[split] Import posts from a own-made forum

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Jagoda
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[split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by Jagoda »

Hi,
I need to import users and posts from a forum created many years ago (written by someone else) to a clean phpBB 3.2 install. On the old forum there is a db with users (so I can export an sql file) and txt files with posts. Is it possible to import them somehow to phpBB 3.2?

I did some research but the only useful information I found applies to phpBB 3.0:
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=2115251#p12923598
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=1494875
Will these tools still work with pphpBB 3.2? I suppose not... Maybe there are such tools for 3.2 (I didn't find any)?

Could somebody help me, please? I have no experience with phpBB and I don't know where to start.
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Re: Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by warmweer »

Jagoda wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 7:04 pm Hi,
I need to import users and posts from a forum created many years ago (written by someone else) to a clean phpBB 3.2 install. On the old forum there is a db with users (so I can export an sql file) and txt files with posts. Is it possible to import them somehow to phpBB 3.2?

I did some research but the only useful information I found applies to phpBB 3.0:
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=2115251#p12923598
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=1494875
Will these tools still work with pphpBB 3.2? I suppose not... Maybe there are such tools for 3.2 (I didn't find any)?

Could somebody help me, please? I have no experience with phpBB and I don't know where to start.
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Jagoda
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Re: Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by Jagoda »

Sorry if I did it in a wrong way, but I am moderator on another forum and we rather try to merge similar questions into one topic so basis on my experience I asked here :)
Should I just open a new topic or Admin can move my post?
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Kailey
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Re: [split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by Kailey »

Split off.
Jagoda wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 7:04 pm On the old forum there is a db with users (so I can export an sql file) and txt files with posts. Is it possible to import them somehow to phpBB 3.2?
You might be able to. I would test this locally first though. See Knowledge Base - Installing and Setting Up Your Own Web Server
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Jagoda
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Re: [split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by Jagoda »

kinerity wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 10:37 pm You might be able to. I would test this locally first though. See Knowledge Base - Installing and Setting Up Your Own Web Server
Do you mean that tools I mentioned should work with phpBB 3.2 or I should do this in another way?
The other idea is to export users db from the old forum, reorganize it and import to a clean pphpBB 3.2 install. I could do the same with posts (I would need to convert posts from txt to sql first) but I don't think it's a good idea because I don't know relations between tables in phpBB.
Any other ideas? If yes, please describe it clearly, phpBB is new for me :)
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Re: [split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by stevemaury »

Not impossible, but EXTREMELY difficult. And really outside the scope of this forum. Moving to Convertors.
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boogi
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Re: [split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by boogi »

If you know php or will find someone who knows, you may try help from this thread: viewtopic.php?t=2125111
But this is the hard way, you may destroy your forum this way, so test this thoroughly on local copy of your database and do have backup.
Jagoda
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Re: [split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by Jagoda »

I set up a new phpBB forum and tried to upload some test users directly to a data base, to users table (first I downloaded users from the old forum, also downloaded table structure from the new forum and adjusted the table structure to be able to upload it without any issues). As I supposed the forum died after that so I still need your help :)

Is it possible to use these functions:
https://wiki.phpbb.com/Function.user_add
https://wiki.phpbb.com/Function.submit_post
to bulk upload users and then posts? If yes, could someone give me a hint how to do that? I'm not a professional, so please try to explain it as clear as it's possible :) I will be grateful for all hints and ideas how to migrate all data.
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Mick
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Re: [split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by Mick »

How many users and posts are we talking about? Is the board very active?
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Jagoda
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Re: [split] Import posts from a own-made forum

Post by Jagoda »

It has about 18000 registered users, but "only" 3500 active during last 5 years. I can't tell how many posts because they are all in text files, but definitely a huge amount. Now it's about 5-20 posts a day (it depends on a day) and the forum exists since 2004.
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