Anyone working on a ProBoards/Forums.net Converter?

[SilentJay]

I'm trying to make the converter, so I have a noob question about running converters in general:

I've got a local instance of SMF installed and dropped the convert.php and my modified _to_smf.sql file into the SMF dir. I can hit the convert.php page, and it prompts me to enter the "Path to ProBoard". I have no idea what to enter here. I have SMF installed and the ProBoard database in the same instance of MySql. There is no ProBoard app/dir, just the database. I was expected the form to prompt for the ProBoard db url and login. Can someone enlighten me as to what to enter here? Thanks.

[margarett]

That needs to be tweaked You can point it to SMF folder but you need to create a fake config file with at least the database name

[SilentJay]

Right. It looks like I can make a configuration file (configuration.php?) and put it anywhere, then point to that dir on the config page. What I can't find is the format of the configuration file. I want the simplest possible way to pass in the database name. Are there any docs or examples of a working configuration file that I can use?

[vbgamer45]

I would also like to see the convertor if it is made/db structure.

[Hauzer]

Progress Update: I have the converter up and functional, however it doesn't convert much yet. Only the groups and ranks are being converted at the moment, I will progress on it further tonight. Been busy with exam revision for university, apologies about that.

Shouldn't be too long hopefully.

[SilentJay]

Awesome Hauzer! Let me know if you need any help converting a subset of the sql. Otherwise it sounds like your way to getting this finished off.

[SimianSteam]

Progress Update: I have the converter up and functional, however it doesn't convert much yet. Only the groups and ranks are being converted at the moment, I will progress on it further tonight. Been busy with exam revision for university, apologies about that.

Shouldn't be too long hopefully.

Apologies? You've got to be kidding! It's only been, what, a week since I started this thread? You guys are freaking awesome! I actually started the exact same thread on the phpBB and the only responses I got was some jerky, link to an old thread about ProBoards demanding that sites take down workaround converters, and Hauzer here asking helpful questions. I'm not going to follow up on it. It's obvious to me that the SMF community is much more helpful, and I hope a bunch of people follow in my footsteps when leaving PB.

[Hauzer]

Thank you very much SilentJay and SimianSteam, I appreciate your responses sincerely! I need to get back to my exam revision, but before I do, another progress update.

At the moment, the converter successfully converts:

• Groups
• Ranks
• Members
• Categories
• Boards
• Topics
• Posts
• Polls
• Poll options
• Poll votes
• Personal messages

Here's a screen shot of the successful conversion, simply for eye candy (right click > view image to view it at it's full resolution.) 


However there are a few glitches at the moment, which I will now list below (yeah, unfortunately it's that long ):

• Passwords are not converted over, a user will need to reset password via e-mail, or contact a board administrator to reset for them. If you are the board administrator, then you can manually change your password via phpMyAdmin (will go in more detail when the converter is released.)
• A distinction cannot be made between staff members (Admins and Mods), since Forums.net uses the boolean "is_staff" therefore, if the user is a staff member, they'll be set as an Admin on SMF. An admin will be required to change them to a Mod or another group individually.
• Category/Board permissions are not converted over, so those may need to be adjusted manually before the board is made live, as you may have admin/mod/other group only sections which can be seen by regular users after the conversion. You need to reapply the permissions.
• All polls may be open to voting, unless the thread is locked.
• A member's birthdate or timezone setting is currently not converted over; may have a fix for this soon.
• Category, board, topic, signature, post names/text which includes apostrophes may have a backward slash before them, e.g. "I\'m testing an apostrophe". A fix for this will also be released shortly.
• Forums maybe in reverse order within categories; this could also be an easy fix.
• Attachments and avatars are not converted over at the moment.
• All private messages show up as new, and the private messages you have sent show up in your inbox as well.
• Some images are not displayed in posts, i.e. ProBoards/Forums.net uses a different syntax for images at different times.

I think those are all the problems for now, where most of them can pretty much be sorted out by an Administrator when the board is converted over. However, I will try to solve all, or at least most of the above before this converter is released; I'm also willing to share the progress I have made so far if anyone is willing to expand on it (I'll try and tweak if further before releasing it for others to contribute.) I'll make more progress on it soon, and will keep you all updated.

Thank you very much.

[margarett]

* margarett likes this

Thank you. An honest thank you.

Btw: passwords will probably will never be able to be converted because we don't know what PB uses. Don't worry about that point too much A password reset is not uncommon when converting

[AllanD]

Great job all, this is something that is going to help alot of people.

[SimianSteam]

Wow. I really want expecting it to be this quick. As for all of the "glitches", I think they're all pretty tolerable.

[SilentJay]

Wow, really amazing work Hauzer. Very thorough, and fast too. Our forum and so many other will be pleased.

[SimianSteam]

Hauzer, can I get a copy of the converter as it is now? I want to give it a dry run.

[Hauzer]

Thank you very much for your responses everyone, I sincerely appreciate them.

SimianSteam: Definitely, no problem at all. I'll get one to you as soon as I fix/tweak a few things, which hopefully will be as soon as possible. The converter looks for your Forums.net data inside your SMF database (so both your ProBoards/Forums.net and SMF tables/data should be inside one database), so if you can import your Forums.net database (i.e. all the tables and data of Forums.net) into your SMF's database, then I'll give you a copy of the converter straight away. I had difficulty importing the database, so before I can hand over the converter even for testing, I need to ease the process, as you may not even be able to run the converter - but if you have already imported the Forums.net database, then you're free to test the converter I have at the moment.

Anyhow guys/gals, I need some assistance! One of the limitations of the converter at the moment is that images are not always displayed correctly in posts, as Forums.net uses a different syntax. Using PHP, MySQL or both, would it be possible for anyone to contribute to solving this issue (don't worry, more details below)?

At the moment, images are being displayed in posts in the following formats (however some are already in the correct format with images correctly displaying):

removed

Would it be possible for someone to make some basic PHP coding (perhaps preg_replace, preg_match with regex?) to put them in the correct format? In other words, they should start with an IMG bbcode, and end in a closing IMG bbcode, with the link in between.

I apologise if I'm causing any inconvenience to any of you, but don't worry I'm still working on a solution. But if anyone gets to it before me, that would be grand. SOLVED.

[SimianSteam]

No worries, Hauzer. I can wait until you or someone figures out the database import thing. Thank you!

[Hauzer]

No worries, Hauzer. I can wait until you or someone figures out the database import thing. Thank you!

No problem at all, I'm working on the database import at the moment. Once that's solved, the converter will pretty much be ready for use (I'll continue to patch up things here and there.) I'm just curious, are you having difficulty importing your ProBoards/Forums.net database using phpMyAdmin (or any other application, if another application, please state)?

If you are having issues with importing the database provided by ProBoards, then for me, that just clarifies I'm not the only one with the problem; hence the workaround I'll be developing is worthwhile. Also I once again apologise for slowing down on development a little, I'm also trying to focus on my university exams. Haha, apologies.

Kindest regards.

[SimianSteam]

No worries, Hauzer. I can wait until you or someone figures out the database import thing. Thank you!

No problem at all, I'm working on the database import at the moment. Once that's solved, the converter will pretty much be ready for use (I'll continue to patch up things here and there.) I'm just curious, are you having difficulty importing your ProBoards/Forums.net database using phpMyAdmin (or any other application, if another application, please state)?

If you are having issues with importing the database provided by ProBoards, then for me, that just clarifies I'm not the only one with the problem; hence the workaround I'll be developing is worthwhile. Also I once again apologies for slowing down on development a little, I'm also trying to focus on my university exams. Haha, apologies.

Kindest regards.

I honestly hadn't tried importing with with phpMyAdmin. Is it a relatively straightforward process?

[Hauzer]

I honestly hadn't tried importing with with phpMyAdmin. Is it a relatively straightforward process?

Indeed yes, it is a simple process. Although once the converter I'm working on is complete, you won't need to touch phpMyAdmin or any other administrative software for the purpose of conversion (i.e. the converter will be made easy to use.)

But to import using phpMyAdmin, you simply open it up and you'll notice a tab (usually the last tab) which states "Import." Once you select import, you can then select a .sql file (the one you received from ProBoards/Forums.net) and click "Go" to import it into an existing, or create a new database. Whether the data is imported into an existing database or new will depend on the commands in the SQL file; the one provided by ProBoards/Forums.net/one you sent me creates a new db titled "pb," therefore is easy to delete again.

That's all you have to do in phpMyAdmin to import. However I was returned with multiple errors when attemping to import, therefore I had to create the tables in ProBoards/Forums.net manually. I'm just curious whether others have the issue too; if so, then the "script" I will create to import the database is a necessity.

Kindest regards.

[SimianSteam]

I honestly hadn't tried importing with with phpMyAdmin. Is it a relatively straightforward process?

Indeed yes, it is a simple process. Although once the converter I'm working on is complete, you won't need to touch phpMyAdmin or any other administrative software for the purpose of conversion (i.e. the converter will be made easy to use.)

But to import using phpMyAdmin, you simply open it up and you'll notice a tab (usually the last tab) which states "Import." Once you select import, you can then select a .sql file (the one you received from ProBoards/Forums.net) and click "Go" to import it into an existing, or create a new database. Whether the data is imported into an existing database or new will depend on the commands in the SQL file; the one provided by ProBoards/Forums.net/one you sent me creates a new db titled "pb," therefore is easy to delete again.

That's all you have to do in phpMyAdmin to import. However I was returned with multiple errors when attemping to import, therefore I had to create the tables in ProBoards/Forums.net manually. I'm just curious whether others have the issue too; if so, then the "script" I will create to import the database is a necessity.

Kindest regards.

I just imported it into a new database with now issues. What would the prefix be?

[Hauzer]

I just imported it into a new database with now issues. What would the prefix be?

You've imported the database successfully? That's great to hear.

The prefix set by ProBoards/Forums.net from the database I received, is that there is no prefix. There is no prefix to the tables, but it's all located within a database called "pb."