Links in IPB 3.1 to SMF

Started by JustinofOz, August 24, 2004, 11:32:26 PM

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JustinofOz

I am very impressed with the SMF forum and especially the quality of the posts and replies in this support forum. Thank you very much for the script, and for the superb effort that the administration and staff have put into the programming and support.

My concern is that, if I run the conversion, will it lose my current information in my Invision forums such as the links to other forums, Java scripts such as jump_menus, and linked bannerads and text-links?

Cheers!
Justin of Oz


Administrator - World Circle of Quality Affiliated Forums
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[Unknown]

Quote from: JustinofOz on August 24, 2004, 11:32:26 PM
My concern is that, if I run the conversion, will it lose my current information in my Invision forums such as the links to other forums, Java scripts such as jump_menus, and linked bannerads and text-links?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean.  Are you talking about posted materials of such content?  Or do you mean these things on your site?

SMF, without modification, does not currently allow html except in a very basic form.  This is to protect against security (cookie) leaks which might lead to someone gaining administrative access.  However, code sections and such can easily be posted.

If you mean in your template/skin, this is one of the things not converted by the converter... you will need to move that over manually.

I suggest you try it out, though - because that should answer many of your questions about it much more cleanly and solidly than I could.  It won't harm or change anything in your Invision database - only in the SMF install.

-[Unknown]

JustinofOz

#2
I wish I knew a bit more about this. But I am currently running a forum, Invision 3.1. So I have the conversion page  (.php) sitting on my desktop and my invision forum running currently. I will obviously need to upload the new SMF and the conversion file. If I upload the new SMF to the place where the old forum is it will overwrite the old one. So I gather I then set the permissions (if they are not already) and then, in the browser, access Invision_t_smf.php. Do I have it right so far?
Cheers!
Justin of Oz


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Grudge

You do. I wouldn't upload SMF to the same place though. Upload it to a directory called SMF (Or similar) and use a different database. That way your invision forum will work fine. If you decide to go with SMF you can just rename the SMF directory to the invision one. Just ensure you follow the instructions in the converter and you should be fine - but as I said DON'T upload it to the same directory!
I'm only a half geek really...

JustinofOz

Thank you very much Grudge, I had a bit of a sleep this evening, on account of I had already set up two of these forums for two of my friends. It made me tired so I snoozed, and upon that, came to that same conclusion.
I didn't think of the different db though, and that solved my second last riddle.
Is there some special place to which I should upload the file: Invision_to_smf.php?
Cheers!
Justin of Oz


Administrator - World Circle of Quality Affiliated Forums
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Oldiesmann

The best place to put that is in your SMF directory. Just make sure that the same MySQL user has access to both databases or you'll run into problems.
Michael Eshom
Christian Metal Fans

JustinofOz

Thank you Oldiesmann, much appreciated. A quick reply! this is quite a refreshing support forum.

So now I have my new forum sitting on the dir: /forums/forum/, and I have the convert. file in the same dir., I have set up a SMForums db. and a user with all permissions. I take it that I must now only install my new forum and then run the convert. Is that all correct?
Cheers!
Justin of Oz


Administrator - World Circle of Quality Affiliated Forums
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[Unknown]

Yes, that's correct - you've probably already done so, though.

Just run install.php (should be painless ;).) and go to invision_to_smf.php.... you might have to click Continue once or twice, and you'll be converted...

-[Unknown]

JustinofOz

What a beautifully constructed piece of programming, congratulations and thank you.

Everything worked well except that the re-directed forums didn't go in and a couple of stats (The "last post by" info) came out in another forum, but otherwise excellent. In the forum index table over on the right there is the info "Last post by". That information went to a different forum in some cases, replacing what should have been there. In some other forums the place where those stats go is empty. The forums that were re-directs in Invision were are the ones that were empty after transfer. I suspect that the re-direct forums have something to do with the problem of the info going to the wrong field, but I have no way of determining this.

Maybe, if at some time you do a new version of the conversion, it may be possible to also transfer the re-directed forums as well, thus making that also a feature for SMF, as I find this a good way of directing some forum visitors to other areas of my website, or to an advertising page.

I may have to redo the whole lot, but I will fiddle with it a bit first and try to fix it as it is if I can. My problem is not knowing much about the code. Incidentally, if you wish at any time to look for yourself at the problem my new forum url is: http://williamsuniversal.com/forums/forums/index.php [nofollow] and the Invision forum link is in my signature button.

Thanks again for the program, and for the support.


Cheers!
Justin of Oz


Administrator - World Circle of Quality Affiliated Forums
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[Unknown]

Quote from: JustinofOz on August 25, 2004, 09:13:05 PM
Everything worked well except that the re-directed forums didn't go in and a couple of stats (The "last post by" info) came out in another forum, but otherwise excellent. In the forum index table over on the right there is the info "Last post by". That information went to a different forum in some cases, replacing what should have been there. In some other forums the place where those stats go is empty. The forums that were re-directs in Invision were are the ones that were empty after transfer. I suspect that the re-direct forums have something to do with the problem of the info going to the wrong field, but I have no way of determining this.

The "last post by" column can be solved by clicking Admin -> Forum Maintenance -> Recount all forum totals and statistics. (the converter is not completely done, and is still in the beta stage, but this should fix many issues.)

QuoteMaybe, if at some time you do a new version of the conversion, it may be possible to also transfer the re-directed forums as well, thus making that also a feature for SMF, as I find this a good way of directing some forum visitors to other areas of my website, or to an advertising page.

This feature is currently available as a mod; have you looked at the package manager?

QuoteI may have to redo the whole lot, but I will fiddle with it a bit first and try to fix it as it is if I can. My problem is not knowing much about the code. Incidentally, if you wish at any time to look for yourself at the problem my new forum url is: http://williamsuniversal.com/forums/forums/index.php and the Invision forum link is in my signature button.

Thanks again for the program, and for the support.

No problem.... thanks for taking a look.

-[Unknown]

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