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While browsing I came accross a forum script called RPGBoard:
http://www.resonatorsoft.org/software/rpgboard/

It allows threaded style discussion (eg: see http://www.theonering.net/rumour_mill/main/index.html) and is much more full-featured than wwwboard that we're using now.

It's also in Perl, and features various threads modes, users accounts, new message display and other currently missing features. See here for a comparaison chart with other forums systems.

Do you think it'll be good to install here?

I'd like to import the current forum archives (~30000 messages in total) thought, so a migration script will have to be written, but I believe it's pretty faisable.

Of course, RPGboard can be tuned to be light and match SMS Power design.

Quote

> I'd like to import the current forum archives (~30000 messages in total) thought, so a migration script will have to be written, but I believe it's pretty faisable.

I was about to post that over Christmas I wrote a (slow) program that extracted the content from the forum archives and built a tree out of it. Then I just remembered it was on the hard disk that died. Ah well. It's not too hard, probably best done in unintelligible Perl rather than in Delphi or C.

Maxim

Quote

> > I'd like to import the current forum archives (~30000 messages in total) thought, so a migration script will have to be written, but I believe it's pretty faisable.
> I was about to post that over Christmas I wrote a (slow) program that extracted the content from the forum archives and built a tree out of it.

Did you succeed in merging all different backups archives into a single tree?

Quote

>Then I just remembered it was on the hard disk that died. Ah >well. It's not too hard, probably best done in unintelligible >Perl rather than in Delphi or C.

I'd do it in Perl or PHP since it's not confortable manipulating strings in raw C, and... I don't know Delphi. Not that I really know PHP but I'm sure it can be learned easily.

Now, if it is to integrate to the RPGboard package, the original author will certainly appreciate if we do it in Perl. But that's not mandatory. The only requirement is to actually extract our archive.

Quote

> Did you succeed in merging all different backups archives into a single tree?

Yes. the process was:

1. Load all message files (messages/nnnn.html) one at a time
2. Parse to fields - noting that message content is always stored on a single line, and there are optional fields to be handled
3. Extract a lot of information from the reply box's hidden fields
4. Build a flat tree (no branches, all leaves at root)
4. Sort into a tree by

for(all root branches in order)
if(parent in tree) {
unlink from parent;
add as child of parent
}

Quote

> Now, if it is to integrate to the RPGboard package, the original author will certainly appreciate if we do it in Perl. But that's not mandatory. The only requirement is to actually extract our archive.

The only problem, I think, is when you changed the form field names recently. In my implementation, building the tree was the slow process (load several thousand messages: a few seconds; sort tree: 15 minutes) but that was because I was directly using a Windows Treeview control which was a bad idea. You really need a language with either unchecked pointers (C) or a powerful tree construct built in (erm... Java? :P).

Maxim

Author	Message
Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8651 Location: Paris, France	Switching forums to RPGBoard Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:56 am
	While browsing I came accross a forum script called RPGBoard: http://www.resonatorsoft.org/software/rpgboard/ It allows threaded style discussion (eg: see http://www.theonering.net/rumour_mill/main/index.html) and is much more full-featured than wwwboard that we're using now. It's also in Perl, and features various threads modes, users accounts, new message display and other currently missing features. See here for a comparaison chart with other forums systems. Do you think it'll be good to install here? I'd like to import the current forum archives (~30000 messages in total) thought, so a migration script will have to be written, but I believe it's pretty faisable.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8651 Location: Paris, France	Tuning Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:57 am
	Of course, RPGboard can be tuned to be light and match SMS Power design.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14741 Location: London	Slightly related Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:40 pm
	Quote > I'd like to import the current forum archives (~30000 messages in total) thought, so a migration script will have to be written, but I believe it's pretty faisable. I was about to post that over Christmas I wrote a (slow) program that extracted the content from the forum archives and built a tree out of it. Then I just remembered it was on the hard disk that died. Ah well. It's not too hard, probably best done in unintelligible Perl rather than in Delphi or C. Maxim

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8651 Location: Paris, France	Re: Slightly related Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:53 pm
	Quote > > I'd like to import the current forum archives (~30000 messages in total) thought, so a migration script will have to be written, but I believe it's pretty faisable. > I was about to post that over Christmas I wrote a (slow) program that extracted the content from the forum archives and built a tree out of it. Did you succeed in merging all different backups archives into a single tree? Quote >Then I just remembered it was on the hard disk that died. Ah >well. It's not too hard, probably best done in unintelligible >Perl rather than in Delphi or C. I'd do it in Perl or PHP since it's not confortable manipulating strings in raw C, and... I don't know Delphi. Not that I really know PHP but I'm sure it can be learned easily. Now, if it is to integrate to the RPGboard package, the original author will certainly appreciate if we do it in Perl. But that's not mandatory. The only requirement is to actually extract our archive.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14741 Location: London	Re: Slightly related Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 8:42 am
	Quote > Did you succeed in merging all different backups archives into a single tree? Yes. the process was: 1. Load all message files (messages/nnnn.html) one at a time 2. Parse to fields - noting that message content is always stored on a single line, and there are optional fields to be handled 3. Extract a lot of information from the reply box's hidden fields 4. Build a flat tree (no branches, all leaves at root) 4. Sort into a tree by for(all root branches in order) if(parent in tree) { unlink from parent; add as child of parent } Quote > Now, if it is to integrate to the RPGboard package, the original author will certainly appreciate if we do it in Perl. But that's not mandatory. The only requirement is to actually extract our archive. The only problem, I think, is when you changed the form field names recently. In my implementation, building the tree was the slow process (load several thousand messages: a few seconds; sort tree: 15 minutes) but that was because I was directly using a Windows Treeview control which was a bad idea. You really need a language with either unchecked pointers (C) or a powerful tree construct built in (erm... Java? :P). Maxim

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