Converting from vBulletin to xenForo?

**GWTZ** · October 1, 2014

Hello. New here so hope I'm posting this in the correct forum (very sorry if not).

The site I work for currently runs a 4.2.2. vBulletin forum, including a VaultWiki powered wiki. However we're currently in the process of moving everything over to a xenForo setup and as much as we can convert over the better.

As such, I'm wondering if anyone can inform me about converting our Wiki over? We're looking to use xenForo's existing vBulletin converter but are appreciative about any other necessary steps. Obviously the ideal is to be able to convert stuff over rather than having to start from scratch, etc.

Thanks

**pegasus** · October 1, 2014

Depends on the version of VaultWiki your site currently has, and when it was purchased. There have been 2 families of VaultWiki: 4.x (the current series) and 3.x (everything before 4.x).

The easiest conversion is VaultWiki 4.x -> VaultWiki 4.x, because almost nothing is changed whether you are on vBulletin or XenForo. For this we recommend that both installations are up-to-date, but at least the target database should have the newest version of VaultWiki.

The other kind of conversion is VaultWiki 3.x -> VaultWiki 4.x. This is not as pleasant, especially since VaultWiki 3.x is vBulletin-only and VaultWiki 4.x can be on XenForo. For this we recommend that the vBulletin installation uses VaultWiki 3.0.20, and that the XenForo installation uses whatever the newest VaultWiki 4 release happens to be.

Both cases require that you fill in your source database info in a special config file that the wiki importer will read from. I recommend that both the source and target installations are on the same localhost, and that they can both be accessed from the same user's home directory.
Both cases allow for remote sources, but I don't know how well that works, since all attachments would have to be imported over HTTP and I have never tried it.

Obviously the same code base does not work for vBulletin and for XenForo. If your license was purchased before June 11, 2013, you are allowed to transfer your existing license from vBulletin to XenForo (before June 11, 2013 it was not possible to buy a XenForo version, but some people "pre-ordered"). If your license was purchased after that date, you have to buy a new license.

If that's the case, I would recommend renewing your old license for only 1 month, which should be enough time to update your old install. You would then purchase a XenForo-dependent license for whatever term fit your needs.

If migrations in general are a daunting task, I recommend spending a little extra for our Import Service. This way you can keep your own sanity if anything does go awry.

Some features of VaultWiki that relied on vBulletin functions are not available in the XenForo version because the same functions do not exist in XenForo. One of these is Social Groups functionality. Keep in mind that the importer might simply ignore this kind of data since there is no native function to map it to, and some data will be lost.

Please let me know if you have any other questions regarding this process.

**Alfa1** · October 1, 2014

I know you have previously advised to port straight over from VW3 to VW4 on XenForo. At the current time if a site is using VW3, what route would you recommend? VW3 to VW4 on vb to VW4 n XF? Or directly to VW4 on XF?

I am considering the longer route.

**pegasus** · October 1, 2014

I believe at the time I suggested the long route, the VW4 -> VW4 importer was not finished yet. Unless you are considering waiting to perform a XenForo conversion, and would like to minimize the effect of change on your users (i.e. change the wiki first and the forum later), I would advise the shortest route possible in order to minimize points of error.

**Alfa1** · October 2, 2014

I cannot yet migrate to xenforo because some addons are not ready yet and some importers are riddled with bugs. That's why I am considering to upgrade VW3 to VW4 on vbulletin 3. But a major downside to that is that wiki discussions / wiki articles will no longer come up in new posts. Which means that wiki may become as slow as vb social groups. At the point when VW4 reaches the point that it offers new functions that my members really need, then it will be worthwhile to upgrade from VW3. It depends what happens first: VW4 functionality including the functions that will make it more value to my users, or XenForo development reaching the point where I can migrate to XF.
If the long route increases chances of error then that's something to take into account as well.

**pegasus** · October 2, 2014

Wiki articles and discussions show up with new posts in the global "What's New" feed in vBulletin 4.2. Unfortunately earlier versions of vBulletin didn't have a feature like this. XenForo has a similar function under Members > Recent Activity.

**GWTZ** · January 19, 2015

Hello again, realise it's been a few months but thank you for the responses. We've been busy assessing this and other things related to our upgrading.

We've converted our existing VW to 4.x as you advised. Is there a specific guide to the process of then importing from vB to xf? Have been looking through the Manual section of the site with no luck.

Thanks for your time and again thank you for your help so far.

**pegasus** · January 23, 2015

I trust that you already made sure your VaultWiki 3 -> 4 conversion on vBulletin had acceptable results.

A VaultWiki 4 -> VaultWiki 4 import is very easy. I would advise making sure the BB-Code related settings in the VaultWiki: Wiki Links setting group match between installations.

Then, follow these instructions:
https://www.vaultwiki.org/pages/Help...er-VaultWiki-4

VaultWiki 4 -> VaultWiki 4 pretty much directly copies the data.

**GWTZ** · January 26, 2015

Thanks very much for the response.

Seems I'm a bit ahead of myself- although my colleague has updated the VB side to version 4, it's up to me to install the XF version before the conversion.

Familiar with where the 'library' content should go but at a loss where the content of 'clientscript', 'vault' and yui_loader.php should be placed. If you could please assist then I should be fine with the rest off the add-on install side. Sorry for any stupid questions.

**pegasus** · January 26, 2015

You don't need to upload 'clientscript' to XenForo, but the contents of 'upload' should be uploaded to XenForo's root directory (wherever index.php is).

**GWTZ** · January 28, 2015

Am currently doing the install. The Add on install has worked fine but when I load the new wiki tab I get the Error vw_wiki_upgrade_error.

Regardless I attempted the install anyway and was doing fine until step 8 which told me:

Code:

Installing VaultWiki v4.0.0
Step 8

Fatal error: Class 'vw_Node_chapter_Model' not found in /home/[REDACTED]/public_html/[REDACTED]/vault/core/model/node/vw.php on line 442

I've checked the vw.php in that directory on both our FTP servers and both match the file in the ZIP. Any idea what could be causing either or both of these errors and how to correct them, please? Many thanks

**pegasus** · January 28, 2015

If this is the full version, do you see a "chapter" folder in /vault/core/model/node? If not, then that's what's missing. It's also possible that /vault/core/model/node/chapter/vw.php has unexpected contents, or that there's a vb3.php, vb4.php, or xf.php file in the folder with unexpected contents.

**GWTZ** · February 2, 2015

Thank you

I've now been able to advance up to step 17, which reports the following error:

Code:

Step 17

Importing phrases
An exception occurred: Invalid XML in /home/[REDACTED]/public_html/[REDACTED]/vault/core/controller/install/db/xml/language/xf.xml in /home/[REDACTED]/public_html/[REDACTED]/library/XenForo/Helper/DevelopmentXml.php on line 20

XenForo_Helper_DevelopmentXml::scanFile() in vault/core/controller/install/common/xf.php at line 482
vw_Install_Common_Controller_XF->get_document() in vault/core/controller/install/common/xf.php at line 74
vw_Install_Common_Controller_XF->do_language() in vault/core/controller/install/full/steps/xf.php at line 579
{closure}() in vault/core/controller/progress/vw.php at line 100
vw_Progress_Controller->call() in vault/core/controller/cp/progress/vw.php at line 45
vw_CP_Progress_Controller->process() in vault/core/controller/cp/install/vw.php at line 208
vw_CP_Install_Controller->install() in vault/core/controller/cp/install/vw.php at line 64
vw_CP_Install_Controller->execute() in library/vw/XenForo/ControllerAdmin/Wiki.php at line 115
vw_XenForo_ControllerAdmin_Wiki->actionIndex() in library/vw/XenForo/ControllerAdmin/Wiki.php at line 144
vw_XenForo_ControllerAdmin_Wiki->actionUpgrade() in library/XenForo/FrontController.php at line 347
XenForo_FrontController->dispatch() in library/XenForo/FrontController.php at line 134
XenForo_FrontController->run() in admin.php at line 13

I've gone through the sub folders for all the mentioned errors and found a few that were undersized and thus swapped them out with the installer files as needed. However the error message stays the same and of course won't allow me to continue.

**pegasus** · February 2, 2015

It's possible the file vault/core/controller/install/db/xml/language/xf.xml does not contain all the data after it is uploaded. This would be a problem with either your upload client or your internet connection when you perform the upload, if the file in the ZIP doesn't match the file on your server.

**GWTZ** · February 2, 2015

Originally Posted by pegasus

It's possible the file vault/core/controller/install/db/xml/language/xf.xml does not contain all the data after it is uploaded. This would be a problem with either your upload client or your internet connection when you perform the upload, if the file in the ZIP doesn't match the file on your server.

You're correct. It took a few tries but got the full xf.xml over. It's an odd problem with my connection that myself and my boss are aware of and planning to address as it's clearly causing problems.

Have now gone through to step 24, the blue button reading 'next_batch'. Clicking it causes the page to reload with the same step and button. Between the admin panel and the now present wiki everything seems ok so do I take this as nothing to worry about?

EDIT- There we go. Finalised confirmation and removing directory as requested.