Switching from VB (currently 5.5)

C

ck2020

Member
We are considering moving from VBulletin to XenForo and had a couple of questions we were hoping to get answered.

We used to be on VB 3.8.7 for many years just fine and then around 12/1 we decided to upgrade to current (5.5). In order to do that we first had to upgrade to a version of 4.x which we did. During the upgrade, among other things it messed up our database collation where half of the tables are utf8_unicode_ci and the other half is latin1_swedish_ci. So throughout posts there ate funk symbols and characters which is annoying! My plan was to run their scripts to convert all tables and fields to utf8 but now that we are considering the change, we are not sure we still need to or should mes with it.

My questions are:

1) Since there is no importer from vb5 to xenf, we would have to use our data from 12/1 (mysql back up). Is there any way to also get all of December's posts in the new xenforum install or are they just lost? (I would also assume using that old db, we would not run into the funky characters issue?)

2) Although I have a good share of web dev / programming experience, I am wondering if its not better to have a xenforum expert do the change for us. I saw someone saying there are techs who would do it for nominal fees. Anyone official for the site who does it or do we just have to find someone on our own and take our chances? About how much would it cost?

I think that's it for now, thanks in advance!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Brogan said:
The latest importer for XF2 will import from VB5.

It may be possible to correct any mangled post content using this add-on: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/post-content-find-replace.5748/

It depends how bad things are though and whether there are strings which can be searched and replaced.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply Brogan!

So if we switch and we import, I guess it doesn't matter that our current DB has half of one type of collation and half of another since with Xenforo it will be a completely new database?

Just making sure I am thinking about that the correct way. If so, then it may be just the posts from December that have funky characters sprinkled in and we can try that addon to fix.

Users, logins and all posts import fine?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Yes, XF will have a completely separate DB and import from the VB DB into it.

All standard content will import, such as forums, members, threads, posts, PMs, etc.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Brogan said:
Yes, XF will have a completely separate DB and import from the VB DB into it.

All standard content will import, such as forums, members, threads, posts, PMs, etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the quick reply!

Dont know if this is possible with XF or any forum software for that matter but just wondering. After the content is imported, is there a way to search through the threads by keywords in the subject (for example) and then when it displays the list of topics, somehow move all the posts to a different forum?

And last question for now, can you set up a specific forum where users can create posts that do not allow replies? Kind of like read only journals or blogs? The post author can reply and keep adding on but no one else can.

Thanks again!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ck2020 said:
And last question for now, can you set up a specific forum where users can create posts that do not allow replies? Kind of like read only journals or blogs? The post author can reply and keep adding on but no one else can.
Click to expand...

My add-on found here can do this, but be sure to read the last feature listed( just above the screenshots) to see if that is what you are looking for.

Welcome to XenForo, :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Well, we bought it, and looking forward to installing and getting it set up!

I will probably need to post future questions under the account username but one more on this one before I go.

On a fresh install where we plan on importing the vb data, should I just do 2.1? or do the latest with patch? is 2.1 the latest stable version?

any advice is appreciated, thanks!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I had that vBulletin odd character issue and managed to fix it but had to do it one by one eg search and replace all instances of one then do the next

But it only took about half an hour at most
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Mr Lucky said:
I had that vBulletin odd character issue and managed to fix it but had to do it one by one eg search and replace all instances of one then do the next

But it only took about half an hour at most
Click to expand...
Thanks! Did you use the post content replace addon mentioned by Brogan above to do it?

Trying to figure out which version to install currently.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ck2020 said:
Thanks! Did you use the post content replace addon mentioned by Brogan above to do it?

Trying to figure out which version to install currently.
Click to expand...
I can’t remember if I used that or database find/replace in phpmyadmin

I do know I used the search replace add on to fix all the vBulletin YouTube embeds
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Brogan said:
The latest version available is stable and the one you should install - 2.1.6 patch 1.
Click to expand...
Thanks Brogan!

And I guess I can still use this user account (ck2020) on the forums here since I found where I could add users that get access...

I assumed when I got to the import part of this that it would ask for an .sql file but in reading more I see you just need to give db connection info or it may even find a config file so no need to export or d/l my db. Dont know if it matters but something strange on that part. When trying to export through phpmyadmin I keep getting network errors around 4.4GB and then it fails. I downloaded a backup of the db directly through cpanel and its only 2.9GB, strange? Opening the db up the largest table in there is like 1.6GB which is vb_filedata. In researching more I guess we should have switched the attachments and files to the filesystem instead of keeping them in the db. Should I go through that process first of moving those files to the filesystem before importing into XF?

Also it mentions in installation to have an empty DB for the install. So do I need to go into phpmyadmin and create a new DB, name it something before running the /install?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Lawrence said:
My add-on found here can do this, but be sure to read the last feature listed( just above the screenshots) to see if that is what you are looking for.

Welcome to XenForo, :)
Click to expand...
Sorry just now getting back to this. So in your addon, where you say:

"...Reply to threads by others will be very useful for forums that cater to writers. It is also handy for sponsors, or for members wanting to sell services or items, and members interested in their service can contact them privately by conversation. ..."

So for a specific forum, for example I would be able to set "reply to others threads" to "no" and then only the author could post and also reply to their thread but no one else could reply? Just making sure I am understanding it right. Thanks again!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ck2020 said:
Sorry just now getting back to this. So in your addon, where you say:

"...Reply to threads by others will be very useful for forums that cater to writers. It is also handy for sponsors, or for members wanting to sell services or items, and members interested in their service can contact them privately by conversation. ..."

So for a specific forum, for example I would be able to set "reply to others threads" to "no" and then only the author could post and also reply to their thread but no one else could reply? Just making sure I am understanding it right. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Hi, and welcome to XenForo. That's correct, only the thread starter can reply to their own threads when that permission is set to No.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Lawrence said:
Hi, and welcome to XenForo. That's correct, only the thread starter can reply to their own threads when that permission is set to No.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the delay, thanks for the reply! I plan on buying this and installing it sometime soon to give it a try!

Saying i dont have permission to buy. Do I have to register on the eaeaddons forums too?
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote

Similar threads

Nordgard
  • Question Question
XF 2.2 Switching from vBulletin and will import database
Replies
1
Views
508
Paul B
P
C
  • Question Question
XF 2.1 New install 2.1.6 and importing from VB 5.5
Replies
13
Views
556
Paul B
P
Supergirl
  • Question Question
Switching from vB
Replies
7
Views
649
borbole
B
O
  • Question Question
Highly considering switching from Vb 4.2
Replies
5
Views
717
CFodder
CFodder
S
  • Question Question
Thinking about switching from vB4
Replies
10
Views
970
+DS_DV+
+DS_DV+
Back
Top Bottom