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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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Norv

Agree. Nice discussion here, Nao and sharks, thanks for thinking it over.

I assume that if users have avatars, those should be imported and copied as well.
Permissions to blogs, maybe, I don't know.
Definitely converting/dropping some tags would not be a problem.
We have converters, can't remember right now the name... along with bbpress, another forum plugin for wordpress, which I think shared the same users as wordpress, anyway it's possible that the members table and maybe additional data from wordpress is already done in at least one of our converters.

I still have no time frame as when it is possible to look into it..., but I hope we will when we can.
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.

File a security report | Developers' Blog | Bug Tracker


Also known as Norv on D* | Norv N. on G+ | Norv on Github

sharks

#21
Converting avatars is just a bonus to the whole conversion. It's not a requirement at an early stage of the converter's development, but it will decrease the amount of unnecessary work after converting, as members will not have to edit their forum profiles to add their avatars.

The perfect conversion would be to start using the SMF forum right away, or with minimal forum changes, such as creating new categories and moving posts.

I'm originally coming from Blogger => Wordpress => SMF?
Converting to Wordpress is easy. So, we can assume everyone is coming from Wordpress.
When i had set the permissions in Wordpress, after the Blogger import, there wasn't much to configure, unlike SMF.
I think converting the Wordpress user permissions should be simply along the 3 main default SMF membership groups; admin, global moderator and regular members.

To simplify the task of converting, all blog members should be reset to the regular member rank on SMF. I realize now that i will first have to create an admin account on the SMF forum with a different username that doesn't already exist in the blog database, otherwise it would be overwritten during the conversion and i would be left with a converted forum but without an admin account to manage the forum.

Norv

The way our converters work, all data of this kind (members in SMF, for example) would be overwritten anyway. However, that should not be a big problem, if you really remain without admin (which, as I said, IMHO the converter should not let you, it should handle it), you can run a little query in the SMF database to set an admin user.

Nao: afaik you can access the converter request page only from the Downloads > Converters page ... I'm not sure if there's another place, that's what I always do, hah.
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.

File a security report | Developers' Blog | Bug Tracker


Also known as Norv on D* | Norv N. on G+ | Norv on Github

sharks

#23
Thanks for the hint, Norv. So, this makes converting members even easier, as i do not have to worry about losing admin access on the converted forum.

Converting member profiles would be another bonus, such as their password, email, personal text, etc.

Blog posts with categories assigned, should have the conversion option to be filtered into their own separate forum boards, bearing the name of each original category, by default.

Blog pages could also be converted and posted individually inside their own forum topic, in a different forum category, to separate them from the normal converted blog posts.

I will use this converter on a new installation of SMF, so i do not mind if everything is overwritten with converted data from the blog.

navinram

This is just what i want right now. I really hope a great person would come up with a converter, if possible! :D

I have several wordpress blogs that i think would be super if it could be converted to SMF!!

Nao 尚

WP Mu, WP 3.0 or just several blogs?

BTW the converter should be made for *what* version? 3.0 seems the most logical?
(I'm not saying I'm doing it... I'm just gathering data.)
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

Nao, if you want to look into making a converter, if only to estimate how/how long it can be made, you may want to note:
- the convert.php file is used for all converters. It parses the specific .sql, i.e., vbulletin_to_smf.sql, phpbb_to_smf.sql etc etc. and executes their instructions
- the sql file contains sections in which the job is done, i.e., the members section, the topics section, membergroups section etc.
- every bit of its format matters, the convert.php is very unforgiving :). Including the number of "---" used as separators and " " used as separators etc. (it parses the sections according to them).
- to create another converter, you only need to add another sql file of this sort. Copying an existing one and adapt it might be a good option considering the format issues, and also that, as said above, I'm sure we already have a couple of Wordpress forums plugins converters (and I think at least one was using the Wordpress members table) so reusing that one may save time.

If you're in the mood to compare a few converter sql files for different software, you'll see the patterns.
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.

File a security report | Developers' Blog | Bug Tracker


Also known as Norv on D* | Norv N. on G+ | Norv on Github

sharks

#27
I just checked on Wordpress.org and the latest Wordpress version is 3.0 RC3 (the final version should be available within a few weeks as they're saying it is their last RC release) but there is no problem to upgrade any wordpress blog to 3.0 as they provide easy update files for that, so i think it would be better to do the conversion from Wordpress 3.0 unless you are more comfortable working with WP 2.9.x? But definitely the converted format should be to SMF 1.1.x (as it's currently the most stable) instead of SMF 2.0 RC3.

I wish i had the skills to understand what you are saying, oh wise Norv! :D

hachik0

Oh, but i thought this existed already? It sure would be very useful... My friend has a WP blog and i wanted to ask her to combine her blog with my SMF forum. Importing her WP posts into a separate board on my SMF 1.1.11 forum, would be the best way to convince her i guess. :D

sharks

#29
hachik0, you could also try out the intermediary conversion of moving from Wordpress to Drupal and then from Drupal to SMF
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=241557.0

But personally, i haven't had any luck there, as the Drupal > SMF converter is stuffed with bugs and it appears like the developer has abandoned it for some time now. It would require a proper revision to eliminate all the errors during the conversion process. So, i think the best way is to wait until the developers consider our request to make a direct converter from WP to SMF.

sharks

Finally, WordPress 3.0 Final has just been released:
http://wordpress.org/download/

Now, i hope we can see something of the fabled WP to SMF converter??? :(

Nao 尚

I'm not sure it'll have an influence. At least not on me ;)
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.

Nao 尚

Does WordPress have an export function, like something in XML or with MovableType...?
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

Yes, it does. Here is the description from Wordpress admin panel Export option:

Export

When you click the button below WordPress will create an XML file for you to save to your computer.

This format, which we call WordPress eXtended RSS or WXR, will contain your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags.

Once you've saved the download file, you can use the Import function on another WordPress site to import this site.

Nao 尚

Hmm... Maybe I'll look into this, then.
Too bad it's not MovableType format. Apparently this one is used by a large number of blogging platforms.
(http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/docs/mtimport.html)
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

#35
When you say "this one is used by a large number of blogging platforms." i think you mean the minority compared to the dominance of WordPress. :D All we need is an SMF converter to import WordPress posts. The rest of the blogging platforms can already be converted to WordPress anyway.

But i think this topic is now probably already defunct of purpose, as there exists a WordPress plugin that will do the conversion perfectly fine (i have tested this several times and in fact, i am using it on my current successfully converted forum) from WordPress posts to SMF topics, even though it currently only supports export to SMF 2.0, but the genius developer has promised to make it work for SMF 1.1 soon:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=387438.0

Nao 尚

Quote from: sharks on July 06, 2010, 07:32:08 PM
When you say "this one is used by a large number of blogging platforms." i think you mean the minority compared to the dominance of WordPress. :D
I'm not so sure... Blogger.com is the #1 platform system I believe. (Wouldn't care to check, though.)
It's running on a custom Google server system and it's actually one of the 5 most used servers in the world -- even though it's only used on that website!

QuoteAll we need is an SMF converter to import WordPress posts. The rest of the blogging platforms can already be converted to WordPress anyway.
Yeah, that does seem likely indeed.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content

QuoteBut i think this topic is now probably already defunct of purpose, as there exists a WordPress plugin that will do the conversion perfectly fine (i have tested this several times and in fact, i am using it on my current successfully converted forum) from WordPress posts to SMF topics, even though it currently only supports export to SMF 2.0, but the genius developer has promised to make it work for SMF 1.1 soon:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=387438.0
Couldn't you... Tell me earlier? Like, when you posted here on July 3?

And no, it's not "defunct of purpose"... We're talking about an official converter, aren't we? I don't know the official SMF policy, but wouldn't they rather import from a WXR file, which is the official way of doing it? Or at least have a mod that doesn't encourage one to buy anyone an alcoholic beverage? ;D
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

Quote from: Nao on July 07, 2010, 02:44:12 AM
And no, it's not "defunct of purpose"... We're talking about an official converter, aren't we? I don't know the official SMF policy, but wouldn't they rather import from a WXR file, which is the official way of doing it? Or at least have a mod that doesn't encourage one to buy anyone an alcoholic beverage? ;D

I'm glad you managed to realize that. That is also the same reason why i didn't inform you earlier as the approach to the conversion is different. You are thinking of converting into SMF, while the other WP plugin is exporting from its platform.
Even then, there should be no need for me to inform you, as you should have come across the WP to SMF plugin post, as it's always been roaming on the first page of this board's message index.
As for the beer, i think it's optional. :D At least, it's not like the Charter fees that SMF used to force (and ultimately failed) on everyone to be able to download the latest 2.0 RC. ;)

Either way, i hope something worthwhile eventually comes out of this thread.

Nao 尚

Quote from: sharks on July 07, 2010, 09:20:32 AM
I'm glad you managed to realize that.
Realize what? That alcohol is bad for health?

QuoteThat is also the same reason why i didn't inform you earlier as the approach to the conversion is different.
I'm not the smf conversion specialist, so I couldn't say whether it's considered 'canonical' or not.

QuoteEven then, there should be no need for me to inform you, as you should have come across the WP to SMF plugin post, as it's always been roaming on the first page of this board's message index.
Err... Actually, I don't read the forum much. Way too many topics. If someone wants to point me to a thread, they should PM me, or at least post in a topic I've already posted it (because then I'll see the topic in my Unread Replies link.)

QuoteAs for the beer, i think it's optional. :D At least, it's not like the Charter fees that SMF used to force (and ultimately failed) on everyone to be able to download the latest 2.0 RC. ;)
- Charter fees are used to pay for the server. Do you honestly believe a server that runs 2.5 million posts is cheap? Do you think it'd be realistic to expect the SMF team to not only spend their nights working on SMF, but also paying for hosting out of their own pockets?
- Charter membership is not related to premium downloads. SMF uses charter members as a 'smaller subset' of the user community to release new versions and see them in action in production. If everything goes well, then the version gets released shortly after that.
- Charter membership is for people who don't know how (or don't have time) to contribute to the community. If you're active in the community, you'll most likely get access to nightly builds as everyone else (that is, even more than what charter members get.)
- And finally: no one in the SMF team gets paid (except maybe for Amacythe, I still don't know about her status), so we don't get any of these donations. So you can't accuse the team of trying to steal money from you.
If you're not happy with the team anyway, why are you so adamant about switching to SMF?

QuoteEither way, i hope something worthwhile eventually comes out of this thread.
I'm afraid your comment wasn't a likely candidate for worthiness.
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

#39
Hey, i'm just stating the facts about what happened with the Charter fees. Whatever brought that concept to fruition or whatever happened to cause it to be canceled eventually, is not the point here and i have no interest in the internal company matters, other than making the software better. I never stated that i'm unhappy with SMF or the team. But i am indeed extremely disappointed with your unwillingness to do anything without a personal reason that would benefit your own interests. If you are never going to do any work on this converter, then why keep replying in this thread?? This thread and request for a converter has been ongoing since quite a long time now. I sincerely think that you have no idea how to do this converter, but hey neither do i. So, no shame in admitting that. ;)

Quote from: Nao on July 07, 2010, 10:39:12 AM
I'm afraid your comment wasn't a likely candidate for worthiness.
Ever since you first replied in this thread, you have shown only passing interest, so it doesn't change anything at all.
There was no hope to begin with. IMHO, this converter is sadly never going to happen anyway.

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