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Trouble converting database phpBB2 -> Phorum 5.2.23

Posted by Chefsessel 
Trouble converting database phpBB2 -> Phorum 5.2.23
January 02, 2021 04:19AM
Hi everyone,

I hope there's still some Phorum champs lurking around that have a minute or two to share their Phorum know-how? I'd really appreciate any help!

A little explanation: I'm preserving an old fan page on Macintosh System 7 machines including the forums from disappearing. The original page used a phpBB2 (7800+ messages). I've converted the tables to Phorum in order to preserve the old posts. I've got the columns for ...

message_id
forum_id
thread
user_id
author
datestamp
subject
body

Question 1: The above columns should be enough for Phorum to display the threads. Correct?

Question 2: I'm running into an issue where I have the above info stored in the phorum_messages table, the thread is shown in the forums but when clicking on it, I do get get the "Sorry, the message you have requested could not be found." error. Checking in the database, it is there and I cannot see why its not working (the IDs are correct)

I've run the database integrity options from the admin.php to fix the the db entries but to no avail. Version is 5.2.23.

Like I said, any help is appreciated :-)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2021 07:47AM by Chefsessel.
Re: Trouble converting database phpBB2 -> Phorum 5.2.23
January 03, 2021 12:13AM
I haven't imported from another message board into Phorum in at least 15 years. Your mileage may vary.


The simplest way to determine what is necessary is to create a brand new "local" install, being sure to give the tables their own prefix so as to not overwrite any existing tables.
The prefix is set in the config.php in the include/db/ directory.

Once installed, ...
using phpMyAdmin or mysql workbench you can see what columns are necessary, if the table is totally empty, it most likely is not needed. Same with columns in the table.

Add a few topics and messages with replies.

If there is no parent id, the pages count will not match the messages available, irrespective of what is displayed.
If Phorum can't find a parent, it does not know what message to display since the parent is needed to order siblings.
AND "Sorry, the message you have requested could not be found."

If the user does not have the proper permissions you may get... "Sorry, the message you have requested could not be found."

If the status is not set to a valid number, and you are not an Admin... (I did not test this to determine limits) "Sorry, the message you have requested could not be found."


What I believe is needed.
Columns:
message_id 
forum_id 
thread 
parent_id 
user_id  
author  
subject  
body  
email 
ip  
status  
msgid  
modifystamp  
thread_count
moderator_post 
sort  
datestamp 
meta  
viewcount  
threadviewcount 
closed  
recent_message_id 
recent_user_id 
recent_author  
moved 
Re: Trouble converting database phpBB2 -> Phorum 5.2.23
January 03, 2021 06:54AM
Scott, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer! I did setup a new fresh Phorum install and only afterwards imported the phpbb2 data.

Question 1:
Been poking the database all day but couldn't come up with a solution. It seems that Phorum requires the message_id and the thread (id) to be identical for the first, initial post of a thread. Can you confirm that?

At least after changing values manually those threads would show up.

Question 2:
I don't get the parent ID thing. I don't really get the parent ID. Posted a reply in a thread now. All the 4 posts above have parent ID 1 and my post has parent ID 4? Message ID changed of course, but the rest is more or less the same. So what's the idea about it?

Question 3:
May I ask you what the msgid column stores / does? I made some new posts where Phorum set a msgid but it doesn't seem a necessity for the mere displaying of a post?
Re: Trouble converting database phpBB2 -> Phorum 5.2.23
January 03, 2021 02:32PM
Please remember I haven't imported on a long time, which means I may be in error on some things.

Question 1, YES thread id and message id need to be the same for the topic starter.

Phorum was originally designed as a threaded message board. This means that if you want to display in threaded order, a parent id is required.

Most message boards reply to the message starter for all replies.

Question 2 and maybe 3.
Phorum does something like this, IF you use the REPLY button attached to the body text box.
The Reply box at the bottom of the page replies to the topic starter. (may be hidden in Admin)

"thread starter" needs    thread id = message id
.. "reply to thread starter" needs   thread id and messaage id,   parent is "thread starter" message id
.. .. "reply to reply" needs   thread id and message id,   parent id is "reply to topic starter" message id

topic starter
                  \ reply to topic starter
                                                   \ reply to reply 
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