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How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?

Started by hstraf, January 26, 2006, 10:37:55 AM

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hstraf

I have a blogger blog right now, and I would *love* to move to a forum instead.  However, I don't want to lose the last year of posts and comments from my blog.  Does anyone know if there is a some kind of concersion tool/utility to go from a blogger blog to simple machines forum?

If I can extract my blog into some kind of database format, would this help? Is there an import tool for SMF that can work with a database?

Thanks!

H

Certainly it should be possible as it is possible to converter blogger > wordpress.
-H
Former Support Team Lead
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hstraf

Any ideas how to start?  Is there a generic conversion utility that can work with a database?


H

-H
Former Support Team Lead
                              I recommend:
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hstraf

Let's say that I can get my blog data into either a simple generic database with the following tables and columns.

blogs (uniqueID_blog, date_time, title, author)
comments(uniqueID_comment, uniqueID_blog, date_time, author, text)

Is it possible to import this data as regular forum topics with replies?

I'm not concerned about preserving comment author info, like email/url, etc...

Thanks!



sharks

i also want to do that. it would extremely useful is someone could please make a converter for this.

by the way, even if there doesn't exist a direct convert method, maybe we could convert from Blogger to Wordpress and then to SMF??

Liam.

#6
The simple power of a quick Google Search: http://www.freetipsandwits.com/moneymakingblog/12-steps-to-convert-your-blog-from-blogger-to-wordpress.html

Then, I'm sure there's a conversion tool on the site from WordPress --> SMF.

Edit: Also, this topic should be in Converting to SMF... Reported to be moved ;)

Nao 尚

Converters are for converting from other boards, and just that (I think). I've checked in the SVN and there's no WordPress converter.
Of course, it can be done (http://nao.noisen.com is running with my custom SMF and I used Blogger, and then WordPress to run it, until I manually converted to SMF...)

My conversion script was done in Delphi, though (string manipulation on SQL files.)
At the time (2005) I had very little knowledge of PHP.

I don't know about the database structure either, but again, if you just want to convert blog posts and comments, I'm sure a converter can be made in a couple of days at most.
It remains to be seen how much interest this gathers. I mean, a vanilla SMF 2.0 doesn't exactly have the tools to make a proper blog system.
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.

Aeva Media rocks your life.

sharks

#8
Quote from: Liam. on June 06, 2010, 07:34:50 AM
Then, I'm sure there's a conversion tool on the site from WordPress --> SMF.

Unfortunately, no such thing exists at this time. It would be extremely useful though, as most of the world use Wordpress, and the rest is just on the waiting list to move from Blogger to Wordpress. Wordpress doesn't offer the superior interactivity of a full-fledged forum, so many people seeking to extend their offerings to their members, will most probably consider shifting to SMF.

Quote from: Nao on June 06, 2010, 11:54:18 AM
Converters are for converting from other boards, and just that (I think). I've checked in the SVN and there's no WordPress converter.
Of course, it can be done (http://nao.noisen.com is running with my custom SMF and I used Blogger, and then WordPress to run it, until I manually converted to SMF...)

My conversion script was done in Delphi, though (string manipulation on SQL files.)
At the time (2005) I had very little knowledge of PHP.

I don't know about the database structure either, but again, if you just want to convert blog posts and comments, I'm sure a converter can be made in a couple of days at most.
It remains to be seen how much interest this gathers. I mean, a vanilla SMF 2.0 doesn't exactly have the tools to make a proper blog system.

Your converted forum looks very nice! Could you please consider making a converter from Wordpress? I am sure that many many people will enjoy this, as Wordpress is the most popular blogging tool in the world, and it is not showing any signs of slowing down. :)
I just think that people gave up when they saw nothing mentioned about a Wordpress converter.

I am very impatiently waiting to launch my converted Wordpress > SMF forum. I have been working on this for over a week and i thought up the long way of doing this (probably the only way do this, at this time?), by converting Wordpress to Drupal and then to SMF. A Drupal to SMF converter exists but it has a LOT of bugs and despite having tried everything, it doesn't convert the topics and posts to SMF.

Nao, i would much appreciate if you could explain to me how to manually convert my Wordpress blog to SMF, like you have so splendidly done for your site. :D

Nao 尚

Quote from: sharks on June 07, 2010, 01:08:05 PM
Unfortunately, no such thing exists at this time. It would be extremely useful though, as most of the world use Wordpress, and the rest is just on the waiting list to move from Blogger to Wordpress. Wordpress doesn't offer the superior interactivity of a full-fledged forum, so many people seeking to extend their offerings to their members, will most probably consider shifting to SMF.
That's a possibility. Now I've evaluated WP a couple of months ago to see if it had become more interesting than the 2005 version -- and I ended up hating it even more. I'm definitely too used to the SMF style...

QuoteYour converted forum looks very nice!
Thanks.

QuoteCould you please consider making a converter from Wordpress?
I'm afraid I can't confirm that... I could consider it, but:
1/ I only made one converter in the past (Coppermine to SMG/Aeva Media), and it was because I needed it for myself. In the end, it seemed to be flawed because some people were experiencing crashes when upgrading. Let's just say it hasn't convinced me that I'm very good at doing converters.
2/ Basically, I need to need something, before I'll do it. It's hard for me to undertake a large project without at least some interest on my side. Currently, I have no point in doing that converter. Even if I were paid to do it, well...

QuoteI am sure that many many people will enjoy this, as Wordpress is the most popular blogging tool in the world, and it is not showing any signs of slowing down. :)
Well, that's because people don't try other solutions.
It's just like noisen: it's the best blogging platform you could dream of. (Well, maybe not, but any SMF addict would tend to agree at least. It's a shared philosophy.) Still, I'm not advertising it, so no one even knows they can create their own blogs over there (or forums, for that matter.)

I wish for SMF 2.1 to incorporate a large section of my custom changes, so that people can also start running blogging platforms etc. I will seriously consider doing it when we start working on v2.1. (I'll have to convince the team first, of course. It's not a given.)

QuoteI just think that people gave up when they saw nothing mentioned about a Wordpress converter.
Possibly. But when you're a programmer, you never take a "no can do" for granted.

QuoteI am very impatiently waiting to launch my converted Wordpress > SMF forum. I have been working on this for over a week and i thought up the long way of doing this (probably the only way do this, at this time?), by converting Wordpress to Drupal and then to SMF. A Drupal to SMF converter exists but it has a LOT of bugs and despite having tried everything, it doesn't convert the topics and posts to SMF.
Same answer -- I don't know anything about Drupal so I couldn't help.

QuoteNao, i would much appreciate if you could explain to me how to manually convert my Wordpress blog to SMF, like you have so splendidly done for your site. :D
As I said... I exported my database to a SQL file, and then developed a small Delphi (Object Pascal) Win32 program to take that file and convert it to another SQL file in the SMF format. It's certainly a strange way of doing it, but I didn't know a thing about PHP at the time.
I've been looking for my source code, but can't find it. I'm pretty sure I still have it somewhere, but... I would have to find its filename first! I tried looking into my *.pas and *.dpr file database from 2005, but even then it has thousands of entries and I couldn't find anything, except for the XML to SQL converter I developed to convert my text-file-based news site for Kyodai Mahjongg into a SMF board. Well, even with that source code, it's not particularly helpful for WordPress stuff...
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.

Aeva Media rocks your life.

belly


sharks

Oh well... :(

Thanks for trying, Nao...

That means i'm stuck with Blogger or Wordpress and i can't have a forum yet, until i can find a converter or some way to do it myself. I'm even less knowledgeable than you when handling php and stuff.

I know it's not quite right to ask this... but would it be possible for me convert to SMF through a long-winded series of conversions via other platforms? Or convert to another forum platform first and then convert to SMF?

For example, the only way i've found (there might be more, but i don't know) is to convert my Blogger blog (which has over 4000 posts) to Wordpress and then to Drupal and then to SMF. It took me a whole day struggling with this and i finally managed to convert my blog to Drupal. But then the last step of the conversion from Drupal to SMF converter doesn't work!! :(

Nao 尚

You should post a separate bug report mentioning that the Drupal converter is broken. I suppose you'll get an update from the converter's author.
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.

Aeva Media rocks your life.

Norv

Please do take into account also to post a converter request, in case you didn't already. (http://custom.simplemachines.org/converter_request.php)
I have no timeframe as to when it can be looked into, however, unfortunately.
To-do lists are for deferral. The more things you write down the later they're done... until you have 100s of lists of things you don't do.

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Nao 尚

Lol, never even seen that page before... How do we access it in the first place?

WP is already in it.
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.

Aeva Media rocks your life.

sharks

@Nao I have already replied to the Drupal converter official topic, and no answer.

@Norv The request to convert from Wordpress to SMF already exists, so i have added myself to the notify list.
Converting from Blogger to SMF or Wordpress to SMF is the same problem, as there exist no converters that can do that. And converting from Blogger to Wordpress is easy, by using the Import function inside Wordpress. So, i think that ultimately, given the very limited resources that the SMF support team has to offer, we should opt for the more popular option by creating only one converter, either from Blogger or from Wordpress, whichever is easier to do.

Nao 尚

Wordpress would be the logical one, I guess.

If only, we should be able to have a converter that *only* does posts and comments. (i.e. doesn't need to reproduce folder structure/media files, import plugins or things like that.)
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.

Aeva Media rocks your life.

sharks

#17
Yes, that is exactly what i am looking for! I just want to convert my posts and comments. And maybe convert all the contributors who made these posts. All other non-posters do not need to be converted. The main objective would be to gather only the raw content from my big Wordpress blog 4000+ posts, and then dump it all into an SMF container. I do not care about converting plugins, etc. Once i get my blog's content on SMF, all the fantastic SMF modifications that i've seen will be more than enough to make me completely forget about Wordpress! The default installation of SMF is already much more advanced than Wordpress anyway.

Hopefully we don't have to keep wondering about this for too long. I am willing to provide my server, my wordpress installation, and SMF test installation, etc in order to initiate or accelerate the development of this extremely useful converter.

Nowadays, most community sites are either blog or forum types. To me, the best of both would be Wordpress and SMF. So, converting from Wordpress to the better one, is not really such a far-fetched idea.
Cross fingers to see this necessity become reality! ;)

Nao 尚

Posts + Comments + Member list (I forgot about that.)
What else...?
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.

Aeva Media rocks your life.

sharks

#19
I would be very satisfied with the converted posts + comments + member list. But i believe that it would be incredibly helpful if you could retain the converted posts formatting, by substituting the HTML font, image and URL tags used in Wordpress with BBC tags, so that all the text customizations and images added to the blog posts, are also carried over to their individual forum topics. HTML break tags are also used a lot in the blog posts to change to the next line and paragraph tags also, so these should also be converted to their respective BBC tags.

If some HTML tags don't have their BBC equal, then they should be dropped while parsing through the blog posts, otherwise they will appear inside the forum topics and ruin the appearance of the topic, which will have to be edited manually for each and every topic.
The objective is to also minimize the amount of topic editing involved after the conversion to SMF. Creating new boards and categories is no hassle at all. But having to edit each of the 4000+ converted forum topics is going to make me hesitate before taking the plunge into SMF.

For example, if you just convert the blog post to the forum topic, without replacing the tags, then the forum topic will look messy, with HTML codes all over it and it would require manual editing for each of the 4000 topics converted from my blog.

That is really all that matters when converting a blog. All the blog plugins functionalities can easily be substituted by installing SMF's own more advanced modifications.


Here are further ideas for the converter:

- In the converter screen, you could specify which board ID on the existing SMF forum installation, to dump all the converted blog posts. If that is not possible, then it doesn't matter, as long as the posts are converted into a single board to make managing all these new topics easier.

- Allow the contributors (those who made the blog posts) to keep their own individual active forum username after the conversion, meaning, do not show them as a deleted user on the SMF forum. It would be very useful if you could allow the converted blog contributors to login on the SMF forum. Converting their blog passwords is not crucial, assuming an SMF forum admin can reset their access, so that their post count is retained from the blog and they can still increment their post count by continuing to post on the SMF forum.

- Allow the option to retain the date of post from each post, and allow this to be carried over with the converted blog post.

-  At this time, preferably make it for SMF 1.1.x as it's the stable release. But if it's easier for you to make the converter for SMF 2.0 then i wouldn't be any less grateful.

When you think you are done, i will test the converter for you and let you know if there are any bugs, etc.

If any of the above ideas are going to take too long to implement into the converter, then i think it would be better to leave it to the 2.0 version of the converter. :)

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