Guess PHPBB3 needs to be added to the list as well now lol...

Ok, so here's the scoop. Currently importers are a pretty big pain in the rear. Each has to be completely written from scratch. They are also very hard to maintain every time we do database alterations.

What I plan to do is write some sort of core code that can be used for all importers and then for each forum we want to bring in, we just need to write a much smaller portion of code.

I have 1 person that has offered to tackle this actually, but need to see if they really want to do it as it's a pretty big job. Otherwise, this will probably have to wait until we're done with v8.

Why not have the importers for a specific version of UBB.threads only, and keep that version available for download for migration purposes? Just like 6.5.5 is available for just that reason.

I'm kind of hoping to hear "Because the member area already looks like crap" ...

I think I do a pretty good job of keeping it orderly, thank you very much.

Gizzy has a point though, in that it does get confusing, Yarp, having a different importer for every version of threads and every version of (whatever your importing from goes here). I used to maintain these long ago and it gets to be darned near a full time job. Every time we make a db change we fix the importers. Every time someone else makes a change... we have to fix their importers. If they make a whole version jump, like v2 to v3 we have two importers to keep up. I do not envy whoever takes on this task.

This thread/topic/request is heading towards its three year anniversary and there still isn't an import for vB? Wow. Sigh.

Yeah, a bit of a disappointment for sure. The main problem has been the complexity of writing importers, some are fairly easy, some are very troublesome to get right since each one currently has to be written from scratch.

I'm working with a couple people that may be doing an entire import system for version 8. Still in the planning state at this point, but the goal is for a system to allow for quicker turnaround time. Instead of having to write an entire importer each time, we'll just need to write some functions to grab the data we need out of what we're importing from. We also plan on having the ability to only import certain portions instead of having to import the entire forum.

Rick,

This is a huge thread, with lots of good back and forth. I am looking at the possibility of merging in a vBulletin set of forums. Any progress on an importer on this?

Thanks!

Neil

We don't have this for version 7.x, but we will for version 8. We're completely rewriting the importer system to accomplish a few things such as quicker turnaround in creating new importers.

This one was close to being finished, but things changing on both our side and their side kind of shelved it. With the new importer system we'll have an easier time not creating and keeping things up to date.

Hi,

Are there any updates about a vBulletin importer? We're interested in converting but would obviously need to be able to import our database.

Thank you!