php forum logic

[Azeem12]

my final project is to make content management system and i am almost compelete i just need one thing to add up forums module
as i new learner of php i need to know tha basic logic of how to make a forums in php i hope this is not again the rules of this site to ask logic of something
so i need to know to algorithm to make forum portion if any one could help me and tell me logic i want to make it myself but i need to know how forums basically works
so if any one could help me please

[djjjozsi]

Forum is like a chat, where users can add messages in,
but there are rooms (threads) , and these threads categorized into forums(topics).

You have to store the messages in a table, one columns should store the owner of that message (relation to the users table's primary key) , and which thread it is(threads table's primary key) , plus additional fields like: insertion date/time, last update date/time, show user's signiture

In the threads table you can store the owner, thread name , forum_id( forums table's primary key ) , last message_id (relation to the messages table's primary key). Plus fields to handle status for that thread, like: closed topic , minimum user level to add new message, if its a help forum, you can add 'resolved' flag.

Before you write one row, lets read articles about database normalizations rules to efficiently design your forum's database model.

[halojoy]

You can see an example
what I figured out and used when I did my forum application.
It works alright.

The important TABLE for me here, is topics (threads).
We can say it acts as a glue between forums and posts tables.
Because 'topics' holds both forum_id and post_id value.
Where post_id is first post and subject is title of first post.

Then I have users table which is needed,
and an extra configs table, too.

The create sql statements I have put in an array $create
After including the file/code below I execute $create using:

foreach( $create AS $sql ){
    $mysqli->query( $sql );
}

<?php //Tables.

$create = array(

"CREATE TABLE forums (
id          INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name        TEXT,
description TEXT,
position    INTEGER,
canview     INTEGER,
canpost     INTEGER,
status      TEXT
)",

"CREATE TABLE topics (
id          INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
forumid     INTEGER,
postid      INTEGER,
subject     TEXT,
topictime   INTEGER,
lastpid     INTEGER,
lastptime   INTEGER,
sticky      INTEGER,
locked      INTEGER,
status      TEXT
)",

"CREATE TABLE posts (
id          INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
topicid     INTEGER,
message     TEXT,
posttime    INTEGER,
userid      INTEGER
)",

"CREATE TABLE users (
id          INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
uname       TEXT,
pword       TEXT,
email       TEXT,
joined      INTEGER,
regcode     TEXT,
level       INTEGER,
status      TEXT
)",

"CREATE TABLE configs (
id          INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
label       TEXT,
value       TEXT
)"

);

?>