InstantASP Community Forums / InstantASP Pre-Sales / InstantASP Pre-Sales Questions

Questions regarding the Forum component

sam.lithetech — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 22:10:21 GMT

Hi,
Impressive forum , I get a few questions before making the decision to buy this forum component or go somewhere else; I've been looking around and find some very good forum components, you are one of them , the others are POPForum and Jive Forum.....

There are some requirements my client is looking for
1) Is it able to add any customized search field, eg search by date range
2) User registration, any custom fields available
3) Does it include any metrics and statistics usage report of individual users
4) Edit topics before being posted
5) Archive forum and conduct archive search
6) Ability to create custom forum reports/user control, eg display most recent posts in ascx
7) Ability to define new forum category by searching for keywords and sort them into new category

Regards,

Samuel

How To Obtain Upgrade To InstantKB.Net 2.0

kwf — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:41:44 GMT

I am a licensed user of the End User version InstantKP.Net 1.3 and have sent messages to Sales and Support asking how to obtain the the upgrade to InstantKB.Net 2.0 and have not received any type of response. My understanding from the posting concerning the release of 2.0 was that it would be under My.InstantASP which it is not. Please respond.;)

Is there any 2.0 Version of Instant forum now ?

Sheryarnizar — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:45:32 GMT

Is there any 2.0 Version of Instant forum now ?

Sheryar Nizar

Pre-sales Questions

skumfrog — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:53:11 GMT

Hi,

We are interested in purchasing InstantForums.NET and we have some questions that needs to be answered.

1) What exactly are the differences between the developer and the end user licenses.

2) To what extend can we customize the forum. Can we incorporate animated GIF files / SWFs to replace current icons in the forum?

3) Does the moderation tool allow pre-moderation? New messages that are moderated before they are allowed to appear in the forum.

4) How can we obtain an evaluation copy?

5) What kind of OS platforms / Databases does it support?

6) Does the forum support unified login? This will allow the user to login to our site without having to login again to the forum. If possible how is this achieved?

7) Is the forum compatible with Firefox / Safari? The message text box height does not seem to be displaying properly in FF.

Thank you!

Joei

Cross site scripting

alexboss — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:35:24 GMT

Hello,
I have seen on internet many topic talking about a XSS vulnerability in the instantForum version 4.1.0

you can see the details here :

http://securityvulns.com/Pdocument742.html

I try to look into this forum and i saw that your team are working hard on protection on all user input from malicious code but i didnt find anything about these security problems.

Is it fixed yet?

I will contact you soon for somes others questions.

Thanks in advance

Hope to work with you soon

Newbie Question

mikepettis — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:11:37 GMT

I'm considering purchasing InstantForum.NET v4.1 End User License for my website. I was confused as to how to start a new topic. Can those buttons "RDD Topic" be changed to something like "Add New Topic"? I wasn't sure what RDD was......

My.InstantASP type functionality

Ascentn — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:51:06 GMT

Hi,

We would like to create a Support site that has the same functionality as your own support site.

In addition to InstantForum and InstantKB we'd like to have the My.InstantASP functionality:

Can we purchase (or aquire) the code to do this?

Regards
Massoud

some questions

Luke — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:28:05 GMT

Hi
I have some question before purchasing
Is 119 USD the price for unlimited license (no time limit)?

Can i pay online in Euros?

If i want to upgrade do I have to pay?

Are there other skins?

Is Italian supported?

thanks

I would like to set up closed group classrooms with IF and have some pre-purchase questions

Potential IF customer — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:22:14 GMT

Greetings IF.

I'm considering IF for my site. Could you please confirm if I can do the following with IF:

+ I would like to set up an unlimited number of closed groups on my site, each will be overseen by a moderator.

+ The discussions that each group have should be hidden from site browsers

+ Only group members can view the posts by other group members

+ New group members can only join the group after the moderator issues them with individual log in details

If you know of any IF customers that have employed this closed group model, I would like to see an example to help me determine if it would work for me.

I look forward to your reply.

ASP.NET 2 version?

ronmichael — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:31:56 GMT

I've read through a bunch of posts talking about ASP.NET 2 being supported in the future... but those go all the way back to 2005. I'm guessing that ASP.NET 2 support has been seriously delayed? What happened?

Support multiple forums?

wyilei — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:05:32 GMT

Our website, like facebook, has a number of networks. Users are required to join at least one network. Each network will have its own forum, though these forums share the same structure. Can your forum software support unlimited number of such forums on one website OOTB?

One step further, we are thinking of allowing user at his choice to post a topic visible, either within only the forum in his network, or across all forums on our site. Can that be done by marking individual topics for different visibility level, or setting up sub-forums at different visibility levels? Or we have to create two forums with one network-wide and the other site-wide?

License variations

Crile — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:32:16 GMT

What's the difference between "end user" and "developer" licensing?

Ryan: 4 emails to you without reply...

Nir — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:46:42 GMT

Dear Ryan,

I sent you 4 private emails about this (to sales@instantasp.co.uk) without any reply from you, so am not sure what else to do except post the issue on the forum...

I purchased your forum 3 weeks ago, and want to return it. All the reasons are in the private email I sent you.

Could you pls reply to my emails?

Thanks,

Nir

Customization options

davey — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:14:58 GMT

Please can you confirm if you can customize the look and feel of the site.

What we are trying to achieve is a forum that looks and feels like your forum.
However we will also have community members.

When someone upgrades, or becomes a community member - by filling in additional
data - likes, interests etc we need to display their full profile in a different
skin - so that it does not look forum related.

Ie we need two templates Community and Forum - can we change any element of
style and pick out and display any data field as we like, when required?

Can we extend/add in items to the data structure we will have an external
likes and interests master category.

InstantKB.NET 2.0

chris.m — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 08:23:28 GMT

[quote]InstantKB.NET v2.0 will be a free update for all customers who purchase InstantKB.NET v1.x 3 months prior to our InstantKB.NET v2.0 release.[/quote]

I was wondering, if I were to purchase InstantKB 1.3 now, is there any guarantee that 2.0 would release within the 3 month window?

Regards,

Chris

End User or Developer License?

Phantron — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:06:52 GMT

I'm looking for software for a site I am working on. I will need a unified login such that anyone logs in to the site is also logged in to the forum. Is the End User License sufficient to do this, or is the Developer license needed? Based on what I've read, it seems like I can register/authenticate the users via the API without needing to modify them, so I think the End User License is enough, but I'm not certain.

Edit: Does InstantForum have an API that allows logging on without a password? My passwords are already hashed so not even I know what they are, so I was thinking just have a user login to our site, and then once they get past that, it will automatically authenticate them to the forum based on the mapping of their login to the forum login without the need for a password. From the documentation is appears you normally authenticate with something like:

InstantKB.Authenticate(name, password, mode)

I'd like to have something that does

InstantKB.Authenticate(name)

since the mode/password is not important to me. Does the End User license support this, or is the Dev license needed, or is this not doable at all?

Thanks

InstantForum.NET v4.1.4 Developer License (Single Web Site)

howiejohn — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:04:31 GMT

We have used the forum software on previous sites. We are now using the .Net 2 Framework and don't think it will work.

Please can someone confirm if

a- we can

b- we need to upgrade, if so, what upgrade?

Cheers

Howard

Forum login integration into rest of site

jmacduff — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:45:10 GMT

I would like to integrate the login into our new website so that users dont have to register twice..once when they buy stuff and yet another when they want to post to the forums.

Is it possible to build a registration forum ( think web check out / payment system ) that would also create a registered user for the forums as well? Most sites of course have totally seperate logins.. but a few sites have 1 global account system and it's a much better user scenario.

Jeff

Some Pre-Sales Questions

wrburgess — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:21:59 GMT

Sorry if this is answered elsewhere, but I'm pressed for time.

I need to purchase and install some forum software for a website that already has a substantial base of users. The website is ASP.NET 2.0 code with VB. We use SQL Server 2005 on the back-end.

1) Does InstantASP utilize MasterPages for its design? As in, could I surround the instant ASP forum with a custom MasterPage that I have already created?

2) Can I have InstantASP utilize the already-established ASP Membership stores (the default ASP ones) that the current website has? We use Forms Authentication for the site. Can a user sign-in once and not have to sign-in again just to use the forums?

3) Can I then restrict the forum access based on UserID or some other criteria?

4) What kind of groupings can forums be under? For instance, we have multiple users that are members of groups. Each group will have a forum that is restricted to its users. Users may be members of many groups. Also, the parent website would want a forum of its own that everyone can use.

5) Can SQL Server Express be used instead of SQL Server 2005?

5) What license would I need for something like this?

Thanks,

Randy

Integrated Database for User management?

dstoltz — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 20:19:09 GMT

My members of my site have to go through a signup process, I don't want them to have to sign up again for the forum (which might be Instant Forum). Once people sign up for my site, they should automatically have access to the forum...

Is this possible with instant Forum? If so, how is it done?

Thanks for any info.

What Classifieds and Photo gallery works best with this soft ware

flyingcirkius — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:03:00 GMT

I currently use Vbuiliten as my forum software and it has classifieds and a photo gallery that works with the same data base with users registered

with the main forum. I like your software and am thinking of changing but i need to know what will work with your user registry for classified adds and the gallery Does you system support Visual studieos classified starter kit.

I would hate to have people logging in two to three times a session.

Available Language Packs?

hlabas — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 04:04:26 GMT

Hi,

I'm french and would like to purchase a copy of InstantForum, but I don't know if there's the french language pack yet.
Maybe it would be a good idea to publish a list on which prospects could find out wether their own language is available, ideally with an approximated release date for those which are currently in progress.

How about a french language pack at this time ? Maybe our company could contribute with a French version if not available ?

Thanks in advance !
Cheers,
Hervé

Move from IdealBB to InstantASP

LORD Palma — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:40:49 GMT

Dear,

We have more than 2,300,00 messages and +330,00 users in out IdealBB Classic ASP board. As we have +5,000 simultaneous online users, the board is very slow.

We're studying a move to IdealBB.NET to boost performance; however, it will take us more than a month to conclude the operation.

We're considering move to InstantASP if you could provide us a script to upgrade the data. Is that possible?

Can create photo album / slide shows in Instant Forum?

ScotterMonk — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 07:52:45 GMT

I noticed this feature over at http://www.aspplayground.net/

Researching various forums and so far I like yours the most but that ability for users to be able to create a full-featured photo album is a big deal for a couple of my clients. Wondering if you have plans to add anything like this to your Forum System or if you already have it?

Instant Forum - Import or sync user database?

ScotterMonk — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 06:59:51 GMT

I have a web content management system I wrote that many of my clients use. I want to find a forum system where it is easy to either import users or, ideally, create some kind of bridge so they stay sync'd. How easy is this to do with your product?

Thanks!

which one do i need?

slee — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:49:38 GMT

hi all, im interested in purchasing the forum software just have a quick question.

i would like to be able to totally skin the forum ie change icons colours etc and use the api but which license would i need to purchase?

many thanks :)

Happy Customer

andyf — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:40:02 GMT

Bought a copy of IF last week. We were in a pickle having had a cr@py old PHP forum hacked and destroyed for the Nth time.

I'm a .NET guy so insisted this time we moved platform, and I bought IF..

I had a few techie questions, which were answered on this forum very quickly and helpfully (thx guys).

We got our forum up and on line in about 4 hours "out of the box". The only minor prob I had was a connection string change, which was easy enough and not an IF problem as such. I now have a nice scheduled backup running on a proper server.

Everyone thinks I'm a hero now (:D) LOL

Thanks for good, popular, solid product, and helpful support -- Nice one.. :cool: So this is just a note to say so. This is a "hobby" app, but if I have commercial needs, I shall know where to come.

Andyf

www.bottledigging.org.uk

THANK YOU

IF Footprint

andyf — Fri, 18 May 2007 03:58:34 GMT

Another quickie for you guys:

What is the footprint of IF in terms of disk sapce?

I have a VPS with only 5 gig of space. Cant imagine it'll be close but i have to watch the footprint of everything that goes on.

Code Behind/Framework Code

andyf — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:39:19 GMT

Hi,

The sales page says the End User Licence comes with "code-behind" source code, and the developer version comes with "Full framework" source code.

I know what code-behind is (I'm a .NET dev :) )....but not sure what you mean by "full framework" code... could you expand on the difference in what you get :)

I only really want to hack colours, backgrounds, images etc.

Thanks...

Andy

SEF, but not SEO

fischermx — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:16:50 GMT

I like that you are using search engine friendly URLs, that's good.
But I'd like them to also be, let's say SEO friendly. For this I mean, instead of using something like "Forum-81.aspx", use the name of the forum (and the number for identification) and for individual post, instead of the title of the post.
Is there such option?

Multiple domains, 1 database, 1 host account

MtnMike — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:15:58 GMT

Hi,

I have a copy of InstantFORUM 4.0.0 that I'm hosting at "mikesasp.net". But I don't use that domain anymore and the forum I have there has been idle for a year since we moved to something different. But I like InstantForum and don't want my copy of it to go to waste so I want to move it to where I'll use it (or get a new license). I'm using DotNetNuke to host multiple "websites" at 1 host/database (family stuff). So it's all in 1 host, 1 account, 1 folder, but the URL is different and the pages are are different that DotNetNuke generates. DNN looks at the URL and figures out which "portal" to pull out of the database and display to the visitor.

I'd like to have InstantForum there instead of where it is. I'm going to move the domain "mikesasp.net" to point to this DNN forum eventually (probably). But I don't really need the forum tied to mikesasp.net anymore.

Would visitors to "abc.com/forums" and "xyz.com/forums" see the same posts & users if it's the same InstantForum install or separate? (Or is that configurable?)

I want to get the Trial version

zhaojc — Sun, 13 May 2007 02:25:30 GMT

thanks.

instantForum Provider Model

landan — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:17:07 GMT

hi,

your forum looks wicked and we are looking at purchasing the developer license. We want something to cover user management and forums, but something we can expand on and develop. we played with [url=http://communityserver.org]CS 2007[/url] and [url=http://dotnetnuke.com]DNN[/url] but they did not suit us for various reasons.

my questions are:

Does instantforum use the Provider Model?

Do you use code behind files for your aspx/ascx pages? (for developer license)

Is the source code in c# (forgive me if this information is on your website, i am in a bit of a hurry at the moment)

thanks in advance for your reply.

InstantKB Single Web Site vs Single Server, Unlimited Web Sites

JamesA2 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 05:31:06 GMT

I'm unsure about when you need a Single Web Site licence and when you need Server, Unlimited Web Sites.

We are a software company looking for a knowledge base to cover the following areas:

- customer support for our product

- developer notes

- staff notes

Can we have one knowledge base and control the content through users? I.e. having customers just log into the customer area, only developers having access to developer notes.

Is there the concept of having several databases? Could we have a separate database for developer notes? How would this affect the licensing?

Response

yo — Tue, 01 May 2007 07:08:09 GMT

I haven't got any response from sales@instantasp.co.uk yet. Is this typical?

Ordering from Non-US countries

JamesA2 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 03:45:33 GMT

We're in the UK.

Can we just buy it online with a company credit card or are we expected to buy it from UK resellers?

Concerned about purchasing this...

TheCheeta — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:36:36 GMT

At first I was very excited about this product, but after reading some posts on this forum, and pretty much not seeing ANYONE from the company posting, I am concerned about the level of support offered. From what I can tell, there is yet no direct way to upgrade from Snitz to IF. The last time someone talked about that here was in the middle of last year or something.

As a .Net developer, I am committed to using a .Net forum to replace our very successful Snitz forum... but as a .Net developer, I have no time to create one of my own or to have to go through the wringer to support a bunch of headaches. So... opinions? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks... I sincerely hope I can use IF... it looks great and fits my usage needs to a T.

vBulletin vs Instant ASP

michaelj — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 07:53:30 GMT

I am new to forums and have no programming experience. I was about to sign up with vBulletin when I saw a link to this forum on W3Schools. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with vBulletin and what the pros & cons of each product is.:unsure:

Trial version of InstantForum, for testing

jooj — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:25:41 GMT

I just saw your Forum app its really full of features , I planned to buy the developer version, but the problem is that I'm using an ASP forum now with about 12000 Topic and 27000 Users , I need to transfer all of these data to your forum app database , its using SQL too , I wanna know is it possible to give me a Trial version of the forum , I have to test it if Its possible for me to transfer and convert all of the data to your database system then I can buy the developer version.

Forum Attachments

kevinwebster83 — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:14:47 GMT

The company i work for wishes to implement a forum system to aid communication between 2 sites. One of the main requirements is to set up a "Projects" forum where individual projects are listed for discussion, ideas and comments.

We may wish to add files to each project such as project budgets, specifications and plans to each "Project" created with specific members being allowed access to only projects they need access to. Something similar to this:

Project Forum

Project A

Attachment A
Topic A
Topic B

Attachment B
Attachment C

Topic C

Project B
Project C

So as in the example, Attachment A could be the budget for the project where specifed users can open it up and view it.

Would this be at all possible (i know that this could be a special)?

Regards

Kevin