[stinsonowners108]

I have taken over an aviation club website from a guy that had stuff spread all over the place.
I’m trying to centralize so that I and those after me can easily manage the site.

I would like to move his phpbb forum to BBPress so I can protect some sections of the forum using MemberPress.

I used Fivvr to try to get it transferred but the guy didn’t really know what he was doing.

I have a phpbb backup and need help migrating.

As an extra challenge, I have a backup from a Yahoo Groups and Facebook group that I would love to migrate into BBPress as well.

This is a small aircraft owner site with less than about 400 members so my budget is not large, but I would like to work with someone to get it done.

http://stinsonowners.org is the site. where you can see the Fivvr developer got data into BBPress but its not right.

My direct email is will.ware@me.com if you can help.

[spellman]

I’m trying to figure out how to add shortcodes/bbcode to my bbpress website. I used to do this a lot with phpbb, but I can’t figure out how to do it with bbpress.

I want my users to be able to type in [card]Serra Angel[/card] and have the posted code be <div class=”card”>Serra Angel</div>.

How can I add this? Ideally, it would reside in forum posts as button, much like the LINK IMG CODE etc buttons.

[dekudigital]

Hello all.

I have done a fair bit of research on this topic already and have made some progress.

I have managed to get the BBPress importer working on a few occasions (using localhost and also remotely) and I know it’s working because it starts converting the users, then moves on to forums, topics etc.

I did actually manage one full successful import, not sure how exactly but since then I’ve been struggling.

I had to manually create the following blank columns just to get the importer started:

USERS
user_website
user_aim
user_yim
user_icq
user_msnm
user_occ
user_interests
user_from

TOPICS
topic_replies
topic_replies_real

FORUMS
forum_recent_topics
forum_topics
forum_posts
forum_topics_real

More recently the importer just seems to be getting stuck.

I have 1333 users in my forum, after the importer has converted all the users (1300-1399) it just stops. It does actually import all the users correctly but then it doesn’t move on to the next task.

When I don’t include users, it converts the forums and hierarchy, but then freezes on converting topics (0-99).

It just doesn’t seem to be working smoothly.

I am contemplating upgrading the forum from phpbb 3.1.9 to 3.2 using this guide:
https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3.2/ug/upgradeguide/upgrade31/

Tt seems like a lot of work and I’m not sure it will make such a difference with regards to this task.

If anybody has faced any similar issues doing this import (freezing at certain points, not moving on to the next task etc).

Any help would be MASSIVELY appreciated.

Thanks
Antony

[artichoku]

using the added converter that was found here: https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/fix-for-phpbb3-to-bbpress-conversion-script/

all I get is “Starting Conversion”

[artichoku]

if it helps, this is the error i get when using the phpbb converter that comes with the installation of bbPress 2.5.14…

WordPress database error: [Specified key was too long; max key length is 1000 bytes]
CREATE TABLE wp_bbp_converter_translator ( meta_id mediumint(8) unsigned not null auto_increment, value_type varchar(25) null, value_id bigint(20) unsigned not null default '0', meta_key varchar(255) null, meta_value varchar(255) null, PRIMARY KEY (meta_id), KEY value_id (value_id), KEY meta_join 

[artichoku]

hey there. So I’ve been trying to get the import to work for a few weeks and have zero luck whatsoever. I’ve tried the updated script found here:

Hi All,

Had the same issue as described above. The default phpbb.php import script didn’t convert anonymous users of topics and replies and the Pixenated script looped infinately with the conversion of users.

I’ve fixed the script and uploaded to PasteBin. Feel free to share widely.
https://pastebin.com/FpWsxsUG

How To:
1) Upgrade phpBB to v.3.2.5
2) Install BBpress 2.6 RC7
3) Upload to /wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/admin/converters/phpbb.php

Remember that real men don’t do backups. They cry a lot. 🙂

but it has not aleviated the import problem. I no longer see errors, but it just sits at “Starting conversion”. Not sure what my next step is…

[Michał]

I still need help with migrate forum xoops newbb to bbpress, it`s similar mysql structure like phpbb. I can pay for help. My mail: michal [ at ] kulturystyka.org.pl

Best ragards.

[spaceman_qc]

bbPRess-wordpress is really slow on my site. 7 to 10 seconds loading the main forum page. Submitting a new topic can go over 20 sec. 75% of that time is waiting for a reply…

It’s hosted on a VPS and when I monitor the CPU and RAM memory, it is always under the max, CPU runs at 50-70% on a request and ram stays around 70% used.

It seems to me that the requests to mySql takes a long time to execute.

We have 11500 topics and 75000+ replies. It was a phpBB forum that has been converted to bbPRess.

What can I do to improve performances?

[wurkagency]

Hi All,

Had the same issue as described above. The default phpbb.php import script didn’t convert anonymous users of topics and replies and the Pixenated script looped infinately with the conversion of users.

I’ve fixed the script and uploaded to PasteBin. Feel free to share widely.
https://pastebin.com/FpWsxsUG

How To:
1) Upgrade phpBB to v.3.2.5
2) Install BBpress 2.6 RC7
3) Upload to /wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/admin/converters/phpbb.php

Remember that real men don’t do backups. They cry a lot. 🙂

[maximemue]

Dear all,

I try to migrate phpbb (3.20) to bbPress (WP 5.0.3). Two major issues (utf8 and missing database columns) have been solved and now the routine is running. All users (1600) are already migrated. Now the routine tries to import the 200.000 posts. It runs smoothly until 16500 posts, then it slows down and keeps stuck. When I stop it manually, it restarts for another 50 posts and will stop again.

I have no error messages, it just does not go on migrating the posts. What is the issue?

Many thanks for your help!!

Best

Maxime

[maximemue]

Hi,

ok, I have copied the phpBB database into a fresh one. It was UTF8_unicode before, the copy is now utf8mb4_unicode. I have linked the import routine to this new database. I still get this message:

WordPress-Datenbank-Fehler: [Unknown column ‘users.user_website’ in ‘field list’]
SELECT convert(users.user_id USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_id,convert(users.user_password USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_password,convert(users.user_form_salt USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_form_salt,convert(users.username USING “utf8mb4”) AS username,convert(users.user_email USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_email,convert(users.user_website USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_website,convert(users.user_regdate USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_regdate,convert(users.user_aim USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_aim,convert(users.user_yim USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_yim,convert(users.user_icq USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_icq,convert(users.user_msnm USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_msnm,convert(users.user_jabber USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_jabber,convert(users.user_occ USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_occ,convert(users.user_interests USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_interests,convert(users.user_sig USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_sig,convert(users.user_from USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_from,convert(users.user_avatar USING “utf8mb4”) AS user_avatar FROM phpbb_users AS users LIMIT 0, 100

Any thoughts where I could start searching for errors?

Thanks a lot!

Best

Maxime

[Gregg]

@maximemue. The point of the export/import task is to get the data into a database with the latest data format. I found a thread that suggested exporting data out of the old database then creating a new one – which should have the newer format – and importing the data into it. How you accomplish this depends on what tools you have available. In my case, I was using the GoDaddy database interface – not PHPMyAdmin. I didn’t have a choice but PHPMyAdmin should be fine.

Once you’ve done this you’ll need to “wire” up phpBB to use the new database by editing the config file. Look for the documents on their website that deal with installation and setup. That’ll point you in the right direction on which file and what to change.

[maximemue]

@Gregg: thanks a lot for your problem and solution description. I think I have the same issue (phpBB 3.1, current WordPress/bbpress)

WordPress-Datenbank-Fehler: [Unknown column 'users.user_website' in 'field list']
SELECT convert(users.user_id USING "utf8mb4") AS user_id,convert(users.user_password USING "utf8mb4") AS user_password,convert(users.user_form_salt USING "utf8mb4") AS user_form_salt,convert(users.username USING "utf8mb4") AS username,convert(users.user_email USING "utf8mb4") AS user_email,convert(users.user_website USING "utf8mb4") AS user_website,convert(users.user_regdate USING "utf8mb4") AS user_regdate,convert(users.user_aim USING "utf8mb4") AS user_aim,convert(users.user_yim USING "utf8mb4") AS user_yim,convert(users.user_icq USING "utf8mb4") AS user_icq,convert(users.user_msnm USING "utf8mb4") AS user_msnm,convert(users.user_jabber USING "utf8mb4") AS user_jabber,convert(users.user_occ USING "utf8mb4") AS user_occ,convert(users.user_interests USING "utf8mb4") AS user_interests,convert(users.user_sig USING "utf8mb4") AS user_sig,convert(users.user_from USING "utf8mb4") AS user_from,convert(users.user_avatar USING "utf8mb4") AS user_avatar FROM phpbb_users AS users LIMIT 0, 100

If you say you exported the phpBB Database, do you mean simply with phpmyamdin? But then what do I have to do, simply create a new one in phpMyAdmin and import this database? this I would understand, but how do I tell bbpress to use this database?

Thanks for your help!!

Best

Maxime

[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?