SMF Mambo integration

[Woof]

I am working on my Mambo site and I have found a component that will bridge the login between Mambo and SMF. It says however that they must both be installed on the same database. Do you know if this is possible or how to do it? It doesnt work using Fantastico. I am trying to get clarification from a mambo user forum to make sure it has to work this way

I also found mention of this on the SMF forum "Another option would be to export the SMF database to a file on your computer, and then import it into your Mambo database, and then just change the database info in the SMF admin panel."  Not too sure how to do this though and I dont want to blow everything up.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Jason]

I am working on my Mambo site and I have found a component that will bridge the login between Mambo and SMF. It says however that they must both be installed on the same database. Do you know if this is possible or how to do it? It doesnt work using Fantastico. I am trying to get clarification from a mambo user forum to make sure it has to work this way

I haven't gone through Fantastico for that installation, but I would hope it would give you the option to select what your database details are.  If so, just use the same database name and password that you used for your SMF install (or vice versa) and it will add the additional tables into your existing one.  In other words, you're sharing the same db, but it would create whatever tables are necessary for each and probably share the membership one.  Fantastico is meant to provide users with the easiest route to install, so it's possible they may use pre-determined settings and not give you the option to customize.  I'd have to try it to see what fields it gives you access to during the install.

I also found mention of this on the SMF forum "Another option would be to export the SMF database to a file on your computer, and then import it into your Mambo database, and then just change the database info in the SMF admin panel." Not too sure how to do this though and I dont want to blow everything up.

For this, they mean that you could dump the database to back it up locally to your pc.  You can do this through phpMyAdmin within cpanel.  Then you could use phpmyadmin to upload the database tables into your other one to combine them in effect.  If you go this route, you'll probably want to leave the old SMF database temporarily intact so that your forum is up when you go to change the connection settings in your admin center.  If you remove the old smf db before changing that, your forum will be "down" and you'll have to manually edit your connection settings using a text editor and your ftp program. 

Both of these options are different ways of doing the same thing.  I'd HIGHLY recommend you backup all files and especially your database before attempting either if you have information that you don't want to risk losing.

If you need more specific info, just ask

Regards,
Jason

[Woof]

I am working on my Mambo site and I have found a component that will bridge the login between Mambo and SMF. It says however that they must both be installed on the same database. Do you know if this is possible or how to do it? It doesnt work using Fantastico. I am trying to get clarification from a mambo user forum to make sure it has to work this way

I haven't gone through Fantastico for that installation, but I would hope it would give you the option to select what your database details are.  If so, just use the same database name and password that you used for your SMF install (or vice versa) and it will add the additional tables into your existing one.  In other words, you're sharing the same db, but it would create whatever tables are necessary for each and probably share the membership one.  Fantastico is meant to provide users with the easiest route to install, so it's possible they may use pre-determined settings and not give you the option to customize.  I'd have to try it to see what fields it gives you access to during the install.

I also found mention of this on the SMF forum "Another option would be to export the SMF database to a file on your computer, and then import it into your Mambo database, and then just change the database info in the SMF admin panel." Not too sure how to do this though and I dont want to blow everything up.

For this, they mean that you could dump the database to back it up locally to your pc.  You can do this through phpMyAdmin within cpanel.  Then you could use phpmyadmin to upload the database tables into your other one to combine them in effect.  If you go this route, you'll probably want to leave the old SMF database temporarily intact so that your forum is up when you go to change the connection settings in your admin center.  If you remove the old smf db before changing that, your forum will be "down" and you'll have to manually edit your connection settings using a text editor and your ftp program. 

Both of these options are different ways of doing the same thing.  I'd HIGHLY recommend you backup all files and especially your database before attempting either if you have information that you don't want to risk losing.

If you need more specific info, just ask

Regards,
Jason

When trying the Fantastico route and just trying to install smf into the mambo dir I get this

Install SMF(2/3)


The installation can not be completed:

- This directory already exists or the directory field is empty

Click on the browser's Back button to fix reported errors.

I guess I'll have to give the export business a try. Wish me luck!

[Woof]

ok, now for the how to export question.

Are there specific things I should check when exporting? I am assuming I should just export as sql right?

Then I guess I need to ask about importing into the mambo database. I dont see an import option in phpmyadmin.

Sorry for being dumb and thanks for the assistance.

[Jason]

When trying the Fantastico route and just trying to install smf into the mambo dir I get this

Install SMF(2/3)

The installation can not be completed:

- This directory already exists or the directory field is empty

Click on the browser's Back button to fix reported errors.

I guess I'll have to give the export business a try. Wish me luck!

The database settings are different from the installation folder...I don't know if the installation folder makes a difference per your instructions, but the error message you're posting sounds more like a fantastico error with it trying to install files as opposed to the database part...

-Jason

[Woof]

When trying the Fantastico route and just trying to install smf into the mambo dir I get this

Install SMF(2/3)

The installation can not be completed:

- This directory already exists or the directory field is empty

Click on the browser's Back button to fix reported errors.

I guess I'll have to give the export business a try. Wish me luck!

The database settings are different from the installation folder...I don't know if the installation folder makes a difference per your instructions, but the error message you're posting sounds more like a fantastico error with it trying to install files as opposed to the database part...

-Jason

ok. that makes sense. If you have any basic instructions/tips for exporting from the smf database and then coping into the mambo database I would sure appreciate it. thanks

[Jason]

ok, now for the how to export question.

Are there specific things I should check when exporting? I am assuming I should just export as sql right?

Then I guess I need to ask about importing into the mambo database. I dont see an import option in phpmyadmin.

Once you're on the "export" tab in phpMyAdmin, what I do is choose the "select all" link below the scroll window on the upper left portion of the main content area.  That will highlight all the tables of the database so you export a full dump.

Then I typically skip any other settings and select the option to "save file as."  Then when you hit go, it should give you the pop-up to allow you to select the location of where you want to download the db.

For importing, I'd go under the tab in phpmyadmin called mysql.  There you will see a blank box as well as the option to upload.  You can either post all of the information in the sql dump file exactly as it is, to run those queries, or you can select the db on your local pc and run it from there.  When you do that, I usually select the option for "none" as the compression type -- unless of course, you compressed it.

If that doesn't help, it's probably going to be easier for me to step through it over Instant messenger with you tonight if you want.

I had a great link at one point to some tutorials.  I'll post it if I still have it on my pc tonight.

Regards,
Jason

[Woof]

Once you're on the "export" tab in phpMyAdmin, what I do is choose the "select all" link below the scroll window on the upper left portion of the main content area.  That will highlight all the tables of the database so you export a full dump.

Then I typically skip any other settings and select the option to "save file as."  Then when you hit go, it should give you the pop-up to allow you to select the location of where you want to download the db.

For importing, I'd go under the tab in phpmyadmin called mysql.  There you will see a blank box as well as the option to upload.  You can either post all of the information in the sql dump file exactly as it is, to run those queries, or you can select the db on your local pc and run it from there.  When you do that, I usually select the option for "none" as the compression type -- unless of course, you compressed it.

If that doesn't help, it's probably going to be easier for me to step through it over Instant messenger with you tonight if you want.

I had a great link at one point to some tutorials.  I'll post it if I still have it on my pc tonight.

Regards,
Jason

I dont seem to have this in my phpadmin. worry about later I guess. thnaks

[Jason]

When you log into phpMyadmin, are you first selecting the database you want to work with on the left frame?

After you do that, you should have a row of tabs across the top on the right (main) content frame.  One of those should be called SQL (or mysql?) I believe. 

If you can't find it, we can chat later if that's easier for you.

[Woof]

I got it!!!

Now I just have to figure out where to change the settings in smf to look at that db and I am golden. Very Cool!!!

[Jason]

I got it!!!

Now I just have to figure out where to change the settings in smf to look at that db and I am golden. Very Cool!!!

Cool! 

It should be in the admin center under "Server Settings."  Set that to match whatever you have for Mambo and that should do the trick if that's what you wanted.

-Jason

[Woof]

Found the setting under Edit Server Settings. Changed the db name and db user name to the xxxx_mamb1  from xxxx_smf1.
I had to go into the configuration.php of themambo install to find the db password. Once I got that input correctly it flew. Without that password, I got an error saying smf was unavailable. Looked like I'd lost it all. Scary, but nopw worrings got it figured out.

Also rather than use the admin panel you can just directly edit the settings.php file in the forum dir.

Learned alot on this one. Thanks for the assist Jason.

[Jason]

Found the setting under Edit Server Settings. Changed the db name and db user name to the xxxx_mamb1 from xxxx_smf1.
I had to go into the configuration.php of themambo install to find the db password. Once I got that input correctly it flew. Without that password, I got an error saying smf was unavailable. Looked like I'd lost it all. Scary, but nopw worrings got it figured out.

  No worries, you're not going to hurt anything on the db if you alter the passes, it's just going to interfere with your ability to connect to it.

Also rather than use the admin panel you can just directly edit the settings.php file in the forum dir.

Exactly.  I didn't know if you were trying to do it all through fantastico (where you don't have to use ftp) in case you weren't familiar with that.

Congratulations!  PM me a link when you get it all rolling.  I'd love to check it out.

-Jason