Using the com_smftofb component.

Firstly this is not as easy as it should be, you may not get errors you may.. chances are though you are going to at some point get a problem..

The issue as far as I can see is with special characters in categories (at least) so things like apostrophe(' yup these little buggers)s will screw up your transfer.

The files you want to arm yourself with are linked to this post, if the files get updated I will add them to this first post so we dont have another 30+ page headwreck trying to stay with which files are current, as of now this appears to be working in some context with:

Component - Fireboard 1.01-build1
com_smftofb
and importantly - smf_2_fb_v2.txt

So to begin...

## If you have fireboard installed now get rid of it, delete all the fireboard folders on your server in /components and /administrator/components if there are any left behind, go into your db and delete the relevant fireboard entries too so either mos_fb_ or jos_fb_ depending if you were once a mambo user that converted to joomla! ##

Install the fireboard component in the usual way, once it is installed leave it * Do not click on create database *

Unzip the com_smftofb.zip folder and then go into your server backend and to the /components directory, in here you need to upload the unzipped com_smftofb folder and contents.

Now log into your phpmyadmin or your regular db editing app you will soon be adding a sql query but before that...

## Bear in mind that the table prefixes are set as jos_ so if you are using the mos_ prefix you will need to edit this file in wordpad or of like me you use linux, kwrite or kate. Simply go into replace and add jos_ as the term you want searching and mos_as the term you want it replacing with, let it scan and replace and if you get the option to start from the beginning click yes so it picks all of them up. ##

Now your sql query is set correctly you can now add the data, you need to click on the SQL tab or query tab and insert the code within the smf_2_fb_v2.txt file, click go and this should execute the query successfully, if not go back and retrace your steps to make sure everything else is set correctly.

So.. the state of play is as follows...

You have installed the component, then you have manually added the conversion component and finally you have prepared the database with the correct tables needed for this to work (remember theoretically =O )

So now if you are feeling fairly chuffed you have got this far you should be, it took me about 100 pages of reading to get all the info together for it to get to this stage and actually work.

Next, go to your browser and type:http://yourdomain.com/index.php?option=com_smftofb and then hit enter:

** remember to substitute the yourdomain.com with your actual domain URL - you would be surprised how many forget. **

so from here you will see the SMF to Fireboard import screen - hurrah! nearly done

go down the list clicking the yellow boxes in order and allowing them to complete, depending on the size of your forum you might have quite a wait so get a drink and prepare to be bored, in fact you could wile away the time by writing a tutorial on how to make the smf to fireboard conversion work (oh wait, thats what im doing!)

In any case if you are happy with the output from the conversion click to finish and remove the com_smftofb directory from /components, if you have noticed missing files etc go and try and look for the common element that has caused this (back to special characters again I feel)

This is not an exhaustive guide, I am no programmer but I hope this at least helps untangle your heads about how to make SMF to FB work for you.

regards

Leigh Godson (Bunglehaze) www.moltenpixel.co.uk

http://www.bestofjoomla.com/components/com_fireboard/uploaded/files/smf_to_fb_v2.txt

http://www.bestofjoomla.com/files/fireboard/builds/component_Fireboard_Forum_1.0.1_build_1.zip

http://www.bestofjoomla.com/images/fbfiles/files/com_smftofb.zip

Ok, everything worked fine up until I tried to type in the http://yourdomain.com/option,com_smftofb to my browser. When I hit enter it flips me to my site's homepage. I noticed your instructions said to type "enter", where is this to be inserted? I am using my domain name instead of "yourdomain" so thats not the problem. I inserted all of the files in the correct folders also. Any help would be appreciated.

Added: Ok, found the solution in another post, the entry into the browser should be: http://yourdomain.com/components/index.php?option=com_smftofb and then hit enter. That brings up the import page.

I keep getting the error:

MySQL said:

#1050 - Table 'jos_fb_announcement' already exists

Any help? I am far from an expert on these things but I can follow any directions if they are spelled out to me like above. Thanks for the effort so far.

Somewhere back in the SMF to FB thread I remember seeing that same error message. Read through the thread and see if you can find it. I know it's there somewhere.

Ok, got it!! I simply dropped all jos_fb_******** tables.

THANKS A LOT for this great tutorial on how to do this. I have looked over that thread many times and would never have been able to decipher it.

No problem, im glad it helped!

I managed to use this method to convert from vbulletin to smf and then to fireboard and while it has not worked perfectly it did the trick enough for me to get my forum running again.

cheers

leigh

i was able to get the posts and users converted to fireboard. but now the replies to the postings and the child boards are in its own post and boards!

how do you fix that?

Manually by the looks of it... To be honest the current system is totally inadequate for anyone to seriously consider using apart from the beta test, you will find LOADS of errors like this after conversion and unfortunately 10.2 does not even work with the converter otherwise I might have been able to test that one out instead.

cheers

leigh

Stupid question perhaps? Where do I find the com_smftofb component zip-file???

.Mats

Stupid question perhaps? Where do I find the com_smftofb component zip-file???

Edit, ok now I can see them. Thanx.

.Mats