[neuronpartners]

Hi,

I am trying to import the forums and topics from our existing phpBB forums. I have set the values on the Import Forums page to the following:

Select Platform = phpBB
Database Server = hostmysqlserver
Database Port = 3306
Database Name = <name of the database>
Database Username = <admin user>
Database Password = <password>
Table Prefix = phpbb_

However, when I start the conversion, it reports “No forums to convert”, “No forum parents to convert”, and so on.

I do not get any errors when I run the conversion.

So what could be wrong ?

[Foliferous]

Hello,

I noticed a weird thing, the Admin profile has this empty DIV on its page:

Check it out.

Other profiles don’t have that. Check it out.

It seems to be this here:

<div class="comments-area"></div>

What is this and what is it doing there? How do I remove it? Is it some space for user comments on profiles? And why do other users don’t have that?

Thanks!

By the way I love bbpress, it’s awesome. I used a lot of other forum software (IPB, vBulletin, phpBB), but this one’s really the best!

[Robin W]

@lorax

Fantastic, glad that through persistence you got there. I started with bbpress 4 years ago, from a Snitz database, and it took 24 attempts to get the custom importer to work, so I know the frustration you have gone through.

I can’t comment on the missing fields as I don’t know phpBB, but thanks for posting the solution, this should help others trying the import.

[Gregg]

FYI – version of phpBB I was trying to upgrade to: 3.2.4

[Gregg]

Resolved!

Grab a cup of coffee and a seat and I’ll tell you the story of how you might be able fix this. It may take several hours so be prepared…

Situation I was in:
Older version of phpBB 3.1v and wanting to port all topics, replies, and users to bbPress (latest version at the time). A handful of issues existed that were causing more trouble than they were worth. Host of the old site is GoDaddy. The new site is on WP Engine.

Forum Stats (approx)
Users: 2200
Topics: 7800
Replies: 22500

Outcome:
Successfully ported all topics, replies, and users to bbPress.

Updated phpBB
REMOVE ALL MODS, STYLES, anything that’s not a part of the out-of-the-box install. Then follow the upgrade instructions. Make backups (I kept a copy of the existing site on my local machine and duplicate database on the host). I found these instructions most helpful: https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3.2/ug/upgradeguide/upgrade31/

The Issues
There were two issues I ran into (in different flavors but it turns out they just stemmed from these two). 1st – utf8 formatting and 2nd missing fields. These issues are with the import and NOT the upgrade for phpBB. I was able to resolve those issues by making sure I followed the instructions on that link to the letter.

The first error (I don’t remember the exact error string but it was either utf8mb4 or just utf8 but it simply means the database holds the data in an older format. The solution is to export the date from the database then create a new database and restore the data into it. By creating the new database the fields will use the proper format and when the restoration is complete this issue should be resolved.

The second error was a little more mysterious – as in I’m not sure why it happened but essentially the import routine is looking for fields that don’t exist in the phpBB install even after I successfully updated it. The solution was to create the fields needed. How?

How to create the fields to get rid of the missing field errors
Note I created a copy of the functioning database on my phpBB install so I could screw it up and not hurt the functioning website. So here’s an example.

The error I got basically said the script couldn’t find “users.user_from” in the database I was trying to import from. That’s not an exact quote but the gist. So I edited the copy of my database and added the missing field (user_from) to the table it was looking for it in (users) using datatype VARCHAR and length of 255 (all else was left to default). I had to do this about a dozen times between the users, topics, and forums tables.

I should note I imported all of my users as well. I had to try this whole process several times. I’ve spent 40+ hours trying to figure this all out (I’m not that familiar with phpBB or bbPress) but the actual process once I figured out the issues – took about 6 hours – mostly waiting for the script to process the data. If your import bombs – read the error and look carefully at what it’s looking for or doesn’t like. Most likely it’s looking for something that’s not there.

I was worried that the connections between topics and replies and users would somehow be messed up. But in the end, it looks like it all came out fine. I’m pretty sure I’ll find something amiss – that’s my cynical side but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck!

[Gregg]

phpBB is now fully updated but I still get errors on import like: Unknown column ‘users.user_website’ in ‘field list’

Seriously thinking of just staying with phpBB at this point since there’re no answers to be had here.

[grignondev]

Hello Bbpress family !

I just import an old forum from PhPbb to Bbpress. I got a first problem with the forum who didnt diplay topics but I solve it. Right now, I got an other problem : When I’m on a user profil, the topic & reply count is good, but if I want to display topic’s & reply’s user, it return ALL of topics & replys of the forum ..

An exemple : https://www.pnc-contact.com/forum/users/steward95/topics

Someone know this issue ?

[pnccontact]

Hello,
I installed bbpress and used the import function to import a phpbb forum to bbpress.
Everything seems to be fine but I can’t see any post in the forum even if they are counted. The strange thing is that I can read post and reply in the admin area !
Any help would be appreciated as I am getting lost…
Thanks a lot
Eric

[Gregg]

Well, I can tell you I’m totally unimpressed with the import routine for phpBB. Last count I’ve spent over 10 hours trying to figure out each of the little gotchas. And just when I’m able to get the routine to run – it doesn’t import a bloody thing. At this point, I’m about to just give up and scrap 14 years of forum posts. That or abandon bbPress and focus on fixing phpBB. Rather sad state of affairs.

[Gregg]

I will post the solution if/when I figure it out. The phpBB upgrade didn’t go so well – blew up the site. Trying to get it back now.

Happy to.

[Gregg]

I’m going to try to upgrade the phpBB install. Backing up files and database now. Will let you know how it goes.

[Gregg]

So your issue is the same as mine, trying to import from an older version of phpBB?

[pkruk]

Hi
I have a bbpress forum 2.6-rc-5 (WordPress 4.9.8, php 7.2)
Google does’t index topics and replyies 🙁
I moved content from another domain (phpbb2) – 3 months ago.

I have 63k not indexed sites in Google console – condition: excluded
12k – excluded: Page scanned but not yet indexed
51k – excluded: Site detected – currently not indexed

WTF with this script?

My forum here -> https://mojakosmetyczka.pl/forum/

Has anyone had a similar problem?
Thx, regards
Pawel

[Gregg]

Forgot to provide the URLs.

Old phpBB forum: http://www.cpakayaker.com/forums/
New Site: http://cpakayaker.wpengine.com/

Current versions of WordPress and bbPress

[Gregg]

Hello,
I’m working with a 3.1v of phpBB. I’ve worked my way through a few hurdles but I’m stuck on the current one. The latest error I’m getting is [Unknown column ‘forums.forum_topics’ in ‘field list’]. For the life of me, I have no idea where this is coming from. The error info

SELECT convert(forums.forum_id USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_id,convert(forums.parent_id USING “utf8mb4”) AS parent_id,convert(forums.forum_topics USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_topics,convert(forums.forum_posts USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_posts,convert(forums.forum_topics_real USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_topics_real,convert(forums.forum_name USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_name,convert(forums.forum_desc USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_desc,convert(forums.left_id USING “utf8mb4”) AS left_id,convert(forums.forum_type USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_type,convert(forums.forum_status USING “utf8mb4”) AS forum_status FROM phpbb_forums AS forums LIMIT 0, 100 /* From…

The very first error I had to overcome was the utf8mb4 issue. I backed up the database and then restored it in a new database. Judging by what I’m seeing it looks like I wasn’t successful?

[jh20001]

I finally gave up and spent the ungodly amount of hours repairing and bringing the phpbb board back to life and went with that. This was a nice hope for a good change though as WordPress is so much easier to work with stability wise.

[jh20001]

Update: I was able to pull it off (the users at least) with this: https://gist.github.com/pixelnated/5c27a64c450578440554ba902560178f

However, using that the users imported fine, but the forums/topics didn’t. It would list the forums. However when you click on one it will lead to a page that lists the number of content but then show none of it as if there wasn’t any subforums or topics.

So then I used the script I just mentioned but stopped it after the user import. Then I switched back to the original importer which dragged everything else back in (but had to uncheck the stop on errors option).

However, all of the topics loaded as anonymous regardless and it is stuck on step 8, saying Converting anonymous topic authors (500 through 500 of 500), over and over and over and over…every two seconds. This last part also happened when I originally tried the normal importer in the RC 6 release.

At this point, I am just confused and wish the phpbb forums wouldn’t be all mucked up (server 500 error, not db related). *shrug*

[jh20001]

I have the latest RC of bbpress, trying to import from a phpbb 3.2.0 install. I have reset it and started it and reset it and started it and no matter what I do, it starts with “no users to import” and then it imports thousands of forums/topics all assigned to anonymous.

Is there a way to only import users at first and once it successfully does it, then do the normal import of the forums/topics and so forth?

Or is there a common issue that has been found with importing users that can be fixed by adjusting something in the source database (or…something)?

[jh20001]

I finally had enough with phpbb and installed a wordpress JUST for my forums. I installed bbpress in it and have been trying to import the forums over. First it kept erroring saying missing table fields or whatever, so I kept adding the table fields to the areas of the phpbb’s sql DB where it was looking for them..then it got stuck with the “Starting Conversion” and a spinning wheel. Everytime I had chosen “Start Over” I would get the “Specified key was too long; max key length is 1000 bytes” error. Just not my day I guess. 🙁

I had a few questions…

1) Does the importer not support 3.2.0? I figured it does by now since it states phpBB 3.x
2) Can you make the main index page of the WordPress site the forums? This way the wordpress is for nothing other than the forums? (once things do get working…)
3) Am I missing anything lol…I’m rackin my mind on this and it’s driving me nuts 🙂

I can’t wait to be in a better environment for the forums…

[Robin W]

@clivesmith

If you fine with code, then this is how I would go about it

1. create a split in topic & replies, so you have a place to put the ‘featured reply’
Use this piece of code in your functions file

bbp_show_lead_topic

2. then you’ll need a flag for the featured reply.

This code does an ‘advert’ flag for a topic, but has much of the code you’d need to do a flag for a reply to show it is featured – I’ll leave you to work out which bits you’ll need, but the key is the hook to

add_action( 'bbp_theme_before_topic_form_submit_wrapper', 'at_checkbox' );

change this to

add_action( 'bbp_theme_before_reply_form_submit_wrapper', 'at_checkbox' );

amend the references from topic to reply

and add some if(bbp_keymaster() ) to make it only show for you, and you will be most of the way there

// show the "Mark if it is an advert" checkbox on topic form
	add_action( 'bbp_theme_before_topic_form_submit_wrapper', 'at_checkbox' );
		
function at_checkbox() {
    // Text for the topic form
	global $topic_advert_text ;
	?>
		<p>

			<input name="at_advert" id="at_advert" type="checkbox"<?php checked( '1', at_is_advert( bbp_get_topic_id() ) ); ?> value="1" tabindex="<?php bbp_tab_index(); ?>" />

			<?php if ( bbp_is_topic_edit() && ( get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ) != bbp_get_current_user_id() ) ) : ?>

				<label for="at_advert"><?php echo '<span class="dashicons dashicons-awards"></span>'.$topic_advert_text.'</label>' ;?>

			<?php else : ?>

				<label for="at_advert"><?php echo '<span class="dashicons dashicons-awards"></span>'.$topic_advert_text.'</label>' ;?>

			<?php endif; ?>

		</p>
<?php
}
	
//check if topic is advert
function at_is_advert( $topic_id = 0 ) {
	
	$retval 	= false;

	if ( ! empty( $topic_id ) ) {
		$retval = get_post_meta( $topic_id, 'at_topic_is_advert', true );
	}
	return (bool) apply_filters( 'at_is_advert', (bool) $retval, $topic_id );
}

// save the advert state
		add_action( 'bbp_new_topic',  'at_update_topic' );
		add_action( 'bbp_edit_topic',  'at_update_topic' );

//update topic 
function at_update_topic( $topic_id = 0 ) {

		if( isset( $_POST['at_advert'] ) )
			update_post_meta( $topic_id, 'at_topic_is_advert', '1' );
		else
			delete_post_meta( $topic_id, 'at_topic_is_advert' );

	}

3. amend content-single-topic-lead.php in your child theme’s bbpress directory.

by

create a directory on your theme called ‘bbpress’
ie wp-content/themes/%your-theme-name%/bbpress

where %your-theme-name% is the name of your theme

find
wp-content/plugins/bbpress/templates/default/bbpress/content-single-topic-lead.php
Make a copy of this file, and put in in the directory called bbpress that you created above, so you end up with
wp-content/themes/%your-theme-name%/bbpress/content-single-topic-lead.phpbbPress will now use this template instead of the original and you can amend this

This then you can use to add some code

if (at_is_advert( $reply_id )) then….. display this reply

and you should be there

so

the reply form will show a checkbox to make a reply featured available only to say keymaster, and as keymaster you can edit a topic to make it a featured
the content_single_topic_lead will check if a reply is featured and then show it if it is

I wish I had the time to code this all for you, but please if you do work oyt some code, post back here for other to benefit

[Robin W]

ok, so concentrating on a topic and it’s reply list and ignoring forums, you are saying that you would like

from clicking a topic in the forum list (a list of topics in the forum) you are taken to a page which displays

• the topic name
• some content/info but styled and controlled by you
• the replies as per normal
• the reply form

If so I suspect you need to do two things

1. use this piece of code in your functions file

bbp_show_lead_topic

2. amend content-single-topic-lead.php in your child theme’s bbpress directory.

by

create a directory on your theme called ‘bbpress’
ie wp-content/themes/%your-theme-name%/bbpress

where %your-theme-name% is the name of your theme

find
wp-content/plugins/bbpress/templates/default/bbpress/content-single-topic-lead.php
Make a copy of this file, and put in in the directory called bbpress that you created above, so you end up with
wp-content/themes/%your-theme-name%/bbpress/content-single-topic-lead.phpbbPress will now use this template instead of the original and you can amend this

I have no idea how technical you are and whether that gives you enough to go ahead and fix, or if you need further help – let me know

[elawrenc01]

I’m new to BBPress and I was looking at a few different sites for ideas. I run a PHPBB forum right now but I want to switch to BBPress (already have, it’s just not live yet)
I was curious how I can achieve this look? I’m guessing this isn’t CSS but some coding snippet, I want to be able to create a category and have the sub forums listed like this picture. If someone can point me in the right direction I can probably take it from there…

View post on imgur.com

[elawrenc01]

Just an update, I was able to successfully import a PHPBB 3.22 database into Bbpress, including users. I hope to try it again with a bigger database, but so far, so good.

[opeth85]

Hi,
I have the WP page http://www.jdmspritturkey.com and the phpbb forum http://www.jdmspiritturkey.com/forum and its all alive for 2 years. I have some problems with the phpbb so i want to import it to bbpress so the portal and the forum will be fully integrated.

If i import to bbpress what will happen to wp portal writings, users etc or is there any strategy with no casulties?

Our wp page version is 4.9.8 and the phpbb is 3.2.2

Thanks for the answers.

[elawrenc01]

Hi,

PHPBB is now on 3.22 . Apparently a bunch of the table columns have changed.

I’m willing to install bbpress 2.6 to see what happens, I have installed a test wordpress site, but I can’t seem to find where to download it.

Any info about converting a 3.22 PHPBB database?