Setting up a test forum

Hello,

I am trying to set up a test forum to do a quick test for a mod. I have to change some things for the mod and it can really mess things up for the forum if I make a mistake. So I want to make a test forum to test it out.

It seems like a easy thing and it should be... But I can't seem to get it to work.

my current forum is site.com/forum. I want to make site.com/forumtest into another VB website where I can do the test.

I have copied all the files into site.com/forumtest as well. I downloaded my database and reuploaded it using a different name and changed the database name in config for VB which is located in the site.com/forumtest. I believe everything should be working but it redirects me back to site.com/forum. It is connected to a different database and files but it keeps coming back to site.com/forum.

Is there a way for me to fix it so it becomes 2 different vbulletin sites?

 

I'm not really familiar with the vB database, but a complete stab in the dark would be you'll need to find in your new database something a long the lines of baseurl and change it to reflect the new location.

Also, I'm not 100% sure how the licensing system works at vB, but you may find you need a second license.

*Edit - Just did a little more digging around and I think the setting is actually under includes/config.php.

Change your forumpath to reflect the new directory.

Again, I don't own a vB license, so don't have access to the code or forums, so can't really do too much digging about.

 

Hopefully @Bradon @Iconic @Dan Hutter can fully answer this as well.

I believe all you have to do is change the database to reflect the new test forum, so nothin happens to the regular database like @benjaminp stated.

 

He will have to change the forumpath like I mentioned in my edit. That's why when he clicks a link it keeps going back to the original forum

 

Hi Ashimasi,

You need to change the forum's URL in the setting table. bburl is the table you're looking for. Open phpmyadmin and navigate to the <prefix>_setting table for the TEST board database and edit the bburl value to reflect http://site.com/forumtest .

Clear your browser's cookies and cache and you'll be good to go.


-Dan

 

I am pretty sure I will be fine as long as I am the only one using it. I am also going to delete it after the test is done...

Thank you!

Thank you Dan! But I am having a little difficulty finding that table. So to clarify, I go to phpmyadmin and pick the test database. In the left column, I scroll down until I find "setting"? That is the part where you lost me. I looked through settings but there is nothing for editing the BBURL value.

Sorry for the questions, I don't mess with vB too much to know this.

 

If you need a hand give us a yell.

 

Yes on the left hand side you should see setting. It will be prefixed by your table prefix as set in config.php. As you can see my prefix is vbull_



Next you want to sort by variable name. This is done by clicking on the varname header. From there bburl should be on the third page.

 

@Dan Hutter

Thank you Dan, I got how it works now. The problem was I did not set a prefix so I was not sure where what you meant by that. For me it is only "Settings". But sadly I don't think it worked. When I go to site.com/forumtest, it redirects to site.com/forum

They have different files and databases and I have changed the bburl like you suggested. I tried clearing my cache and cookies through firefox and it didn't work. I use Chrome myself but I don't want to lose all my passwords unless I really have to clear it. But none the less, it still didn't work...

Do you have any ideas of why?

Thanks

 

Assuming it's vBulletin 4 - Do you have an htaccess in the forumtest directory? If so overwrite it with the default vBulletin htaccess from the do_not_upload/rewrites/apache folder.

You shouldn't have to clear your passwords at all so don't worry abotu that.

 

I apologize for the late response, I appreciate the fast reply from you!

Yes it is vB 4, 4.2 to be exact. Yes I believe I do have access to the htaccess for forumtest. But how exactly do I overwrite the vBulletin htaccess? Sorry but I am new to this so not sure where to find the do_not_upload folder.

 

Is forumtest a subfolder of your production forum?

The donotupload folder is in the ZIP you downloaded from the vB member's center.

 

No, the forum is /forum while the forumtest is /forumtest

As for the donotupload folder, I will see if I can find it in the member's center.

Thanks!

 

Redownload the vBulletin ZIP file. The do not upload folder is in there.

 

Okay thank you, I downloaded the latest version of VB. It is higher than what I have, I currently have the 4.2 Patch Level 1 and I just downloaded Level 2. Maybe I should have downloaded the same one but I don't think it makes a difference in this case. If it does then let me know and I will get the same one.

Anyways the is in DO_NOT_UPLOAD/rewrite/apache2/ I don't know whether you want the .htaccess that is in /apache2 or the one that is located in /apache2/forum.

Where do I overwrite this file?

 

You want the one that's in apache2 and overwrite the htaccess in your test forum directory.

4.2 PL 2 is just a patch release you don't even have to run the upgrade script..So no worries.

 

Thanks! I thought I could see the htaccess but it seems to be hidden... I remember seeing it in the past but I don't know why its not there now

I still uploaded the .htaccess to forumtest/.httaccess. It seems to redirect back to /forum like before.

Do you know why? Thanks again

 

Without looking at it I'm at a loss. Sorry.

 

Thanks for your help anyways. I would have offered my info so you could check it out but the whole point of this was so I can try out a new mod. I wanted to change it but noticed that the new update to the mod now allows this. So no need for the test forum any more.

Thanks a lot for your help still!