This is a simple How To that will allow Modification developers enter their localhost vBulletin 4 installations to test via multiple user accounts.
vBulletin 4 introduced the usage of the <base> tag. While this is great for websites to ensure that your users are going to the correct site, it's a huge annoyance when doing multi-user testing via localhost.
To fix this, follow these steps.
- Login to your Admin CP.
- Go to Styles & Templates > Style Manager
- Expand the Default Style templates. Do not do this on the Master Style.
- Find the template "headinclude"
- Remove the following line from that template.
<base href="{vb:raw vboptions.bburl}/" /><!--[if IE]></base><![endif]-->
- Save.
Now you can access your vBulletin 4 localhost through several locations, depending on your server setup. For example, I can now access my installation and login as several different users via the following URL's, all while using the same browser.
- http://localhost/vbulletin4/ - Standard Localhost URL.
- http://127.0.0.1/vbulletin4/ - Localhost loopback address.
- http://ryan-pc/vbulletin4/ - You can also use your computer name as an access point to localhost. You can find your computer name by looking at your System Properties. I'm not sure how/if this one works for Mac and Linux, so please don't ask.
- http://192.168.200.252/vbulletin4/ - You may also use your internal IP Address. This will be different for your computer, so you'll have to find your own internal IP address, as this one might not work. Windows Vista/7 users can download a Sidebar Gadget called "Network Meter" which will display your internal IP address. Remember that all internal IP addresses start with 192.168.
In essence, you can increase multi-user testing by 4 x the amount of browsers you have installed.
Using the four URL's above, I can log into 4 different accounts in one single browser. I have 5 browsers installed. So I can login as 20 different users simultaneously.
External connections (connections made outside of your network) cannot access your localhost unless you explicitly configure your Web Server, Firewall, and Router to allow them to do so. If you do this, then that effectively means you have added yet another access point via your External IP Address.
Added Bonus - If you have multiple computers within your network, they can also access your localhost via the Internal IP Address assigned to your computer. However, this is the
only access point they have to your localhost. You can also set up an FTP Server so that you can download and upload files using other computers on the network. This is handy for if your main development system is a Desktop, but you wish to work using a Laptop. This will be the topic of another Article I'll be writing in a few days.
Added Bonus 2 - This also works for other software, you will have to check and make sure the <base> tag is not defined, though, in order for it to work properly.
Thanks! Feel free to ask any questions you may have pertaining to this article.
22-02-2010, 01:37 PM
Re: [How To] Enable multiple entry points to vBulletin 4 on Localhost.
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