPro General questions
  3. Message/Discussion Board Capability
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Message/Discussion Board Capability

 		2/12/2010 1:19:29 PM
ASPRunnerPro General questions
M
 McGowan author

I have the need to build a web based application that encompasses typical record keeping stuff, which it appears ASP Runner handles nicely, and at the same time includes a bulletin board or message board type section. The purpose would be to allow discussions or threads to be created, based upon and displayed in pre-determined categories, so that users could post questions or comments under a specific category or topic and then others could add replies and or additional comments to the original thread. All of this would be much like the "ASPRunnerPro Forums" I'm posting this question to but much less sophisticated.
Using the installed templates that come with ASP Runner, the closest example I could find that could be used as a starting point appears to be the "Knowledge Base". I like a lot of how it works and it would almost meet my needs. One problem that I have with it is that when someone adds a Comment to an existing Article, the comment isn't easily visible, meaning it doesn't appear directly below the original thread the way it does in a forum scenario. Instead you have to go to the comments separately and a person can't leave a comment to the comment. Again, not like a forum.
Therefore, my question becomes, does ASP Runner have the ability to be more like a discussion forum or should I be looking for a different product? My need is for something that can be like an online application as its primary purpose but also can include the ability to give users the ability to have discussions.
I must admit, I've only been testing ASP Runner's capabilities for a few days and maybe I'm not seeing everything that it can do. If I'm not seeing what's right in front of me, please point me in the right direction.
Sergey Kornilov admin 2/13/2010

ASPRunnerPro is able to create almost any type of database-based app. Forum is not exception but the actual question is "why?". There are some many beautiful forum software around (both free and cheap) that building yet another template doesn't make much sense. You may find youself reimplementing feature after feature just to find you could have all what you wanted installing one of industry standard forums in fifteen minutes.
If you still want to build your own forum here is how I see it. You'll need the following tables: Users, Threads, Posts. Threads and Posts are related as Master-Details. Add guest login to allow guest users read existing topics. Require to register or logon to post new topic or reply to existing one. Turn on password reminder, registration, captcha etc.
The only trick is to create new thread and new post at the same time. That would be a modified 'Add thread' page that allows you to add thread topic and body. Using AfterAdd event you can create post automatically and attach it to the thread.
M
 		McGowan author 2/13/2010

Sergey -
Thank you for the reply and advise. You are probably right regarding the "why" question. I was just thinking I would need to build the forum within ASP Runner so that it worked with the other parts of the application I need to build. I want everything to be integrated so that when the user logged into the ASR Runner app, they'd be able to go into the forum and back again into the other app without having to login again and it would have a similar look and feel as the rest of the app. I also wanted to make it completely secure, like the rest of the app so that only users of the ASP Runner app could use the forum.
This raises a new question, I guess, can another app such as one of the forums you've described be integrated into ASP Runner? Like you said, if there's already something out there, why would I want to reimplement everything myself?
William
Sergey Kornilov admin 2/15/2010

Most of web software is implemented in PHP (including this board) so you might need to choose PHPRunner.
Here are links that show how PHPRunner can be integrated with Joomla and Drupal:

http://www.asprunner.com/forums/topic/13251-phprunner-and-joomla/

http://www.asprunner.com/forums/topic/13467-phprunner-and-drupal/
I will also try to create a simple 'build a forum' tutorial for those who needs a bit of inspiration to get started.
F
 		fpilot 3/19/2010

But how can you incorporate the bulletin boards with the same login as for your own application? Disregard The question has already been put and answered. will wait for Sergey's tutorial though