[nneonneo]

Please note, these converters are not official converters provided by the SimpleMachines Team. Please use them at your own risk.
Hello all:

I have Invisionfree & ProBoards converters which are (basically) ready to be released. However, as both IF and PB do not offer database backups for free (IF does for a fee), I do not know if it is _legal_ to post such a converter (it is a crawler-type, similar to that used on ezBoards a long time ago).

*EDIT: Converters are posted in the next post.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns/etc. with regards to these converters, don't hesitate to post them in this topic, e-mail me (my email is in my signature) or PM me.

*EDIT [Feb 18 2008]: Added Yuku converter.
*EDIT [April 22 2008]: removed Yuku and Proboards converters, per request.

[nneonneo]

Current converters:

• ActiveBoards
• ChatArea
• Forumotion (through phpBB3)
• Invisionfree
• iPBfree
• SuddenLaunch
• Yuku
• ZetaBoards

As nobody has raised any concerns about the release of these two converters, I will publish them. You need to be logged in to download the file.

Both require Python with the basic library -- the installation from http://www.python.org (Windows users click Windows Installer under Quick Links on the left) will suffice. I chose not to write them in PHP as the time requirements can vary widely from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the board (unlike most converters, this one must download each page and parse it, instead of simply converting a preexisting SQL file).

This converter should be run *on your own computer* and not your host, unless your internet connection is very slow AND your host doesn't mind a potentially demanding and/or long-running script on the server.

Follow the directions in the accompanying Instructions.txt for each converter. In the future, I may make these more general (and thus require less work on the part of the user), but that is not a short-term goal.

If an error occurs, it will usually be logged in convert_error.log, which you should attach in case the conversion fails for any reason. More serious errors could cause immediate script termination. If this happens, run the script in a command window (Start->Run->cmd; type in "cd " then drag and drop the folder where the converters are into the window; then type "python <scriptname>.py" where <scriptname> is the script you wanted to run. Errors will then be logged in this window, and the reason for sudden termination should be shown).

Note that the script is periodically re-uploaded due to changes and updates, so the download count will not be correct. As of time of writing, it has been downloaded about 470 times.

*EDIT: Updated instructions in attached converters.
*EDIT2: Updated instructions again; added view counts to Proboards (due to the way the IF converter works, it may not be possible to add view counts easily)
*EDIT3: Added sticky and lock detection to Proboards.
*EDIT4 [Sept 17 2007]: Increased protection from bad characters. This should prevent members and posts from randomly vanishing.
*EDIT5 [Sept 19 2007]: Added delay to Proboards PM script to facilitate PM sending by non-admin users. Default delay 17 seconds; if you are an admin (i.e. username = admin) set the wait time to 0.
*EDIT6 [Jan 19 2008]: Added ActiveBoards converter and some minor updates to the others.
*EDIT7 [Jan 22 2008]: Fixed bug where "\" characters could potentially cause queries to fail.
*EDIT8 [Jan 27 2008]: Instructions changed to use "javascript:document.cookie" instead of a prompt, to accommodate Internet Explorer 7. Fixed settings.py to produce sensible error on accidental execution. Changed some defaults in settings.py to be more sensible (applies only to default SMF setups)
*EDIT9 [Jan 27 2008]: Added a sensible error message if the settings file is not correct.
*EDIT10 [Jan 27 2008]: Fixed a bug which occurred with invisible users on Proboards.
*EDIT11 [Jan 30 2008]: Fixed a bug for Proboards which caused times to be improperly parsed, fixed a bug for proboards which cause topics viewed more than 1000 times to be omitted and improved the default password security (it is still not highly secure, so PLEASE urge users to change their passwords immediately!)
*EDIT12 [Feb 2 2008]: Fixed a bug in the Proboards converter which caused announcement topics to have repeated posts.
*EDIT13 [Feb 18 2008]: Code cleanup; moved a bunch of common routines to "common.py", added Yuku converter, tiny bug fixes for things I've forgotten, etc. . The old versions are still attached for history.
*EDIT14 [Feb 24 2008]: Removed Yuku converter by request; added board crawler to Proboards converter (no more messing with BOARDS!); fixed a few minor bugs; bumped Proboards version to 0.2.
*EDIT15 [Feb 24 2008]: Minor fixes for Proboards; script compatibility with Linux/Mac OS X/Cygwin; updated multi-page detection in Proboards. Version bumped to 0.2.1.
*EDIT16 [Feb 24 2008]: Fixed missing field in common.py. Multiple updates to handle "new" Proboards boards. Version bumped to 0.2.2. Thanks to jasonp for finding all these things.
*EDIT17 [Mar 30 2008]: Fixed a bug with members conversion in ActiveBoards, bumped version to 0.1.2. Thanks go to Nicki for finding and reporting it.
*EDIT18 [Mar 31 2008]: Set the common.py file to use UNIX format line-endings: this should fix execution problems for non-Windows users.
*EDIT19 [Apr 2 2008]: Added robust handling of certain broken tags (thanks fmp777 for reporting it)
*EDIT20 [Apr 15 2008]: Added support for Proboards "v4.5".
*EDIT21 [Apr 16 2008]: Fixed bug in common.py caused by last update; thanks to Blakey for reporting it
*EDIT22 [Apr 22 2008]: Removed ProBoards converter per their request.
*EDIT23 [Jul 19 2008]: Added several converters and updated all of them.
*EDIT24 [Dec 08 2008]: Updated all converters, added several
*EDIT25 [Mar 18 2009]: Updated all converters.
*EDIT26 [Mar 27 2009]: Updated all converters.
*EDIT27 [Apr 24 2009]: Forumotion (fixed member conversion) and Zetaboards (fixed attachments and PM sending) updated.
*EDIT28 [Aug 30 2009]: Updated all converters.
*EDIT29 [Sep 3 2009]: Improve conversion of old topics on Zetaboards.
*EDIT30 [Sep 20 2009]: Update Forumotion converter.
*EDIT31 [Feb 2 2010]: Update Forumotion converter.

[Flying Drupalist]

Thank you, you are god.

[Mega Mario Deluxe]

Looks interesting. Good work, however!

[nneonneo]

I should note that the documentation is a bit out of date. Please read the comments in settings.py for more up-to-date information about specific settings

I will try to update the docs if I get the time.

[vbgamer45]

That is awesome I thought making a script to do the same thing.

[nneonneo]

Instructions updated. Proboards converter can now do view counts.

See second post for updated package.

[newbee]

Thanx a million, nneonneo. Your converter really pulled me thru (with your patient help). It's bye bye proboards! I thought it was gonna be so much harder to change over. Sure saved me a LOT of time.  You da man

[Bytor]

Thanks nneonneo, for your patience & all your help during the conversion process from proboards to SMF. 

Much appreciated.

Bytor

[Tarni]

I am so lost we got stuck on Step 3 for the PB converter is there anyone who can help?  when I run it I get a message that says converted: 0 posts 0 topics... am I supposed to install this somewhere ON the proboards forum?  so that it will convert those posts? 

ANY help is appreciated

Thanks
Nik

[nneonneo]

Hi Tarni:

Earlier you sent me a message about downloading the converter; presumably that's resolved now.

The most important step is step 2. You'll need an SMF board set up the way you have it on Proboards (I can't convert the board structure due to some big differences in how they are laid out in Proboards vs. SMF).

Each setting must be set. The most critical settings are:
1) BOARDS: This is a variable mapping Proboard short board names to SMF board IDs. If you don't have an SMF board already, then you will need to make one to check the IDs. This is probably the hardest one to get right -- everything else is quite straightforward.
2) COOKIEDATA: This allows the converter to log in as you, so it can download the board. The instructions are pretty basic.
3) URL: Where the board is. This one is self-explanatory, but if it is wrong or doesn't end in index.cgi, it probably won't work (or not correctly, anyway)
Those are the important settings; the rest may affect the accuracy of the conversion but should not affect the overall conversion.

If you still can't get it to work, send me (do _not_ post) the settings.py file and I'll see what I can do.

[nneonneo]

Based off the existing code for Proboards and Invisionfree, and a request for an ActiveBoard conversion, I've created an ActiveBoard converter. It works fine, but it's not yet ready for general use.

If you are interested in an ActiveBoard conversion, PM me and let me know!

[Aäron]

The attachment seems to have been lost in yesterday's server maintenance. Could you reupload it, please?

[nneonneo]

Thanks for letting me know. It has been updated and uploaded.

[nneonneo]

Update! I have been notified that \ (backslash) characters can cause MySQL to potentially produce error messages on the files. This has now been fixed. If you were encountering such issues, please update your converters.

[Randy A.]

Has anyone been succesful in converting your proboard over to SMF using this converter? 

[nneonneo]

Yes, a number of people, myself included, have successfully converted Proboards to SMF.

However, I understand that this set of converters may not be as easy to use as the convert.php based ones; this is because of the sheer amount of "hidden" or difficult-to-retrieve information present on such boards, compared to the transparency of a database.

If you need assistance with a conversion, I will be glad to help.

[Randy A.]

I sure could use some help.  I need to set up the smf board first, but after that I want to get my proboard info over to it asap.

Anything I should be watching out for as I set up the smf board?

I catch onto things pretty quickly, so I'm confident I can make it work.

I did post a question in another thread, but maybe you can answer it for me.

Will members be able to sign in the new smf board with their current log-in info?

[nneonneo]

I sure could use some help.  I need to set up the smf board first, but after that I want to get my proboard info over to it asap.

Anything I should be watching out for as I set up the smf board?

Make sure that the boards on SMF resemble the ProBoards ones -- i.e. you can clearly tell (for yourself) which ProBoards boards go to which ones on SMF. This isn't a strict requirement, but it helps when you need to set up the BOARDS variable (quite possibly the trickiest part of the entire process).

I catch onto things pretty quickly, so I'm confident I can make it work.

I did post a question in another thread, but maybe you can answer it for me.

Will members be able to sign in the new smf board with their current log-in info?

No, the members will not. The reason is because if the converters could tell what the password was, or even the hash, it would be a major security hole for Proboards. Hence, short of bruteforcing everyone's passwords (not a good idea), the answer is no. However, the converters I've written have an extra feature: pseudorandom password generation. When you setup the converter, one of the variables is a large random number. Setting this value causes the script to generate the same set of random passwords for each run (to guard against the possibility of a failed run), but in a random manner. Additionally, you have the option of mass-PMing every user on your Proboards forum their new password and a link to the new forum page.

**n.b. passwords thus generated are not strong, so it is highly recommended that users change their passwords immediately. If you want to increase the strength of the generated password, increase 32767 in

Code: [Select]

passnumber=str(random.randint(0,32767))

[Randy A.]

I can deal with the password issue, as long as the member info gets brought over.  I can work that detail as I close the old site and bring the new site online.

Now, off to find a good host.  I see two good possibilities right here on the board and one of them has already graciously offered some great advise.

Very enjoyable experience so far, here at this forum.

Thanks!!