Kevin Carwile

​Definitely. Once you've officially upgraded to IPS4.0 let's revisit this and figure out the best way to go about it!

Its because the problem is with the tool, not your database.

You may want to redownload the archive. Sounds like some sort of file error. If you still need help with it, PM me directly.

That ACP tool is finnicky. Your database is OK.

You're correct. At the moment that kind of granularity is not built in. But I agree that it would be a good addition. You can expect to see that in an update.

I'll PM you and help you use the debug tools to find out what's going on.

​I don't follow. What does that mean? I don't think this application is even possible in the 3.4.x line of IPB.

That's correct. You can't set a whole topic as a best answer. You have to set a specific post (topic comment) as the best answer. Rules knows this so the only selectable option in the event to set as the best answer is "The created/updated Topic Comment".

By the way, I would also add another condition into your rule that checks if a best answer is NOT already set before you set the best answer and lock it. This way once a best answer is set, it won't be set again automatically.

 auto-resolve-qa-for-amas-revised.xml

​The Forums Expansion Pack has been updated in the marketplace. It now contains new conditions and actions to set or check the best answers on topics.

IPS core has at least one flaw that I know of regarding inline messages. However, I believe the challenge you are facing is that the inline messsge is only displayed when a new page loads, and the reputation feature operates without reloading the page.

Im considering options for a new implementation.

Ew, dont say complicated... say versatile, or flexible, or extensible, or powerful, or advanced, or robust.:) 

But not complicated!

Although I know what you mean. Creating rules are like creating little programs.

But the exciting part is that you can now tie apps and site activities together in new ways that were never imagined before.

So make sure to share with us whatever else you are doing with rules so we can all partake!

Look for added actions to set/unset best answers in the next version of the forums expansion pack. It currently only has the event available to act on.

The event is the same for both. When a member receives reputation, then the member who gave that reputation is also available as data in that event. You can create rules that operate on both the giver and/or receiver of the reputation.

Easy peasy. That's as simple as two conditions and two actions in a single rule.

I already have the importer built. I just need a data donor to test it out. Care to provide me some sample data?

Yes. Hidden models are still usable as templates.

And you can create multiple models that can be chosen from when they create the collab if you want. And if they choose multiple models then the features on those models will be combined into the new collab. This way people can create collabs ala carte!

Or you can just set up a single model and make it forced so there is no choice and every collab gets set up the same.

​I'm confused. That is what the existing "model" functionality was designed to do. If you create a collab in a category and then set it up with default settings (such as the forum categories and some default forums as you mentioned), and then you turn on the "collab model" feature for that collab category, then users who create new collabs can inherit a copy of all the settings you have set up on your "model" into their newly created collab (which eliminates a bunch of setup for them).

​Again, this is what the "model" functionality was designed for. Rather than the software making pro-active assumptions, it's left up to a configuration which is set by the administrator as to what the collab comes with by default.

You got me. You cant currently have a completely private collab in the way of making the group itself invisible to outsiders. But thats not a bad idea. I'll go ahead and put that in the roadmap for a future release. 

If you want to set up a collab for somebody, you can either log in as the member and create the collab for them, or create it as an administrator and tranfer it to them afterwards.

​ECA's = Events, Conditions, Actions

I've built the rules framework to be entirely extensible by 3rd party applications. Rules includes "core" ECA's for things that all apps will have in common, but any specialty ECA's for 3rd party apps can be provided as an IPS extension to my rules app right inside the 3rd party app. And if the 3rd party app developer doesn't want to include ECA definitions for compatibility with rules, then myself or another developer could easily create an expansion plugin specifically for that 3rd party app to add ECA's to rules. Either way is fairly easy with the framework I've built.

Note For Developers: If you want to add any rules ECA's to your app ( beyond what rules will already provide ) and give users greater power over your app, then all you need to do is add a rules extension to your app from the developer center (you must first have the rules app installed to your dev site). The extension template that is added to your app will be well documented. I will also provide additional standalone documentation very soon.

​The problem with core IPS pips is that they are not saved anywhere for members individually, and are manifested using on the fly calculations. In order to control them conditionally, a rule would need to be inserted into the calculation every time a pip displays on the page. It's not an ideal application for rules.

But that doesn't mean you can't get the job done with rules. You could use rules to either supplement or even replace the core pips feature entirely with your own. Here's one way to do it:

1. Create a new integer field attached to members via the rules ACP, and call it "Pips Rank" or something.
2. Create a custom action in rules and call it "Update pips rank", or something to that effect. Create a single argument for the action... a member object.
3. Create a rule set to contain your rules for this particular functionality, call it "Custom Pips System", etc.
4. Add a rule to the "custom pips system" that is triggered when new content is created. Add an action to that rule that triggers your custom action: "Update pips rank".
5. Add another rule to the "custom pips system" that is triggered when reputation is given. Add an action to that rule that triggers your custom action: "Update pips rank".
6. Now add a rule to the "custom pips system" that is evaluated when you trigger your custom action: "Update pips rank". Let's call it "Update member to the appropriate pip rank".

At this point, you now have a custom action that is being triggered every time someone either makes a new post, or receives reputation on your system. You have also created a rule that is going to be evaluated when that custom action is triggered. All that's left is to create a rule group that saves the appropriate value to the "Pips Rank" integer field for the member based on your own criteria.

Example sub-rules (for your "Update member to the appropriate pip rank" rule):

Subrule #1

IF: Member has at least 50 posts {AND} Member has at least 10 reputation points
THEN: Update "custom pips" data field to 1, Update member title to "Level 1 Guru"

 Subrule #2

IF: Member has at least 100 posts {AND} Member has at least 20 reputation points
THEN: Update "custom pips" data field to 2, Update member title to "Level 2 Guru"

Etc, etc.

Conclusion

There you have it. That's a complete replacement system for the IPS member rank system. In the end, it consists of a: custom data field, custom action, two rules, and a rule group to control the pips promotions.

The last piece of the puzzle is how to actually display your "Pips Rank" on the front end. That would require a small theme template edit. You could add the following template code anywhere you wanted to display the pips ( assuming the $member object is available in the template ).

{expression="str_repeat( '<span class=\'ipsPip\'></span>', intval( $member->getRulesData( 'pips_rank' ) ) )"}

I've taken the liberty to create this system in rules and I've uploaded it to the marketplace. Feel free to download it from there.

Download Member Pip Ranks System

​As @Adriano Faria mentioned, anything you can do with a stock IPS board, you can do as a collab owner. So as a collab owner, you could create a forum inside your collab and make it invisible to all except yourself.

​In order to invite somebody to your group, they must first be a member on the site. This is because the site administrator ultimately has authority to decide which member groups can join in collabs, and a user without an account does not have a member group. Therefore a user must first be processed into the community, and then they can be invited to a group/collab ( according to their permissions by the site administrator ).

As for receiving an email, the invitation is sent through the core IPS notification system so the user can choose the method by which they are notified of invites ( email/inline/etc. ).

​There are a couple of ways to tackle this. One way would be to assign members to a new member group (or secondary group) when they purchase a product in nexus. Then you could give permission to that particular group to create collabs in your category(ies) of choice. You could also assign a maximum amount of collabs they can create in that category (via the category settings), or across the site in whole via the ACP under the member group settings.

Another way is to use my Rules Application to create collaborations for them automatically when they purchase certain products via nexus. For example, you could write a rule such as "When user purchases product X, if payment has been received, then create a collaboration for them in category Y". However, the Rules application is very new and I haven't yet released the expansion pack for the Commerce app which will allow you to tie into commerce events, so you'll need to wait a short time for that to become available.

But to answer your question, it can be done and you have options!

​I've got a Starter Rule Pack available in the marketplace that you can use for examples. Make sure to let me know of any other ideas you have that you'd like to see included in the starter pack and I'll whip them up!

​No problem! I am confident that there will be many. There's all kinds of cool tricks you can do with rules. One of my favorites is to schedule an email to be sent to a member in 1 month, and for every time they log in, have rules reschedule that action for another month out which will replace the existing scheduled action for that member. Then if they don't log in for a month, they get a friendly email from you reminding them that you missed them on your site!

​Me too. Let me know if you ever have a "When, If, Then" need for your site and I'll whip you up a rule or two.

IPS Rules Application - A powerful rules engine for your IPS4 site

Download Rules "LITE" Version  -  Download Rules FULL Version

The Rules application makes it possible for you to create customized workflows, automation routines, manipulate content, send emails, create conversations, post content, manage members, apply filters, redirect pages, and generally perform any standard operation on your site… all in an automated way based on rules that you create for your site.

Notable Features

• ·         Over 500 built in events, conditions, and actions for stock IPS products and contributed apps.
• ·         Rule actions can be configured to happen in real time or at a future time.
• ·         Schedule and unscheduled actions from inside of rules or manually through your ACP.
• ·         Built in lists of “replacement tokens” for including variable data in text entry fields (like email content)
• ·         Fully extensible by app and plugin developers to add new tokens, events, conditions, and actions.
• ·         Look for Rules Expansion Packs in the marketplace which add new events/conditions/actions.
• ·         Create your own custom actions within the rules app which can be invoked by rules.
• ·         Create your own custom data fields for any entity on your site to manipulate with rules.
• ·         Rules can be grouped together into rule groups and rule sets for easy management.
• ·         Easily import and export rules and sets to share with friends or distribute as your own rule packs.
• ·         Built-in rule debugging console for full visibility of what your rules are doing on your system.
• ·         Built in rules error and performance logging console.

​You can assign permissions and limits for creating collaborations to individual site member groups, and I believe you can sell group memberships via nexus/commerce so you're already covered from that angle. As for selling specific allowances within the collaboration environment, that can be accomplished in a number of ways. You could set different permissions and limits for certain collab categories and sell memberships to groups which have access to those categories. Or you could add the features to their collaboration manually as an administrator.

I've also just release a new "Rules" application which could be used to create automatic rules which perform those operations based on when the user buys a certain product from commerce. Look for it in the marketplace. I have plans to release an expansion pack for the rules application also, which will bring specific rules functionality for the commerce app so look for that too!