vbDrupal is the Drupal fork project that combines the content management of Drupal with one of the best community forums-- vBulletin. In this article we will explore how vbDrupal preserves all the independent permission and access controls of both Drupal and vBulletin while adding a way to bind permission roles together. Exercise care to keep exact control of your website.

Originally posted at vbDrupal Permissions Configuration, used with permission.

Drupal has an extensive set of modules that plug-in directly with Drupal, without code changes. Many of these modules will work without any problems with vB Drupal. But some will not work. Make sure you test them carefully, and try all their options and settings.

Here are some tips to help you install the modules.

1. Follow the included readme.txt and install.txt for the module
2. If the module instructions tell you to create new tables, make sure you add your vB table prefix plus "drupal_" to it. Example: If your vB prefix is "vb_", and the new table is called "module_table", then create it as "vb_drupal_module_table".

Edit the drupal_header template, and change it's navbar items to match yours.

You will need to modify drupal_header and drupal_footer templates, to match the customization done on your forum style. Make sure not to cut and paste any links, as absolute links from vB will not work, you just need to add $vboptions[bburl] to any vB links.

Create new roles for each seperate set of permissins you want each usergroup to have:

Go to vB Drupal -> Administer - > Access control

Click "roles". Type the role name in the box, like "Bloggers" and hit "add role". Then click "edit" next to the new role, and type in the vB groupids who will use this role. You can enter multiple groupid's seperated by a comma. Now go to the permissions section, and tick each permission you want that group to have. To be able to create blogs, tick the box next to perrmission "edit own blog" (assuming the blog module has been activayed.

These tips, tricks, and how-to's will help you get your vbDrupal site off the ground and running smoothly.