Converting existing Forum to Access Database

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sophian
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Converting existing Forum to Access Database

Post by sophian »

Hello,

I'm fairly new to this community and not sure if what I'm asking is even possible. So my apologies if my questions does not apply.

I was wondering if it's at all possible to convert an existing phpbb forum into an excel database? I would like to be able to take the information that our non-profit group has created over the years on our forum and put it into a database format that runs in excel? Is this possible and how would I go about doing such a thing? Thanks for any help or guidance..

-Christopher
Last edited by HiFiKabin on Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Title Corrected
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david63
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by david63 »

I would say that it would be virtually impossible to convert a phpBB board into an Excel spreadsheet (Excel is not a database). You might stand more chance of converting it to Access - but even that would entail a massive amount of work.

Perhaps if you were to explain what the end objective is we might be able to offer some practical solutions.
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Steve
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by Steve »

sophian
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by sophian »

Thanks for the correction. :) Yes, I meant Access Database not Excel. Not sure what I was thinking...

Basically, what I'm trying to accomplish is that I would like to be able to archive our non-profit forum and its writings that have been collected over the years into a collection that can be saved and down loaded and archived into a database and then be searchable by topic, etc... If that makes sense....

I realize what I'm asking may not even be possible or it might be a giant task to archive something that massive...

Thanks again for any insights or direction.

-Christopher
Last edited by sophian on Thu Mar 24, 2022 7:53 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Mick
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by Mick »

You can pretty much export any database to access, what is your current db format? There’s plenty of information on the web on how to convert to access. The fact that it can be converted doesn’t mean it will work very well without some kind of front end if you want ex-board users to get any benefit out of it.
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david63
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by david63 »

Steve wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 6:55 pm Excel can create a database David.
I think that you might struggle to create a multi table relational database in Excel - however I am prepared to be proven wrong.

(I would just add that I was certified as an MOS Excel Professional, as well as Word, Access and Powerpoint)
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Mick
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by Mick »

I was an MCSE so we’ve had the lot between us :lol:
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warmweer
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by warmweer »

Use an odbc connector for MYSQL (or another database engine you're using).
With that you can link all tables in Access, and then create physical tables from those.
sophian
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by sophian »

Thank you all for your help. I will give that a try....

-Christopher
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AmigoJack
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by AmigoJack »

sophian wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 7:00 pmYes, I meant Access Database not Excel. Not sure what I was thinking...
Can you please edit your first post and correct its subject?
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warmweer
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Excel database

Post by warmweer »

sophian wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 7:00 pm Basically, what I'm trying to accomplish is that I would like to be able to archive our non-profit forum and its writings that have been collected over the years into a collection that can be saved and down loaded and archived into a database and then be searchable by topic, etc... If that makes sense....
Creating the database with data is a piece of cake.
Creating the queries to retrieve data is a rather larger chunk of cake.

Creating a management system allowing viewing based on permissions ... is possible but it's a hell of a lot a work (and you need to know Access thouroughly).
With phpBB2 is was relatively easy,
With 3.0 I had a more or less functional system based on the phpBB permission system but it was static and new groups (with different permissions) required new coding.. (with Access 95).

Access is useable as long as it can be accessed only from within a private network. The moment one has possession of the physical database, all data within that database can be extracted (just search the internet for Access password retrieval), no matter how you secure it (at least up to Access 2000 - later versions I don't know).

I'll add that Access doesn't perform well in multi-user environment, and certainly not over the internet.

In short, if you offer an Access download of some sort, you need to realise that you can probably not rely on the phpBB permission system to filter data.
Your best/quickest/safest bet is to create an archive section within your board.
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AmigoJack
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Access Database

Post by AmigoJack »

This overall approach makes only sense if you believe that with MS Access one can also magically create the board software to read and search posts. Otherwise you can safely export the database into one single SQL file, which in doubt can be treated like a text file, so finding old data in it is easy if you're really in need.

If you really only care about the data alone: why must it be MS Access? Why not exporting it to one SQLite file? The latter is even supported as DBMS right away, so anyone who can run PHP would also be able to just run your board with all that data, without the need to have a DBMS running, too.
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Re: Converting existing Forum to Access Database

Post by thecoalman »

This will not work for your expectations, for starters the post text is formatted for phpBB and won't display normally though DB query.

You can create an archive with HTTrack : https://www.httrack.com/

I'd suggest doing it on local copy, add the HTTrack useragent to the bots list and/or edit the templates. You can zip the results up and offer it as download. Suggest to your users they use the built in OS search to search.
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