I am somewhat of a non-technical Joomla noob.

Like many noobs (and presumably thousands of new Joomla users coming over the horizon) I ran a simple fantastico script provided in my web hosting package and the joomla install was all magically done for me.

Likewise I ran a fantastico script and phpbb was magically installed for me.

I have discovered that PHPBB Plugin-Connector for CB requires Joomla and phpbb to share the one DB and yet those nifty fantastico scripts have created two MySQL DBs (one for Joomla and one for phpbb).

So…where can I go for help on how to make Joomla and phpbb use the same MySQL DB so I can use PHPBB Plugin-Connector for CB??
I’m not expecting a long technical answer here. I guess I need to hire a freelancer to do this for me, because if I can’t do it in a few easy plain English steps then I am at a dead end.

Is joomlancers.com my best bet?

I am a little concerned about having phpBB and Joomla data all living in the same DB – doesn’t it make DB repair harder if something goes wrong (again I have no technical knowledge about this stuff…).

I know that Joomla is powerful and can be used by pros to build all kinds of complex sites, but Joomla is also bringing CMS to a whole group of non-technical people who want to use the simple UI to build and manage sites and communities – so I’m not going to be the last noob to ask how I force Joomla and phpbb to share one DB in order to use PHPBB Plugin-Connector for CB...

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Mike

You should really install them manually without using the fantistico. All you have to do is create the database and user, and follow the install instructions that come with both joomla and phpbb. This way, you can have them share the same database- and yes, they must share the same db in order for the users to be synched up.

Do you have access to a cpanel for your site so that you can create databases/users?

I don't use the same DB. Could this be why I am getting this error?


SQL errorDB function failed with error number 1146
Table 'mikemeyer.phpbb_users' doesn't exist SQL=SELECT count( * ) as total_record FROM phpbb_users WHERE user_active = '1'
SQL =
SELECT count( * ) as total_record FROM phpbb_users WHERE user_active = '1'

MikeDLA,

I guess the first question: Do you have an FTP program that you know how to use or a WebShell (or similar) that you can upload files to the website with?

Assuming yes... you will need to find out the Joomla database, username, and password...

To get these you can go to the admin side of Joomla... Select the menu Site - Global Configuration then click on the Database tab. That will show you all but the password... write down all of the items in that tab...

To get the password you can look at the configuration.php file (it also has the other data above)... look for $mosConfig_password

Then with that data in hand... proceed to setup phpBB

First, download phpBB from www.phpbb.com (downloads)

Second, unzip into a directory on your local machine

Third, FTP/Upload those files and directories to your website in a subdirectory (Plugin's default is the 'forum' directory at the root of your site... but you can put it where you like as long as you update the forum directory parameter)

Fourth, Using a webbrowser go to the directoy on your website... an install script will automatically start and ask you for the data above plus some other data... most should be self explanatory. Make sure to install it in the same database as Joomla (while keeping the default prefix of phpbb_)... NOTE DO NOT USE THE SAME PREFIX AS JOOMLA... doing this will overwrite some of Joomla's tables. Preference is to use same admin username and password as Joomla... but I don't think it is required to be the same.

Fifth, following the install directions you will also remove some directories of the forum (contrib and install I think)

Sixth, Now phpBB is installed... now go into Joomla's admin side and add a menu link to phpbb... use either the Wrapper Link or URL link... either should work.

Seventh, Install CB if you have not done so already... follow all directions including the LOGIN module

Eigth, install the phpbb connector and modify its parameters as needed.

Last, Synchronize any users by using the Connector Control Panel located on Plugin Parameters for the plugin... any newly confirmed users will be synchronized automatically...

Go to developer.joomla.org/sf/frs/do/viewRelease/projects.phpbb_connector/frs.phpbb_connector_patches.version_1_0_2

To download any necessary patched for Version 1.0.2... FTP them up like you did for phpBB replacing the indicated file (README.TXT on that link has some descriptions of what the patches do)

Hope this helps,
Greg

bjraines,

Yes that is the most common reason for getting that error you mention...

My recommendation to you, assuming you phpbb has been used already and has data you want to keep, is to install a new copy of phpbb in the website and database of Joomla... Then after setup is complete, use phpMyAdmin (or similar) to copy all of the phpbb tables from the old database to the new one... Should be another post in the Joomlapolis forums with more detail... If not here then it was in the Joomla forums...

Greg

Thanks so much for these responses.

I will work through the comprehensive instructions you have posted and will report back. Yes I have an FTP app that I can use to upload files.

Actually instead of CuteFTP or whatever I use Novell Netdrive which maps the remote server to a drive letter on my WinXP PC. So my web server looks just like a local drive and I can drag and drop files in Win Explorer and NetDrive does all the FTP magic in the background.
www.novell.com/documentation/ifolder21/index.html?page=/documentation/ifolder21/netdrive/data/a2iii88.html

I will spend some time in my cpanel looking at the MySQL admin area to get familiar with it.

One of the general issues here is that the Joomla UI is all so neat and simple for noobs to understand (as are the various components and plug-ins etc) that when you go into the MySQL admin stuff it looks (comparatively) like Martian language to me! I know that a little knowledge about all of that "drop tables" stuff can be a dangerous thing...

Mike