More Fully Integrating SMF and Efiction

I'm attempting this on my own. So far this is what I completed.

I bridged them as instructed, but I did not change the query string. the one that came with SMF works better. I ported the old member list using:

INSERT INTO smf_members (ID_MEMBER, memberName, passwd, emailAddress) SELECT uid, penname, password, email FROM fanfiction_authors;

I ran:

UPDATE smf_members SET realName = memberName;

to fix the blank member names. This is good as most people did not have realname filled in efiction. I see what I did, INSERT makes new rows, best done when the fields have been emptied.

You may also want to add realName and dateRegistered to the first code here. The corresponding efiction code is realname and date

You'd have to convert date registered. I imported them originally, and they all say 12-31-1969 now and I haven't had the opportunity to figure out how to fix it.

For porting the information from an existing efiction into a new SMF (which is, I assume, what you were trying to do), I ran the following query in phpMyAdmin

INSERT INTO smf_members (ID_MEMBER, memberName, realName,  passwd, emailAddress) SELECT uid, penname, penname,  password, email FROM fanfiction_authors

That eliminates the step of going back and adding in realName.

It all sounds great to me, but I still think it would be better to just have efiction pull the news from SMF. Either from a board the admin chooses or from the news section. In this way links in the news can be added with bbcode as well as all of the other features posting offered by SMF.

Instead of modding the news section of SMF as I originally posted, it would be easier to just make a block that pulled all the data you wanted to use and replacing the news block in efiction. Although I'm not sure if you could pull the bbcode and other features, which is the main thing.

As for login/logout, I at one point tried using SSI.php in efiction and it worked, but I couldn't get the form placed where I wanted it on the page so went back to the original bridged efiction login/logout. I still haven't found out how to redirect it where I want it to go instead of the default, but then I didn't really try that hard. I was just seeing what I could do on my test site.

It all sounds great to me, but I still think it would be better to just have efiction pull the news from SMF. Either from a board the admin chooses or from the news section. In this way links in the news can be added with bbcode as well as all of the other features posting offered by SMF.

Instead of modding the news section of SMF as I originally posted, it would be easier to just make a block that pulled all the data you wanted to use and replacing the news block in efiction. Although I'm not sure if you could pull the bbcode and other features, which is the main thing.

I suppose it's a matter of perspective. I really think the news function in efiction is easier to  use. In the end, however, it boils down to which one I will be able to get to work and the ssi.php does offer a lot of integration functionality.

As for login/logout, I at one point tried using SSI.php in efiction and it worked, but I couldn't get the form placed where I wanted it on the page so went back to the original bridged efiction login/logout. I still haven't found out how to redirect it where I want it to go instead of the default, but then I didn't really try that hard. I was just seeing what I could do on my test site.

I tried this as well with the same results. I couldn't figure out how to assign the ssi functions to a tpl, which would allow complete freedom of placement. Eventually, I will though...I'm sure it's possible.

You'd have to convert date registered. I imported them originally, and they all say 12-31-1969 now and I haven't had the opportunity to figure out how to fix it.

Ah convert, I was fearing this was a possibility. I'll look into it.

EDIT For converting I found a topic here: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/15256/15256.html?Ad=1 its in the comments, but i'm not savvy ^^ i'll test one of them. Ah more here http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187928.aspx

For porting the information from an existing efiction into a new SMF (which is, I assume, what you were trying to do), I ran the following query in phpMyAdmin

Well, they are both bridged. I installed SMF first and then efiction. I emptied all the efiction tables (I have had many errors, so when I installed efiction here I kept the same data and initialized all the same things as my account in my signature then ported the backup. Worked great). I also emptied the smf_members prior to that initial line of code I mentioned. So the transfer worked. I then changed the user group to 1 for my account which gave me admin access. Note this will also give you the password you used from the site you obtained the backup file from.

INSERT INTO smf_members (ID_MEMBER, memberName, realName,  passwd, emailAddress) SELECT uid, penname, penname,  password, email FROM fanfiction_authors

That eliminates the step of going back and adding in realName.

Ah yes it would. Thanks, it's been quite educational. I'll provide more code when I can. SQL seems easier to learn than PHP    😎

Oh, i just noticed what I quoted is missing a ; all sql statements like php need ; at the end ^^

Itanshi, I think your posts are a little off-topic, else I just don't know what you're trying to say. This thread is for discussing potential ways that efiction and SMF can be bridged more seamlessly. From what I can tell, you're just talking about setting up a basic SMF/Efiction bridge? Please clarify if I am wrong...

Though I do think it's a good idea to include instructions on how to bridge an existing eFiction with a new SMF so I will include these instructions. Please do let me know if you figure out how to import/convert the date registered data.

Ah, well both are useful, up to you if you wish to split it or not. I'm reading up on it, might need a MERGE command.

Ok, solved it, took me a couple days of messing with it. I use dreamhost, linux server so I cant speak of variations.

This is for porting old non bridged data onto a new bridged version of your site.
Steps:
1 - fresh new install smf and efiction, same database (make sure you install and initialize all the same things as the old one or it won't sync)
2 - go to phpmyadmin, EMPTY smf_members and all of the efiction tables
3 - import the backup.sql attained from the old efiction (no bridge, no other smf etc.
4 - run this SQL

ALTER TABLE `smf_members` CHANGE `dateRegistered` `dateRegistered` DATE NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00';

It changes the dateRegistered so it'll convert ok with the next code bit.

5 - go to SQL (you are sending this sql code)

INSERT INTO smf_members (ID_MEMBER, memberName, dateRegistered, realName,  passwd, emailAddress) 
SELECT uid, penname, date, penname,  password, email 
FROM fanfiction_authors;

(corrected and tested successfully, had wrong variable order before)

I'm considering working on the SMF bridge to make it work more seamlessly with eFiction. What you have right now on a bridged site is shared authentication and a lot of duplication of other features. Some of them work better in efiction (news) and some better in SMF (stats).

Anyway, I've come up with a list of things I'd like to do but I thought I may as well open it up to suggestions. The things I'd like to do are as follows:

1)Share news by having SMF pull designated stories from efiction to display at the top of the forums.

2)Better profile pages. I haven't decided if there should just be one, of if there should still be two profile pages with repeated generic info (such as avatar, contact information, etc) but specific options for each script. I'm leaning towards one page if I can organize it properly

3) Along the lines of the above, integrate preferences

4) SMF uses eFiction contact form instead of mailto link. Also add PM link on user pages on efiction

5) Fix the redirect on login/logout

6) Integrate who's onlline/ stats

7) Integrate memberlists--efiction has better listings and sorts but SMF has better search function (or rather efiction doesn't have one at all)

8 ) Update SMF site help to add eFiction information

9) SMF uses eFiction contact form instead of mailto link. Also add PM link on user pages on efiction

10) Create matching skins (probably create CSSZen skin for SMF and/or SMF default skin for efiction.

By the way, it bears mentioning that, at this point, this is just a discussion. I'm not sure when/if I'll be able to get to this. I certainly have plenty going on to make it unlikely to be very soon before I can even start and it may turn out to be more difficult than I think.

Also, if anyone wants to help, I'd be ok with that. 🙂

I am quite new here and have trying to bridge my SMF forum successfully with efiction.  The reason I chose efiction was because of the bridging capability.  So here are my thoughts as an SMF user and Efiction newbie:

btw #4 and #9 are the same line 🙂

I would welcome a better bridge so I was glad to see this topic.  The thread I started last week kinda outlines all the problems I have with the current bridge between smf and new efiction install.

As you said, it is a very simple bridge.  It does use the smf member list which is what I wanted but I really need more - the issues with profile information and logging in/out etc are prime examples.

I have used other bridges to SMF and never had to add tables to the smf database.  I am not too keen on this as if it is a bridge then I dont think either database should be altered.  Eg on one site I have SMF, Wordpress and Joomla, all have separate databases but shared users, and the bridges link them together quite seamlessly.

Orstio on SMF forum does a lot of Bridge work, he might be willing to help from an SMF POV perhaps.  Just thought I'd mention the name.  His SMF /Joomla bridge is great.

Profiles:  My SMF forum to be bridged with efiction is well established, and has many custom profile options, so I would want to retain that information and display it when you click on Efiction profile/account info.  I suppose when it came to adding/editing the info it should then take you to the SMF forum profile.  Efiction should display the same information.

For people coming from the other direction, the bridge should have an option to use efiction profile info.

Same thing applies to login/out and registration.  Give it an option to be selected whether you want to use Efiction/members info or SMF info/members.

Using SSI you can display SMF forum info in efiction I believe (havent tried it yet) but also it would be good to have it going the other way - display efiction latest stories etc - on your forum  (don't know if this is possible or not)

I dont know about things being switched off or not available because it is bridged.  All features should be available whether bridged or not, but it seems when bridged, some things are switched off.  Everyone should get all the features - I dont know how but that should be the goal.

(our writers are currently voting on whether to keep the forum bridged or separate as many of them are not happy about it currently, especially the profile issues, not being able to send acceptance/rejection letters, and some other weird things)

So those are my thoughts, hopefully you will find them helpful.

Thanks for working on this, I'm really looking forward it as someone who is a big SMF fan 🙂

To itanshi: These instructions are vague and unclear.

1. Where exactly did you start and where did you end up. (New efic and SMF, old efic new smf)?
2. The backup.sql is a backup of what?

I think I've got everything else...

ETA to reply to confuzed:

The very first  thing to  note is that the problem with acceptance/rejections letters has been identified as a bug and will be fixed. Actually, mostly mine mail out fine, but I have had trouble with a few. I don't know of any other features that don't work.

No one said to modify your SMF database, and I think the mods with the efic database are actually flaws in the efic database--it stores extraneous information in the members table and once you bridge the two, you can't access that information.

That being said, I'd like to clarify that I will not be rewriting the existing bridge. It will still work pretty  much the same way. I will attempt to pull information from the right places in each database, and add a few functions in to make it look like they belong together. Some of your suggestions are very complex (like having stories on the forums and having it work both ways) and I just don't have the ability to do those things or the time to learn. Good suggestions, but they are for someone with much more familiarity with the SMF coding structure than me (since both of those suggestions require changes to the SMF files and not efiction.)

I corrected it some, is it better?

My next concept is to have a forum created when a series is created. this makes it kinda like fanfiction.net's C2 thing. This might take some PHP.

Ok, so old efiction, new SMF. I did that and I didn't have nearly as many steps. All you really have to do is install SMF, install the bridge, empty the members table from SMF, and run the query. There is no point in deleting your efic database only to reinstall it exactly like you had it. That's just an extra step that if not done properly, can cause you a lot of headache.

The forum idea is interesting, and yes, it would require some php, mostly in SMF.

Ah yeh i guess it would work on my old efiction too, i was cloning my site so i could do tests hence my extra steps. I'll post again when I figure some of the DB calls for SMF and forum/post creation. I could even give each user their own forum or categories likewise. I figure you'd need to edit the efiction for when those are made, it runs a routine in smf.

I don't know. But why don't you PM me instead of posting them here. I really was intending for this thread to be more for discussion.