Batch Member Import (Auto Registration)

[Brett James]

I'm setting up a brand new vBulletin 3.0.6 installation (my first vB). In a small corporate environment, this vB installation will be for internal use only. I'm looking to pre-register my network users, using their existing network usernames (which would then be their vB member names). I can create a web form to capture network usernames/passwords from users, saving into a file. Could I then use this file (.TXT, .CSV, etc.) to batch/import, basically auto-registering new members? :confused: TIA.

[Steve Machol]

I haven't used this myself, but i assume that is what the Flat file user (CSV style) importer does.

[Brett James]

I downloaded the ImpEx source from the Members Area (Appendix 5 of the manual); I'll prep a CSV and give it a try. Thanks for the pointers, Steve.

[Brett James]

I haven't used this myself, but i assume that is what the Flat file user (CSV style) importer does.

I installed the most recent ImpEx, but I find that Flat File User (CSV style) is not in the list. Other vB posts note the CSV importer at #42, which is XMB Forum for me. Is there an older ImpEx out there that would do the job?

[Steve Machol]

I just downloaded the latest Impex, installed it, and the text file importer is definitely listed as #42.

[Brett James]

Did my ImpEx install go wrong? I'll try again. I remove impex from my vB system directory, then AdminCP > Import & Maintenace : Import/Export is gone. Good. I download vB3 Importers from Members again, and reinstall to my server, under my vB /forums directory, a directory named /impex.

BTW: impex.readme.txt file reports this version:


/**
* A read me
*
* @package ImpEx
* @version $Revision: 1.55 $
* @author Jerry Hutchings <jerry.hutchings@vbulletin.com>
* @date $Date: 2005/01/06 23:33:50 $
*
*/


Back in AdminCP > Import & Maintenance and Import/Export is back. Great! I open to find no CSV Flat File Importer anywhere in the list, and #42 is absolutely "XMB Forum". (see attach). Why are we seeing different screens, using the same rev. ImpEx? :confused:

[Steve Machol]

Yes, something went wrong. Most likely you did not overwrite the existing Impex files when you uploaded the new ones.

[Brett James]

I've literally deleted and freshly uploaded both my local and remote server /impex folders - two or three times - being sure I've got latest copy of ImpEx (vB3 Importer) from the Members section. Still, I get no CSV Importer. I figured CSV Importer was in an OLDER ImpEx, but Steve... you get CSV Importer with a fresh ImpEx install? I'll drop Jerry a message and see if he knows why I can't get the CSV Importer showing in my list of importers. I'm looking to import about 150 usernames and passwords only. I'm spending alot of clock time gettin' nowhere fast!

[Jerry]

It is displayed as : Text file importer 0.0

Isn't that showing up for you ?

[Floris]

# 33. on his screenshot.

[Steve Machol]

It's #42 on the Impex files I downloaded last night.

[Jerry]

There isn't any specific sorting on the folders, is as the OS returns the dir listing.

I might stick a numbering sort in so people can refer to a system by number opposed to a name.

[Brett James]

I 'really' like that idea: 'fix' a number in the list alongside the importers, so we have an absolute reference for discussion. And the Text File Importer link? Nice touch if that link would go to a vB.com/subpage w/ help importing txt files, maybe with a few examples, etc. In a perfect world. Thanks, Jerry - and Steve.

[Brett James]

I've prepped a clean users.txt file of (username,email,password) i.e.

Jerry,jerry@domain.com,jerry_password
Steve,steve@domain.com,steve_password

etc.

I upload it ASCII into (path to vBsystem)/impex/systems/txt_file/ folder - and I run ImpEx, Module 001, but every time I get this NOT OK warning:

---

Altering tables

ImpEx will now Alter the tables in the vB database to include import id numbers.

If you have large tables (i.e. lots of posts) this can take some time.

They will also be left after the import if you need to link back to the origional vB userid.

moderator - importmoderatorid OK
usergroup - importusergroupid OK
ranks - importrankid OK
poll - importpollid OK
forum - importforumid OK
forum - importcategoryid OK
user - importuserid OK
style - importstyleid OK
thread - importthreadid OK
post - importthreadid OK
thread - importforumid OK
smilie - importsmilieid OK
pmtext - importpmid OK
avatar - importavatarid OK
customavatar - importcustomavatarid OK
customprofilepic - importcustomprofilepicid OK
post - importpostid OK
attachment - importattachmentid OK
pm - importpmid OK
users.txt - NOT OK

---

What's not okay? The file structure? The path to the file? If I DO attempt to run Module 002 anyway and forget about the warning, after I designate field1 = username, field2 = email, field3 = password then click <Continue>, an error shows on the screen, but only for a micro-split second before the error is covered over by the modules screen. I BELIEVE the error message is something like...

---

"... invalid argument supplied for foreach()"

---

:confused:

[Brett James]

It's the Path To users.txt that's the problem. I was using path from root of website. When I changed it to... path from root of server, NOT OK became OK.

Moving on...