WebBBS to vBulletin 2.2.x Conversion Script

Hello all!

After much painstaking oogling at php code, I've created a conversion script to convert WebBBS messages to vBulletin. I created this a bit ago, but feel that it might be of use to someone out there so I thought I'd share it.

This was written to convert from a very old version of WebBBS (circa 1998), but has since been modified to work with 5.0. It should be a good start for anyone out there wanting to do this.

All of the instructions are included in the file as comments. Read them carefully! When finished, don't forget to update counters and the search table.

Anticipating vB3 like you wouldn't believe,
Paul

Update:

• Now corrects for GMT offset for older WebBBS versions (the newest versions use unix timestamps, so this isn't needed)
• Situation where extra carriage returns were being added should now be resolved.
• Link URLs and Images are now processed. URLs/Images in the actual message body (assuming you had HTML enabled on WebBBS) are not processed. Anyone willing to add this functionality, let me know.
• Situation where certain date strings would offset the timestamp incorrectly has now been corrected.
• Connection to the database is now handled much more efficiently.

NOTE: By downloading this, you agree that you will not send me countless PMs/e-mails asking for help with it. If you have a question, post it on this thread. I am by no means an expert. This is my first script in php. It was written to fill my need and may or may not fill yours. I do not have the time nor resources to provide support for it.

Also, as with all hacks on this site, this script is for registered vBulletin users ONLY. You are not permitted to distribute this script to anyone, under any circumstances.

[Paul]

Originally posted by voclain
Here is and exact copy of what is in the script!! NOTICE that I have the offset to -0 could that have caused the problem???

Nope, you had the right settings. I misspelled $useunixdate in the script where it checks the value. It was trying to process the date for older versions of WebBBS. I went back as I made the various revisions we tried and made sure that it would be backwards compatible for anyone using earlier versions of WebBBS such as the one I was using.

[voclain]

LOOK,,,,LOOK,,,,at my new baby girl!!!

She is so cute!! Has the right dates, the correct names, EVEN the pictures!!

YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much!!

YOU have my codes, go and check it out!! She's working!!!!

WONDERFUL!!!

Kirk Voclain

[Paul]

Looks great! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed.

Early appointment tomorrow morning! Let me know if you have any other problems.

The majority of the problems that have been experienced in the past with this script was my failure to globally define the $forumid variable. Thanks to Kirk's feedback, I was able to get down the right track to figure it out. There are multiple functions being used in the script and I neglected to realize that I wasn't doing a global $forumid; ... that and the occasional snag with versions.

This should work great with both older versions and the newest versions of WebBBS.

[Paul]

I have uploaded version 1.15r of the script which should fix any problems with extra line breaks being added by the script.

For those of you who have already converted, running the following queries should correct this problem. Run the queries in the order specified below:

First:

UPDATE post set pagetext=replace(pagetext,'\n\n\n\r','\r\r');

Second:

UPDATE post set pagetext=replace(pagetext,'\n\n\r','\r\r');

Third:

UPDATE post set pagetext=replace(pagetext,'\n\n','\r\r');

Fourth:

UPDATE post set pagetext=replace(pagetext,'\n',' ');

Backup your database before attempting this.

[Don Z.]

What's the latest on this? Does the 116 WebBBS converter work with vB3? Or is there a newer version?

I've got a big WebBBS 5.12 system I'd like to import into vB3.

Thanks

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Don Z.

What's the latest on this? Does the 116 WebBBS converter work with vB3? Or is there a newer version?

I've got a big WebBBS 5.12 system I'd like to import into vB3.

Thanks

No. This works with vBulletin 2.x. You would have to install vB2, import with this script, then upgrade the results to vB3.

[Don Z.]

Thanks!

[tgmorris]

Originally Posted by Don Z.

What's the latest on this? Does the 116 WebBBS converter work with vB3? Or is there a newer version?

I've got a big WebBBS 5.12 system I'd like to import into vB3.

Thanks

I've got a version of this I updated to work with WebBBS 5.12 and vb3. Let me know if you are interested. Going directly to vb3 allows the threads to remain intact.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by tgmorris

I've got a version of this I updated to work with WebBBS 5.12 and vb3. Let me know if you are interested. Going directly to vb3 allows the threads to remain intact.

It'd probably be very helpful to others if you post it here as an attachment or create a new "hack."

[tgmorris]

Originally Posted by LoveShack

It'd probably be very helpful to others if you post it here as an attachment or create a new "hack."

Here it is. It will likely need tweaking for each individual as I tuned it to handle how I did smilies on my site. The vb3 sections could probably be used for any other system as well.