Joomla Components: Joomla and SMF Forum
How to install SMF Forum component on your Joomla website
There is a number of Joomla-SMF integration solutions, most of them are continued Mambo-SMF integration efforts. The one we will cover here is Cowboy's Joomla-SMF Forum component. The official page, along with installation instructions and documentation can be found here:
http://www.joomlahacks.com/joomla/components/Joomla-SMF_Forum/
To use this solution, you need your SMF forum to be installed on the same database that Joomla is installed on. So, first of all, check the configuration.php file of your Joomla installation for the following variables:
$mosConfig_user
$mosConfig_password
$mosConfig_db
These are the MySQL username, password and database name of the Joomla installation. Now that you have these details, you can install SMF manually on the same database.
Once the forum is installed, please follow this link to download the component. Extract the .zip file on your hard drive, and go to the Installers -> Components section of Joomla Administrator
Please, browse for the com_joomla_smf_forum_x.x.zip file, contained in the archive and complete the installation:
All that is left now, is to configure the Joomla-SMF component.
Go to Components -> Joomla SMF Forum -> Configuration
This is the most important step of the integration, and is essential that you complete all fields correctly:
Joomla-SMF configuration details:
SMF Absolute Path – the path where you installed SMF. You can use the path to the Joomla installation as reference.
SMF Database Prefix – the default prefix is “smf_”, and you should probably use this one, unless you used a different prefix when installing SMF.
Fill in the above two and click on the “Save” button. Fix the errors, if any, and proceed by clicking on the “click to patch” links for the index files of Joomla and SMF. Clicking on the Save button after each change will help you avoid errors, and make it easier to revert wrong actions. After you have completed all steps successfully, the SMF forum should work fine in your Joomla-based website. There are additional modules that can enhance the performance of the SMF integration. Please check this link for download links and installation instructions
http://www.joomlahacks.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,41/func,select/id,15/