export posts to rtf, html or pdf

[DWFII]

Does Xenforo have a utility to export all the posts in a particular topic/forum to rich text format or html or pdf?

I have a very old discus board that has been up and running for 15 years. The mission statement is to collect, "preserve and protect" the information posted on the board. On the discus board the posts are stored in html format, making access easy should the board go down or become so obsolete that it needs to be upgraded (like right now).

If Xenforo doesn't have this ability. Could an add-on be written? Should it? I mean does anyone else see the usefulness of such an app?

 

[Paul B]

Click the #1 on your post and there is the option to select PDF Online.

Click on the bubble icon to see all options available.

 

[DWFII]

Click the #1 on your post and there is the option to select PDF Online.

Click on the bubble icon to see all options available.

Thank you. Two questions...

First, I tried that and it is either not working or it is extremely slow. Or maybe I'm missing something. Not a viable solution in any context at this rate.

Second, it appears to be a "one post at a time" thing...is that correct? I really would prefer that the exporter were capable of doing a whole topic at a time.

Seems to me that an add-on, springboarding off the code for importing posts from one forum format to another, would be a natural. But then I'm not a developer.

PS...PDF Online just finished:

Unable to convert URL. Error message:Operation timed out during file conversion
URL: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/export-posts-to-rtf-html-or-pdf.47956/#.UV8Ou6bMLUg.pdfonline

 

[Luke F]

You could take one of the sidemap addons, turn pages per thread (and php memory limit) to some massive value, then blast each entry though http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/

 

[DWFII]

Click the #1 on your post and there is the option to select PDF Online.

Click on the bubble icon to see all options available.

An update...

I clicked on the permalink number and selected pdfmyurl.

In mere seconds it converted the whole topic to pdf and downloaded it into a pdf reader (I could have saved it as well).

I tried another topic with 169 posts and again the whole lot of them were converted to pdf pdq.

This might be what I was looking for...or close enough for government work.

Dern, my mistake. pdfmyurl only converted the posts on one page, not the whole topic.

[sigh]

 

[feldon30]

I would brush up on MySQL. Once your forum posts are in a MySQL database, they can be converted from one forum to another, or exported as HTML, PDF, etc. XenForo, vBulletin, phpBB, etc. all use MySQL with just differences in the columns and arrangement. I would think storing thousands of topics as HTML files would be very unwieldy for searching and reading.

 

[DWFII]

I would brush up on MySQL. Once your forum posts are in a MySQL database, they can be converted from one forum to another, or exported as HTML, PDF, etc. XenForo, vBulletin, phpBB, etc. all use MySQL with just differences in the columns and arrangement. I would think storing thousands of topics as HTML files would be very unwieldy for searching and reading.

Tell me more about this. I know that all these forum softwares use mySQL databases.

My present software (Discusware) does as well, but not for posts, I don't believe. That said I am aware that the server (my server) hosts the MySQL database and it also gives me an interface to access it. But while there is an export utility connected with that interface, I've yet to see an option to export to html or pdf.

Is there a simple MySQL interface, for non-server use, in which the exported database could be opened and accesses and then converted to pdf, etc.?

 

[Reeve of Shinra]

Your taking a shotgun to a tennis match....

Is the "Save as PDF" option for you or for the members?

(a) If its for you, as the site owner/admin, then saving individual threads to PDF becomes a problem of scale. If you have even a 1k topics, imagine how long it would take to go through them one by one and saving them for future use?

(b) If its an option you want to give to your members .... tell them to download PDFCreator at sourceforge. Its open source and free to use. It works amazingly well.

 

[Morgain]

What do I do after I click
Thread: export posts to rtf, html or pdf

as nothing seems to happen.

 

[Sheldon]

What do I do after I click
Thread: export posts to rtf, html or pdf

as nothing seems to happen.

You have Brogan ignored apparently.

Click the #1 on your post and there is the option to select PDF Online.

Click on the bubble icon to see all options available.

 

[Andrej]

What do I do after I click
Thread: export posts to rtf, html or pdf

as nothing seems to happen.

Click the #1 on your post and there is the option to select PDF Online.

Click on the bubble icon to see all options available.

 

[DWFII]

You have Brogan ignored apparently.

If this is addressed to me...as the quote from Brogan seems to imply...read post #3 and #5.

Your taking a shotgun to a tennis match....

Is the "Save as PDF" option for you or for the members?

For admin and for the sponsoring organization's archiving purposes.

(a) If its for you, as the site owner/admin, then saving individual threads to PDF becomes a problem of scale. If you have even a 1k topics, imagine how long it would take to go through them one by one and saving them for future use?

Way too long...which is why I asked if there was an export function. And why I asked, in post #1, "Does Xenforo have a utility to export all the posts in a particular topic/forum to rich text format or html or pdf?"

 

[Sheldon]

If this is addressed to me...as the quote from Brogan seems to imply...read post #3 and #5.

It has zero to do with you.

Morgain asked a question, that is why I replied with the answer and the quote.

 

[DWFII]

It has zero to do with you.

Morgain asked a question, that is why I replied with the answer and the quote.

Thanks...No worries.

 

[Morgain]

Click the #1 on your post and there is the option to select PDF Online.

Click on the bubble icon to see all options available.

I don't see PDF Online.
I don't see any bubble icon.

 

[Paul B]

 

[Morgain]

Thanks Brogan - I assumed 'bubble icon' was like the thread speech bubble icon as it's blue and brown.

The pdfmyurl option is more direct as it immediately created a pdf in my trusty Foxit reader for pdfs.
pdfonline was asking me to get an additional software.

This could be neat for quickly creating guides to download.

 

[Morgain]

hmm snag - it creates a pdf of the page as if I'm Unreg even though I'm logged in
tested here and on my HM site.

 

[feldon30]

Is there a simple MySQL interface, for non-server use, in which the exported database could be opened and accesses and then converted to pdf, etc.?

Again I don't want to give you something more complex than you actually need. If you just want to export PDFs of a few threads, then use the suggestions above.

If you are, however, wanting to be able to fully grasp all the data behind your forum then a tool like phpMyAdmin or MySQL Workbench would let you get down and dirty with your data. We're talking advanced tools that are not for the feint of heart. You'll need to learn a lot to really grasp what's going on here! This is like the "Expert" button on your remote control. Use it wisely.

 

[Gopala Subramanium]

Click the #1 on your post and there is the option to select PDF Online.

Click on the bubble icon to see all options available.

Sir, I tried this option today. I have attached the output. You can see and evaluate the difference in the outputs yourself - between PrintFriendly [Your suggested way] and Eco Print Add-on... I would really appreciate if you see it and let me know your views...