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vBulletin 4 Importer

2 problems with this importer are that it doesn't import custom user profile fields and some contact details such as skype, icq etc. The last are actually imported as I see them in the database but are not shown in user profile so I suppose they are either on the wrong place or not imported properly. Otherwise if these 2 don't bother you, you can easily fix the "The field 'identities' was not recognized" error, which you get when trying to import into 1.1, by removing the following lines in vbulletin4.php:

PHP:
$import['identities'] = array();
        if ($user['icq'])
        {
            $import['identities']['icq'] = $this->_convertToUtf8($user['icq']);
        }
        if ($user['aim'])
        {
            $import['identities']['aim'] = $this->_convertToUtf8($user['aim']);
        }
        if ($user['yahoo'])
        {
            $import['identities']['yahoo'] = $this->_convertToUtf8($user['yahoo']);
        }
        if ($user['msn'])
        {
            $import['identities']['msn'] = $this->_convertToUtf8($user['msn']);
        }
        if ($user['skype'])
        {
            $import['identities']['skype'] = $this->_convertToUtf8($user['skype']);
        }
 
1.1 introduced new custom profile fields and the table structure has changed.

You can also import to xf 1.0 and then upgrade to xf 1.1. Then you get this user custom data imported. This is of course not possible if you already have established a community with 1.0 and then upgraded to 1.1.
 
So for now, I have two more forums I want to migrate to XenForo, so I suppose I will follow your suggestions, and install the earlier version first, do the import, then upgrade. But I do think the company itself really needs to take this over, rather than let this languish in the hands of a third-party. Lost business, inconvenience and all that stuff.
 
So for now, I have two more forums I want to migrate to XenForo, so I suppose I will follow your suggestions, and install the earlier version first, do the import, then upgrade. But I do think the company itself really needs to take this over, rather than let this languish in the hands of a third-party. Lost business, inconvenience and all that stuff.
Even going via Xen1.0, there is not a path to migrate vb4.x user profile fields into xen1.1. I've got 2,216 users with these fields populated, so an automated way to migrate this would be great, even if it's running SQL against the DB.
 
It seems to me that, when we migrated our vBulletin 4.x board to XF 1.0.4, normal user profile stuff was carried over. So am I missing something here?
 
It seems to me that, when we migrated our vBulletin 4.x board to XF 1.0.4, normal user profile stuff was carried over. So am I missing something here?
If you migrate to xf 1.0.x and then upgrade to xf 1.1 most things will be fine.

You can not migrate the fields directly to xf 1.1 currently.
 
Well, that's useful for us. We have our current forum working well in XF 1.1b2 (www.technightowl.com/forum), and I assume the other two will go smoothly also with that double upgrade process.

But it would be nice if someone will take over this importer and update for XF 1.1, and I really think management here ought to be considering that as a significant step.
 

I suspect everyone knows that Paul got a job working at vBulletin in June 2011.
I think his last update to the vBulletin 4 importer has passed.

IBAdrian wrote:

Paul Marsden (Paul M) has joined the vBulletin development team
I am excited to announce that Paul Marsden has joined the vBulletin development team.​

Paul (aka Paul M) has been a long time participant and contributor in the vBulletin community, and has administrated the official 3rd party development site, vbulletin.org for the past few years, in addition to being the main person behind the scenes on vbulletin.org developing the site. Paul also runs his own vBulletin website, Cable Forum. Paul will be joining the vBulletin team to help further our progress on fixing issues in vBulletin 4, as well as working towards upgrading vbulletin.org​

Please join me in welcoming Paul to the vBulletin Team here.​
 
I suspect everyone knows that Paul got a job working at vBulletin in June 2011.
I think his last update to the vBulletin 4 importer has passed.

IBAdrian wrote:

Paul Marsden (Paul M) has joined the vBulletin development team
I am excited to announce that Paul Marsden has joined the vBulletin development team.​

Paul (aka Paul M) has been a long time participant and contributor in the vBulletin community, and has administrated the official 3rd party development site, vbulletin.org for the past few years, in addition to being the main person behind the scenes on vbulletin.org developing the site. Paul also runs his own vBulletin website, Cable Forum. Paul will be joining the vBulletin team to help further our progress on fixing issues in vBulletin 4, as well as working towards upgrading vbulletin.org​

Please join me in welcoming Paul to the vBulletin Team here.​

In this day and age, I suppose he should be congratulated for getting a gig, even if it's with "them."

On the other hand, that raises the pressure for XF's team, or someone else, to pick up development of this critical add-on.
 
In this day and age, I suppose he should be congratulated for getting a gig, even if it's with "them."

On the other hand, that raises the pressure for XF's team, or someone else, to pick up development of this critical add-on.

Agree 100%

I think I'm a pretty typical case -- I have a large board running VB 4.1, with lots of custom profiles.

I purchased XF a while back and fully intend to migrate as soon as the legal issues behind everyone.

It is difficult for us to even plan our migration and do testing in a VM without a reliable migration tool -- one that can even bring the custom profile fields over from VB.

Can I beg and plead with the core XF devs to make this a built-in part of the product after 1.1 is released? Relying on an abandoned 3rd party tool just isn't going to work for most folks (including us), and as soon as you can make an official importer, we're going to start our migration.

thanks for the consideration.
 
I am willing to upgrade my remaining two forums, first by going to XF 1.0.4, importing with the existing import tool, and then upgrading to 1.1. But it would be more encouraging to have the powers-that-be take over the vB 4 import tool and fix it so a double install isn't needed.
 
Also need the VB4 to 1.1 importer.

I can't use the 104 importer then upgrade as the only reason we've been waiting to move is to get the thread prefixes, can't afford to lose what we currently have :(

Any update from XF staff?

Ta,
Dave.
 
Agree 100%

I think I'm a pretty typical case -- I have a large board running VB 4.1, with lots of custom profiles.

I purchased XF a while back and fully intend to migrate as soon as the legal issues behind everyone.

It is difficult for us to even plan our migration and do testing in a VM without a reliable migration tool -- one that can even bring the custom profile fields over from VB.

Can I beg and plead with the core XF devs to make this a built-in part of the product after 1.1 is released? Relying on an abandoned 3rd party tool just isn't going to work for most folks (including us), and as soon as you can make an official importer, we're going to start our migration.

thanks for the consideration.
I'm working on something. Not to derail from Paul's work, but I don't plan on asking to take over his code. It'll be recoded by me from scratch.
 
I'm working on something. Not to derail from Paul's work, but I don't plan on asking to take over his code. It'll be recoded by me from scratch.

I think people are in need of this now.
Is it a good idea to entirely recode this ?

Are you going to work on this importer or the galleria or both ?
The galleria seems like so much work maybe someone else would be better suited to write a vBulletin 4 Importer from scratch ?
 
I'm working on something. Not to derail from Paul's work, but I don't plan on asking to take over his code. It'll be recoded by me from scratch.

Thanks!
Not to be a nag, but do you have any sort of an ETA for this?

I'm not clear as to how big a task writing an importer like this actually is (or why the core devs at XF don't see it as a priority -- is the legal case souring them on touching anything to do with vb4?)
 
I'm working on something. Not to derail from Paul's work, but I don't plan on asking to take over his code. It'll be recoded by me from scratch.

And just to be clear, i'd be more than happy to pay for a vb4 importer that not only gets users, posts, threads, etc. over but also:

1) properly imports the custom fields into XF 1.1
and
2) transfers over any paid subscriptions properly

For us these features are critical to any migration, and i'd imagine that many folks who run popular pay sites have similar issues.

I cannot wait to use XF, so i'm eagerly awaiting the ability to move.
 
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