Simple Machines Community Forum

Hi

A couple of things:

I note that you have a 'partial coverter' for Snitz forums - please could you let me know what it actually can and can't convert across? The main thing I owuld want to do is retain the posts and the time of posts and the categories etc.

Is the converter already available? When might you complete the converter if it's not already available?

I'd really like to use SMF forums, but I need to be able to convert the forums from an asp to a php system as soon as possible because of server problems. I guess another way could be to go via an other forum - just to get the information converted into a format for which you have a more comprehensive converter like phpBB or something. Does anyone know of another php discussion board system which will convert asp Mysql databases well? Is this a viable idea even?

Many thanks for your help  :)

Well, phpBB has a converter but it has... problems.

Please try the attached.

-[Unknown]

Hi

Thanks for the reply! I will try the attachment - I haven't downloaded it yet- but does it include instructions as to how to export and then import the database?

My snitz forum had a load of plug-ins on it - would this be a problem?

Would it be possible for you to give me an idea of what fileds get imported to the simplemachines forum from the snitz forum?

e.g. does it import posts and times of posts and replies - but not member details and passwords?

Many thanks for your help :-)

Frankly, I know very little about Snitz.  This converter is not well tested, and has only been used by two members to my recollection - one being Radianation (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=profile;u=5541).  I know he did something to convert Snitz to use MySQL, and he told me of some of the more common modifications.

It should work with or without these "plug-ins".

As far as what is imported... posts, members, and boards.  I'm pretty sure that is it.  Those are the main things, but if you have attachments, polls, and other things I don't believe they are converted.

It does do passwords, but you'll need to make a small modification to SMF for it to support them.  Search for Snitz (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=search2;search=Snitz).

-[Unknown]

Hi

I have downloaded the file included in a previous post for conversion - are the instructions for converting listed here : http://www.simplemachines.org/community/readme_convert.html#convert
in addition I have a couple of extra questions:

Do I need to do a MySql database dump and upload the original Snitz database into the same space as where I am running the php file from?  Will the system update automatically even if the other database is located on another server, and does the conversion save over the old database, or simply copy the information over and leave the old database completely unharmed?

Will this converter (download link above) work on SMF 1.0.3 (the version I currently have - or does it only on version 1.1 Beta?

Many thanks  :)

The data needs to be on the same server as the SMF installation.

It copies, it doesn't change or overwrite or delete.

Yes, 1.0.3 should be okay.

-[Unknown]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. I have installed a version of SMF 1.0.3 to test the converter with - which works fine. I have places the .php snitz-to-smf file in the forum folder, and accessed it - but currently I can't seem to get the database for the snitz forum to be accessed by the script...part of this I think is because, although the database has been installed on the same MySql server, I need to wait until tomorrow to ask my service provider to allow me access to it. Hence the reason why I get this error:

Quote
Converting...
Unsuccessful!
This query:
SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM `forumdb1`.FORUM_MEMBERS;
Caused the error:

Access denied for user: '*my info here*' to database 'my database name'

However, on the 'step 1' page  I also noticed under the text entry box for the name of the snitz forum database, the following appears:

Quote
Notice: Undefined variable: test_from in *my URL inserted here*/snitz_to_smf.php on line 153
You will need to change the value in this box.

What do I need to change, and what do I need to change it to?

What should I enter for the 'Database used by Snitz:' box? Just the name of the database, or something else?

Thank you for your help.

Try the attached, and yes, you need to put the name of the Snitz MySQL database. The SMF database user must also have access to it.

Hi

Many thanks for the updated file. OK. I have got a little further with that, but the next error I encountered was this:

Quote
Converting members... Unsuccessful!
This query:
INSERT INTO `testforum`.testforummembers
(ID_MEMBER, memberName, dateRegistered, posts, ID_GROUP, lastLogin, realName, passwd, emailAddress, personalText, gender, websiteTitle, websiteUrl, location, ICQ, AIM, YIM, MSN, signature)
VALUES ();
Caused the error:

Column count doesn't match value count at row 1

Any ideas what the problem is, and how I can solve it?

Many thanks for your help :-)

Sorry.  That's because you (presumably?) have 500 members or a multiple thereof on the dot, it seems...?

Sorry, like I said this hasn't seen enough testing.

-[Unknown]

Hi

Don't worry  :) Sorry to have to keep asking questions! Shall I try the new attachement - I have 550 or so members?

I hope you don't mind me keep asking questions. I'd really like to get some sort of conversion to work so I can switch to using SMF :)

Should I check any permissions perhaps?

Cheers

Quote from: ukcwm on May 05, 2005, 05:16:18 PM
I hope you don't mind me keep asking questions. I'd really like to get some sort of conversion to work so I can switch to using SMF :)

Of course not - it's fixing the converter!  I just hope you don't mind the bugs too much.

550, huh?  Strange.  Well, it shouldn't happen any more, either way... but I wonder what could have caused it with 550 members....

-[Unknown]

Hi

I'll try it now...but the number of members wasn't exactly 550! Can't remember off the top of my head what the number of members is at the mo! Sorry!

Not sure if you've read it, but I went through this whole process ahwile back when I converted. It was a bit tedious, but we got it to work and I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am that I finally made the switch. I loved snitz when I used it, but then I saw the light. Don't worry about losing your plugins. Most of the main plugins for snitz are built in to SMF, and what you don't have on a factory install can be easily downloaded via the package manager.

I was able to covert all members, categories/forums, posts, replies, and that's about it. I used the SHA256 package to convert the passwords on the fly to the SMF encryption scheme. This is so much better than the crappy PHPBB2 solution where you have to start all over with new passwords. (+1,000 cool points to unknown for this).

It's been awhile since I made the conversion, but if I can offer any assistance I will. Here is what I did:

My Snitz was MSSQL. I used a program from Intelligent Converters called MSSQL -> mySQL.
Then I installed SMF on the same machine and in the same database. So that in database louipimps I had snitz_tables and smf_tables. I told the converter script what I wanted to convert and it worked. Then I had to do some repairing on the SMF side of things using a combination of scripts and the built in repair feature. Eventually I got it working.

I had to reset all of the permissions and re-order the tables a bit, but that was it.

Then install that sha256 package. Good luck.

Hi

Radianation - many thanks for your reply  :) I don't really understand what to do, to be honest - I'm not a programmer, or a mySQL or PHP expert. My database is already in MySQL. I'm not sure about the SHA256 package is....but I will get back to you on that when I have converted the main database over. I hope you don't mind, but I would like to try to continue with the file that I've been working on - as shown in posts above. If we cannot find a solution through this, then I will certainly have more questions for you!  :) I hope you don't mind, thankyou for your offer of help  :) Please keep checking back as you may have some valuable imput as I try to go through the process of conversion  :)

OK. I have now got everything to start processing - so quite a lot of progress has been made. The coverter has started the process ok, and copied over the categories, their descriptions and details about the number of posts - so the main front page displays well - no member details have been copied over, or total number of posts etc. BUT, the process stopped because it said it wanted to avoid the cript from timing out...but it gave me the option to continue...which I did, whereupon I got the following error, and no topics or details were copied over...

Quote
Converting...
Converting messages... (this may take some time) successful.
Converting topics... Unsuccessful!
This query:

ALTER TABLE `testforum`.testforumtopics
DROP INDEX firstMessage,
DROP INDEX lastMessage;
Caused the error:

Can't DROP 'firstMessage'. Check that column/key exists

Any ideas?
I think we're getting somewhere  :)

Thank you for your help  :)

Hmmm ...

1. Do you have permission to drop tables in the database?
2. Are those valid fields in your Snitz installation?

You're very close. I think the post counts are calculated again after you run the maintenance tools in SMF.

Hi

I'm pritty certain I have permission - how would I check?

Quote
Are those valid fields in your Snitz installation?

I have no idea! How do I find out? - or might mine be called something different, or can I change it?!

Cheers

You'll need to either look at the ASP code for snitz to determine the table names or go into your snitz database and look at the field names. Hmmm I don't know of an easy way to test that... I'm a hands on guy so it's hard for me to give specific instructions like this. =)

Not sure about unsigned, but after more carefully reading your original problem, it looks like you're not getting the temp. table setup properly using the script provided. This sounds like a question for [unknown] . ; )
All we're trying to do is move data from one database format to the other, but in the process we have to "massage" the data. I'm assuming he's using some type of a temp. table to do this, but I could be wrong.

Hi

OK - Cheers! I'll wait for a reply from UNKNOWN.  :)

Sorry to be a pain, but am a little pushed for time because I need to covert the forum before my current web hosting space runs out! :(

Try this.

-[Unknown]

Hi

Thanks for the latest attempt. I've just tried it, and I now get the following error:

Quote
Converting...
Converting messages... (this may take some time) successful.
Converting topics... Unsuccessful!
This query:
ALTER TABLE `testforum`.testforumtopics
ADD UNIQUE firstMessage (ID_FIRST_MSG, ID_BOARD),
ADD UNIQUE lastMessage (ID_LAST_MSG, ID_BOARD);
Caused the error:

Duplicate entry '0-28' for key 3

Sorry! I still have no idea what the problem is. I got the same error when I tried to manually add the extra index fields in the table. Could there be a problem with my database? Can I fix it manually if needs be somehow?

Any further ideas? :)

Okay, try this one.

-[Unknown]

Hi

Thanks for the latest...unfortunately this time the system returned the following error:

Quote
Converting...
Converting messages... (this may take some time) successful.
Converting topics... Unsuccessful!
This query:
ALTER TABLE `testforum`.testforumtopics
ADD UNIQUE firstMessage (ID_FIRST_MSG, ID_BOARD),
ADD UNIQUE lastMessage (ID_LAST_MSG, ID_BOARD);
Caused the error:

Duplicate entry '0-12' for key 3

Is there any more info I could provide you with to help? I feel a bit useless! At least this time it was only 'Duplicate entry '0-12' for key 3' and not 'Duplicate entry '0-28' for key 3' - hopefully it's a step in the right direction?!

Thank you for your help :)

Okay, you do have a few broken topics in your database... but it should be able to work around that.

Try this one.

-[Unknown]

WOW!!!!!!! I think you may have cracked it...it's made it all the way through the conversion (didn't take very long - just a few seconds for the 15,000 posts that are there (is this normal?)

I will now check it more carefully, and see if it's stable enough - should I be looking for anything in particular that might have been missed?

Also, do you know if your converter brings over the passwords and user details for members securely? Radianation implied that you have to do a lot of manual work to get members passowrds across. If that's the case I might just get everyone to re-register. Will there be any security problems with the imported data? Does it matter that there were some broken topics which you managed to bypass?

I'm afraid I also have two further requests - but I'm hoping they are much easier! I wish to also import some forums from another SMF database which is held on the same server, can I do this without rubbing over anything we've just done?

Sorry about all the questions! I think we are very nearly there. Hats off to you...thank you for all your help, this could get me out of a big problem with moving servers. I appreciate your hard work. :)

Quote from: ukcwm on May 09, 2005, 06:57:40 PM
I will now check it more carefully, and see if it's stable enough - should I be looking for anything in particular that might have been missed?

You may have less topics now...

Quote
Also, do you know if your converter brings over the passwords and user details for members securely? Radianation implied that you have to do a lot of manual work to get members passowrds across. If that's the case I might just get everyone to re-register. Will there be any security problems with the imported data? Does it matter that there were some broken topics which you managed to bypass?

No, you just need the package that does the password conversion on the fly automatically.  Specifically, upload this file:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15551.0;attach=2196

Into your "Packages" directory and install it with the package manager.  You can use the "forgot password" feature to get to your account so you can do this.  For more information:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=15551.0

QuoteI'm afraid I also have two further requests - but I'm hoping they are much easier! I wish to also import some forums from another SMF database which is held on the same server, can I do this without rubbing over anything we've just done?

I'm afraid nothing is yet available to MERGE two SMF forums without overwriting one entirely.  I have something in the works but it's not nearly done.

-[Unknown]

Thanks for the reply.

I can live with loosing a few topics in favour of keeping the majority :)

I'll have a go at installing the passwords as you've suggested - will all this make everything secure, as it should be on the SMF forums for people to use?

I can probably copy over the other information for the other forum since it's not been running long and there's only about 30 topics and 100 posts.

It's past midnight where I am, so I will tackle these things tomorrow. Meanwhile thanks again for your prompt help :)

Quote from: ukcwm on May 09, 2005, 07:08:50 PM
I'll have a go at installing the passwords as you've suggested - will all this make everything secure, as it should be on the SMF forums for people to use?

Yes.  No clear text passwords will be stored anywhere.

-[Unknown]

Hi

I dont' understand how to install the file for password conversion as shown above. I've downaloaded the file with .mod at the end and uploaded it into the packages directory of my new forum - but I have no idea what to do next - could you give me a step-by-step example of what to do?

I noticed also that there was a mention about topics not sorting properly...' managed to port the forum properly with only 2 minor problems.
1. Topics sorted incorrectly after porting (those with 0 replies listed first)'

Mine do not appear to be sorting properly in order by date of last post for some reason - do I need to correct anything for this to work?

It also appears that many posts dating back to last year even have been marked as new - is there a repair facility on SMF which might sort these things - or is there something else I need to do?

2 other questions while I'm here...
Is it possible for me to use the same icon (coloured circle) for my homepage as you do - rather than the simple machines logo? Is there anywhere I can find the images?

Please correct me if I'm out of line here, but is there any way I can remove the copyright line and link and version number reference to SMF which appears at the bottom of every page - do I need to pay you money to do this, or can I just do it, or must it always appear?

Thank you very much for your help :-)

The file I linked to is an archive, similar to a zip.  You're supposed to take that file, most directly, without extracting any of its contents, and put it in Packages.  Exactly as it is.  Has a .tar.gz extension, not mod or xml.  Those are files inside it.

Try Admin -> Forum Maintenance -> Recount all forum totals and statistics, and then Find and repair all forum errors.

Colored circle?  Eh?  Do you mean the board on/off icons?  The Simple Machines theme, which is the one used on this site but not in the distribution, and its graphics are not available for anyone else to use.

However, there are other board read/unread icons available and many themes, should you want something different.

You cannot remove the copyright.  Please read the license.  If you really must remove it, you can contact Jeff Lewis (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=profile;u=17) about it and negotiate how much you're willing to pay.

-[Unknown]

Hi thanks for your reply.

Quote
Colored circle?  Eh?  Do you mean the board on/off icons?  The Simple Machines theme, which is the one used on this site but not in the distribution, and its graphics are not available for anyone else to use.

Sorry!  I'll have a look at some of the other themes - if none fit the bill, is it OK for me to make up my own? Where would they go, if I can make my own? Can I just use the icons from another theme if I prefer?

Quote
You cannot remove the copyright.  Please read the license.  If you really must remove it, you can contact Jeff Lewis about it and negotiate how much you're willing to pay.

Ooops, very sorry! Didn't mean to sound cheeky. I thought it looked as though you were not allowed to remove copyrights from a quick scan of the license - but I thought it would just be easier to ask you rather than going through the small print in detail. I'll e-mail a link to the forum once it's up and running if you like to show that I've kept it on there. If I ever make any money from the website, I might try e-mail Jeff to negotiate a price :-)

Quote
Try Admin -> Forum Maintenance -> Recount all forum totals and statistics, and then Find and repair all forum errors.

Performed these operations, but there did not seem to be any errors and the totals seemed to remain the same

the mod has said that it installed ok - at least the system is telling me it has - I haven't tested it yet. I didn't need to use

Quote'You can use the "forgot password" feature to get to your account so you can do this. '

BUT, when I try to login now, I get the following error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: mhash() in /Sources/LogInOut.php on line 292

Any ideas - I can't login or anything now!?



Thank you for your continued help :-)

It sounds like your package for the SHA256 didn't correctly patch /Sources/LogInOut.php

Hi

Is there anything I can do now? I can't log in to the system any more - I just get a fatal error as shown above...

Thank you for your help :-)

Quote from: ukcwm on May 12, 2005, 05:09:45 PM
Sorry!  I'll have a look at some of the other themes - if none fit the bill, is it OK for me to make up my own? Where would they go, if I can make my own? Can I just use the icons from another theme if I prefer?

Of course - as long as you don't break anyone's licenses, etc... everyone's happy!  If you want to design your own, you're more than welcome to.

Quote
Performed these operations, but there did not seem to be any errors and the totals seemed to remain the same

Can you give me a link (pm if you don't want to post) so I can see which are in the wrong order?

Quote
BUT, when I try to login now, I get the following error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: mhash() in /Sources/LogInOut.php on line 292

Sorry, I neglected to mention: the change requires PHP to be compiled with mhash support, such that it can check the password the way Snitz would have.  Do you think you could convince your host to change PHP to do so?

If you have cPanel, this will be *very* easy for them to do (a checkbox and a click of a button.)

-[Unknown]

Hi

Thanks for your latest e-mail. The forum is now live!!! My service provider compl=iled the php suggestion above - and everything seems to work...so now for the 'acid test' let the members return and see if they are able to continue where they left off  :) The signs are very good so far...several seem to have logged in.

You'll see on the index page that under 'last post' each forum shows 'Last post on...' How do I delete the 'Last post on..' bit of text as I don't think it's necessary?!

Also, is there a template for the main help pages, and if so, are we allowed to replace the simple forums logo and picture at the top with our own - or am I being cheeky again, and shouldn't even be asking?! Can I at least incorporate it into my general design?

Thank you for your help... :)

Now go recruit more Snitz forum administrators to make the wise decision to switch.  :P

Hi

The forum is now live!!! My service provider compiled the php suggestion above - and everything seems to work...so now for the 'acid test' let the members return and see if they are able to continue where they left off   The signs are very good so far...several seem to have logged in.

Some users have said that the topics within each forum are not being sorted correctly in date order - I've just checked and this appears to be the case. Could this be part of the transfer process? Is there any way we can make the sorting work properly - or is it a setting I need to change?

You can view the forums at
http://www.christianweb.org.uk/forums/

You'll see on the index page that under 'last post' each forum shows 'Last post on...' How do I delete the 'Last post on..' bit of text as I don't think it's necessary?!

Also, is there a template for the main help pages, and if so, are we allowed to replace the simple forums logo and picture at the top with our own - or am I being cheeky again, and shouldn't even be asking?! Can I at least incorporate it into my general design?

Thank you for your help...  :)

Do you still have your Snitz database in MySQL?  If so, do you suppose I could have access to it with phpMyAdmin?

The following query:

SELECT ft.TOPIC_ID, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(ft.T_DATE), UNIX_TIMESTAMP(fr.R_DATE)
FROM FORUM_REPLY AS fr
   LEFT JOIN FORUM_TOPICS AS ft ON (fr.TOPIC_ID = ft.TOPIC_ID)
ORDER BY fr.TOPIC_ID, fr.REPLY_ID

Is, basically, how the converter works.  I'm worried it isn't correct, from your description, because this should be the order from oldest to newest.

-[Unknown]

I seem to recall some minor topic sorting problems with my conversion, but I thought that running the built in fix errors resolved this problem. I might be wrong as it's been awhile.

Hi
Unknown

Quote
Do you still have your Snitz database in MySQL?  If so, do you suppose I could have access to it with phpMyAdmin?

The following query:

SELECT ft.TOPIC_ID, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(ft.T_DATE), UNIX_TIMESTAMP(fr.R_DATE)
FROM FORUM_REPLY AS fr
   LEFT JOIN FORUM_TOPICS AS ft ON (fr.TOPIC_ID = ft.TOPIC_ID)
ORDER BY fr.TOPIC_ID, fr.REPLY_ID

Is, basically, how the converter works.  I'm worried it isn't correct, from your description, because this should be the order from oldest to newest.

-[Unknown]

Afraid I don't think I still have access to the old MySql database - is there anything we can do now, because it still does not seem to be sorting properly - this could be confusing users :(

Also, while I'm here just a couple of quick questions...
You'll see on the index page that under 'last post' each forum shows 'Last post on...' How do I delete the 'Last post on..' bit of text as I don't think it's necessary?!

Also, is there a template for the main help pages, and if so, are we allowed to replace the simple forums logo and picture at the top with our own - or am I being cheeky again, and shouldn't even be asking?! Can I at least incorporate it into my general design?


Other than this, at the mo everything seems to be working pritty well :)

I'd do a search on here for your non-snitz conversion related questions and focus on the specific sorting problem here. There are lots of posts about how to remove those things and modify your templates. It's rather easy, and shouldn't take long.

Quote
You'll see on the index page that under 'last post' each forum shows 'Last post on...' How do I delete the 'Last post on..' bit of text as I don't think it's necessary?!

I believe that's in the BoardIndex template.  The classic theme does it as you want.

QuoteAlso, is there a template for the main help pages, and if so, are we allowed to replace the simple forums logo and picture at the top with our own - or am I being cheeky again, and shouldn't even be asking?! Can I at least incorporate it into my general design?

You can remove it if you like.  XSLT is used to generate those.

-[Unknown]

Hi,
Thank you for your job.
Yesterday i have converted part of my snitz forum: http://setcom.bg/main/forum.htm to smf: http://deimos.tea.bg/setcom_forum/index.php

No problems with passwords. Only the order of themes is incorect. Any ideas?
Sorry for my eng... :)

Quote from: kodbg on July 20, 2005, 01:34:20 AM
Hi,
Thank you for your job.
Yesterday i have converted part of my snitz forum: http://setcom.bg/main/forum.htm to smf: http://deimos.tea.bg/setcom_forum/index.php

No problems with passwords. Only the order of themes is incorect. Any ideas?
Sorry for my eng... :)

by themes do you mean forum categories? Just sort them in the admin field.

Quote from: Radianation on May 14, 2005, 03:39:31 PM
Now go recruit more Snitz forum administrators to make the wise decision to switch.  :P

LOL !!! ... I have been using ASP & Snitz for 4 yrs, but now slowly switching to SMF, PHP and Mambo.

I'm a newbie at SMF, but hope to learn a lot as well :)

Quote from: Radianation on July 20, 2005, 05:04:28 AM

by themes do you mean forum categories? Just sort them in the admin field.

No, I mean topics.

How are they misordered?  Newer topics do seem higher than older ones, to my tired eyes...?

-[Unknown]

Mmm, no. This is true only for topics written in SMF forum. Converted topics are unsorted. See this:
http://deimos.tea.bg/setcom_forum/index.php?board=34.0
We have 1-2 good sorted topics and then converted topics are not sorted.
In DB all seems ok, all times are in unix format. I can't understand where the problem is.

This is the general order it expects:

SELECT
   ft.TOPIC_ID AS ID_TOPIC, T_SUBJECT AS subject,
   UNIX_TIMESTAMP(ft.T_DATE) AS TposterTime,
   UNIX_TIMESTAMP(fr.R_DATE) AS RposterTime
FROM FORUM_REPLY AS fr
   LEFT JOIN FORUM_TOPICS AS ft ON (fr.TOPIC_ID = ft.TOPIC_ID)
ORDER BY fr.TOPIC_ID, fr.REPLY_ID;

What is phpMyAdmin? (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=21919.0)

If that doesn't look right, does this look better?

SELECT
   ft.TOPIC_ID AS ID_TOPIC, T_SUBJECT AS subject,
   UNIX_TIMESTAMP(ft.T_DATE) AS TposterTime,
   UNIX_TIMESTAMP(fr.R_DATE) AS RposterTime
FROM FORUM_REPLY AS fr
   LEFT JOIN FORUM_TOPICS AS ft ON (fr.TOPIC_ID = ft.TOPIC_ID)
ORDER BY ft.T_DATE, fr.R_DATE;

-[Unknown]

fff, big confusion.
This is the same :(

In converted topics the order is not by last message ID.
Seems, converted topics are sorted by topic date = first message ID for the topic

Strange, it seems so.

Would it be possible to give me temporary phpMyAdmin access to debug the issue (by pm, please.)

-[Unknown]

I recall having a similar problem my first time around. I ran the admin repair and it sorted them all properly.

Please try the attached.

-[Unknown]

Quote
BUT, when I try to login now, I get the following error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: mhash() in /Sources/LogInOut.php on line 292

Sorry, I neglected to mention: the change requires PHP to be compiled with mhash support, such that it can check the password the way Snitz would have.  Do you think you could convince your host to change PHP to do so?

If you have cPanel, this will be *very* easy for them to do (a checkbox and a click of a button.)

-[Unknown]


If this is not an option how can it be fixed? I am having the same problem. I am unable to log into my forums. Anyway I can fix it without having to start over from scratch?

You'll have to use the "forgot password" feature.

-[Unknown]

Well, once package is installed you can't even get to log in at all. even if you use the lost password feature. I was hoping there was a way to "easily" undo the package install. I just reinstalled the forums and it works now  :D  Fresh install, I won't be adding the LogInOut package again. Guess they will all just have to get a new password

psstt don't forget that if you're using 1.1 beta x that the mhash package no longer installs properly =/

Quote from: Radianation on August 19, 2005, 12:28:39 AM
psstt don't forget that if you're using 1.1 beta x that the mhash package no longer installs properly =/

(plus you don't need it either.)

-[Unknown]

Is it built in to 1.1?

Radianation and [Unknown],

Man am I glad that you two went through this whole shebang before I tried to do this or I have a feeling that I would have been seriously SOL!

Anyway, here's my story and I'm sticking to it:

I run a website for a company that organizes, runs and promotes a specific K9 event around the country. I won't be specific as of now, but...have any of you ever seen ESPN's the Great Outdoor Games? Well, they run two of those events and GOG is the Big Kahuna for all their events.

I originally created a Flash-based site for them. It was purely intended as a "wow" site for potential sponsors and that's about all. As it went, the web presence took off from there. Now it is seriously dated and it doesn't work very well mostly because many of the features were added AdHoc. One thing we did was to put up a forum. Well, it got pretty huge (not by some standards, but much bigger than we anticipated). We used the ISP's standard forum software - Snitz. What a mess. I hate ASP and am not versed in it at all and we have had many problems. Basically, the site is a mess. Even still we are a Google PR 6 and have done no SEO or promotion. Just word of mouth.

Long story a little shorter: I am moving ISPs, going to a Mambo-based site, switching from Windows to Unix servers, etc. SMF is the obvious choice for our forum, considering we are going Mambo (esp. because of the ability only to have to login once). The Snitz database is currently in...ehem...Access!

I have gone through this topic and I think I have the steps down as far as the switch-over. We shall see...I have a couple of initial questions. Bear in mind that I am not a very experienced programmer. I am just getting started learning PHP.

Keeping the login usernames and passwords is key. We have over 4200 members and are growing at about 25-50 a day.

1. [Unknown] - Should I use the last version of the snitz_to_smf.php script that you uploaded or was that a particular fix-it to a problem experienced by ukcwm? I have counted 7 versions in this topic

2. How difficult is it going to be for me to convert from Access to MySQL? Is there a converter out there that makes this seamless?

3. I checked with my service provider and their PHP has been compiled with support for mhash.  Radianation or [Unknown], should I use the 1.1 Beta or go with version 1.05? Given the mhash support, do you forsee any problems I may have with the whole SHA256 thingy-majigy?

Anyway, that's it for now...I'm sure I will have other questions shortly. I am mostly interested to see if anyone has tips, pointers, advice as to any issues, pitfalls, etc. I may be facing given my situation. I am going to try a test run with a backup of the Access database from the Snitz forum and see how it goes. I would like to migrate in the next couple of weeks.

I will probably be signing up for the Premium Support for SMF just because I will not have a lot of time to mess around with this to get it working. I have too much to do with the rest of the site.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

Quote from: Radianation on August 19, 2005, 02:30:42 PM
Is it built in to 1.1?

// Snitz style - SHA-256.  Technically, this is a downgrade, but most PHP configurations don't support sha256 anyway.
elseif (strlen($user_settings['passwd']) == 64 && function_exists('mhash') && defined('MHASH_SHA256'))
$other_passwords[] = bin2hex(mhash(MHASH_SHA256, $_REQUEST['passwrd']));

Yes.

Quote from: ssoltz on August 24, 2005, 01:34:38 PM
Long story a little shorter: I am moving ISPs, going to a Mambo-based site, switching from Windows to Unix servers, etc. SMF is the obvious choice for our forum, considering we are going Mambo (esp. because of the ability only to have to login once). The Snitz database is currently in...ehem...Access!

Good moves all around ;).

QuoteBear in mind that I am not a very experienced programmer. I am just getting started learning PHP.

As the theory goes, you shouldn't have to be to convert.  That said, it's true that Snitz is (arguably) the hardest conversion.

QuoteKeeping the login usernames and passwords is key. We have over 4200 members and are growing at about 25-50 a day.

Okay, done - assuming you can get the mhash support in your installation of PHP.  Considering you seem to be reasonably high-profile, this shouldn't be difficult.  That's a key I think to many communities - and so far, such is possible in all of our converters (and there are other 30 of them!)

Quote1. [Unknown] - Should I use the last version of the snitz_to_smf.php script that you uploaded or was that a particular fix-it to a problem experienced by ukcwm? I have counted 7 versions in this topic

Actually, this is the one you want:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=34642.0;attach=8911

And, you may want to consider going with the 1.1 beta version.  If you plan to roll out your site in enough time, it should be in a stable release soon - and the converter is much improved from this one.  You won't have to worry about code modifications or anything else, either.

That said, it still is a beta version.  The next release will be an RC.  Only follow that course if you are comfortable with beta software, and/or plan on having it in testing for long enough that it won't matter.

Quote2. How difficult is it going to be for me to convert from Access to MySQL? Is there a converter out there that makes this seamless?

I'm afraid that's really the most fun part :/.  From what I've seen, there are a few options:

http://snitz2phpbb.sourceforge.net/ (mentioned earlier - search for "access" on this page.)
http://www.mysqlfront.de/ (apparently free for the first 30 days only...)

I have never done such things myself, however, and can't estimate how difficult they may be.

Quote3. I checked with my service provider and their PHP has been compiled with support for mhash.  Radianation or [Unknown], should I use the 1.1 Beta or go with version 1.05? Given the mhash support, do you forsee any problems I may have with the whole SHA256 thingy-majigy?

Either way should be fine.  As above, I would suggest using the 1.1 version if you are comfortable with it.  Otherwise, use the 1.0 line and install the package.  Both solutions are - as far as the SHA-256 issue - roughly equivalent.

Given said support, I doubt you will have any problems.  If you have any, and you also have the mhash support indeed, it is quite likely they can be easily resolved.

-[Unknown]

I would avoid converting to PHPBB first. I think you might lose some passwords if you go that route. I can't recall if they are lost on conversion or if PHPBB simply didn't have the SHA256 support built in to recognize them.

As for the Access migration, your host should have Enterprise Manager. Ask them if they can use that to dump your access database to mySQL. Otherwise, there are several tools on the internet that will perform this conversion. It's a lot easier than what I had to go through (MSSQL to mySQL). The BLOB issue was a nightmare until I found the right program. I ended up paying $25 for some software that worked like a charm.

Quote from: Radianation on August 24, 2005, 11:23:14 PM
I would avoid converting to PHPBB first. I think you might lose some passwords if you go that route. I can't recall if they are lost on conversion or if PHPBB simply didn't have the SHA256 support built in to recognize them.

I only meant that it mentioned ways of going from Access -> MySQL on that page, not that using that converter was desirable.

-[Unknown]

Whew... You had me confused for a second there.

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen...

I think I will go ahead and try the beta, then. I have over amonth before this thing needs to be stable. And considering that Snitz NEVER was for me, I'm sure it will be a big improvement.

I'm going to get started today...I will keep you abreast of my progress.

Thanks again,

OK, I am finally ready to try this.

I have the converter, the SMF install files for 1.1 b4 and the SHA256 installer.

What I have done so far is this: I had the Snitz forum on another server, like I said it was linked to an Access database. I downloaded the .mdb file from that site and then I used a program called SQLyog. I set up an ODBC data source for the Access database on my local machine. Then I connected to my new site. Now, for kicks, I have a default installation of Mambo there...nothing I care about losing but I wanted to see if I could combine the tables. So, I connected to the database that underlies the Mambo install and then imported from an ODBC source (the Access database locally). I had to use this program because it offers something called HTTP Tunneling which tricks my ISPs database into letting me import tables to a database. They do not support it directly. It was slow, but 4 1/2 hours later, the database had the combined tables of Snitz and Mambo. Here's a question:

Do I need to also upload the actual .asp pages from the old Snitz install or do I only need the tables to run the converter? If I do need the .asp pages, should I put them in the same directory as the SMF installation?

An unrelated question:

I looked at the requirements page. My ISP does have all the features for the minimum installation but does not have some of the recommendations for maximum performance, such as:

In PHP.ini:
1. Max_input_time directive is set to -1 not 30
2. session.use_trans_sid directive is set to On
3. register_globals is set to On

MySQL version is only 3.23.43
Apache version is only 1.3.14

Will this cause any serious problems?

Thanks,

Another quick question or two:

1. Since I am going ahead with the 1.1 b4 release, should I be using the converters and instructions found here?

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=38966.0 (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=38966.0)

Or was the php script above sufficient?

2. How long should the conversion process take? Converting messages has been at it for over an hour now...just curious..

Thanks,

By the way, my Snitz forum has about 4,000 members and around 30,000 posts, including topics and replies.

Thanks,

Quote from: ssoltz on August 26, 2005, 12:26:22 PM
OK, I am finally ready to try this.

I have the converter, the SMF install files for 1.1 b4 and the SHA256 installer.

As I said a few posts above, you don't need the SHA-256 package if you have a 1.1 release - it already includes it.

QuoteI wanted to see if I could combine the tables.

You should be able to with SMF or Snitz, in fact ;).

QuoteDo I need to also upload the actual .asp pages from the old Snitz install or do I only need the tables to run the converter? If I do need the .asp pages, should I put them in the same directory as the SMF installation?

There's no need.  You only need the tables, and to know the name of the database.  That's all the converter will ask for.

Quote1. Max_input_time directive is set to -1 not 30

That should be fine.  -1 means no limit, while 30 means 30 seconds.  If something goes horribly wrong, it's often best to have some limit, but none at all won't hurt you - especially if it's just SMF and Mambo (which are reasonably well written scripts, if I can say so myself, and won't need the limit.)

Quote2. session.use_trans_sid directive is set to On

SMF will attempt to turn this off automatically, so it should be fine.  The only real danger with that setting is that search engines might see URLs with session ids in them if it is still on.

Quote3. register_globals is set to On

This basically just means that PHP will waste its time on a compatibility feature SMF does not need.  It could also cause potential security holes (although again, Mambo and SMF should be safe.)

QuoteMySQL version is only 3.23.43
Apache version is only 1.3.14

Both of those are... very old.  How much control over this server do you have?  Is it shared?  Do you think your host would be willing to upgrade?

SMF works fine on those versions, but the most stable version of MySQL 3.23 is 3.23.58, if I remember correctly.  Apache should be at least 1.3.33.  There are newer major versions of both of these softwares, too, but I can understand your host not using them.  Still, using older versions of MySQL and especially Apache is potentially a security risk.  Many of the minor updates have been security patches... this is like running a Windows 2003 server with no service packs installed.

Still, it's unlikely that would cause any immediate problems.  For the purposes of testing and etc., you should be fine... but I would strongly recommend you ask your host if there's any possibility of using the latest and most secure versions of each line.

Additionally, SMF has been optimized for MySQL 4.0 and 4.1.  Even MySQL 3.23.58 is somewhat old, and much less efficient than MySQL 4.0 and above anyway.  You won't notice the difference with 30,000 posts, but once you get above 80,000 it will become more apparent.  While askihng your host about software versions, it may also be a good idea to ask if they have any intention of upgrading to a more recent version of MySQL.

Quote from: ssoltz on August 26, 2005, 01:56:53 PM
1. Since I am going ahead with the 1.1 b4 release, should I be using the converters and instructions found here?

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=38966.0 (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=38966.0)

Yes.  Forgive me for not clarifying that... for 1.1, you want to use those (newer) converters.  I believe the 1.1 converter converts notifications, censored words, and moderators - none of which does the one found in this topic.

Quote
2. How long should the conversion process take? Converting messages has been at it for over an hour now...just curious..

For 30,000 posts and MySQL 3.23?  Hmm... shouldn't be much longer.  Considering you posted over 2 hours ago, it should definitely be done by now.  If it isn't, something is wrong.

-[Unknown]

[Unknown],

Thanks for the reply.

QuoteAs I said a few posts above, you don't need the SHA-256 package if you have a 1.1 release - it already includes it.

Yes, I thought that's what you and Radination were talking about. I just figured I would get to that after I finished the convert. Thanks for clarifying, though.

QuoteBoth of those are... very old.  How much control over this server do you have?  Is it shared?  Do you think your host would be willing to upgrade?

Hahaha...if you knew who my provider was, you wouldn't ask...let's just say they are a subdivision of one of the top three providers in the world. Nothing I say to them will make them flinch. If it's going to be a problem, I will just host this site elsewhere. That's part of the reason I am doing this little experiment, to see if things would work out OK. If not, I will go elsewhere where they have more current software and I have more direct access to the database (and probably someone with cPanel, since everyone at Mambo and Simple Machines talk about it so often).

QuoteYes.  Forgive me for not clarifying that... for 1.1, you want to use those (newer) converters.  I believe the 1.1 converter converts notifications, censored words, and moderators - none of which does the one found in this topic.

D'oh, I ran it with the older script, the one you said to use...

QuoteFor 30,000 posts and MySQL 3.23?  Hmm... shouldn't be much longer.  Considering you posted over 2 hours ago, it should definitely be done by now.  If it isn't, something is wrong.

Err...something's wrong then...it's still going. I can see the table increasing in size but it's been going for like...at least six or seven hours now...is this because of one of my "older versions" of software? It's working on the 25,000th message or so now....5,000 more to go

Should I start over again with the other script (the 1.1 version)? If I start over, do I need to dump all the tables first?

I think I better start looking for another provider...at least for this site.

Top 3?  Sigh... I hate those "top 3" hosts, sorry.

The 1.1 converter will clear everything out before converting.  If it really took over 6 hours, that's horrible.  If you are willing to give me temporary access to the installation (and, if possible, phpMyAdmin or similar) I can try to find out why it's going that slowly... it shouldn't be.

That said, some of those top hosts do put you on a shared MySQL server, which is very bad for performance.

-[Unknown]

[Unknown],

QuoteTop 3?  Sigh... I hate those "top 3" hosts, sorry.

What's to like? The only thing at all good about them is that you can talk to someone 24/7. Since the knowledge varies incredibly, this isn't always a good thing. They also have great uptimes (but everyone should these days). I wrote you a PM last night. You can ignore it if you read this first.

Anyway, the converter finally finished...well, mostly (after well over ten hours)...I got an error when it was recalculating forum statistics:

QuoteRecalculating forum statistics... Unsuccessful!
This query:

    SELECT mem.ID_MEMBER, COUNT(pmr.ID_PM) AS realNum, mem.instantMessages
    FROM `sskcre`.smf_members AS mem
    LEFT JOIN `sskcre`.smf_im_recipients AS pmr ON (mem.ID_MEMBER = pmr.ID_MEMBER AND pmr.deleted = 0)
    GROUP BY mem.ID_MEMBER
    HAVING realNum != instantMessages;

Caused the error:

    Table 'sskcre.smf_im_recipients' doesn't exist

Well, I didn't have IM in Snitz...should I run the 1.1 converter? Should I just go and add an empty table of the above name?

Also, it appears that the passwords did not port successfully. At least my two accounts were not recognized.

By the way, thank you for the offer of going into my phpMYAdmin for me and checking it out. Unfortunately, my useless hosting company just told me that my database password is PERMANENT...nice, eh? I think I'll be looking for a new ISP Monday.

UPDATE:

I tried to run the 1.1 converter but it didn't seem to be doing anything. So, I am starting from scratch today: I dropped the tables and removed the install of SMF. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for all the help,

It is stuck on the first page of the convert.php, where it asks for the location of SMF and the database info.

I looked at the DB and it looks to have ported the topics and forums but none of the messages.

Thanks,

OK...it wasn't frozen but it was unsuccessful. This not my cup of tea but it seemed to think that something in the messages was actually a query. I will snip the error message, but it basically contained the contents of around 50 posts!

QuoteConverting...
Converting members...Successful.
Converting categories...Successful.
Converting boards...Successful.
Converting posts (this may take some time)... Unsuccessful!
This query:

    INSERT INTO `sskcre`.smf_messages
    (ID_TOPIC, ID_BOARD, posterTime, ID_MEMBER, subject, posterName, posterEmail, posterIP, body)
    VALUES (2, 17, 1047032466, 2, 'Web Site', 'TADropik', 'tomatdockdogs.com', '206.10.75.243', 'Congratulations to all involved with the new web site. Job well done.

    Tom.'),
    (2, 17, 1047095602, 3, 'Re: Web Site', 'webmaster', 'ssoltzatsskcreatives.com', '24.54.51.225', 'Thank you.

    I hope everyone enjoys the site. Please report any errors and respond with your criticism.

    This site is young and still needs to grow. We can only do this through your participation!

    Thank you,

    Steve Soltz
    SSK Creatives

    dvd.web.video'),
    (4, 2, 1047122666, 2, 'Training in Minnesota', 'TADropik', 'tomatdockdogs.com', '206.10.75.233', 'I welcome anyone interested in Training in the Minnesota area to give me a call. Actually I invite anyone to call me anytime. Success in Big Air relies on team work. There's much more to it than getting your dog to jump off the end of the dock. The handler has plenty of responsiblity as well. Only you can add the distance to your dogs jumps.

    Feel free to call. I look forward to working with you.

    Tom A. Dropik
    tomatdockdogs.com
    612-247-0802
    '),

<snip>

<snip>

QuoteCaused the error:

    You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 's much more to it than getting your dog to jump off the end of

Tell me if I'm wrong here, but shouldn't the name of the table concatenate right on the end of the name of my database without the extra single quote there( see red)? Maybe this is a bug, maybe I'm doing something wrong. I highlighted the section of the post that was indicated in the error, since it starts with that single quote, I figure thats probably the problem.

Thanks,

All of this brings back the horrible memories of dealing with Snitz. You'll get through this and never look back. Hang in there. =)

Quote from: ssoltz on August 27, 2005, 08:06:15 AM

QuoteRecalculating forum statistics... Unsuccessful!

Well, I didn't have IM in Snitz...should I run the 1.1 converter? Should I just go and add an empty table of the above name?

Unfortunately, this error is because you were using the 1.0 converter.  Things in the database were changed in 1.1.

QuoteAlso, it appears that the passwords did not port successfully. At least my two accounts were not recognized.

Hmm... that's strange.  None work at all?  That's not a good sign.  Can you post a link to a phpinfo.php?  What is phpinfo.php? (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=18250.0)

Sorry for the late response.  I have so many topics to deal with every day, it's hard to keep track of them all, or even a reasonable number thereof.

Quote from: ssoltz on August 27, 2005, 08:24:44 AM
It is stuck on the first page of the convert.php, where it asks for the location of SMF and the database info.

I looked at the DB and it looks to have ported the topics and forums but none of the messages.

It's just staying there?  It's not showing any "paused" messages at all?

Hmm, I would swear I made sure it handled quotes properly, but I guess it didn't.  I really hated having to dance around Snitz' database structure... but, the database name is fine.

I've attached an updated version of the converter - only the snitz_to_smf.sql file is different, but I've attached both files for convenience.

-[Unknown]

Now I am getting this error at the end of the huge list of messages:

Quote
Caused the error:

    Unknown column 'TposterTime' in 'field list'

Sorry for the rigamarole on this. But at least once this has been solved, you will have one less unhappy Snitz ex-user to deal with!

EDIT:

It appears that there is an unexpected 'T' or 'R' in front of some of the field names. 'TPosterTime' should be 'posterTime' and all the fields have an unexpected 'T' or 'R' after this first one.

EDIT:

I have edited out what my newbie brain has deemed as typos in snitz_to_smf.sql. I'm thinking that the 'T's and 'R's are global find and replace errors since there are some T_'s and R_'s before some of the smf fields. Anyway, I'm giving my edit a go now. I'll let you know how it goes.

EDIT:

Well, it seems to now be populating the smf_messages table, which it wasn't doing before. Hopefully, this is a good sign.

EDIT:

It's going dirt slow, like 200 messages an hour right now....considering I have 40,000 posts, this might take a while.


Thanks again,

That error doesn't make any sense, unless you're using an old convert.php.  I'll test it again.

The T and R thing is because of the way Snitz stores things.  In Snitz, you have the topic and the first post in the topic stored in one place, and replies stored in another.  But, in SMF, you have all posts (whether replies or not) stored in the same place, and the topic data is much more minimal.

Because of this, the converter has to convert both topic posts and replies, and moreover it has to do it in the right order.  This is exactly what the phpBB converter gets so wrong.

I'm working right now on maybe making it faster.

-[Unknown]

Okay, the attached is fixed (sorry about that) and *should* be faster.  Unfortunately, I'm working with just test data, so it's hard to be accurate about speed.... and it's hard to make it fast and work around the problems.

If it's still slow, you might try this query in phpMyAdmin or similar:

ALTER TABLE FORUM_REPLY
ADD UNIQUE INDEX temp (TOPIC_ID, R_DATE);

What is phpMyAdmin? (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=21919.0)  But that may not help as much as could be desired.  You mentioned you were considering switching hosts - what has happened with that, thus far?  Would it be possible for me to try to optimize the converter with practical data using your phpMyAdmin, if it's still slow?

Attached.  The convert.php file changed, too.

-[Unknown]

[Unknown],

Thanks for the response.

Maybe the convert.php was old...I'm not sure i understand how that happened, but maybe that's the case.

I will try things overnight with the new files.

I have arranged for a new host tomorrow. I met him here and he seems to know what he is talking about. I'll let you know how that goes. If I still have problems, at that point it may be time for you to have a look in phpMyAdmin.

I really appreciate all the help.

Thanks,

OK, got a new host...

For fun, I left the old conversion going at my old host...its still going!

Anyway, after a couple directory snafus, I got SMF installed. During the convert, I got this error, which I don't believe I received at my old host:

QuoteConverting boards... Successful.
Converting posts (this may take some time)... Unsuccessful!
This query:

    ALTER TABLE `dockdogs_main`.smf_messages
    ADD tempID int(11) NOT NULL default 0;

Caused the error:

    Duplicate column name 'tempID'

I'm not sure what this was about but at least the conversion seemed to be going a lot faster...but I'll count my chickens when they have hatched!

Thanks,

Hmm, that means you tried to run it twice, or copied over the data while the old was going.

Run this query in phpMyAdmin:

ALTER TABLE smf_messages
DROP tempID;

-[Unknown]

[Unknown],

That was the first thing I tried.

Then I dropped all the SMF tables altogether and ran the install again and then the convert.

Still the same error...

EDIT:

Just for fun, I actually did the SQL query in the SQL query requester by hand instead of using a GUI method and now I get this message:

QuoteRecalculating forum statistics... Unsuccessful!
This query:

    SELECT mem.ID_MEMBER, COUNT(pmr.ID_PM) AS realNum, mem.instantMessages
    FROM members AS mem
    LEFT JOIN pm_recipients AS pmr ON (mem.ID_MEMBER = pmr.ID_MEMBER AND pmr.deleted = 0)
    GROUP BY mem.ID_MEMBER
    HAVING realNum != instantMessages;

Caused the error:

    No Database Selected

Thanks,

Well, I've tried from scratch a couple of times and I still get the first error I mentioned above.

Interestingly, even though my old host was incredibly slow and was proving to be not up for the task of our new site, the conversion process did complete, after about 24 hours, with no errors.

I looked and the posts were all there and the foprums were even arranged in the proper order. Unfortunately, the smf_members table I believe was not correct. I could not seem to login. I tried my administrator level account (not the Super Admin, who in Snitz is member 1 by default), which was member 3. I also tried another account I had made once to make sure non-admin level members were not seeing what they weren't supposed to see. Both accounts came back as "username doesn't exist" or whatever it says. So, I went to look at the columns in the smf_members table and here are some observations on what I saw (I'm a n00b, so I'm not sure if this is wrong or right, but I'm guessing it's wrong):

memberName->  field was empty for all records except record 1, the admin
realName     ->  field contained the login or usernames

I take it this is incorrect and it would explain why I am not able to login to any accounts.

Now, if this is just an anomaly for my old host, fine. I'm not doing anything else there, anyway. If there is a bug here, I thought I would bring this to someone's attention.

Thanks,

Now having access, I saw what was wrong almost right away: whatever you used to copy the data to MySQL didn't copy any indexes, which is more than understandable.  Unfortunately, without indexes it is virtually impossible for things to work at even a fourth the speed they should.

I've added the indexes and the converter is going on its merry way.

I just fixed the M_USERNAME problem.  My test data had it filled in for everyone, which is obviously wrong.

Just for everyone's knowledge, I used the attached converter file and added the following indexes:

ALTER TABLE FORUM_REPLY
ADD INDEX TOPIC_ID (TOPIC_ID);
ALTER TABLE FORUM_TOPICS
ADD PRIMARY KEY (TOPIC_ID);

Now it's racing along ;).  I think my earlier changes (in hopes of speeding things up) were not needed.

Had to step away for a moment - it's now half done (in 10 minutes.)  That's more like it.

Please forgive me for not realizing this was the problem earlier.

-[Unknown]

Wow...nice work!

Everything looks pretty good. Is the realName field supposed to be the user's full name? Does this get lost during conversion? Not a biggie.

A bigger concern is that the passwords do not appear to be making it over intact, for whatever reason. I know that there were some big issues with this with v1.05, but I was under the impression that this would be OK with 1.1. When I try to login using one of my two accounts, it immediately sends me to the Retrieve password dialog. I take it this should not be happening.

This would be a big issue for us. Any ideas why the passwords would not be porting over correctly? Is it maybe the local MySQL GUI I'm using?

By the way, [Unknown], I have left things the way they were in case you have time to poke around some more.

If we can get this one last thing worked out, I think we will be good to go!

Thank you so much for all the work!

Quote from: ssoltz on August 30, 2005, 09:48:26 PM
Wow...nice work!

Everything looks pretty good. Is the realName field supposed to be the user's full name? Does this get lost during conversion? Not a biggie.

The realName column might be better understand as "displayName".  The memberName column might be better understood as "loginUsername".

QuoteA bigger concern is that the passwords do not appear to be making it over intact, for whatever reason. I know that there were some big issues with this with v1.05, but I was under the impression that this would be OK with 1.1. When I try to login using one of my two accounts, it immediately sends me to the Retrieve password dialog. I take it this should not be happening.

That means you've gotten "password incorrect" too many times.  Try closing your browser completely (all windows) and see if it works after that.

-[Unknown]

Quote from: [Unknown] on August 30, 2005, 09:53:07 PM
The realName column might be better understand as "displayName".  The memberName column might be better understood as "loginUsername".

Should consider changing them in SMF to match that.

Well,

I don't think that's the case; for my installation at least.

I went back to my old Snitz forum (still running) and went to my old "regular user" account and logged in just fine.

Came back to the new SMF install (and yes, I did close all browsers, etc.) and I get "Password Incorrect".

Any ideas? Are my passwords getting "Lost in Translation" somewhere?

Quote from: groundup on August 30, 2005, 10:00:44 PM

Quote from: [Unknown] on August 30, 2005, 09:53:07 PM
The realName column might be better understand as "displayName".  The memberName column might be better understood as "loginUsername".

Should consider changing them in SMF to match that.

Why?  I think "loginUsername" is horribly ugly anyway, but why change it everywhere when it's not necessary?  It might change in a future major release, but it really isn't something worth breaking mods worse over imho.

Quote from: ssoltz on August 30, 2005, 10:16:45 PM
I don't think that's the case; for my installation at least.

I went back to my old Snitz forum (still running) and went to my old "regular user" account and logged in just fine.

Came back to the new SMF install (and yes, I did close all browsers, etc.) and I get "Password Incorrect".

Any ideas? Are my passwords getting "Lost in Translation" somewhere?

Hmm... that's interesting.  Please try it now.

-[Unknown]

QuoteHmm... that's interesting.  Please try it now.

Yes, it seems to be working now....

Well, don't keep me in suspense...what did you do?

In all seriousness, I need to be able to get this procedure down so that I can duplicate it again predictably (or at least as much as possible). I would like to run one more test and them do the real conversion in a couple of days. I take it there is no way to do an incremental convert (that almost sounds ignorant just saying it)? I realize I will need to add the indexes right before the convert. Is there an additional step I need to run vis a vis the passwords or did you just jun some kind of repair function?

Most of all, thanks for your perseverance in assisting me with this, I obviously could not have done it myself.

Sorry, it seems it wasn't working properly in 1.1 Beta 4, but it only took a quick change to fix that (which will be in the next release.)  I know I tested it, so it must have gotten changed again somewhere in the mean time.

Anyway, you won't need to do anything.  Just make sure you use the same LogInOut.php currently there.

Edit: In other news, I've decided this makes a good case for writing a converter with direct ODBC support so that converting to MySQL and losing indexes can't be a problem.  I'm working on it.

-[Unknown]

[Unknown],

Ooops...

In case you get this before the IMs I sent you...

I had already begun the "trial run" for the conversion process, so I of course deleted all of the files, including the nice LogInOut.php that you wrote for me.

If you could go ahead and post that here, that would be great.

Everything else went like clockwork; the adding the indexes was the trick, for sure. convert.php took only fifteen minutes, at the most. a Big improvement over 24+ hours, I'd say.

Also, was the LogInOut.php customized for my specific forum? Or is it something everyone could use? If that's the case, I will include it in an instructional post for others in my situation to use, step by step. I figure that would be the least I could do after all the help you have given. Also, I did change the passwords back to what they were before, so if you need to get in, let me know. You can contact me on any of the major chat servers, if that's easier.

Thanks again,

Sorry for my too-slow response :(.

Basically, find this:

// YaBB SE, Discus, MD5 (used a lot), SHA-1 (used some), SMF 1.0.x, IkonBoard, and none at all.

And make it:

// YaBB SE, Discus, MD5 (used a lot), SHA-1 (used some), SMF 1.0.x, IkonBoard, and none at all.
if (strlen($user_settings['passwd']) == 64 && function_exists('mhash') && defined('MHASH_SHA256'))
$other_passwords[] = bin2hex(mhash(MHASH_SHA256, $_REQUEST['passwrd']));

That's not what I changed, but that will do it and is the easiest way to fix it.  It won't have any ill effects anyway.

As I said, this was a bug in any case, and it's been fixed for the next release (which isn't long away so I don't expect it to be a huge problem for the few converters we've had from Snitz; as you can see, this path has not been trodden by hundreds.)

-[Unknown]

Marathon conversions are fun.  ;D

[Unknown],

Or should I say "the man"...

yep, that did it...I will post my steps here sometime today.

You really went above and beyind here. I am looking forward to enjoying and having my clients enjoy SMF for some years to come.

Maybe I should make a last post over at Snitz to try to bring some other "converts"?

Thanks much!

Not saying it should happen /now/ but it does confuse a lot of people.

As much as I support a migration from Snitz to SMF, I think that might be in poor taste even if the Snitz community is more or less dead. I noticed the other day that they hadn't updated or released anything new in about two years. Oh well. SMF > Snitz any day.

I highly recommend becomming a charter member when you get a chance. You can expect this "above and beyond" support for years to come thanks to the charter contributions. Of course everybody gets wonderful support, but it's a nice way to give back to the community.  ;)

Yes, I think you are correct...posting on Snitz to 'advertise' how great another competing forum is would probably be in bad taste. I would probably post something along the lines of 'Snitz to SMF converter' but that may also be uncool. Oh well, I'm just exceited that I got things working and I'm very happy with the level of support I have been given.

Radianation, were you talking to me about becoming a Charter Member? Maybe you didn't look, but I have been a Charter Member since the very moment that I decided to make the switch. The reason I did this is because I knew I would need a fair amount of help going in and I didn't want to take advantage. Especially since I plan on using SMF for a commercial site. I feel that the fifty bucks has already paid for itself easily.

I plan to post the steps I took to convert from Snitz to SMF sometime today (time willing).

Thank you,

haha I'm notorious for being a moron.  :P

Totally overlooked the Charter member in my blind rambling. Guess what? I'm getting ready to convert yet *another* forum from Snitz to SMF. Wish me luck this time. haha!

Bah,

No worries! No one can feel as moronic as I during this process. Talk about multiple learning curves!

Anyway, feel free to IM me at any point during your process if you get stuck remembering how you did something (only because its fresh in my mind...not like I'd be able to troubleshoot for you or anything!).

I'm on most of the IM services as well during normal business hours.

Good luck!

Thank you!

I can't even get past the first page.. It comes up and tells me

CGI Timeout
The specified CGI application exceeded the allowed time for processing. The server has deleted the process. :(

anyone have any ideas  ???

Read all 7 pages of this thread and you'll figure out that those of us that have actually managed to convert from Snitz were rather lucky that it worked, but each installation is a little different. It could be a number of things. Good luck.

Hi
I'm attempting to convert a Snitz forum to SMF.  I've exported the access db into a mysql file, and following installation have attempted to run the snitz_to_smf.php script, however i get the following SQL error:

    SELECT COUNT(*)
    FROM `koutput.sql`.FORUM_MEMBERS;

Caused the error:

    Incorrect table name 'FORUM_MEMBERS'

Obviously this is a valid table - any thoughts as to how I can resolve this? 

Thanks
atomickarma

I should add that I get the same error when attempting to use the access db instead of the mysql version.

Are they both in the same db?

To anyone that reads this. I have found that the converted in the "downloads" area does not work, but if you follow unknown's threads in here (and download the latests in his post) you can get this working pretty smoothly.

Make sure your logged into the forums (otherwise you wont see his attachments)

One question, any way to increase the amount it proceses per refresh when converting the posts? I have about 300,000 posts, 100,000 topics. 200-300 at a time, just aint cutting it.

Z

100,000 topics with 300,000 posts? That's an average of 3 posts per topic and a very unusual ratio for most forums. What type of a site do you run out of curiosity?

You can adjust this in the script of course. Just search for it.

Quote from: Radianation on November 11, 2006, 11:31:43 PM
100,000 topics with 300,000 posts? That's an average of 3 posts per topic and a very unusual ratio for most forums. What type of a site do you run out of curiosity?

You can adjust this in the script of course. Just search for it.

I host several events/nightlife chat board for the Chicagoland area. This particular one is one of the oldest, http://www.inside-chicago.com/forum . Not sure if you know Gargoyle on here (he's an old Snitz guy to). I was running SHN Version of Snitz, which if your familiar with is a heavily mod'd version of Snitz. The code's was just way to old, troubleshooting was a ******, support was nonexistent, and I find myself disliking Windows Dedicated servers more and more after I picked up a Unix box  8)

I found the settings and after using the scripts found in this thread (as the ones in the download section didn't work at all for me). I got everything taken care of.

Many thanks to all (and unknown for sure) who contributed to this thread

Z

p.s. I was wrong on the post/topic count...its was more like 20,000 topics to 100,000 replys. Snitz however did topic/replies differantly so I was looking at the number of records imported when I moved it from the access database to mysql to run the convertor (and was basing it on that)

Awesome. I do a similar site for the Louisville and surrounding cities in the Midwest. we have some Chicago posters on our site as well. Love the city. Was just staying at the Sofitel a few weeks ago to see the Pet Shop Boys and of course my wife wanted to see Wicked. Le Colonial was amazing as well.

Glad you got the conversion working. Snitz is just way dated these days.

Cheers!

Quote from: Radianation on November 13, 2006, 02:56:06 AM
Awesome. I do a similar site for the Louisville and surrounding cities in the Midwest. we have some Chicago posters on our site as well. Love the city. Was just staying at the Sofitel a few weeks ago to see the Pet Shop Boys and of course my wife wanted to see Wicked. Le Colonial was amazing as well.

Glad you got the conversion working. Snitz is just way dated these days.

Cheers!

Nice  :) 

I have two or three other Snitz boards I am going to be converting to over SMF over the course of the next couple weeks. It's sad really, Snitz is like that old best friend that is happy liveing out in the country and doesnt want to move into the big city with ya  :-[ I will miss the folks (but not that damn code...lol).

Z

The code was a mess, just like ASP in general.  :o

I hope the migration went smoothly.

Hi all,

Big thanks to all in this thread as I too have now converted across from my Snitz forum without too much pain.

Did anyone ever manage to work out the sorting order for the topics? Mine didn't sort properly when they came across  :( and I dont want to go through the conversion process again having come this far  ;)

www.farnworthgrammar.com

Merry Xmas!

Regards,

Rick.

Did you run the maintenance tools in the admin section? I think that fixed the sorting for me.

Hi Radianation,

Yes, but with no luck i'm afraid. Am trying to install the custom board sort mod in the hope that this will resolve my issues.

Many thanks for providing the inspiration to migrate from Snitz, SMF rocks!

Regards,

Wilsy.

Something sounds familiar about this problem. Is it sorting based on the topic creation date and not the last reply date? There is another thread on here and I wonder if that was something I ran into.

Hi Radianation,

Yes, that seems to be the case.

Regards,

Wilsy.

There is some SQL code here that might help. Follow the discussion on pages 4 & 5.

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=15521.msg133936#msg133936

Hi,

I'm trying to convert a snitz-forum using the utf-8 charset, and containing multiple languages like English, French, German, Chineese, Arabic...

I've setup an smf-forum, with the uft-8 option active, and all goes fine (I can post in any language).

As intermediate step I've converted the mssql-db to mysql(5); from phpmyadmin all looks OK, including all special characters.

Then, when running the convertor, only characters like é, à, ç, ü arrive correctly, but more special ones like 圣 숭 get replaced by '??'s

Any idea's on how to fix this?

Thanks

After some searching, editing convert.php and adding

if (!empty($db_character_set))
  mysql_query("SET NAMES $db_character_set");

just after

// Persist?
if (empty($db_persist))
mysql_connect($db_server, $db_user, $db_passwd);
else
mysql_pconnect($db_server, $db_user, $db_passwd);

did the trick for me  ;D and maybe for others too, with a problem alike  :)

im going to have to open up this topic again for discussion.

I have checked with my hosting provider and they do not support the mhash module. This leaves me in the sh!t as I now have a forum with 700 members that cannot login. Is there any way around this? can the passwords be converted from SHA256 to the SMF format in any way?

Anyone there willing to help out? Would really like to make the move to SMF soon. Cheers

:((

Why don't you just remind them that they have to use the "forgot password" feature ? Is that a good solution ?

Hi Laser, at this stage that looks like the "only" solution for me. Unless of course there is some way to translate the passwords.......

A forum I'm a member of recently converted from SMF to another forum (shame on them!) ... but they sent out a mass email to all users with a link to generate a new password and have it Emailed to you. This might be a nice middle-ground solution.

MHASH would have been a better fix, but oh well. You could try a new host?  ;)

can you receommend a good host that will let me do this? I am presently with godaddy and while there uptime is great, their lack of flexibility gets quite annoying at times!

Might there be a correlation with lack of flexibility and uptime? ;)

OK, I'm stuck ...

I'm attempting my first conversion on a fairly important Snitz > SMF conversion

I've downloaded the convert.php and the snitz_to_smf.sql and it asks three simple questions :

Path to SMF:      (autofilled and correct)
MySQL database used by Snitz:    I know this, let's say it's ACME
SMF database password: simple :)

So I enter the values, press the CONVERT button and ...

The error MySQL gave was: Table 'ACME.FORUM_MEMBERS' doesn't exist

NO!!!!, this is wrong !!! ... the table IS there, I've just spent the last 30 minutes converting it from Access to MySQL and making sure it works.

If I use myphpAdmin then it mentions the proper database name all the time. (ie it's not ACME but it's the right name.


AARRGGHH !!!!..

I realised before posting that all my table names are lowercase, so it's cruising along as we speak.

AMAZING (https://www.simplemachines.org/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.v8central.com%2Fsnitz3403%2Fsmileys%2Fta_clap.gif&hash=0bd1c9e1ddf71a67e222ec049f865e2fa26266e2)(https://www.simplemachines.org/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.v8central.com%2Fsnitz3403%2Fsmileys%2Fta_clap.gif&hash=0bd1c9e1ddf71a67e222ec049f865e2fa26266e2)(https://www.simplemachines.org/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.v8central.com%2Fsnitz3403%2Fsmileys%2Fta_clap.gif&hash=0bd1c9e1ddf71a67e222ec049f865e2fa26266e2)

I went from hours of errors (caused by the data, people subscribed multiple times, etc...) to a fully converted forum in a few hours .....  Goodbye Snitz and H-E-L-L-O SMF !!!

I'll post full details of the site when it is released, but still under development at the moment.

I still have a lot of testing to do, but it looks great.  I did need to use the sql file posted (somewhere, forget where) to get around the GROUP BY error at the substep 7 or 8 mark.

All in all, VERY pleased !!!

Congrats. Snitz is the junk and ASP can burn. =P

Can anyone of you help me to convert Snitz to SMF?
I have created a dump.sql file using bullzip application converter.
Now what step I have to do to obtain the conversion?

I always get the following error:
"Sorry, the database connection information used in the specified installation of SMF cannot access the installation of Snitz Forums. This may either mean that the installation doesn't exist, or that the MySQL account used does not have permissions to access it.

The error MySQL gave was: SELECT command denied to user 'cixi_smf1'@'localhost' for table 'FORUM_MEMBERS'"


Thank You