404 Errors when clicking displayed forum links in Activity Stream

My test environment is setup according to:
• CB 2.0 Tutorials 1 - 5 & 22 (Integration with Kunena)
• GroupJive 3.0 Tutorials 1 & 2
• CB Activity Tutorials 1 - 2
• CB Auto Action Tutorials 1 & 5
○ CB Auto Actions> System Actions > CB Activity> Triggers> (Kunena: Create, Reply, Delete each Published)

The Kunena Forum: Configuration> General > SEO Settings > Direct Component Access > allows Yes or No as options. When set to "Yes" - I'm able to access forum links in the Activity Stream without an issue. When set to "No," however, it causes my forum links in the Activity Stream to result in 404 Component not found errors.

Kunena's Description for the Direct Component Access, below, indicates that 404 errors may be caused by incorrectly setting up the Kunena menu.

Direct Component Access Description: "Set Yes to allow direct access to http:/coolstrudel.com/index.php/component/kunena URLs. It is adviced to turn off this setting, but only after proper testing. Disabling this feature improves SEO and brings some protection against spam bots. Warning: If you see 404 Component not found. errors after setting this option to No, please check that you have correctly set up the Kunena menu."

The above recommends setting the Direct Component Access field to "No," which I've done. I'm getting 404 errors even though my menu setup is per the tutorials. What changes need to be made so that 404 errors are not encountered when the Direct Component Access field is set to "No?"

Also, clicking the forum links in the Activity Stream causes forum postings to open in a new Tab. How can the result be made to open in the same Tab?

That parameter disables direct access outside of a menu item. The URLs generated and stored by the Activity are not menu items, but direct links to a topic. So you need to leave that parameter set to "Yes". In a later release CB Forums will handle display of its own activity and will properly use API to output the URLs to avoid this in the future.

Also, clicking the forum links in the Activity Stream causes forum postings to open in a new Tab. How can the result be made to open in the same Tab?

Only way to change that is to edit the Kunena system actions then set the Links usage for Internal to Enable then save a copy and unpublish the system action. This will have no affect on existing activity though. CB Activity 4.0.0 will improve this further by automating determining if a URL is internal or external.

I've updated Kunena configuration to allow direct access to links outside of a menu item, and have set the Kunena system actions (CB Activity Kunena Create and CB Activity Kunena Reply) so that Links Internal is set to Enable. My test site is using the latest Auto Action update (Version: 6.3.5+build.2016.11.20.01.52.09.f6028daeb). There has been no change in my test results, however. Clicking either link in the Activity Stream still results in opening a new Tab. Is there something else that I needed to change in the Auto Actions?

It has no affect on existing activity. Your changes to the action will only affect new activity. You need to ensure your copy of the system action is published and that the system action it self is unpublished aside from that you'll have to wait for CB Activity 4.0.0 will this behavior will be improved and automated (determining if internal or external URL).

I reviewed our setup and found that we missed setting Enable in the copied Reply action. Tests were performed using new forum posts, which created new activity. The copy of the system action was published and the system action was unpublished. The only difference in test results is that the "Discuss" link is removed from the Activity. Clicking the remaining url link still results in the forum post opening in a new Tab.

The activity is handled as an attachment so it's always going to open in a new window. This will be changed in the next release where it'll determine if it's an internal or external URL and open accordingly. For now there is no way to change this behavior without altering the template file, which will affect all attachments (even those from status posts).