This hack is rather rude. It tweaks a phpWebSite core module called Manager which is responsible for listing phpWS objects. The Manager is written rather monolithic, which is a pitty. I've added the ability to handle SQL wheres in lists also.

As usual, it's more a proof of concept than something that should be used for productive sites. On the other hand: It works and is rather extensible. Well, it's your decision wether you want to use it or not.

I didn't include any kind of frontend for the hack. It's all a matter of direct database access, as well as modifying php-code and templates.

I've introduced a new table, it's called mod_phpwsbb_folders. While not directly used in my hack, it comes in handy for further developing it. So start your favourite MySQL frontend and enter:

create table mod_phpwsbb_folders (
  id int not null auto_increment primary key,
  name text not null,
  description text
  )

You can enter your foldernames right away. I've entered the following four without any description:

insert into mod_phpwsbb_folders (name) values
  ("General"), ("Lounge"), ("Beautification"), ("Study");

Now that we've defined our folders, we need to put the forums in it. That's easy, as soon as we've created space for the reference.

Again, in MySQL, enter:

alter table mod_phpwsbb_forums
  add folder_id int after id;

While we're at it, we can as well have a look at our existing forums. List them up with

select id, label from mod_phpwsbb_forums;

You'll get something like

1  Software Engineering
2 Dieses & Jenes
3 Security & Privacy

We now have a folder_id as well as a id in our mod_phpwsbb_forums table. But: the folder_id is still empty for all records. Let's change that. If I'd want to associate the Software Engineering Forum (having id 1) with the Study Folder (having folder_id 4), I'd enter:

update mod_phpwsbb_forums
  set folder_id=4
  where id=1;

Do this for all your forums.