Switching integration from vb-RP to PHPbb3-Rp or IPB-RP

[snoopy5]

Hi

I guess my question will appear from now on very often here or with Photopost Pro

I currently use some Reviewpost installations always integrated with vbulletin. Only user data integration, no template integration.

Because of the recent announcement of vbulletin and the price and policy changes for vb4, I am thinking about exchanging the integration to another forum or even reverse the integration to a stand alone Reviewpost.

Would it be technically difficult to code a script, so that I can easily exchange vb with phpbb3 or IPB without loosing the integration with reviewpost?

How hard would it be to reverse the integration with a custom script?

Thanks in advance

[Chuck S]

well reviewpost can be reinstalled to integrate with other forums thats not really an issue and we even have a script to update userids which would change on forum import scripts

I guess the real question here is does phpbb3 or invisionboard have import features to import your vb content or at least users because of they do you can switch quite easily

[snoopy5]

Originally Posted by Chuck S

well reviewpost can be reinstalled to integrate with other forums thats not really an issue and we even have a script to update userids which would change on forum import scripts

I guess the real question here is does phpbb3 or invisionboard have import features to import your vb content or at least users because of they do you can switch quite easily

Hi Chuck,

yes, phpbb3 and IPB have import scripts for vb3.

I just converterd a vb installation into phpbb3. Smooth transition. 5 Minutes work. Great. All users and posts are there.

If someone need a manual for this, here it is: http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewt...f=65&t=1213555

Now I need to have a step by step advide to cut the RP-vb integration and turn it into a RP-phpbb3 integration without loosing products, ratings within RP and alle the links to the users shall be working of course. etc.

Thanks in advance

[Chuck S]

Switching from phpbb to vbulletin

The steps in my post 2 of that thread need to be followed. Basically you want to delete the usergroups table entries in photopost rerun the install script to integrate with phpbb3 and then run the userfix script from our importers forum to redo the userids which will change because of the forum import script.

[snoopy5]

Originally Posted by Chuck S

... then run the userfix script from our importers forum ...

Where do I find this importers forum and this script?

[Chuck S]

Reviewpost-Reassign userid's when switching integration to vbulletin

This is what you want

[snoopy5]

o.k., I looked now further into this. I will update here each step that I have done for the switch for the sake of all vb-user who want to do the switch too.

And I will surely have questions inbetween

There seem to be some significant differences, whether you switch from

a) phpbb3 -> vb 3.8x or from

b) vb3.8x -> phpbb3.

The link above from chuck in posting #4 describes only option a).

But I need Option b). I switch from vb3 to phpbb3

So I used obviously not Impex, I used the "vb3 converter" of phpbb3, found here:

phpBB • View topic - [Convertor] vBulletin 3.x to phpBB3

This is the file as of 25.10.2009:

vb3x_to_phpbb3.zip

This converts your vb3 forum into a fresh installed phpbb3 forum. Installation of phpbb3 and converting is all in one process. So make sure you have uploaded the converter files on your server before you install phpbb3 and make also sure, that the install directory of phpbb3 is not deleted.

The conversion goes smooth and easy. Depending on the size of your board 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Of course there will be later many things in the ACP to set new, but this is not the subject of this thread.

Now I compared both databses, the old vb user table and the now imported phpbb3 usertable. It seems that the importer of phpbb3 keeps the userid's of the vb-users. They are the same.

But as Chuck pointed out in another posting if users gets deleted, this UserID gap will be filled from the importer script. And you do not see this if you have many users. So always use in the last step #6 the User-ID fix script of Chuck.


But now it is getting trickier.

According to the description of the Link in posting #4, I exchanged the words of vb and phpbb3, so that it makes sense for someone who wants to do it the other way (my way) around:

remarks: I updated these steps:

1. upgrade Reviewpost if not using the latest

2. & 3. install phpbb3 & convert at the same time old vb3 forum

(use "vb3 converter" of the phpbb3 site to import old vb3 forum into new phpbb3 -> step 2 & step 3 have to be done simultaniously)

4. empty the pp_usergroups table in your photopost database (with phpmyadmin) so on next step your phpbb3 usergroups will get imported

5. Rerun photopost install like a fresh install using same prefix and databasename of the old Reviewpost installation. With this step you integrate now with phpbb3. This will not delete data. There will be errors because it can not overwrite the data, ignore them. It will only write data in the empty pp_usergroups table of step #4.

6. Run the userfix script from here. This script makes sure, that all users have really the proper User-ID

7. Compare your Cookie prefix names in RP and in phpbb3. In my phpbb3 installation, they were different then the recommendation with RP. Change it so that they are the same, otherwise global login does not work.

Now step 4 and step 5 are tricky.

@ step 4 Question:

Whe I import into phpbb3, the converter adds many new usergroups to the default ones, since I have more usergroups as the standrd vb and phpbb3 settings. These additional usergroups can not be merged later on in ACP of phpbb3 as it is possible with vb3. But I can do this later on in the database.

Will this change later on after teh integration be a problem for the integration? Shall I do this usergroup merge maybe befor rerunning the Reviewpost installations script? Or will this mess-up everything?


@ step 5 question:

rerun photopost install using same prefix and database to integrate with phpbb3...

Which same prefix exactly?

I have for example for the old vb forum the databasename "141" and prefix of "vb_forum_"

For the phpbb3 installation, I have the same databasename "141" but a different prefix of "phpbb_forum_"

So what shall I do now?. I can not import vb3 into phpb3, when I have to use same prefixes. This would delete data during the import. So what kind of prefix of my example shall I use, when I rerun reviewpost installation?

Could you clarify this for me?

Thanks

[Chuck S]

Snoopy the steps are the same whether its any forum you switch from. The name of your forum importer would change surely yes. But thats about it everything else on that list is status quo to be successful. ------

a. your import your forum data to the new forum.

b. delete usergroups in your photopost product usergroups table.

c. reinstall the photopost application to integrate with the new forum/

thats the basic steps.

4. This is why you clear the photopost usergroups table. On your reinstall and integration into your new forum we grab all the phpbb3 usergroups and you set permissions accordingly

5. This is talking about your reviewpost database and table prefix. If you dont change any reviewpost database settings then it is simply saying your not going to delete your old reviewpost data. The install is essentially updating your reviewpost to the new integration urls etc etc.

Now if your saying you dont need to use the userfix script okay fine but I have not known an importer yet that does not change userids. Reason being if say in vb you have 2000 users and you have deleted 800 with only 1200 left the importer is not going to import data with grabs or holes its going to use the next available id. Now if phpbb3 doesnt then dont do that step fine.

[snoopy5]

Hi Chuck,

thanks for the info. I will update my old posting later on accordingly.

Originally Posted by Chuck S

...


4. This is why you clear the photopost usergroups table. On your reinstall and integration into your new forum we grab all the phpbb3 usergroups and you set permissions accordingly...

o.k., but what happens if I merge 2 or 3 usergroups in the phpbb3 database with phpmyadmin after I reintegrated with RP?

In vb3 this was not a problem, because I could do it in the ACP of vb and then just refreshed in ACP of RP the usergroups.

But since phpbb3 has no option in ACP for this, I need to do it directly in the database with mysql commands. Will this have a negative consequence on RP usergroups if I hit then "refresh" in the RP ACP?

Originally Posted by Chuck S

..
but I have not known an importer yet that does not change userids. Reason being if say in vb you have 2000 users and you have deleted 800 with only 1200 left the importer is not going to import data with grabs or holes its going to use the next available id. ...

I have not thought about this scenario. Thanks for the heads up. So I will definetly use the script in step 6

I keep you updated...

[Chuck S]

You can always refresh usergroups from phpbb3 just like you did with vb3 our code is the same. I cant speak about the forum functionalities.

Yeah just cause you dont see any userids changed off hand does not mean there arent a few. I mean even vb's impex importer would not change userids if there are no deleted rows.

[snoopy5]

o.k., i have processed now all the 6 steps one after the other. It is looking fine as far as I can see.

There was an issue with cookies. The cookie prefix in my phpbb3 installation is a differnt one the the one you are recommending in the ACP of RP. My is "phpbb3_kvnma", the in RP recommende one was differnt.

I have looked up mine in the ACP of phpbb3 in the "general" Tab at the lower left hand buttom "server configuration/Cookies"

So this accepts now my username and password on all parts of my site without logging in again.

I still have to test a little bit, whether everything is fine, but as far as I can see, it was a really easy walk to exchange vb3 with phpbb3 while staying integrated with RP.

Really Cool...

I will later on summarize all steps and correct my mistakes in the description above so that we have here a good manual for phpbb3 switcher to reduce the fear of switching

I am pretty sure that after this big vb-announcemnet desaster, many vb3 users will consider to switch to either phpbb3 or to IPB (which is a really nice software and significant cheaper than vb4)

Did I say already really cool?

[Chuck S]

phpbb3 does not have a cookie prefix.

phpbb3 has a cookie name hense on step 4 of the install where you select your integration and input forum details we have an option that states to enter your smf wowbb or phpbb3 cookie name. You enter

phpbb3_kvnma

[snoopy5]

I updated the quote box in my posting #7 above. All this can be done in the same way also with integration with Photopost Pro and Classifieds. Here is the description:

1. upgrade Reviewpost if not using the latest

2. & 3. install phpbb3 & convert at the same time old vb3 forum

(use "vb3 converter" of the phpbb3 site to import old vb3 forum into new phpbb3 -> step 2 & step 3 have to be done simultaniously)

4. empty the pp_usergroups table in your photopost database (with phpmyadmin) so on next step your phpbb3 usergroups will get imported

5. Upload again the file "install.php" on your server. Rerun photopost install like a fresh install using same prefix and databasename of the old Reviewpost installation. With this step you integrate now with phpbb3. This will not delete data. There will be errors because it can not overwrite the data, ignore them. It will only write data in the empty pp_usergroups table of step #4.

6. Upload the userfix script from here on your server in the RP root directory and run it through your browser. This script makes sure, that all users have really the proper User-ID

7. Compare your Cookie prefix names in RP and in phpbb3. Change it so that they are the same, otherwise global login does not work.

[snoopy5]

I assume that the procedure is the same also for Photopost.

But what kind of steps do I have to take, if I have a vb3 board integrated with all 3 at the same time (Photopost Pro, Reviewpost and Classifieds)?

In which order do I what?

[Chuck S]

The steps are the same for any of our products as you just did for reviewpost.

[SHalliday]

This is great news for those of us considering migrating from vBulletin to a different forums software. I was going to post this very question then I found this thread. Really nice to see that there is a smooth migration path for all Photopost products! Thanks

snoopy5 hope you can keep us posted as to how your migration goes for the Photopost Pro.

[Chuck S]

well the migration as always depends on the ability of the forum you are considering switching to to have an importer to import the content from your old forum. remember when you integrate with a forum you integrate with those users so they exist externally outside photopost so where you switch integrations you need to get those users into the new forum correctly for things to work. Otherwise essentially all your doing with our products is a basic reinstall.

[snoopy5]

I forgot one thing: As a kind of step #8 at the end:

Since a switch from vb to phpbb3 will result in different usergroups within phpbb3, they do not match anymore to the old settings in the ACP of RP, PP, CL. So you should make sure to refresh the usergroup within the RP, PP, CL ACP and check the usergroup rights there and save it.

If you forget this step (I made this mistake), you might be able to login, but you most likely can not upload products/ photos/ads, since the usergroup for this username has no settings/wrong settings within the ACP yet

[Chuck S]

Yes do not forget STEP 4