'very' basic PHP forum

[jasonc]

I have looked at all the forums i could use and have opted to create one from stratch as all of them have all the bells and whistles which just clogg up the forum.

 

All i would like to find is a forum that you have categories, topics and comments on the topics.

 

i already have a member database which will be used to insert the user name of the member making the post.

 

what i am having trouble with is the method i should use to create and store the information in the database.

 

once i have this i should be able to do the rest, i hope.

 

can someone please suggest how they would do something like this or direct me to a site that explains how to create a forum from scratch.

 

been looking and have had a friend look and just not finding anything.

 

cheers

[premiso]

MySQL database would be my preference.

[Aonxe]

When I make a forum this is the plan I keep in my head.

 

First you need to get your conventions down, you want categories, topics, and posts.

 

That is 3 tables there.

 

Categories should have ID, Name, Description.

 

Topics should have ID, Title, Content, Category_ID, Author_ID, Time posted, Time edited.

 

Posts should have ID, Content, Post_ID, Author_ID, Time posted, time edited.

 

You can have more / less on each of those tables but you should need at least that much.

 

Now that you have the associations down you just have to write the queries etc. Like the above poster said, MySQL is the best with PHP.

[laffin]

A good starting point, instead of building a forum.

start with a smaller project. like a guestbook.

 

which is basicly  a single forum thread. than inch yer way adding features.

[jasonc]

i have used this reply to start and thought it would be easy, but it just got to conplex, i can not understand how i get the most recent reply in the category

 

i wanted to have shown the most recent post like in this forum. and who posted it but can not work out how i get that info when the comment on the topic relating to the category all do not have the category id only the category and topic have it, so how do i get the info from the post/comments DB?

 

also i dont want to have a new field, 'recnet post' in the category DB as there may be time i need to remove a post for legal / suitability reasons, and this would therefore still have the previously posted items username in the category DB

 

 

When I make a forum this is the plan I keep in my head.

 

First you need to get your conventions down, you want categories, topics, and posts.

 

That is 3 tables there.

 

Categories should have ID, Name, Description.

 

Topics should have ID, Title, Content, Category_ID, Author_ID, Time posted, Time edited.

 

Posts should have ID, Content, Post_ID, Author_ID, Time posted, time edited.

 

You can have more / less on each of those tables but you should need at least that much.

 

Now that you have the associations down you just have to write the queries etc. Like the above poster said, MySQL is the best with PHP.

[jasonc]

does anyone know of a basic ready made category, topic, comment forum that i can use and change.

 

that does not have all the bells and whistles like most of the forums like PHPbb and that have.

 

i am just after a very simple forum.

[premiso]

Doesnt have categories (those are kind of advanced imo due to recursion).

 

http://www.chipmunk-scripts.com/board/index.php?forumID=43&ID=9268

 

Check out that script to get you started.

[Maq]

Yep that will get you the bare-bones...  Another idea is to try and get PHPBB1.0 or 2.0 and find a very basic style for it.  That way you can add features on if you need them.

[jasonc]

thank you for your replies.

 

but PHPbb is 'not' what i need.

 

and i do need categories.