TgaForumBundle is a Symfony2 bundle aiming to synchronize Symfony2 with the forum software Vanilla 2.

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 PHP?

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.

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 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.

1. Download it using Composer

composer require tga/forum-bundle

2. Register it

Edit your AppKernel.php file:

<?php

class AppKernel extends Kernel
{
    public function registerBundles()
    {
        $bundles = array(
            // ...
            new Tga\ForumBundle\TgaForumBundle(),
            // ...
        );
    }
}

3. Configure it

Edit your config.yml file to register where is stored Vanilla:

tga_forum:
    vanilla_dir: %kernel.root_dir%/../web/<your_vanilla_path>

4. Register the security handlers

Edit the security.yml configuration file to handle the login/logout successes:

security:
    firewalls:
        main:
            form_login:
                success_handler: tga_forum.authentication_success_handler
            logout:
                success_handler: tga_forum.logout_success_handler

4. And you are done

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

Note: If you have errors with Doctrine not able to update the schema because of Vanilla tables, you can use the tables filter in the Doctrine configuration:

doctrine:
    dbal:
        schema_filter: ~^(?!GDN_)~

The bundle use the concept of UserTransformer to build Vanilla users from Symfony security token. It's an optionnal process you can do if you want to customize the Vanilla users created by the bundle. Declaring your own transformer, you can choose the inserted data.

Use the default transformer or the FOSUserBundle transformer

By default, the bundle provide two transformers:

- the default transformer: `tga_forum.default_user_transformer`
- the FOSUserBundle transformer for FOS users: `tga_forum.fos_user_transformer`

See Use a transformer to use them.

Create a custom transformer

User transformers must implements interface Tga\ForumBundle\Transformer\UserTransformerInterface. You can use the DefaultUserTransformer to start your own:

<?php

namespace Tga\ForumBundle\Transformer;

use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\UserInterface;
use Tga\ForumBundle\Model\VanillaUser;

/**
 * Default transformer: does not do a lot, but enough to work
 *
 * @author Titouan Galopin <galopintitouan@gmail.com>
 */
class DefaultUserTransformer implements UserTransformerInterface
{
    /**
     * @param UserInterface $user
     * @return VanillaUser
     */
    public function createVanillaUser(UserInterface $user)
    {
        return new VanillaUser($user->getUsername());
    }
}

The method createVanillaUser() is called by the login success handler to transform a Symfony user in a Vanilla one.

Use a transformer

Declare it as a service and register it in the bundle configuration:

services:
    my_user_transformer:
        class: Acme\UserBundle\Transformer\MyUserTransformer
        
tga_forum:
    vanilla_dir: %kernel.root_dir%/../web/<your_vanilla_path>
    user_transformer: my_user_transformer

Note : if you don't specify user_transformer key, the default transformer will be used.

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);
}