Vanilla integrates with several third party applications, including:
- Salesforce
- Zendesk
- GitHub
- Wordpress
- Akismet
- WithList
- MailChimp
- Social logins (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
Vanilla also supports integration through an API.
Github Integration
This plugin allows you to submit user discussion and comments as GitHub issues.
Setup Instructions
If you already have a Github account, you will need to enable API Access for this plugin to work.
- Create a new application in GitHub, and set the callback URL by appending
/profile/githubconnect to the end of your forum’s URL. (If your forum is at example.com/forum, your callback URL would be http://example.com/forum/profile/githubconnect). - Once your application has been set up, you must copy the ClientID and Secret into your Github plugin settings page from your Vanilla dashboard.
- Enter the repositories you want to be allowed into your Github plugin settings page from your Vanilla dashboard.
Wordpress Integration
Vanilla’s integration to Wordpress lets you do a few things:
- SSO from Wordpress to Vanilla
- Use Vanilla as a commenting system on your Wordpress blog
- Add a widget to your Wordpress site.
Vanilla plugin for Wordpress
You can find the Wordpress plugin here.
Integration Setup Instructions
Integration instructions can be found here.
Transition to Vanilla Comments
Vanilla doesn’t have access to your WordPress comments, so simply turning off WP’s comments and turning on Vanilla’s would hide all your existing comments. There’s 3 ways to go about remedying this.
The first is to import all your WordPress comments to Vanilla. You will need need the XML export from your WordPress Dashboard to do this. VanillaForums.com clients may request this as an additional service via support or their sales representative.
The second is to edit your WordPress template manually to show WordPress comments on posts published before the date of your switchover, and Vanilla comments after the date of your switchover. This would require some elementary PHP. “ The third option is to disable all new WordPress commenting, and manually add Vanilla Comments embed code in the template after WordPress. You’d also want to remove WordPress’s “empty state” message for when there are no comments. This would have the effect of showing all old WordPress comments, followed by any new Vanilla comments, and then the Vanilla commenting box. Obviously this option is a little more complex, so I’d only do it if your comfort level with WordPress template editing is fairly high.