Portal plugin with a vBadvanced CMPS importer?

[Ludachris]

I've done some searching on these questions already but couldn't find the answers, figured I'd ask. I'm considering a move from vB 3.8. I have a large number of CMPS static pages that I'd have to move over. It looks like XenPorta is one of the most popular portal plugins. Does anyone know of a portal plugin that could import CMPS pages so that I wouldn't have to spend hours copying and pasting content?

Also, my site has great rankings in Google. Would this be the best 301 redirect plugin to use to ensure I don't lose rankings:
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/redirection-scripts-for-vbulletin-3-x.264/

And one last thing. I have a hacked up version of OScommerce (I know, I know) that I'm using as a product comparison solution. Any suggestions on plugins that could act as a product catalog with ratings, reviews, etc? I found the following, but wondered if there were any other good options:
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/microcart.765/

I think that's all I have for now. The site I'd be migrating has 147k posts, 350k threads, and 3.5 million posts. I'm sure this is going to be a pain in the ass. But I don't know how much longer I can live on vB 3.8.

I have questions on individual plugins but I will try and ask the authors directly.

 

[Alpha1]

And one last thing. I have a hacked up version of OScommerce (I know, I know) that I'm using as a product comparison solution. Any suggestions on plugins that could act as a product catalog with ratings, reviews, etc?

Checkout www.xenreviews.com
Its still under development but may suit your needs.

 

[Ludachris]

I saw XenReviews, but figured it wasn't an option since it was still in development. Was hoping for something that was in production and widely used.

 

[Kevin]

For your static HTML pages, I'd recommend looking at using XF's pages to recreate them instead of trying to import them into some type 3rd-party portal app'. You'll find the XF pages are pretty handy and have some built-in features like navigation links, etc. generated from your pages.

EDIT: Here's a conversation about XF pages....

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/pages.489/

 

[Ludachris]

For your static HTML pages, I'd recommend looking at using XF's pages to recreate them instead of trying to import them into some type 3rd-party portal app'. You'll find the XF pages are pretty handy and have some built-in features like navigation links, etc. generated from your pages.

EDIT: Here's a conversation about XF pages....

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/pages.489/

Sounds like I'd have to manually copy and paste into the XF Pages though, right? Using core functionality instead of 3rd party plugins is always preferable. I just really hope I can find an importer. I guess I can always post a request for a developer to write one if it's not available.

 

[Kevin]

Sounds like I'd have to manually copy and paste into the XF Pages though, right? Using core functionality instead of 3rd party plugins is always preferable. I just really hope I can find an importer. I guess I can always post a request for a developer to write one if it's not available.

Unfortunately, yes, you'll either need to recreate them manually or get some type of importer done for them.

How many vBa CMPS static pages do you have currently?

 

[Ludachris]

Unfortunately, yes, you'll either need to recreate them manually or get some type of importer done for them.

How many vBa CMPS static pages do you have currently?

Somewhere around 25-30 that I can think of right off the top of my head. Guess it won't be that bad... the tough part is finding them all.

 

[Kevin]

Somewhere around 25-30 that I can think of right off the top of my head. Guess it won't be that bad... the tough part is finding them all.

For just a few dozen I would just recreate them; that way you can name & organize them to play nicely with the XF navigation builder and save the money of getting a custom importer done.

As for finding them... sorry, but it's been a bit since I've played with vB let alone vBa CMPS static pages. If you're stuck give me a heads up and I can take a look at my old vB install to point you in the direction of where they'd be stored in the DB (a DB query dump would likely be faster to deal with then going into them one-by-one).

 

[Ludachris]

For just a few dozen I would just recreate them; that way you can name & organize them to play nicely with the XF navigation builder and save the money of getting a custom importer done.

As for finding them... sorry, but it's been a bit since I've played with vB let alone vBa CMPS static pages. If you're stuck give me a heads up and I can take a look at my old vB install to point you in the direction of where they'd be stored in the DB (a DB query dump would likely be faster to deal with then going into them one-by-one).

I know where they're stored, it's just a matter of finding which ones are actually in use. Digging through the templates and the modules would probably end up taking longer than just viewing source on the front end and doing copy/paste that way. Thanks for taking the time to help out with the questions. Appreciated.

 

[mistypants]

I'm a former vBadvanced user myself. When I moved to Xenforo, I just copy and pasted all the code into Xenforo's built in pages system--it was around 35-40 pages at the time. It didn't take too long, though I suppose it depends on how your vBa pages are coded. If you stored them as PHP files on your server, vBa should display the path to the file somewhere. For our portal page, we use XenPorta.

Moving to Xenforo has removed a great deal of headaches with vB for us, so I wouldn't let the prospect of moving over all your pages deter you.

 

[Ludachris]

I'm a former vBadvanced user myself. When I moved to Xenforo, I just copy and pasted all the code into Xenforo's built in pages system--it was around 35-40 pages at the time. It didn't take too long, though I suppose it depends on how your vBa pages are coded. If you stored them as PHP files on your server, vBa should display the path to the file somewhere. For our portal page, we use XenPorta.

Moving to Xenforo has removed a great deal of headaches with vB for us, so I wouldn't let the prospect of moving over all your pages deter you.

This is actually one of the smaller challenges. Copying and pasting 30 or so static pages is going to be one of the easier parts of importing a fairly large vB database (147k users and 3.5 million posts), trying to identify all of the custom features and UI tweaks that are widely used, and implementing as many of them as possible at the time the site is relaunched in order to lessen the certain backlash that will come about from the change, now that's the tough part. I have recurring paid membership subscriptions (which as I understand, can be copied but will have to be restarted), iTrader ratings that are heavily used that need to be imported, vBadvanced Dynamics pages that are used for hundreds of active Classified posts that I'm not sure how to import, a Timeslips section that will have to be custom built, a video gallery (just a collection of Youtube embedded videos) that I haven't figured out what to do with in XF yet, and several other features that I need to find solutions for before I start the real migration planning.

This isn't going to be easy or fun but I'm pretty excited about the functionality of XF and the built-in modern responsive design for mobile users - which is one of the biggest factors in my decision to move to XF. I'm coming from a patched, heavily modified 3.8 installation, so this will be a major improvement all around. Hopefully whatever features I can't make available right away will be small time and will be overshadowed by all the new usability ad features that the site gains out of the box. We all know how users hate change though.