Fixed Importing from IPB

[nrep]

I'm converting some boards over from IPB 3.4, but when I've run test imports I've noticed that some deleted threads (in IPB) are visible in Xenforo.

I've checked out the raw data and it seems to be because there are so many topic/post status types - for example: hidden, unapproved, deleted - and the meanings of these have changed over the last few product versions.

It appears that XF is showing "hidden" posts as soft deleted (correct) but that "deleted" posts are being imported as visible - this is where approved=2 in the topics table. In IPB, delete posts are automatically removed after a certain time, but where they are in this limbo they should really be marked as deleted. Similar situations apply to forum posts marked as deleted.

I can manually run some queries to update these idiosyncrasies before importing, but it would be useful to have the importer cater for it.

I'm so glad I'm moving these boards over to XF, the deleted/unapproved/hidden structure is so unnecessarily complex and illogical!

 

[Claudio]

That's right. In case of soft deleted threads XenForo imports them as Guests threads/posts

 

[Mike]

If I could get a dump of a database with these in it, that would be ideal. My test database don't have any values beyond what we handle (for topics.approved and posts.queued).

You've mentioned topics.approved=2 as new, but what value are you suggesting from posts.queued should be deleted? (2 is already imported as deleted.)

 

[nrep]

My DB dump for that forum is huge (and currently posting from mobile broadband), so I can't send anything over yet - but I'll do what I can.

As an example, a thread that I've imported which has topics.approved=2 and a single post in it with posts.queued=0 appears as visible in XF, but appears as deleted in IPB.

 

[Mike]

That's the topics.approved field difference though. The thread itself is deleted, not the post within (XF handles this similarly).

You mentioned "Similar situations apply to forum posts marked as deleted", so I'm assuming you ran into a case where a post that was deleted re-appeared? (A post only, not the thread it was within.)

 

[nrep]

Yes, that's correct - I'll send an SQL dump over once my broadband connection is up and running (currently on EE mobile Wifi until my phoneline is fixed).

I'll pare the forum content down to just a sample of the problematic threads.

 

[nrep]

I have just done a fresh IPB 3.4 install, made a few posts to it and then imported to XF. It seems to show IPB's hidden thread/posts are shown as deleted in XF, IPB's deleted posts are shown as visible in XF.

If you do a fresh install of IPB, make some test threads and posts then delete them, you can replicate this for an import. If you need a DB dump instead, drop me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll mail it over (it's a DB with only 4 threads).

 

[nrep]

Hi Mike, do you need the DB dump still or is the post above enough info? My landline is up and running again, so I can now send large files.

 

[Mike]

Aside from the topics.approved = -1 changed, posts.queued = 3 is now imported as soft-deleted as well.

 

[Claudio]

Aside from the topics.approved = -1 changed, posts.queued = 3 is now imported as soft-deleted as well.

Hi Mike,

I downloaded XF 1.2.5 today to import an IPB database and again, soft deleted threads are displayed as guests threads.

 

[Mike]

I know you mentioned that earlier in this thread, but as far as I can tell, that has nothing to do with this bug report. This bug report referred to the thread and message states, not the ownership.

If you feel what you're reporting is a bug, you should make a new bug report and show screenshots and (ideally) the data to show what specifically wasn't imported as expected.

 

[Claudio]

I know you mentioned that earlier in this thread, but as far as I can tell, that has nothing to do with this bug report. This bug report referred to the thread and message states, not the ownership.

If you feel what you're reporting is a bug, you should make a new bug report and show screenshots and (ideally) the data to show what specifically wasn't imported as expected.

Thanks Mike, I'll