The Time Has Come to Make A Change

[Outdoorsman]

I have always known there would be a time that I would jump from VB to Xenforo and now I think that time has finally come. I have a few concerns (which are the reasons I have been holding off so long)

1.) Redirects. I use DBSEO and am very concerned about getting the redirects correct. I See that XF2 now has redirect import. Will this work for DBSEO?
If not, can you recommend someone that is good with rewrite rules that would be able to help me?
2.) I use DB Gallery. Is there an import add-on for this product to the Xenforo 2 Medial Gallery? I did check with DBT and they have no immediate plans of porting this mod.
3.) I also use DB Thanks/Like mod. Is there an import addon for this to Xenforo 2?

I would like to jump straight to Xenforo 2 but is there a good reason not to right away, ie; imports for media, etc.?

When I do purchase Xenforo I will be setting up a test site to make all the appropriate changes (styles, etc). The forum I am looking to switch is running Vbulletin 4.2.5 and is https://www.archerandangler.com

 

[Chris D]

Unfortunately I don’t think there’s any out of the box solutions for any of those things that you need to bring over.

That said, the redirects might be straight forward but that depends on a few factors.

For the other things, I don’t recall seeing any solutions for them.

@DragonByte Tech lives here now (almost literally) so Fillip might have some advice for you.

We also have a “Third party service offers” forum. You may find service providers there who can help.

 

[DragonByte Tech]

@DragonByte Tech lives here now (almost literally) so Fillip might have some advice for you.

Haha

Honestly, I have no experience with importing from vB4 and DBSEO, and I don't particularly feel confident enough with my .htaccess skills to be able to say I have a solution for the redirects. It also depends on each individual URL format. Perhaps after DBTech has moved to XF2 I'll feel a bit more confident in what's needed.

Gallery import is probably going to be a lot of work, so that's certainly not something I can just throw together.

Thanks / Likes could be easier depending on whether you have multiple button clicks per post from the same user, it might be a case of selecting from the old vB4 DB into the new XF2 DB, assuming you retain IDs on import, then rebuild the like counters in XF2.


Fillip

 

[Slavik]

DBtech thanks can be imported with a sql query, have done it multiple times.

 

[Kevin]

I have always known there would be a time that I would jump from VB to Xenforo and now I think that time has finally come. I have a few concerns (which are the reasons I have been holding off so long)

It'd be ugly (really, really ugly and expensive and would have to be experimented with as some redirects might not be available or lost) but there is a possible path. It's not recommended, at least I wouldn't unless there some some major compelling reason to not hold off any longer, but theoretically possible.

• Migrate to XF1 - be sure to retain IDs.
• Use XenGallery by SonnB to import DB Gallery (DB Gallery Pro for vB4 is listed as a supported import type, be sure to retain IDs if possible).
• Use Post Ratings by Luke to import DB Thanks/Likes (he gives instructions on how to do the import but the whole thread should be read for the various posts related to doing that, be sure to retain IDs if possible, looks like Slavik may be able to help out).
• Migrate from XenGallery to XenForo Media Gallery, be sure to retain IDs if possible.
• Migrate to XF2.
• Migrate from Post Ratings to either Post Reactions or Content Ratings (both offer imports from Post Ratings).
• Try the vB4 with DBSEO redirect rules @invictus did for his conversion. to redirect the old vB4 URLs to the XF2 URLs. You'll likely not be able to redirect the DB Gallery URLs to your new gallery unless somebody out there can help with the needed rules.

Some misc. other things catching my attention...

• There is nothing to convert your vBLinks to.
• There is nothing to convert your Ad purchasing to.
• For your Raffles, take a look at Snog's Raffles for XF2.
• The items under your "Tools" would need to be redone; if they're just inline JS stuff you could likely do them as XF pages, else if they're doing PHP backend you may need some custom add-ons.
• There is no 'Tag Cloud' widget for XF2 yet.

When I do purchase Xenforo I will be setting up a test site to make all the appropriate changes (styles, etc). The forum I am looking to switch is running Vbulletin 4.2.5 and is https://www.archerandangler.com

That's a nice looking design! Be sure to take into account that you'll need to start from scratch with creating a new XF style.

 

[Outdoorsman]

Thanks, everyone. So this just affirms my assumption of how daunting a task this still could be.

@Kevin I really appreciate the detailed input. Very helpful and now you are making me reconsider the viability of migrating.
I had already thought about your misc. list and think I can either cover most of it and do without others.
As far as a "compelling reason". Well personally I have several compelling reasons; mobile friendliness (VB is NOT), support for modern and future php, and security patches (VB is now EOL). Not to mention 3'rd party support or add-ons.

That's a nice looking design! Be sure to take into account that you'll need to start from scratch with creating a new XF style.

Thank you. I was actually able to reproduce my design on the Xenforo Demo just recently so I am pretty confident this would not take much time and effort.

 

[Outdoorsman]

Perhaps after DBTech has moved to XF2 I'll feel a bit more confident in what's needed.

When do you plan to make this move? I could just wait and then bug the hell out of you to help me with my migration.
Kind of like what I do now anyway.

 

[DragonByte Tech]

When do you plan to make this move? I could just wait and then bug the hell out of you to help me with my migration.
Kind of like what I do know anyway.

Haha, I'll only really know how to do the exact rewrite rules I'll need for DBTech

I need to finish my eCommerce tool for XF2 (including a private importer from vBeCommerce) then possibly bug NixFifty into doing his Tickets mod for XF2 first.


Fillip

 

[Kevin]

Very helpful and now you are making me reconsider the viability of migrating.

Hopefully you're not discouraged, and that certainly wasn't my intent! For me, since my online stuff these days is just my own personal money-pit-hobby-the-wife-doesn't-mind-me-doing, I'd have already been planning two weekends of ordering pizza, Netflix ready to go, and sitting with my laptop doing the conversion. The first weekend would be the dry run using a test install (which could be left in place for future tests & development) and then the second scheduled weekend would be the actual backups & conversion.

I can't recommend others doing that though because there *will* be pain points, like a double gallery conversion! , possibly not being able to get the important redirects (threads & posts) working, and I would never recommend a scenario to somebody else where they end up buying add-ons (XenGallery for XF1 & Post Ratings for XF1) that'll be never used by them.

... and one more item for your misc. list to consider: Push notifications, I just noticed you're doing something with them currently so you'll need to read up on some of the threads about how to implement them in XF (it's a bit of a hot topic for some, I haven't gone down that path yet).

Thank you. I was actually able to reproduce my design on the Xenforo Demo just recently so I am pretty confident this would not take much time and effort.

Excellent! For many site owners the loss of losing their custom styles going from vB to XF is something that holds them back so if you've already taken that into account then you're off to a great start.

 

[Ivancas]

DBtech thanks can be imported with a sql query, have done it multiple times.

Can you post the query to import it as reactions?

 

[TPerry]

Can you post the query to import it as reactions?

Considering that this is the pre-sales question area (and not support) and it's probably part of his services offered, I doubt you will see that here.