Ryangel's vB3 Journal -> vBJournal 1.0.0 Importer

Introducing.. Jim Port!


[high]Who is Jim Port?[/high]
Jim Port is the name that I gave to the import script..
Journal Import -> admincp/jimport.php -> Jim Port


[high]What can Jim Port do for me?[/high]
He will automatically do the following:

• Backup Ryangel's Journal database tables
• Revert database changes made by Ryangel's Journal
• Remove Ryangel's Journal templates
• Remove Ryangel's Journal phrases
• Install vBJournal database tables
• Alter database tables for vBJournal compatability
• Transfer data from Ryangel's Journal to vBJournal
• Install vBJournal phrases
• Install vBJournal templates

[high]Are there any known issues to using Jim Port?[/high]
Obviously, the database tables aren't 100% compatible with each other.. Jim Port cannot identify which of the journal entries is the journal's latest, and therefore no data is inserted in to the latest entry title or date fields. This was a worthy sacrifice as the majority of users will update their journals on a common basis anyway, and once a new entry is posted the latest entries will continue to function as intended.

Jim Port currently cannot strip the slashes from entry or comment titles and text. As such, journal.php must be modified slightly in order to display these correctly and the edits have been documented in the readme. These edits will not have any side-effects on any new comments or entries made beyond this point.

Also, during the beta testing phase it was reported that any deleted journals (ie. if a user had deleted all of their entries) would still show up as empty, but the comments from these deleted entries would continue to be displayed in the Recent Comments section of the journal. There is no easy fix for this other than manual deletion..


[high]What versions of Ryangel's Journal is Jim Port compatible with?[/high]
To cut a long story short, I don't know 100%. However, as long as you are running a ported vB3 version of Ryangel's Journal and not the original vB2 version, then this should work as it was intended.. I tested it on version 1.1d and at least one of the beta testers tried it on version 1.2 and both appeared to import flawlessly.


[high]What versions of vBulletin is Jim Port compatible with?[/high]
It should work on ANY version of 3.0.0..


[high]Jim Port looks similar to the v3arcade Installer, are they twins?[/high]
Yup, the journal import script is heavily based on the v3arcade Installer by John. I've tried to get in touch with him on numerous occasions about making sure it was ok with him, but currently remain unsuccessful. Should he wish me to cease using it, the zip will be removed and I will attempt to try and write this in some other way.

I feel that I have learnt a lot from his work, and would like to thank him for this.


[high]Miscellaneous notes about Jim Port[/high]
Lines of code in admincp/jimport.php: 1816
Days to write: 4
Private beta testers: tmhall, DanielP (vb.nl)

The backed up Ryangel's Journal database tables *ARE NOT* removed automatically. This was intentional in case admins wanted something to fall back on should anything go wrong, and can be deleted manually if you are satisfied with the import process.


[high]I'd like to buy Jim Port a beer![/high]
Well, you can't buy him one as he's nothing but code, however, if you'd like to buy me a beer my Paypal address is [high]obk395@yahoo.co.uk[/high]. All donations will be drunk with thanks!

[Cloud-Warrior]

Still checking it out but looks good so far...

I had to update journal titles with a "update journals set journalname=concat(journalist,"'s Journal") where 1;"...

Now to figure out the reverse date ordering (people don't like that); I've just added my RSS 1.0 output bit as well...

Thanks OBK - I owe you a pint

[Oblivion Knight]

Originally Posted by FleaBag

OK here we go, heh. Any idea what this means mate? As I certainly don't...

Try the latest zip (v0.3 PUBLIC BETA).

I'm hoping that I've cracked this one for you..

Originally Posted by Cloud-Warrior

I had to update journal titles with a "update journals set journalname=concat(journalist,"'s Journal") where 1;"...

You don't have to do that, though it's a nice idea. By default when a Journal is created in vBJournal if no title is entered it automatically becomes "x's Journal" without anything being entered in to that field.

Originally Posted by Cloud-Warrior

Now to figure out the reverse date ordering (people don't like that); I've just added my RSS 1.0 output bit as well...

I think this is what you're looking for..

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=552

Originally Posted by Cloud-Warrior

Thanks OBK - I owe you a pint

I'll hold you to that!

[womensden]

where can I dl RyAngel's journal? I've been looking for a journal program (it's taking a while to make our own as we dont have much spare time).

[Oblivion Knight]

Originally Posted by womensden

where can I dl RyAngel's journal? I've been looking for a journal program (it's taking a while to make our own as we dont have much spare time).

It wasn't publicly released here because permission was never received from Ryangel (the original author) to port his vB2 version to vB3.

[zetetic]

Originally Posted by womensden

where can I dl RyAngel's journal? I've been looking for a journal program (it's taking a while to make our own as we dont have much spare time).

The purpose of this hack is to import data from RyAngels journal into vBJournal, which I believe is currently the best supported journal system. You might want to give it a look.

[womensden]

ahhh... ok. thanks for clearing that up.

[zetetic]

Sure thing.

[Cloud-Warrior]

OBK - question - what are the edits to journal.php for?

[Oblivion Knight]

Originally Posted by Cloud-Warrior

OBK - question - what are the edits to journal.php for?

Ryangel's Journal stores your entries and comments with the slashes and some weird HTML encoding still in the table for both the title and the text. For example: [disable](It\'s warm in here >_&gt[/disable]

The journal.php edits are done to make these display correctly by stripping the slashes and unencoding the weird HTML stuff on-the-fly. So in the above example, this now shows as: (It's warm in here >_>)

[Cloud-Warrior]

Okay I was just checking, as I had to make some changes to my RSS 1.0 exporter for vBJournal and I had to add some of those strip slashes things in as well... Thanks.