Is it still correct that version 2.5.4 has no supported export function for converting Social Group discussions and messages into ordinary XenForo threads and posts?
Correct.
Is there any other supported export format for groups, memberships, discussions, messages, attachments, reactions, tags, edit history, invitations, bans, and related data?
Not at this time, no.
What happens when the add-on is disabled but not uninstalled? Is all Social Group content simply unavailable until it is re-enabled, while the data remains intact?
Correct, no data is lost unless the addon is uninstalled.
Does disabling the add-on leave unrelated XenForo functions—including registration, login, ordinary forums, search, moderation, XFRM, and XFMG—operating normally?
Yes. Depending on how your XFMG container category is set up, images uploaded to private groups may become publicly accessible after disabling the addon. You could mitigate this by changing the parent category's permissions prior to disabling the add-on.
What exactly happens during uninstallation? Which database records, attachments, routes, permissions, alerts, search-index data, and XFMG relationship records are removed or retained?
I'm not sure I understand the question. Any database tables or columns created by this addon is also removed on uninstall. This would include XFMG relationship data, so if you were to uninstall and reinstall, it would be as if any XFMG images were uploaded to a normal category rather than through a social group.
Is there a supported way to preserve or redirect existing Social Group URLs if the content is later migrated to another system?
That would be up to the other system to support.
Is any native integration with XenForo Resource Manager currently being developed or planned?
Not at this time. This addon was commissioned, and the person who commissioned it currently does not use the XFRM.
Could a separate custom add-on safely use Social Groups as the authoritative membership system and automatically grant or revoke access to specific XFRM categories when someone is approved, leaves, is removed, is banned, or is reinstated?
I don't see why not. They could copy the methodology used for the XFMG.
Does Social Groups expose supported entity events, service extensions, repository methods, permission checks, or other extension points for these membership and group lifecycle changes?
Yes, this add-on is fully extendable.
Could the same extension approach safely react to group creation, soft deletion, restoration, permanent deletion, ownership transfer, and an abandoned owner account without modifying DragonByte files?
Yes.
Can an approval-required group ask applicants two or three short custom questions in addition to accepting the group rules?
There is no "application form" functionality at this time. Group owners could put in their rules that the "reason for joining" must contain the answer to the questions, but that field is not designed for elaborate membership applications.
Can a group supervisor provide an optional reason when declining a request, and can the applicant clearly see whether the request is pending, approved, or declined?
A reason can be entered for declining an application, and it will be shown in the forum alert sent to the applicant. I believe when visiting the group there is a "membership pending" notice. You can also see pending applications via a dedicated page.
Are membership approvals, declines, removals, bans, reinstatements, supervisor changes, and ownership transfers recorded in an audit or moderator log accessible to authorized site staff?
Yes. There's a "Members log" which is accessible to the group owner, the group's supervisor(s), and site staff with the "manage any social group" permission.
Can invitations currently be revoked, resent, or followed by a reminder? I noticed the recent discussion about imported invitations that were present but had never generated an alert.
Revoked yes, resent / reminder no. Coming from a fresh installation and not importing an existing social group system, you would not be subject to that issue anyway. Furthermore, members can see their pending invitations from their "group memberships" page.
Is there a documented workflow for a group whose owner resigns, is banned, is deleted, or becomes inactive? Can ownership be transferred without losing the group or its content?
If a group owner wishes to relinquish their ownership, they can reassign ownership to any current group member whose account is in good standing (i.e. user state "Valid"). There is no workflow for if a group owner is banned, a moderator (or admin, via the AdminCP) must reassign the group. If you attempt to delete a user via the AdminCP, a warning is shown if they own any social groups and you can either reassign them or let ownership fall back to a designated user you specify in the settings.
Nothing is lost on reassign as all it does is change the user ID in the owner column.
Does the add-on add any REST API endpoints for groups, memberships, join requests, invitations, supervisors, discussions, or lifecycle actions?
There's no integration with XenForo's Oauth API at this time.
Since there is currently no group-category system, could a separate add-on safely attach custom metadata such as group type, language, region, or purpose to each group and use it for filtering and discovery?
Sure.
s there a supported extension point that would allow a custom search or discovery page to combine group information and group discussions, even though XenForo’s standard search cannot currently mix those content types in one result set?
You can extend the "Filter" system in the group list. There is no way to modify the XenForo search system to do that, though.
Which parts of the add-on are considered safe to customize through normal XenForo class extensions, template modifications, phrases, navigation, widgets, and event listeners?
100% of the addon. There are no parts of the addon that's designed to prevent extension, and should some part of it not be possible to extend, you would simply let me know and I would correct that, as that would be considered a bug.
The FAQ explains that some changes may require approval from the original sponsor. Does that restriction apply only to changes made in the official DragonByte product, or could a customer create a separate integration add-on for their own site as long as DragonByte Social Groups itself is not modified?
Only changes made in the official releases. There are absolutely no restrictions on extensions, and you would even be free to distribute your custom extensions through any means you choose, as long as said extensions don't contain the original source code. Basically, the same rules apply as XenForo itself.
For personal use you are also naturally allowed to modify the source files, and you could also distribute
instructions for how to modify the files (just like the old days if you were working on forums in the early 2000s).
Has the current interface been specifically tested for keyboard navigation, screen readers, visible focus states, browser zoom, mobile group management, and other accessibility requirements?
No, as I have no idea how I would do that. That being said, with the exception of the "Grid" style of group lists (which is optional and can be changed per-style to a "List" format instead), this addon is built using standard XenForo components and CSS. In other words; the addon should be no more or less accessible than XenForo itself.
Is all member-facing wording phrase-based, and is the interface expected to work with right-to-left languages, Unicode group names, and translated phrases?
Yes. Group titles, descriptions and rules are obviously not translatable, but each social group can specify a locale and text direction (if this feature is enabled for social group owners via the XenForo options), so it should work even with mixed LTR and RTL.
When XFMG, Calendar by Naz, Elasticsearch, or another optional integration is disabled or misconfigured, is the intended behavior for Social Groups to continue working without that integration rather than causing errors on unrelated pages?
All calls to XFMG and Calendar are wrapped in "is addon active" checks. No one has reported any errors from not having those addons enabled.
With Calendar by Naz, can a group create both members-only and publicly visible events? Does the integration support recurring events, RSVP limits, waitlists, timezone handling, cancellation, and restricting an exact location to approved attendees?
Events can be restricted to group owner only, group owner and supervisors, all group members, or everyone (public). Users must still be able to view the social group in order to see the event. I don't know anything about restricting an exact location to approved attendees, if that's a feature of the Calendar addon then yes.
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If you did require custom extensions to the addon, I'd be happy to undertake that work for you, either as part of the core add-on (subject to approval) or as a bespoke extension for your site only
![[DBTech] DragonByte Social Groups](/community/data/resource_icons/9/9176.jpg?1683030244){kind=icon}
