[final kaoss]

I just now saw that, I don't remember getting a email or anything about it, so it's news to me. So I figured it's probably news to many people here too.

Source: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum...ual-file-fixes

Impex has been released as an open source project. The official open source release is here: https://github.com/internetbrands/vbimpex

However a more updated version (with updates by VB Support member Zachery) is available here: https://github.com/vBZachery/vbimpex

Impex is no longer available in the Members Area.

The Impex Manual is here: http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/i...rsion=40202603

Please be aware this version of Impex does not work natively with VB5. In order to import into VB5 you must first import into VB4 and then upgrade to VB5.


The existing Impex software is old, there are some file edits you should do before you begin your import to reduce the chance of errors.

Note- If you use the Impex maintained by Zachery above these fixes have already been made.

Caution: Windows users should not use notepad to edit these files. Instead download a true code editor like Notepad2 or Notepad++. (Both are free and easily found with Google.)
The first edit is simple- open the index.php file in the /impex/ directory.

On or about line 271 fine the code: Code:

) TYPE=MyISAM";
Change the word TYPE to ENGINE, so... Code:

) ENGINE=MyISAM";
And save changes. This is required because the word TYPE is depreciated in newer versions of MySQL and will produce a database error if used.
Edit #2 is in the file ImpExDatabaseCore.php also in the /impex/ directory.

On or about line 1857 fine the code: Code:

'" . $caption . "',
and change it to: Code:

'" . addslashes($caption) . "',
And save changes. This is required to fix a bug in the code- if any attachment contains a single-quote ' character you would get a database error without this fix.
Edit #3 is only necessary if you are importing CMS data. In the ImpExDatabase_cms_001.php file in the /impex/ folder.

On or about line 848 fine the code: Code:

'" . addslashes($this->get_value('nonmandatory', 'workflowstatus')) . "',
and change it to: Code:

'$vbenumval',
Then several lines up (around line 832) you will fine the code: Code:

// MySQL database case 'mysql': { $Db_object->query("
Now, directly above the $Db_object->query... line add some blank lines and paste in the code: Code:

$vbenumval = addslashes($this->get_value('nonmandatory', 'workflowstatus')); if (empty($vbenumval)) { $vbenumval = "NULL"; }
So your final code will look like: Code:

// MySQL database case 'mysql': { $vbenumval = addslashes($this->get_value('nonmandatory', 'workflowstatus')); if (empty($vbenumval)) { $vbenumval = "NULL"; } $Db_object->query("
And save changes. This is because the word NULL must be explicitly stated if the value in question is blank, empty or zero.
Last Update: January 1, 2015

[HM666]

Well that is interesting. I guess they wanted to keep that under their hat a little bit instead of telling paying customers about this new development.

[Mark.B]

Nobody wanted to keep anything "under their hat".

There wouldn't be much point emailing existing customers about ImpEx. ImpEx is designed for new customers.

[Zachery]

All of the community sourced fixes are in the impex from ib, i'm going to continue working on fixing stuff, or at least making it work well enough for the time being.

I'm going to do my best to maintain it long term. There is already a beta build which is disabling strict notices.

[HM666]

Originally Posted by Mark.B

Nobody wanted to keep anything "under their hat".

There wouldn't be much point emailing existing customers about ImpEx. ImpEx is designed for new customers.

Actually its not only new customers that use ImPex. Old customers use it as well if they have more than one license or move/change sites, downgrade their copy of vBulletin, or they have another site that is on another platform and want to migrate it into vBulletin after they purchase a second license, so yeah older customers use it too.

[Digital Jedi]

Does that mean we'll be getting an Impex forum in the Open Source section?

[Brandon Sheley]

lol.. only for new customers

nice

[Zachery]

Originally Posted by Digital Jedi

Does that mean we'll be getting an Impex forum in the Open Source section?

I don't really see the need for it, myself.

[Mark.B]

Originally Posted by HM666

Actually its not only new customers that use ImPex. Old customers use it as well if they have more than one license or move/change sites, downgrade their copy of vBulletin, or they have another site that is on another platform and want to migrate it into vBulletin after they purchase a second license, so yeah older customers use it too.

It's primary purpose has always been to allow customers on other software to migrate to vBulletin. It allowed us to facilitate sales of the software to people who already had established forums but wanted to migrate them without starting from scratch.

The number of existing customers who would make use of it is absolutely tiny. The vast majority of customers would not have a clue what it was. Accordingly, we would not waste time sending out an email announcing the open sourcing of something few recipients will have heard of. All that does is annoy customers who would consider it some form of marketing spam.

Of course, I would expect the usual suspects to try and pull negatives out of this move. Perhaps it would have been better to simply remove it from the site and throw it in the bin.

[Brandon Sheley]

Why would vbulletin email users to let them know about this, there is no way for vbulletin to make money off it.

End of the story.

[final kaoss]

Originally Posted by Brandon Sheley

Why would vbulletin email users to let them know about this, there is no way for vbulletin to make money off it.

End of the story.

Yep doesn't matter if current customers care about it or not, if they can't make money from it, then to hell with telling people about it apparently.

[Zachery]

To be fair, we didn't have to open source the software.

[final kaoss]

That's true but it's also not the main point of the discussion so far either. I probably would've been interested in it had I been emailed about it or notified about it via announcement on .com or .org.

[Brandon Sheley]

Originally Posted by Zachery

To be fair, we didn't have to open source the software.

We appreciate that the bugs have been fixed. To me it didn't matter if it was open source or at the vb.com.

In my opinion it's been the best thing about vbulletin for years.

[Zachery]

I'm not really a developer, so anything going forward will probably be slow on my end.

I intend to merge/test any pull requests and get them applied.
If people log issues in my repo, I'll do my best to help work though them, or hopefully get community help.

I'm going to do my best to maintain the project on myend anyway. I've reached out to Andreas to see if he is okay with me including his xenForo importer in the package. I believe I've also applied a workaround to fixing an issue with his code. I just can't publish it yet without permission from him. Since its not marked as re-useable code, and there is no included license otherwise.