Anyone working on a ProBoards/Forums.net Converter?

[margarett]

The problem is that you cannot import a big database via phpmyadmin interface. You either have access to command line (not likely in most cases) or you use a tool for staggered import --> http://www.ozerov.de/bigdump/

@Hauzer, you probably shouldn't add this to the converter. There are other ways to do that
What you are doing mixes the conversion with the database handling itself. That's more stuff for you to support later

[SimianSteam]

Very cool. I understand maybe about 1/4 of what I see in here, but it just makes me appreciate y'all's work that much more.

I've got a headache now. LoL.

[Hauzer]

@Hauzer, you probably shouldn't add this to the converter. There are other ways to do that
What you are doing mixes the conversion with the database handling itself. That's more stuff for you to support later

Haha, ahh I see. No problem at all. I'll keep the database management separate. Since that's the case, the converter should be finalised soon; but for users of the converter unfortunately, you'll need to import the Forums.net database into your SMF database manually using phpMyAdmin or other tool.

SimianSteam: The converter isn't final yet, but would it be possible for you to demo it (and NOT run it on a live board)? Just for testing purposes to see if it converts your board correctly, and if there are any issues with your board after conversion. FYI, unfortunately you'll need to manually import your Forums.net database into your SMF database (you should have a clean installation of SMF before you run the convert.)

All the best.

[SimianSteam]

@Hauzer, you probably shouldn't add this to the converter. There are other ways to do that
What you are doing mixes the conversion with the database handling itself. That's more stuff for you to support later

Haha, ahh I see. No problem at all. I'll keep the database management separate. Since that's the case, the converter should be finalised soon; but for users of the converter unfortunately, you'll need to import the Forums.net database into your SMF database manually using phpMyAdmin or other tool.

SimianSteam: The converter isn't final yet, but would it be possible for you to demo it? Just for testing purposes to see if it converts your board correctly, and if there are any issues with your board after conversion. FYI, unfortunately you'll need to manually import your Forums.net database into your SMF database (you should have a clean installation of SMF before you run the convert.)

All the best.

I'd be happy to give it a shot. I'll pm my email so you can shoot it over to me.

[Hauzer]

I'd be happy to give it a shot. I'll pm my email so you can shoot it over to me.

Thank you very much. I hope it works for you, and please report back on any issues/keep us updated.

All the best.

[SimianSteam]

First run-through with the converter didn't work. Did a fresh SMF install on a fresh DB, logged out of the forum just in case, and ran the converter. Got this message:

Sorry, the database connection information used in the specified installation of SMF cannot access the installation of Forums.net. This may either mean that the installation doesn't exist, or that the Database account used does not have permissions to access it.

The error that was received from the Database was: Table 'epipefor_smfa1.user' doesn't exist

I did notice that the table in phpMyAdmin was capitalized, while it's not in the error message. Also, I saw that it asked for a DB password, but no login. Not sure if it's either of those things that's causing the issue, or something else that I'm too ignorant to recognize.

[Hauzer]

First run-through with the converter didn't work. Did a fresh SMF install on a fresh DB, logged out of the forum just in case, and ran the converter. Got this message:

Sorry, the database connection information used in the specified installation of SMF cannot access the installation of Forums.net. This may either mean that the installation doesn't exist, or that the Database account used does not have permissions to access it.

The error that was received from the Database was: Table 'epipefor_smfa1.user' doesn't exist

I did notice that the table in phpMyAdmin was capitalized, while it's not in the error message. Also, I saw that it asked for a DB password, but no login. Not sure if it's either of those things that's causing the issue, or something else that I'm too ignorant to recognize.

The converter does request for a database password with no username, this is the norm for all SMF converters and is not a problem at all. We already have the user, dbname, host port and password for connecting to the database; when it prompts for a password, it's purely for security, preventing anyone who accesses the convert.php script from executing a board conversion.

The error message which is being displayed should only occur if it cannot find or access your Forums.net database. Using a file manager, try setting the convert.php file only to CHMOD 777 (full permissions.) If that doesn't seem to do it, then please ensure that your Forums.net installation is in the same database as your SMF installation and it should work.

However, you did state your table is capitalised; if this is the case, then your dump must vary from the one I received, although I doubt anything else is of different nature. If this is the case, then that could indeed be causing the issue. With Windows servers, database tables are not case sensitive, however with Linux/Unix (the most common for web hosts), they are case sensitive.

Please try setting the convert.php file to CHMOD 777 first, and please reply back on how that goes.

P.S. Did you delete the lines around 22-23, which state "usb pb" etc?

All the best.

[SimianSteam]

I totally forgot to mention that these two lines:

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `pb` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;
USE `pb`;

Weren't in the sql file when I tried to edit it with Notepad++ like you directed.

[SimianSteam]

Sigh. We can slow down development on this. Just got his with a nasty piece of news from ProBoards. Apparently you have to wait until the 6-month contract is up before they'll give you a database backup of your transferred forum. Bastards.

I wonder if it's possible to get someone to manually go through the forum and enter everything into a fresh database? I know it would be an extreme amount of work, but there's cheap tech labor out there. Would it even function?

[Hauzer]

Sigh. We can slow down development on this. Just got his with a nasty piece of news from ProBoards. Apparently you have to wait until the 6-month contract is up before they'll give you a database backup of your transferred forum. Bastards.

I wonder if it's possible to get someone to manually go through the forum and enter everything into a fresh database? I know it would be an extreme amount of work, but there's cheap tech labor out there. Would it even function?

Wow, that sucks! I'm sorry to hear that.

I'm assuming the database dump you sent me was a Forums.net database, and the converter I created will convert it successfully. However the database you attempted to convert was a ProBoards one, or one of different structure? If so, hopefully after six months you'll be able to use the converter. Apologies.

Regarding the database you have now, the one you tried to convert; is that a database of your current ProBoards forum? If so, perhaps we can do something with that; but that means we'll have to create another converter.

As for hiring someone to manually transfer your bulletin board to SMF, yes it is definitely possible and will most likely be a more accurate conversion (as long as the person converting is aware of how to convert.) But to be honest, that would consume a lot of hours, totalling up to days/weeks/and maybe even months depending on the amount of time spent per day. Within that time set, you may just get the members done, depending on member count. Personally I wouldn't go down that route, due to the sheer workload. The best way would be for an automated way to achieve this, something like nneonneo's crawler converters which scrapes your forum for all the content and inserts it into a database.

nneonneo had one which converted ProBoards, but had to have it removed due to ProBoard's TOS. Something similar for Forums.net would be great, but since we can get database dumps it maybe better to convert via the db (plus it's most likely against Forums.net TOS as well.) I know six months waiting is just a major downfall, and one which repels most people away from ProBoards/Forums.net.

Is it not possible to pay $60 all in one go to ProBoards, and have them simply give you your database, instead of monthly instalments? I know monthly billing is more affordable, but perhaps paying them all in one go could persuade them.

Apologies again for the news, and all the best.

[SimianSteam]

Sigh. We can slow down development on this. Just got his with a nasty piece of news from ProBoards. Apparently you have to wait until the 6-month contract is up before they'll give you a database backup of your transferred forum. Bastards.

I wonder if it's possible to get someone to manually go through the forum and enter everything into a fresh database? I know it would be an extreme amount of work, but there's cheap tech labor out there. Would it even function?

Wow, that sucks! I'm sorry to hear that.

I'm assuming the database dump you sent me was a Forums.net database, and the converter I created will convert it successfully. However the database you attempted to convert was a ProBoards one, or one of different structure? If so, hopefully after six months you'll be able to use the converter. Apologies.

Regarding the database you have now, the one you tried to convert; is that a database of your current ProBoards forum? If so, perhaps we can do something with that; but that means we'll have to create another converter.

As for hiring someone to manually transfer your bulletin board to SMF, yes it is definitely possible and will most likely be a more accurate conversion (as long as the person converting is aware of how to convert.) But to be honest, that would consume a lot of hours, totalling up to days/weeks/and maybe even months depending on the amount of time spent per day. Within that time set, you may just get the members done, depending on member count. Personally I wouldn't go down that route, due to the sheer workload. The best way would be for an automated way to achieve this, something like nneonneo's crawler converters which scrapes your forum for all the content and inserts it into a database.

nneonneo had one which converted ProBoards, but had to have it removed due to ProBoard's TOS. Something similar for Forums.net would be great, but since we can get database dumps it maybe better to convert via the db (plus it's most likely against Forums.net TOS as well.) I know six months waiting is just a major downfall, and one which repels most people away from ProBoards/Forums.net.

Is it not possible to pay $60 all in one go to ProBoards, and have them simply give you your database, instead of monthly instalments? I know monthly billing is more affordable, but perhaps paying them all in one go could persuade them.

Apologies again for the news, and all the best.

I was using the same Database that you got. No clue why it doesn't show up in mine and does in yours.

I'm thinking of hiring someone on oDesk. If I can get it in at $3-$5 an hour, even if it takes them 100 hours of work to do it I'll still be ahead financially, and MUCH further ahead timewise.

I tried getting them to take the total payment for the 6 months up front. I even tried getting them to take the 6-month total up front for the package I would have to have (400K+ pageviews would be about $55 a month.) They wouldn't. Let this be a lesson to you, avoid ProBoards like the PLAGUE. Their CS is the worst I've ever seen.

So that's where I'm at. I can budget spend $55 a month with ProBoards, and wait it out for six months, I can try to figure out some way to manually copy the data, as I said, or I can just say F it and move anyways, leaving all my content behind.

I hate ProBoards.

[Hauzer]

I was using the same Database that you got. No clue why it doesn't show up in mine and does in yours.

I'm thinking of hiring someone on oDesk. If I can get it in at $3-$5 an hour, even if it takes them 100 hours of work to do it I'll still be ahead financially, and MUCH further ahead timewise.

I tried getting them to take the total payment for the 6 months up front. I even tried getting them to take the 6-month total up front for the package I would have to have (400K+ pageviews would be about $55 a month.) They wouldn't. Let this be a lesson to you, avoid ProBoards like the PLAGUE. Their CS is the worst I've ever seen.

So that's where I'm at. I can budget spend $55 a month with ProBoards, and wait it out for six months, I can try to figure out some way to manually copy the data, as I said, or I can just say F it and move anyways, leaving all my content behind.

I hate ProBoards.

Indeed yes, no harm in trying over at oDesk; but I'm not too sure if there are many who will be able to convert for SMF, to be honest it's not too hard. Again though, nothing to lose. I'm surprised ProBoards was not willing to provide you your database, even after willing to pay the full amount. It is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

Leaving the ProBoards data could cause issues like you did mention earlier, depending on whether all your members will stick around or not. They may not be as motivated to register and create new threads/posts again; of course, I'm sure you know your community better than I do.

By the way, would it be possible to get the copy of the database you have for Forums.net (to ensure compatibility for the converter)? Is your database the one provided directly from ProBoards? If so, it should be compatible unless it's something on my end.

I'm really sorry to hear you're stuck in this situation, and apologies for any bother which I may have created, and I appreciate everything you have provided. Without you, there would be no converter in the first place! Thank you.

All the best.

[SimianSteam]

I was using the same Database that you got. No clue why it doesn't show up in mine and does in yours.

I'm thinking of hiring someone on oDesk. If I can get it in at $3-$5 an hour, even if it takes them 100 hours of work to do it I'll still be ahead financially, and MUCH further ahead timewise.

I tried getting them to take the total payment for the 6 months up front. I even tried getting them to take the 6-month total up front for the package I would have to have (400K+ pageviews would be about $55 a month.) They wouldn't. Let this be a lesson to you, avoid ProBoards like the PLAGUE. Their CS is the worst I've ever seen.

So that's where I'm at. I can budget spend $55 a month with ProBoards, and wait it out for six months, I can try to figure out some way to manually copy the data, as I said, or I can just say F it and move anyways, leaving all my content behind.

I hate ProBoards.

Indeed yes, no harm in trying over at oDesk; but I'm not too sure if there are many who will be able to convert for SMF, to be honest it's not too hard. Again though, nothing to lose. I'm surprised ProBoards was not willing to provide you your database, even after willing to pay the full amount. It is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

Leaving the ProBoards data could cause issues like you did mention earlier, depending on whether all your members will stick around or not. They may not be as motivated to register and create new threads/posts again; of course, I'm sure you know your community better than I do.

By the way, would it be possible to get the copy of the database you have for Forums.net (to ensure compatibility for the converter)? Is your database the one provided directly from ProBoards? If so, it should be compatible unless it's something on my end.

I'm really sorry to hear you're stuck in this situation, and apologies for any bother which I may have created, and I appreciate everything you have provided. Without you, there would be no converter in the first place! Thank you.

All the best.

Bother? You've got to be kidding! You were a HUGE help.

I'll shoot the latest DB over to you. It's a little more populated, maybe it'll help to have a converter for people in the future.

It's looking like my members are going to be OK with moving to the new forum and figuring out a way to archive posts from the old one without messing with Databases. Maybe I can find a copy of that scraper floating around and we can pull everything in one go. Regardless, I do expect a drop-off in traffic for a bit, but we'll bounce back. It's a great community!

[Hauzer]

I apologise for my late reply, finished my university exam yesterday.

I'd like to thank you for everything you have provided, and for sending over the latest database. With the database you sent me, I also had the same error you had; so that has now been fixed (it was purely the capitalisation of the letters.)

I hope your community is doing great, and if you're still with Forums.net, then perhaps if you wait a couple of months, you can use the converter I have just finalised; I know the waiting time is ridiculous with Forums.net, but hopefully if you're going down that route, it'll be worth it.

[SimianSteam]

Well, hopefully someone will be able to benefit from it.

To share an infuriating epilogue to my whole ProBoards experience: I got a call from ProBoards/Forums.net customer service last week. We'd already moved over a couple weeks before that, not long after I found out that they wouldn't give my DB access for six months. I got the usual spiel of "What can we do to get you to stay?". I told him how ridiculous it was that current members couldn't get database access for six months. He said he'd look into it, but I didn't think anything would come of it since I'd already been told that it was policy, and we all know ProBoards doesn't give a rat's tookus about keeping their customers happy once they have them locked in.

Two days later got another call. Ignored it since I was sick of talking to them, but the guy left me a voicemail saying he'd gotten authorization to allow me immediate database access if I switched from ProBoards to Forums.net. Not going to do a thing for me since I've already moved, but it does show that if you get pissed off enough, and pester them, they will bend the policy.

[iamfrankcastle]

Hey there,
New to the boards. I am in the same predicament. I just started a forum, but we are very active. As we grow I have been coming to realize how limiting proboards is and how much I need to get into phpbb. How would I go about getting a copy of this converter? I think its amazing you guys have worked so hard on this. This was an excellent read. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Hauzer]

The converter is available to download here: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=522954.0

It will convert over your Forums.net/ProBoard v5 software over to SMF.

All the best.

SimianSteam: Apologies didn't notice your reply. Damn that sounds as if they tie you in; I hope you are able to get your Forums.net database soon, or whatever you're planning to do from now. If you're willing to wait it out, the converter is always available. I hope the best for you and your community.

[margarett]

With all respect but if you really want to go to phpBB, you came here because... ??

[iamfrankcastle]

I'm new to all of this Maragrett. Sorry if I offended anyone. Does simple machines integrate into wordpress? I have a website: hxxp:www.artqltd.com [nonactive] which is hosted on wordpress. If simplemachines would wok for my needs color me interested

[iamfrankcastle]

And I also found this thread via google search. I didn't even realize it was for proprietary forum software. Apologies again.