phpBB 3 Script Integration - Sending Private Messages (PM's) From an External Script

September 10, 2010

A while back I posted an article about integrating your site to use the phpBB3 user and login system (here). When I wrote that I also used phpBB as a message system for a site; so when a user did something they were sent a private message automatically.

This bit of code (use it in conjunction with phpbb.php mentioned in the post linked to above) allows you to call a function to send a PM to any user as long as you have their ID.

<?php
// PM send controller
include_once("phpbb.php");

function sendphpbbpm($pmmessage,$userid,$pmsubject) {
include_once('forum/includes/functions_privmsgs.php');

$message = utf8_normalize_nfc($pmmessage);
$uid = $bitfield = $options = ''; // will be modified by generate_text_for_storage
$allow_bbcode = $allow_smilies = true;
$allow_urls = true;
generate_text_for_storage($message, $uid, $bitfield, $options, $allow_bbcode, $allow_urls, $allow_smilies);
$pm_data = array(
'from_user_id'        => 2,
'from_user_ip'        => "127.0.0.1",
'from_username'        => "admin",
'enable_sig'            => false,
'enable_bbcode'        => true,
'enable_smilies'        => true,
'enable_urls'        => false,
'icon_id'            => 0,
'bbcode_bitfield'    => $bitfield,
'bbcode_uid'         => $uid,
'message'            => $message,
'address_list'        => array('u' => array($userid => 'to')),
);

//Now We Have All Data Lets Send The PM!!
submit_pm('post', $pmsubject, $pm_data, false, false);
}

?>

You'll need to modify the code above slightly to fit your needs, for example changing the admin username and user id, and then calling the function but it's all pretty simple stuff one you've got all this.

To call the function (send the PM) to a fictional user 11:

<?php

$pmsubject = 'Please read this PM.';
$pmmessage = 'Thank you for reading this PM!';

$userid = '11';

sendphpbbpm($pmmessage,$userid,$pmsubject);

?>

Posting threads and replying to threads uses a similar system so I'll put up some script for that shortly.


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