Use Drupal search to search Q2A and PHPBB content

Question

Q2A and PHPBB are 2 branches of my main website.

In other words..

website.com/q2a

and

website.com/phpbb

...

When I use the login box on any of the 3 branches, I want the SSO to log me in to all 3 branches.

When I use the search box on any of the 3 branches, I want it to search content from all branches.

When I click on a user profile on any of the 3 branches, I want it to always go to the same user profile page.

Is this possible? How?

Will I need to make a custom CMS and a custom Q&A PHP Script and a Custom Forums?

Answer 1

You can integrate them all to use a single userbase (and/or search index) for sure. However, unless you find a ready bridge that accommodates them all, you will need to:

• study each application's databases and map the way they store users and data,
• build hooks into the source code on each (unless they support this via an API),
• and have a master frame that initiates logged-in sessions and keeps data in mutual sync.

May not be a trivial task. Then again, creating matching applications from a scratch isn't a trivial task either. But of course we should all create our own CMS and app frameworks. What else is there to do.