PHPBB Import & Private Messages

[wynode]

After running Impex and importing all the forums etc fine, I noticed that I had like 400 odd PMs!

On my old board, the combined limit is around 40 PMs (including inbox, sendt box etx) however I cannot figure out how I ended up with 400 odd after the import process.

I also noticed that some of the PM's are really old.....not sure how that has happened?!?!

[Zachery]

Is it possible that phpbb doesnt really delete pm's just marks them deleted?

[wynode]

Probably is the case. I can't see any other explanation.

I'm actuallly surprised that PHPBB does that..........imagine all those PM's taking up space!

[rike-online]

Hello @all,

I can confirm this problem! I've posted this (bug) on vbulletin-germany.com and the moderator POGO has set up this issue on the bug-list (code 3265, see it here: Deleted pn's in phpBB appear in vB (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/bugs.php?do=view&bugid=3265)).

I asked in the board of phpBB.com, because it's not easy to find out the responsibility for this problem... is it the import-script by vbulletin or is it a problem by phpbb caused by a database setting? On phpBB I get the answer, that this issue must be solved by the development of the vb-import-script, because the database entries in phpBB won't be deleted physically, there is only a flag set in the DB for deleted PM's... (attention Zachery!) and that's the answer why old, old and assumed deleted Messages will be shown ones again after the import of the phpBB database in vbulletin...

I'm glad to hear about the prob in this board, so that I'm not the only one who has this problem with the import-script...

Have a nice day
Rike

[Jerry]

So the issues is that the importer is import PM's that have been marked deleted ??

[rike-online]

Hi Jerry,

yes, I think so. The deleted PM aren't deleted physically in the database, the PM are marked apparently only as deleted in the database. It is the problem that I cannot find this marking...


Greetings
Rike

[Jerry]

Ok, well as soon as one of us find the marking I'll be able to ignore the deleted ones in the importer.

I'd take a guess that its phpbb_privmsgs.privmsgs_type = 0

Though I'd have to look at the phpBB code to be sure.

[lifanovsky]

Just to mention.
When I was importing from phpBB in the end of October, the problem was still in place...

[Krang]

I also noticed this problem when importing from phpBB. When someone sends a PM in phpBB, the PM is duplicated in the database, and one copy is assigned to the sender as a sent PM and one to the recipient as a new PM (I'm guessing that the reason for this is so that one person can still view the PM if the other person deletes it). These copies are identical other than the privmsgs_type, so I'm assuming that this is the cause of the problem. Here are the different types (from constants.php):

define('PRIVMSGS_READ_MAIL', 0);
define('PRIVMSGS_NEW_MAIL', 1);
define('PRIVMSGS_SENT_MAIL', 2);
define('PRIVMSGS_SAVED_IN_MAIL', 3);
define('PRIVMSGS_SAVED_OUT_MAIL', 4);
define('PRIVMSGS_UNREAD_MAIL', 5);

[Krang]

Any chance of getting this fixed? If not, maybe I should import the PMs and members into different forum software instead, then import the resulting PMs into vB 3...

[Jerry]

Any chance of getting this fixed? If not, maybe I should import the PMs and members into different forum software instead, then import the resulting PMs into vB 3...

Yes, I will fix this, though I'm currently away from the dev machines for 24 hours.

[Krang]

Thanks for the update. This will make it alot easier to correctly import the PMs from phpBB, especially for those of us with larger boards where there will be alot of members with duplicate PMs.

[Jerry]

I've updated it now so only actually sent PM's are imported.

[Krang]

Thanks, it works much better now, but there are still problems. :( If the sender deleted a PM from his Outbox but the recipient did not delete the same PM from his Inbox, that PM is not imported now. I actually tried importers from two other kinds of forum software, but both of them had the same problem... Apparently, the PMs need to be imported differently depending on the privmsgs_type:
Types 0, 1, and 5: Import everything
Type 2: Import everything unless there is a matching PM in group 0
Types 3 and 4: Not sure since I don't have anything in my Savebox in my test database

Sorry for bringing this up again, but I manage forums with over 1000 users, so I want to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.

[Jerry]

i'm thinking just importing 0,1,5 is the way to go.

[Krang]

i'm thinking just importing 0,1,5 is the way to go.
You're right, that will take care of everything in each user's Inbox, which is the most important part. I tried the updated importer and it works well. Thanks!

[Jerry]

Thanks for pointing out which groups to bring in :)

[Candycane]

Is there a fix for this if we've already imported our PMs and are live?

[Jerry]

Maybe ... do you have the original phpBB database and still have the importid's in the vBulletin database ?

[Candycane]

Sure do. :)

[Jerry]

Ok, I can picture the logic to do it, PM and I'll send you the SQL.