XF 1.3 Problems with user group import from phpBB3

Neil E.

Active member
All user groups came in with the import except for my "paid members". I don't have any idea what would cause this. From what I have read, it looks like XF only has 4 groups by default (unregistered, registered, moderating and administrative). It also appers that XF puts every user in the registered group by default.

My only thought at the moment is to redo the import and see what happens.
 
The importer will attempt to map user groups wherever possible.

It also appers that XF puts every user in the registered group by default.
That is the recommended way of setting up the user groups and permissions.
See the link in my signature for an explanation.
 
From your guidelines: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/importing-guidelines.25325/
Once you have done the import, if you wish to redo it, simply drop all of the tables from the database and import the clean master backup.
Then delete the attachments and avatar directories from the data directory and the attachments directory from the internal_data directory.
If you have installed any add-ons and want to remove them, simply delete the files from the server.
Your installation will then be as it was prior to importing and the import process can be started again.

When I look at the tables using phpMyAdmin, there doesn't seem to be any way to delete them. There is a delete for individual rows once a table has been opened. In your guide it says to "drop all of the tables", does this mean delete?

tables.webp

As to "import the clean master backup" which file is actually used? There were 2 files created when backing up with phpMyAdmin.

backup.webp
 
Yes, drop means delete.
There is usually an option to select all.

The .gz file is a zipped version of the .sql backup.
You can use either.
 
Thanks Brogan. I'm not very familiar with phpMyAdmin. I just needed to use the database tab to access the table list with the "select all" option. Once there it was easy. Next it was the import tab and loading the backup file.
 
OK, I went through the whole import process again and the importer still missed my "paid members" usergroup.

Also had these errors when viewing the forum:

Template Errors: forum_view
  1. Argument 1 passed to XenForo_Template_Helper_Core::helperUserNameHtml() must be an array, null given in /home/odscon2/.xenforotest/library/XenForo/Template/Helper/Core.php, line 1658:
    1657: <div class="pageNavLinkGroup afterDiscussionListHandle">
    1658: <div class="linkGroup">
    1659: ';
  2. Argument 1 passed to XenForo_Template_Helper_Core::getUserHref() must be an array, null given, called in /home/odscon2/.xenforotest/library/XenForo/Template/Helper/Core.php on line 1674 and defined in /home/odscon2/.xenforotest/library/XenForo/Template/Helper/Core.php, line 1559:
    1558: <div class="controlGroup">
    1559: <label for="ctrl_direction">' . 'Order threads in' . ':</label>
    1560: <select name="direction" id="ctrl_direction" class="textCtrl">
I have no template modifications for forum_view.
Everything else functions as expected.
The template error message was gone after navigating to a post, maybe it was an initial loading event.
 
What's the ID of that group? PhpBB appears to have 6 default groups and we map them to stock ones.

As for that error, if you haven't please rebuild user caches. It's a weird error though. Not one I've seen from an import.
 
After redoing the import I only rebuilt the search cache. I have rebuilt the user cache now.

My user group layout in phpBB3 is different than a stock forum. XF must map more than the 6 stock phpBB groups because it brought in most of my user defined groups. It only dropped the paid members group (the important one).

Some years ago, I set phpBB3 up to NOT use the standard registered users group. My thinking at the time was due to problems with spammers getting past the registration process when we were on phpBB2. I decided registered users would have no permissions and would only gain permissions when moved into a user defined group. Registered users basically just wait for approval. Some time after this I went to manual admin approval only.

The actual number of users is correct. phpBB = 2143, XF = 2144 (extra is likely the super admin). I could manually promote the 151 members into a new group in XF and give them suitable permissions.

phpBB3 groups.webpXF groups.webp
 
Groups with IDs 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 will be mapped to existing groups in XF. They're assumed to be the standard groups in phpBB and this is the first I've heard of that not being the case.

Depending on the ID of the group, you may find the users are in another group that you can identify. Otherwise you'd need to modify the importer to adjust for your group IDs or simply deal with changing the users after the fact.
 
From the phpBB3_user_group table:

group_id 1 = 1 user
group_id 2 = 2 users
group_id 3 = 151 users = paid members odsc
group_id 396 = 11 users = executive odsc
group_id 3954 = 16 users = corporate members odsc
group_id 10543 = 1 user
group_id 10544 = ~2097 users
group_id 10545 = 1 user
group_id 10546 = 2 users
group_id 10547 = 1 user
group_id 10548 = 51 users
etc.

Interesting that XF missed the paid members group as they are in group_id 3

I think Melbo has it right.
 
The import map is:
1 - guests, to the XF guest group
2 - registered users, to the XF registered group
3 - coppa users, to the XF registered group (converted to moderated users later)
4 - super moderators, a new group is created
5 - admins, to the XF admin group
6 - bots, to the XF guest group

So group 3 is the problem there. These users should have a user state that isn't "valid" which is an issue, though easy to update with a query. If that's the case, you should be able to identify them with batch update users (user state "Awaiting moderation") and adjust the groups. (The state would then need to be modified via a query directly, but we'll come to that if you can identify the users like that.)
 
I couldn't figure how to identify the users, but i can manually promote them. It's early in the year and only a few have renewed their memberships so it's not that many to handle manually. I'm more concerned about what this means:

Template Errors: forum_view
  1. Argument 1 passed to XenForo_Template_Helper_Core::helperUserNameHtml() must be an array, null given in /home/odscon2/.xenforotest/library/XenForo/Template/Helper/Core.php, line 1658:
    1657: <div class="pageNavLinkGroup afterDiscussionListHandle">
    1658: <div class="linkGroup">
    1659: ';
  2. Argument 1 passed to XenForo_Template_Helper_Core::getUserHref() must be an array, null given, called in /home/odscon2/.xenforotest/library/XenForo/Template/Helper/Core.php on line 1674 and defined in /home/odscon2/.xenforotest/library/XenForo/Template/Helper/Core.php, line 1559:
    1558: <div class="controlGroup">
    1559: <label for="ctrl_direction">' . 'Order threads in' . ':</label>
    1560: <select name="direction" id="ctrl_direction" class="textCtrl">
It only shows up when looking at the forum view for my "club executives" forum. The only thing I can find that looks suspicious is the node tree
permissions column. What is the coloured area meant to indicate?

Node Tree.webp
 
The color indicates there are permissions customized there.

I can look into the template error, but I'd need ACP access and to be able to see it in person. Please submit a ticket with these details if you're interested.
 
Further testing shows that this relates to subforums that I had parked inside our Executive Forum on phpBB3. Since the Executive Forum was already hidden, this was a simple way to hide corporate sponsor forums when they were no longer paid up . Once "display in the node list" is unchecked for all of them, these subforums are not visible and the template error goes away. At some point I may move these into a unique hidden category. I'm not going to worry about the errors for now.
 
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