UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums General Off Topic Ubbthread API

can someone be kind enough to explain to me the use of having this API maybe with some examples - thanking in advance.

Well, you'd be able to have 3rd party programs (that you allow to) be able to add users, suspend accounts, login, etc.

thanks for the information, I would be grateful if you could give some examples of the 3rd party softwares so that I can better visualize it, many thanks.

Well, really, any script that already has a member system could tie in; there isn't really anything that can do the UBB since the API doesn't exist yet...

Potentials would be say CMS' (Jamoola, Drupal, etc), Family Tree software, anything that really could benefit from a user system (or tie their system into the ubb's system)

Sorry Gizmo to go on a bit over this issue, but I know that CMS manage content, but that to me is still a bit vague because it could mean anything. Can you give some examples of what sort of content or how or what can be achieved by say connecting Jamoola or Drupal with Ubbt - Many Thanks.

ok I googled joomla and what I gather u can use it to build websites, I guess in our case it would be useful to build the UI for the Ubbthreads software or am I mistaken. Still a bit unclear how this fits in......

But reading ur earlier post u mentioned things like Family tree software, hmmm

http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla.html

Well, to show a real world "its already done" sample, look at say PHPBB with PostNuke, you can use membersystem A to do EVERTHING with product B (membersystem A being Postnuke, product b being PHPBB)

I found this explanation after reading ur post - thanks.

About

PostNuke is software that creates an impressive, dynamic web site and provides the webmaster with a site they can administer with a minimal amount of HTML knowledge through a web browser.

But, PostNuke's functionality can be increased by installing modules, blocks and themes. For example, you can add a forum, a gallery and contact form. You can also change how your entire site looks by changing themes. All of this can be done with just a few clicks in the administration panel saving you hours of time, both in the initial creation of the website and in its day to day maintenance.

PostNuke can do anything from traditional blog websites, to a community members' only website with hundreds of users. PostNuke can scale to thousands of uses but is just as easy to create a small website for friends and family.

http://www.postnuke.com/

Have I got this right now in that it is used in the case of an existing community based website to change it's look and feel via changing themes or changing the look and feel of individual pages.

Or is there other benefits (...examples) that I have missed that a community based site like Ubbthreads can take advantage from the likes of Joomla and Drupal

UBB.Threads can not do that at this time. I have not seen anything from "Rick" stating that it will as a definite for sure so any speculation is just that.

I was mainly providing the options I stated based off of what most CMS' do with API's; your mileage may vary.

Well, PostNuke was a generic CMS that I chose for an example.

As stated, the UBB.Threads API is slated for v8, it is NOT in the current version (v7.x)

that part V8 I was clear about right from the beginning, but was trying to understand how introducing an API would make things better for me in V8

For an average joe forum admin, it's not going to be anything special, since the majority of people will never use it.

For people that create modifications or have applications they'd like to interface with UBB then it will be much easier. For example, a Joomla bridge has been asked for quite a bit. It's pretty tough right now since everything would need to be coded from scratch and if things changed on the database side, the bridge might no longer work.

With an API, it will be much easier since the majority of things will just require a simple function call to the API. If the database is changed or modified in an update, the API would be updated as well, so the bridge would continue to work.

Ah so you will be getting a consistent API or function calls that return data from the database for use with modifications you add to your site. So that even if the database schema changes, the logic for the calls interface will be kept up to date alongside the db schema changes.

Any examples, Rick, of what existing 3rd party software can do when integrated with v8 and with access through this UBBt interface under development giving access to the database.

Ok I think I know what you mean here third party software is for instance any modifications that I make and incorporate them into my community....