RE Ning Membership Data .csv

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

Hi Paul

I would be very tempted by the .csv thing (as posted on the Ning Creators site) BUT is there really no way to import anything else other than by copy and paste? Obviously c'n'p won't work for photos and won't really work for blog posts other than my own. I see that Plush Forums import content by using a web crawler. Is there no way that can be done with Jamroom?
updated by @ceri-shaw: 07/31/15 10:56:44PM

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

I should add that I'm on Ning 3.0 and that Plush Forums is not an option for me due to the woefully inadequate feature set.

@paul
9 years ago
4,331 posts

I've read that Plush claim to be able to 'scape' Ning pages for content, but I see it fraught with problems, complexities, and endless support issues, so don't want to go there.
Yes, I know that just importing members is not ideal, but until Ning release their Ning3 archiver (if they ever do), that is the only option, would be pretty simple to implement, and might be of help to some Ning users wanting an alternative.

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

Short of scraping the entire site....is there anyway that I might be able to scrape 'chunks' of it one section at a time using something like import.io and create a meaningful archive to work from?

Meanwhile if you need a .csv to work with I would consider letting you have mine if it helps other Ning detainees. Although I don't think I'm ready to migrate with just my member data.

@paul
9 years ago
4,331 posts

Yes please. I just want to see what the CSV file looks like and what member data it has in it, then maybe use it to test the import script I will develop.

Have just taken a look at import.io - I guess it could be used to grab a current discussion thread then post it as a new Jamroom discussion, say, but it would be a bit tedious to do by hand for a big site, and I'm not sure by how much it could be automated (if at all).

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

k...can you post email address? will send .csv as an attachment.

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

Meanwhile.....unbeleivably!!!!!!!....I have just found my ning 2 backup files (.json) from April 2014. I thought I had lost them forever. These were the backups I made just before going over to 3.0. Puts a whole different complexion on things

@paul
9 years ago
4,331 posts

Send it to paul [at] jamroom [dot] net

Good news about the Ning2 archive. If you want to try importing it to a JR site and need any help, let me know.

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

just sent .csv

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

One thing that occurs to me immediately....can the current memberdata be imported together with the year old backup? i.e. can I drop the old member list json in favour of the current .csv using your import file AND then import the old blog, forum etc json's from 2014.?

@paul
9 years ago
4,331 posts

Ceri Shaw:
One thing that occurs to me immediately....can the current memberdata be imported together with the year old backup? i.e. can I drop the old member list json in favour of the current .csv using your import file AND then import the old blog, forum etc json's from 2014.?

It depends on whether the Ning2 member ID is available in the Ning3 CSV file as all Ning2 content is referenced to that ID. Just had a quick look at the CSV file and there is a field "Profile Address" which looks like http://americymru.net/xn/detail/u_34enahvrink0b. I'm wondering if that '34enahvrink0b' bit is the Ning2 member ID - maybe you can check? Either that or send me the ning-member-local.json file from your Ning2 archive so that I can check this.
Thanks

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

k...will send shortly

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

Just checked the member id thing {"id":"1iqlnejpymuri"," appears to be my user id which suggests that the string referenced above is indeed the member ID ?

@paul
9 years ago
4,331 posts

Got the file - Yes, it does look as though the member ID is part of the Profile Address field so can extract and save that. Then you should be able to do a Ning2 content import so your members would at least have their content up to 2014.

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

@paul
9 years ago
4,331 posts

Have added a Ning3 member import tool to the NingImport module but want to try it with a few other Ning3 CSV files before releasing it, so if anyone can let me have one just to test with, I'd be very grateful.
Thanks
Paul

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

One further question occurs to me.....since I would need to cut and paste everything post April 2014 inevitably all that material would appear on my profile. Is there a way to change ownership of individual blogs, photos and forum posts in the database after I have posted them. In other words can I manually re post everything from the last 15 months and then re assign it to the original posters id?
updated by @ceri-shaw: 07/01/15 09:09:50AM

Strumelia
@strumelia
9 years ago
3,603 posts

Ceri, Jamroom has a great new module for changing the 'owner'(creator) of various items on your site, including Groups, Forum discussions, photos, Group discussions, etc:

http://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/networkmarket/251/change-item-owner

--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Ceri Shaw
@ceri-shaw
9 years ago
84 posts

Perfect!!!! Thanks Strumelia. It will be a lot of work to manually import everything post april 2014 but at least I know it can be done properly

Congratulations on your new site by the way. I was looking at it the other day

RE Ning Membership Data .csv

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