Missing information from UBB import

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

I have now completed my import, but there are some critical pieces of information missing in vbulletin after the import.

The user custom titles have not been transferred
No moderators have been identified
UBB banned users have not been identified (those who cannot post)
Custom fields have not been transfered

Unfortunately to correct this manually would take far too long, so is there any way I can import this additional information.

Thanks

[Jerry]

Are you using the latest version of impex ? as I re-wrote the import moderator and banned users last week for another customer.

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

You work weekends too, whatever they pay you it isn't enough

Yes it is the latest version v1.4, I downloaded it again yesterday. This version puts everyone into user groups prefixed "imported". I have not succeeded in getting the new forums to appear yet, am I missing a vital step?

Data problems I am having are:

• No custom user titles imported
• There is a banned user group, but it doesn't contain all the users I would expect, some banned users seem to be in the registered group.
• No moderators seem to be detected at all.
• When the import is complete I can only see the default Main Forum/Category. I am still rebuilding the search index so I don't know whether that will fix the problem.
• No birthdays imported, which is important for COPPA users
• No custom fields imported, this would be a real help. UBB Classic has an optional 6 custom fields, which the importer doesn't seem to detect.

Any ideas what I should do next?

Thanks for your help, especially on a weekend

Dave

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

I think I have found one the reason for at least one of my problems. The forumpermission table does not appear to have any reference to the imported forums, it only show the default 3. I didn't see any errors when I ran the import forum module. The forum table has everything I would expect. I have included a select of the table below:

mysql> select * from vb3_forumpermission;
+-------------------+---------+-------------+------------------+
| forumpermissionid | forumid | usergroupid | forumpermissions |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+------------------+
| 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+------------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

This could easily impact the detection of moderators and cause the imported forums not to be displayed.

Should i re-run the import forum module?

Dave

[Jerry]

puts everyone into user groups prefixed "imported".

As long as there are 5 or so groups, then its the way it should be the old import tried to place the users in the exsisting groups.

I have not succeeded in getting the new forums to appear yet, am I missing a vital step?

Check the forums display orders etc, I belive all I did when I tested the import for your sites, was update the display order so there wern't any 0's and deleted the Defaul Main Forum.

No custom user titles imported

Indeed, the importer dosn't do this at the moment, do you know if its stored in the memebers file or else where, i.e. generated from post count ?

There is a banned user group, but it doesn't contain all the users I would expect, some banned users seem to be in the registered group.

But there are some in there ? i.e. It found some but not all ?

No moderators seem to be detected at all.

Can you confirm that the file ubbcgipath/vars_mods.cgi exsists, as that is the one where the mods are read from. Does the page, say something like importing 0 of 0 moderators ?

When the import is complete I can only see the default Main Forum/Category.

Check that the other forums arn't nested under it in the forum manager.

I am still rebuilding the search index so I don't know whether that will fix the problem.

I would advise leaving this as it will take some time and it sound like there will be a few more test imports.

No birthdays imported, which is important for COPPA users

Any idea where the birthdays are stored as the only date I can find in the members file is the join date.

No custom fields imported, this would be a real help. UBB Classic has an optional 6 custom fields, which the importer doesn't seem to detect.

By default an importer will only grab fields that are default to vBulletin not other boards. Though with the ubb.classic importer it does import loginname, displayname, forname, surname also. Are the ones you are talking about ones you have created or additional default ones to ubb ?


Any ideas what I should do next?

Check the form manager for a start.

See if you can spot the custom titles, date of birth and custom fields, in the Members files.

Confirm the moderators file exsists.

[Jerry]

Hi Jerry,

I think I have found one the reason for at least one of my problems. The forumpermission table does not appear to have any reference to the imported forums, it only show the default 3. I didn't see any errors when I ran the import forum module. The forum table has everything I would expect. I have included a select of the table below:

mysql> select * from vb3_forumpermission;
+-------------------+---------+-------------+------------------+
| forumpermissionid | forumid | usergroupid | forumpermissions |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+------------------+
| 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+------------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

This could easily impact the detection of moderators and cause the imported forums not to be displayed.

Should i re-run the import forum module?

Dave

I would advise concentrating on one issue at a time so other things arn't effected.

Have you dealt with the layout in the forum manager ?

By default the permissions are imported as that would be nearly impossiable, as per the HOWTO you have to set up the permissions for the forums afterwards, that will create them.

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

I will try to answer each of your questions

Custom user titles information
These are contained within each members file, e.g user 42 would have their information in 00000042.cgi. The custom title is row 32 counting from base 1
Banned user detection
This is a strange one, UBB has no real concept of banned users, just ones who can't post. Some of these are in the banned group and some aren't, I am looking for a reason but haven't found one yet. Is the lack of posting ability the only criteria you use, or are there any other considerations.
No moderators seem to be detected at all
The vars_mods.cgi seems to contain the correct information. However ther does appear to be a problem with the forumpermission table so that may be the cause of this. The module claims to have imported 101 moderators! There are none in the moderators usergroup, and as previosly stated problems with the forum permissions. However the forum manager does show moderators against each forum.
When the import is complete I can only see the default Main Forum/Category.
No they are not nested under the main forum. I think the forum permission table problem is at fault here
Birthday in UBB Classic
This is stored within each members file. It is position 33 in number base 1. The format is

YYYYMMDD|(yes/no)

the yes/no is whether the user wants to display their are or not
UBB Custom fields
UBB has 4 custom registration fields which are used by many boards, All the information is contained within the members file at line positions 17,18,19 and 20.

Hope the above helps, the custom fields and user title should be easy to grab from the members files and would greatly improve usefulness of the importer for UBB web masters.

Thanks for your help

Dave

[Jerry]

The custom title is row 32 counting from base 1

Ok, that will be an easy one, I'll just confirm that with other ubb.classic test data I have.

Banned user detection

This is line 5 "Write&" etc, if that is blank it means the user has no write permissions, Admin is another one there.

No moderators seem to be detected at all

That is correct, the users will be linked as moderators against the forum though not added to the moderator group as there isn't one created by the importer atm. Though they do exsists and are actuall moderators, i.e. you can set their mod permissions for the forums etc. I'll look at creating another default import group for the moderators and adding them to that to help identify them.


When the import is complete I can only see the default Main Forum/Category.

When you say "See" do you mean from the front end or via the forum manager ? We are using the same code from where I did the test import so this is going to be display, the permissons will come in later as the forums are set up.

Birthday in UBB Classic

Another easy one, I'll be able to get this, and set COPA automatically from that, thanks for the pointer

UBB Custom fields

So the 4 custom ones are in addition to the other 4 I mentioned ?


Yes they will be easy to grab, I'll stick it on the todo list for monday.

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

All the information should be valid for UBB 6.311, not sure about versions later than that.

I have deleted the Main category and can see the furms in the admin forum manager, but not the user view even with an Admin user.

The forums are switched on and I have permissioned the import registered users group, still nothing so far.

Regards

Dave

[Jerry]

I have deleted the Main category and can see the furms in the admin forum manager, but not the user view even with an Admin user.

Are any of the Display Order's 0 ?

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for all your help and yes some of the display orders were 0 .
I should be ready for another attempt as soon as you have had a chance to work on the additional fields.

The second forum imported relatively easily, I am getting used to the procedure

Thanks again

[Jerry]

...... I am getting used to the procedure .....

Thats the most important thing , Make a list of all the clean up as well.

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

Yes I had thought of that, I am making notes as I change the forums. Vbulletin is now so flexible there are quite a few settings to adjust, so easy to forget something. It is looking good now though and the merging of the two forums went like a dream. I will wait until you update the importer to read those additional fields before I try again.

Cheers

[Jerry]

UBB has 4 custom registration fields which are used by many boards, All the information is contained within the members file at line positions 17,18,19 and 20.

20 is the days prune field.

I've done the coppa setting and birthday.

Testing atm.

[webspinner]

Hi Jerry,

On my board, which I believe is a standard UBB classic 6.3.1.1 file structure the day prune field is row 22 and custom fields are as I mentioned before 17-20. There may be differences in the structure of the Members files for later versions, but I am pretty sure I am right for 6.311

Thanks