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Can you add PHPBB attachment support to Vanilla Porter? (I'll pay you)

Homebrew_KoreaHomebrew_Korea New
edited October 2011 in Vanilla 2.0 - 2.8
I want to export my PHPBB database and move over to Vanilla Forums, but I have a few hundred attachments that must come along on the move. With the current version of Vanilla Porter, exporting PHPBB attachments does not work.

I have contacted gConverter and they will export my database (attachments and all) and move it to Vanilla for $65. I have also contacted the Vanilla Forum services who say they can do it as well, but have not replied back with a price.

While $65 seems like a decent deal, I would rather pay $65 and have an updated Vanilla Porter that everyone can use for free.

My question to you, is there anyone out there that has the ability, time, desire to update Vanilla Porter to seamlessly import PHPBB attachments into Vanilla. I will gladly pay you the $65 instead of gConverter as long as the end program is free for everyone to use.

If this isn't do able (I realize $65 isn't very much money), does anyone have any experience with gConverter? Are they professional? Did you have any problems? Do you feel safe handing them a copy of your database?

Cheers
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Comments

  • CooperCooper
    edited October 2011
    That would be great to have a free phpbb to Vanilla importer with all features such as attachment importer, but as far as I understand this is a hard work, this should import from any phpbb versions to any Vanilla version, so as you understand they have to create lots of combinations for this converter, and keep update for each phpbb and Vanilla release, so this is а tremendous work and this takes hundreds of dollars not $65.
    There is one important thing as well, I don't think that free converter will provide professional support like it's doing gConverter, you'll have to do whole work and fix all issues yourself.
    Yes I know gConverter guys, they converted my friend's WoWBB to xenForo, that was perfect done, you can see the recent work of this guys here http://gconverter.com/portfolio/, they have a lots of customers, lots of good feedback and they have converted thousand CMS and Forums, so I don't think that there is any problem with the feeling safe handing them a copy of your database or something else.
  • ToddTodd Vanilla Staff
    The phpbb3 porter exports the attachments table so that it is ready to use with Vanilla. In order to complete the process you need to do the following:

    1. Make sure the FileUpload plugin is enabled before doing the import.
    2. Do the import.
    3. Copy your phpbb attachments to /uploads/FileUpload.
  • Homebrew_KoreaHomebrew_Korea New
    This does not work for me.

    The plugin was enabled but that directory didn't exist so I created it and copied all the files from /phpbbboad/files to /vanillaboard/uploads/FileUpload. The files coming from phpbb have file names like this "1528_3c56af0366b8bd1d3e4310b5da2184ad", instead of the original names. Most of my attachments are images and if I download the above example, I can open it without issue and see the image.

    In the Vanilla Board, posts which have attachments still have the bbcode [attachment=0]Homer.jpg[/attachment], but no file is actually displayed or available. Do I need to tell the FileUpload plugin to process the files that I copied in the /uploads/FileUpload directory?

    Cheers.

  • x00x00 MVP
    edited October 2011
    Then you need to know the hash algorithm the phpbb uses, then apply that to the original file names

    Why people still allow uploads to their site in this day an age, what with all the file sharing sites about is a bit beyond me.

    grep is your friend.

  • camocamo New
    edited October 2011
    @xOO probably because they dont ever want to see this all over their forum....

    image

    Free file hosts are unreliable and can delete images for whatever reason. If the images are on YOUR database, they are always going to be there, unless YOU delete them.
    Server space/bandwidth is not as costly as it once was.
  • x00x00 MVP
    You don't have to uses unregistered services, just tell them to use dropbox. You can even handle the API yourself, I've done that for wordpress.

    Bandwidth cost is relative. Many people uses CDS for their site, you can even use dropbox as a CDS. It speeds up the loading considerably. Why pay for what you don't need?

    grep is your friend.

  • Homebrew_KoreaHomebrew_Korea New
    Exactly....I want to have all the images that people upload on hand and not have to worry about the example above.

    I will try have a search around the net to try and convert the file names to the proper name.

    Thanks!
  • Homebrew_KoreaHomebrew_Korea New
    So I tried a few files before figuring out how to convert all the file names, and it doesn't work. I added the file with the proper filename to the FileUpload dir, but no go. In the post it just has the bbcode, but no image. For example, [attachment=0]IMG_0965.jpg[/attachment]. Maybe this is the problem?

    Another thought, do I need to change the permissions on the files once I upload them to the directory? They are 644 now.

    Thanks again for the help!

    Cheers.
  • x00x00 MVP
    yes that is the problem, you need filter the bbcode, you might do this in plugin. You could use DiscussionController_BeforeCommentDisplay_Handler and PostController_BeforeCommentDisplay_Handler.


    bbcode is not standardised, which is why I wouldn't recommend it, if you are starting from scratch.

    grep is your friend.

  • Homebrew_KoreaHomebrew_Korea New
    Ya, unfortunately that is well beyond my capability. :(

    Looks like I might be paying that $65.
  • x00x00 MVP
    I'll do it for you. send me a pm and we will discuss.

    grep is your friend.

  • unixherounixhero ✭

    Yes! Thanks for describing how to import phpBB3 attachments. I had been trying to do that for a little while. Enabling FileUpload and putting the old attachments in the /uploads/FileUpload did indeed work. That means my migration to Vanilla looks like to be done! =)

  • tom762tom762 New

    @Todd said:
    The phpbb3 porter exports the attachments table so that it is ready to use with Vanilla. In order to complete the process you need to do the following:

    1. Make sure the FileUpload plugin is enabled before doing the import.
    2. Do the import.
    3. Copy your phpbb attachments to /uploads/FileUpload.

    I've done all 3, but no attachments (images) are shown. There are working links, but display only as a white sheet icon. When clicked (i.e. 1996_ddf13163c0ebb022a4c246ab8b11eb57), it tries to download itself. At mouse-over, correct filenames are shown (i.e. rng3.jpg).

    What am I doing wrong?

  • peregrineperegrine MVP

    @tom762

    The symptoms you express might be path issues.

    Use your webbrowser tools - to see if it pointing to the right path - for the file - or do you see 404 errors - google chrome is the easy pretty easy to see results of lost images and it will show you the path it is trying to use.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • tom762tom762 New
    edited May 2013

    @peregrine

    No, paths seem ok. When I click on the link, it attempts to download the file. So the file is there, it just doesn't show or open as a .jpg. No 404 errors.

    My problem sounds exactly like @Homebrew_Korea explained:

    @Homebrew_Korea said:
    This does not work for me.

    The plugin was enabled but that directory didn't exist so I created it and copied all the files from /phpbbboad/files to /vanillaboard/uploads/FileUpload. The files coming from phpbb have file names like this "1528_3c56af0366b8bd1d3e4310b5da2184ad", instead of the original names. Most of my attachments are images and if I download the above example, I can open it without issue and see the image.

    In the Vanilla Board, posts which have attachments still have the bbcode [attachment=0]Homer.jpg[/attachment], but no file is actually displayed or available. Do I need to tell the FileUpload plugin to process the files that I copied in the /uploads/FileUpload directory?

    Cheers.

    The only difference from Homebrew_Korea is that when I download the file, I can't open it as a .jpg file.

    It looks as if vanilla can't "interpret" the file or something. Are imported attachments somehow "encoded" or just filenames changed?

  • tom762tom762 New

    Update: when I click on the attachment in Chrome it opens the file as an image, but only about upper 10% of the file, the rest looks garbage. But still in the post itself, no image is displayed. Also, if I try to download this "image", it is saved as a .txt file?!

  • x00x00 MVP
    edited May 2013

    are these files on disk, becuase vanilla couldn't have possibly have corrupted them

    the simplest solution would to be route them through the old phpbb forum, just deny access to all other areas.

    grep is your friend.

  • tom762tom762 New

    These files are on disk, actually two copies of each. At the moment, both forums - PhpBB and Vanilla are installed on the same server. One copy of the files is in /vanilla2/uploads/FileUpload, other in /forum/files.

    I don't know how to route files through phpbb?

  • x00x00 MVP

    if you have stuff like [attachment=0]Homer.jpg[/attachment], you are going to search with using pastern matching and replace it with the attachment processing url of phpBB, or create a plugin that processes the shortcode.

    What you could do is write a script that loops through the files the using the processing script and then save the processed images to uploads.

    If you are not technically minded I would cut your losses.

    grep is your friend.

  • tom762tom762 New

    Here's one line from the phpbb export dump if it helps: "discussion",10510,"FileUpload/1996_ddf13163c0ebb022a4c246ab8b11eb57","2013-05-19 00:06:16","local",14481,"1704231_original.jpg","image/jpeg",17131

    I'm really not a coder so I have no idea where to start with the script or where to put it.

    BUT, I'm in a situation, where that might not be necessary. Obviously the new Vanilla forum isn't live yet and missing images are still in the test version. That means when I make the actual transition, I'll need to export from PhpBB one more time and I can search/replace the export file while offline. However, I'd prefer if files wouldn't be linked to the old forum's directory. Can this be done?

    fyi: I have 20.000+ attachments, taking about 4GB.

    btw: This community support here is light years ahead of phpbb. :)

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