An extension to restrict group access to specific forum only

[odf]

Hello Community, Happy Easter.

Is there any extension that enables one to assign a group of users accessibility to some specific forum only without going through the tedious process of manually disabling their accessibility to the rest of the forums ? What do I mean ?

Suppose my phpBB board contains the following forums/categories:

Forum1
Forum2
Forum3
Forum4

If I create a new forum named Forum5, and a new user group called Group5, Is there an extension or an approach for which I can give Group5 access to Forum5 only without manually disabling the group access to the rest of the forums (without disabling group access to other forums using group/forum based permissions)?

Thanks,

odf

[[Dimetrodon]]

Hello. Happy Easter!

Yeah, by putting those users into group5 and removing them from the registered users group.

Make sure however that they still have the user permissions you still want the group to access set up though. Since registered users group is what gives users access to the forum, them no longer being within it means that the only forums that can be accessed is what you given group5 specifically the ability to access. You don't have to set permissions to never on every single other forum if you do that.

[odf]

[Dimetrodon]" post_id=15946446 time=1681057797 user_id=2197266]
Hello. Happy Easter!

Yeah, by putting those users into group5 and removing them from the registered users group.

Make sure however that they still have the user permissions you still want the group to access set up though. Since registered users group is what gives users access to the forum, them no longer being within it means that the only forums that can be accessed is what you given group5 specifically the ability to access. You don't have to set permissions to never on every single other forum if you do that.

I can't clearly get what you mean in your quoted text! Can you explain with an example ?

[KevC]

That's not a good idea to take people out of the registered users group.

In the time it'll take to wait for someone to do an extension you could have just used the permissions.

You only have to set group5 for no access on the other forums and standard access on the one you want. And then the other groups for no access on forum5. It's a 5 minute job at most.

[[Dimetrodon]]

ACP > Permissions > Group permissions > Group5 >

You should then be able to access the user permissions there. It includes whether the users in the group can view user profiles, online list, use the private message system, hide online status, etc.

[[Dimetrodon]]

set group5 for no access on the other forums

No, he would have to use "all never" on all other forums. No access sets all permissions on the group to NO for the forum, which would be overridden by membership in the registered users group as it has Yes permissions for those forums.

If he wants to keep them in the registered users group, all forums except for forum5 for group 5 must be set to Never.

[odf]

To add a user in Group5 so that he/she can only access Forum5, remove him/her from a Newly Registered Users group.

[[Dimetrodon]]

To add a user in Group5 so that he/she can only access Forum5, remove him/her from a Newly Registered Users group.

Yeah, I would remove them from Newly registered as well.

[odf]

What is the current best practice regarding this?

[thecoalman]

the tedious process of manually disabling their accessibility to the rest of the forums ?

If the bulk of your forums have same permissions you can use the copy permissions. Set one forum up as template. Go to copy permissions page, highlight all the forums you want to apply and done.



Does the Registered user group get access to forum 5 along with group 5?

If no then just don't add the registered group to the forum, permissions effectively become no. For example Only admins and moderators would have access to this, every other group has "no"

[odf]

the tedious process of manually disabling their accessibility to the rest of the forums ?

If the bulk of your forums have same permissions you can use the copy permissions. Set one forum up as template. Go to copy permissions page, highlight all the forums you want to apply and done.



Does the Registered user group get access to forum 5 along with group 5?

If no then just don't add the registered group to the forum, permissions effectively become no. For example Only admins and moderators would have access to this, every other group has "no"

I strictly want Groupn to access Forumn, e.g., Group5 to access Forum5, etc. and also other groups should not access Forum5.

How differently Group permissions and Group forum permissions work?

There was this idea of removing the users in the group from Registered Users group, How good or bad is this? Would this restrict Forum5 access by Group5 only and not other groups?

The thing is, I will be creating from time to time this type of forums where I want only the members in the group to access specific forum and other group members should have no access. And the platform already has other many public forums for everyone.

[halil16]

For goup5, you need to set all other forum permissions to All to NEVER while providing normal access to the new forum. Also, in the new forum permissions, you should say No access to the Registered users.

[warmweer]

Permissions

[thecoalman]

I strictly want Groupn to access Forumn, e.g., Group5 to access Forum5, etc. and also other groups should not access Forum5.

You can use the example I posted above, add admins, moderators and groupn to forumn. The permissions for everyone else effectively become no. If you are going to be creating multiple forums where only group x, y z will need access it's the easiest way to manage it.

How differently Group permissions and Group forum permissions work?

If you are referring to the "group permissions" under the global permissions heading those are global used to set permissions other than forum permissions. e.g. permissions for the PM system. Generally speaking for most forums you can just set the registered users permissions and leave the rest of them blank.

There was this idea of removing the users in the group from Registered Users group, How good or bad is this?

Don't do that, you use the registered users group to set you base permission for everyone. The permissions in phpBB are stacked, when a user belongs to multiple groups their effective permissions are the aggregate of yes permissions - never.

No -better defined as permission not given here.
Yes - permissions granted and overrides no permissions in another group.
Never - always never and overrides yes.

The never permission is useful for the NRU group and for registered users you never want anyone to have. So for example someone in NRU groups also belongs to registered user group. You can take permissions away from NRU with no if it's set to yes in registered user group. You need to set it to never.

[[Dimetrodon]]

There was this idea of removing the users in the group from Registered Users group, How good or bad is this?

I now disavow that idea. Setting certain forum permissions to never is the better idea. Keep all users in the Registered Users group.

Once you create Group 5 (ACP > Users and Groups > Manage Groups):

You then need to navigate to the "Group forum permissions" option under "Users and Groups", select "Group 5" from the drop-down, and then click "all never" for the forums you do not want those users to access. In that case, all forums except Forum 5.

For Forum 5, set the large dropdown for permissions to something like "Standard Access" or "Standard Access + Polls."
Then at the bottom of the page, click "Apply all permissions."

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Some images of the Group Forum Permission Setup, which are the only permissions you need to touch. Hopefully this helps in showing what you need to look for and do.



Select Group 5 under the section "Group forum permissions."

Group5.png

Select "all" forums as you want to set up Group 5's access to all forums. ie. Give access to Forum 5 while blocking anything else.

Then click the Submit button. The one that is higher on the page.

group5allforums.png

Click All Never for all forums except Forum 5. That will block access to any other forum for members of Group 5.

Allnever.png

For the forum you want them to access, give them access via the large dropdown and set a role, such as Standard Access, which will give Group 5 standard access to their special forum.

Standard access + polls.png

Then select Apply All at the bottom of the page.

applyall.png