Anyone working on a ProBoards/Forums.net Converter?

[SimianSteam]

Now that ProBoards has finally given us prisoners a window to escape through I was wondering if anyone was working on a converter to move ProBoards/Forums.net DBs over to SMF?

For anyone that reads this and goes, "You can't download your ProBoards Database!" The situation has changed... Kinda. ProBoards set up a new paid service called Forums.net that does allow you to download your database. To do this you have to move from ProBoards to their new service and sign a 6-Month Contract. Lowest tier is 9.99 a month, but $60 is well worth it for me to get the hell away from their lack of customization, terrible servers, and just plain crappyness.

[Dragooon]

Is it possible to have a copy of the basic structure? That'd be the basic requirement if someone were to make a converter

[SimianSteam]

Is it possible to have a copy of the basic structure? That'd be the basic requirement if someone were to make a converter

No clue. I'm a total newb to SQL or I'd figure out how to do it myself. How would one go about getting the basic structure?

[Dragooon]

Is it possible to have a copy of the basic structure? That'd be the basic requirement if someone were to make a converter

No clue. I'm a total newb to SQL or I'd figure out how to do it myself. How would one go about getting the basic structure?

Well, if they give the database in SQL the basic structure would be the tables/columns. Basically a sample of the database for a ProBoards forum

[SimianSteam]

Is it possible to have a copy of the basic structure? That'd be the basic requirement if someone were to make a converter

No clue. I'm a total newb to SQL or I'd figure out how to do it myself. How would one go about getting the basic structure?

Well, if they give the database in SQL the basic structure would be the tables/columns. Basically a sample of the database for a ProBoards forum

Hmmm... That's gonna be fun to get. I guess I could just pay them $10, set up a new account with Forums.net and just fill it with BS, then download the DB. Let me poke around a bit and see what I can come up with. Is it cool to PM you if I find something?

[Illori]

do you have access to phpmyadmin? you can do a custom export of just the structure of all the tables and that may be good enough to get this started.

[Dragooon]

Oh I should tell you, I don't have jack squat of an idea how converters are made . You should stick to this thread. If you find something I'll try and take a peak but can't guarantee anything.

[SimianSteam]

Oh I should tell you, I don't have jack squat of an idea how converters are made . You should stick to this thread. If you find something I'll try and take a peak but can't guarantee anything.

LoL. No worries, man. I'll cross my fingers and hope that someone with experience sees this and takes on the challenge. I'm willing to chip in some money if it'll help the process along. I know a lot of folks would LOVE to get away from ProBoards, especially since this is the first possibility of escape in what? Four years?

[AllanD]

Proboards doesn't allow you to migrate from there servers. It's against their TOS and everything I have seen available in the past Patrick has personally put a stop to it.


As far as getting the database from forum.net then you will need someone to make a convertor for you.

[Biology Forums]

You could hire someone to create a scrapper that will essentially copy and post every thread and post.

Try Odesk.com, plenty of guys with experience there.

[Dragooon]

You could hire someone to create a scrapper that will essentially copy and post every thread and post.

Try Odesk.com, plenty of guys with experience there.

That's possible just fine, but he implied that a SQL DB can be exported which would be easier to work with

[SimianSteam]

Proboards doesn't allow you to migrate from there servers. It's against their TOS and everything I have seen available in the past Patrick has personally put a stop to it.


As far as getting the database from forum.net then you will need someone to make a convertor for you.

Your information is out of date. Forums.net IS ProBoards, and Forums.net allows you to download their database and migrate. You do have to pay for the privilege, but it's an option now.

[SimianSteam]

You could hire someone to create a scrapper that will essentially copy and post every thread and post.

Try Odesk.com, plenty of guys with experience there.

That's possible just fine, but he implied that a SQL DB can be exported which would be easier to work with

Not an implication. Statement of fact. I've talked to Forums.net CS to make sure that the DB is SQL and it is.

[SimianSteam]

do you have access to phpmyadmin? you can do a custom export of just the structure of all the tables and that may be good enough to get this started.

Sorry, missed this one on the first go-around. Is there a multi-quote option that I'm not seeing, BTW?

Don't have access yet. I'm making sure I've got all my ducks in a row before I make the switch, the big one being a converter. If I moved to the Forums.net service right now I'd be paying something like $60 a month based on the number of monthly pageviews my forum has (380K as of this month). Not ready to bite that bullet since once you move to Forums.net it's unclear whether you'll be able to go back to a free PB account.

[margarett]

We need a database dump. With that we can try to build something.

Can you get us one?

[SimianSteam]

We need a database dump. With that we can try to build something.

Can you get us one?

Hmmm... I'll try to figure out a way to do it. Worst case I just sign up for a $10 account, fill the forum with crap, dump the DB, and let the account expire. First I'm going to contact their CS and see if they'll just give me a sample DB dump.

[SimianSteam]

Will this help, or do you need the actual file?

--
-- Table structure for table `Example Table`
--

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `Example Table` (
  `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `name` varchar(25) NOT NULL,
  `value` text NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
  KEY `name` (`name`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=3 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `Example Table`
--

INSERT INTO `Example Table` (`id`, `name`, `value`) VALUES
(1, 'Test', 'Example'),
(2, 'More', 'Data as a sample');


I emailed PB Support and asked for a sample database.

[Dragooon]

Uhm, I don't understand your question? I know what SQL is, I'd or someone else will need the actual SQL from a forum even if it contains dummy data

[SimianSteam]

Uhm, I don't understand your question? I know what SQL is, I'd or someone else will need the actual SQL from a forum even if it contains dummy data

Asked for an SQL database from them, that's what I got. I replied saying that I'd really like to see the actual database file. Fingers crossed.

[SimianSteam]

And it's a no-go. They won't give me a complete database dump.