The next version (1.04) of the converter will be out soon. This will include some bug fixes and slightly improved progress meter.

The bug fixes are:

1. Titles of posts now correctly display symbols whereas as before html code appeared in lieu of the symbol eg. £ appeared instead of the symbol £ and so on.
2. The same process, as above, is applied to the user name of the comments table.
3. Included additional option, the setting of the filter format for comments.
4. Corrected the category hierarchy, under certain conditions sub-categories were not being recorded accurately. This has been addressed.
5. Comment headings to be created, first four or five words of the comment to be the comment heading.
6. Not that this will be overly noticeable, but the thread field of the comments table is now correctly populated with Base 36 (Vancode) numbers.

Improved Progress Window

Created two additional progress bars to the Importing Progress Window. Included now are progress bars relating to comments per post and the assigning of categories to posts. All bars should tick over at a constant rate, at least the user knows something is happening.

Status

The only bug fix left at this stage pertains to the the comment heading aspect. Hopefully that will be addressed within the next few days, when done, I'll upload.

By all means report all problems or issues here.

Wordpress 2.5 to Drupal 6.x, is about to be released. It will be included in the next version, that being 1.03, which will also retain conversion to Drupal 5.x. That is, there will be an option, convert to 5.x or 6.x.

For feature requests by all means ask for them here.

The Wordpress to Drupal converter, version 1.02 is available for download.

This latest version addresses a problem identified by user DeeZone. Due to an oversight on my behalf (not correctly escaping SQL data relating to category names) created the false error code of duplicate category errors.

As is always the case, solving this problem identified another problem relating to character encodings. Wordpress data is now encoded as unicode (utf8), it was latin. As of this version, the Wordpress database is treated as unicode, which solves some of the encoding problems.

The manual will be updated shortly to reflect the changes.

The program can be downloaded from here.

All comments or suggestions via the Wordpress to Drupal forum.

A converter upgrade has just occurred. Version 1.01 now released and available for download.

A bug was detected in the Search and Replace module whereby only the body field was updated and not the teaser field. This has now been addressed.

One other little cosmetic item addressed is that after a successful replace operation the preview panels are now cleared or emptied.

The files can be downloaded from here. The previous files have been removed.

If all the correct information has been entrered and the button 'Import' has been clicked the whole process starts. A pop-up window appears which merely indicates the progress of the entire operation.

It should be self-explanatory what is being indicated though I'll explain anyway.

You will notice there are two components to the progress indicator. One is the 'bar' indicating percentage done and the other is a figure to the right of the bars. This figure reports the number of records processed per bar.

There are six progress bars:-

• Categories
• Users
• DB Accesses (Record Grab)
• Posts (Imported)
• Comments (Imported)
• Analysing Categories

Most likely Categories and Users should be progressed fairly quickly before DB Accesses and Posts start. Most of the time will probably be spent processing DB Accesses and Posts and their associated comments and categories.

As previously explained, 'DB Accesses' merely represents how many times the program is accessing the database in order to retrieve 'x' number of records in one hit. The 'x' number of records by default is 200. So 1 DB Access equals 200 records received.

As records are retrieved from the database they are processed and converted into Drupal. The actual process of converting into Drupal should tick over at a steady speed. Where the delays will occur are in the retrieving of the records. If retrieving 200 records from a 10,000 record database, that will take some time, be patient.

At the conclusion and barring any problems the program merely reports 'Done'.

That's it, you should have successfully converted records into a Drupal 5.x/6.x database. All you have to do is check from your browser that everything worked.

There are other areas of concern, such as how images and links should be handled. This can be addressed by the use of the 'Search and Replace' module.

Before any importing can be done a connection must first be made to both the Wordpress and Drupal databases. From the main opening window, clicking the 'Continue to Importer Form' button will open the connection form (if a connection hasn't already been established) or purposely clicking 'Connect to Databases' button.

All connection details must be entered correctly and connection is established via clicking the 'Connect' button. When successful connections have been established to both databases only then will the 'OK' button become active. Clicking the 'OK' button will progress the user to the 'Importing' screen.

Please be aware that upon successful connection the connection settings are saved in a text file (connect.txt) in the same directory where this program resides. This 'connect.txt' file is insecure in that the passwords are easily determined. If this file is present upon loading then the connection settings are automatically filled in.

The following is a brief description of the information required.

Version

Select the appropriate Wordpress and Drupal versions. As of this writing only Wordrpess version 2.5 is available and for Drupal you have a choice between 5.x and 6.x.

Host

If accessing the MySql database remotely, that is, on a hosted server, somewhere, other than your computer, then you will need to input the IP number. If you are unsure of the IP number it can be found at your hosting administration site (CPanel), failing that, your hosting company can provide it.

If you are accessing the MySql database locally, that is, on your home computer, then 'localhost' should suffice. If 'localhost' doesn't work then '127.0.0.1' will.

Port

The default is '3306'. Regardless of whether you are accessing your MySql database remotely (across the internet) or locally (on your computer) the number will probably be '3306'. If not, your hosting company can provide the correct figure.

Database Name

The name of the MySql database file of either the Wordpress or Drupal database (depending upon whether your at the 'source' or 'target' connection setting tab. If unsure, simply check the relevant 'config' or 'settings' php file from either system.

Username

Enter the 'Username' that has access rights to the database. Again, if unsure, check the 'config' or 'settings' php file from either system for confirmation. If you are accessing the MySql database files locally, that is, on your computer, and have installed MySql with all default settings, then the odds are that the user name will be 'root' and no password.

Password

Self-explanatory. If unsure check the 'config' or 'settings' php file from either system for confirmation.

Table Prefix

If your database (Drupal, Wordpress) was setup with the inclusion of table prefixes, then the correct table prefix must be entered. If no prefixes then no entry is required.

In order to arrive at this form a successful connections must have been established. It is from this window where the importing process begins. As of version 1.03 the user now has more options to control how the import should proceed.

The following briefly describes the various options.

Records to get (per Grab)

This figure corresponds to how many records (posts) are retrieved in one hit. The default is 200. The limit is from 10 through to 1000. If attempting to convert a massively huge database, problems can arise with overloading which ultimately, is probably, the cause of program hanging. This setting merely says only grab a small bit a time but keep returning grabbing a small bit until the whole lot is got. For massively huge databases we don't want 10,000 records coming down the line in one go, it simply doesn't work.

If available, import Permalinks

If permalinks are active, it's from here where you can choose to either import them or not. Only choices available are "Yes" or "No". The default is "Yes".

In order to preview the permalinks click the 'Preview Permalinks' button. A separate window appears listing all the permalinks per post. Only published posts will have permalinks.

Filter Format

The values stored in these (node & comment) dropdown controls are retrieved from your Drupal database. By default, the options available will probably be 'Filtered HTML' and 'Full HTML'. If there are other filter format types they will be displayed and available to be selected.

If your posts and comments contain numerous HTML tags, styles and attributes then most likely you will want to select 'Full HTML' as under that mode Drupal will correctly render the pages. That is, the HTML tags are adhered to. If choosing 'Filtered HTML' then some of the HTML tags, styles and attributes might not be recognised and the page not displayed as intended.

Empty Drupal Tables

Clicking this button wipes out all posts, comments, categories and users (except user 1) from your Drupal database. This is useful if you wish to start over again and again.

Import

When all configuration items have been dealt with the 'Import' button will become active and clickable. This button starts the importing routine. Upon successful commencement a pop-up window appears which reports the progress of the Users, Categories and Posts being imported.

The latest conversion program (yet to be given a proper name and logo) can be downloaded from here.

Currently, only the Windows version has been tested, though I have compiled Linux and Mac versions.

The file is contained within a zip file. You will need to extract that file and save it to a folder of your choosing.

Once saved to a folder of your choosing, simply double-click the file in order to run it. If all goes well you should see something similar to the screen shot above.

For Linux installs you will need to set the program's permissions to be 'executable'.

1. An already created and installed Drupal 5.x/6.x database.
   • This can either be a freshly installed database which effectively is empty other than User ID 1, the 'super' or 'creator' user of the Drupal database installation; or
   • An already populated Drupal 5.x/6.x database. This basically means that posts, users, comments, categories etc have been created, most likely through Drupal itself.

     What I mean by 'most likely' is that you may have started with a clean, fresh, unpopulated Drupal database. Using this program it is possible to import a Wordpress database numerous times. Obviously, after a first Wordpress database is imported, the Drupal database is no longer a fresh unpopulated database.

2. A source database, Wordpress 2.5
3. All databases must be MySQL.

I'm hoping this guide should contain enough information in order to use the conversion program.

The program is a desktop application which converts Wordpress 2.5 database to an existing Drupal 5.x database and as of version 1.03, Drupal 6.x database.

First things first, BACKUP

We have heard this term many times and we all know what it means. To those that have lost data, either through mishandling, theft, fire etc. and didn't have a backup, I'm sure stress levels went through the roof. If, on the other hand you haven't had such a catastrophe imagine you did last night, how would you feel right now. It happens.

Do not use the conversion program on your one and only Drupal 5.x (target) or Wordpress (source) databases. How much more explicit can I be.

At the end of the entire process you should still have your old source and target databases intact. You should also have a new Drupal 5.x database which contains all the imported information.

For backing up procedures check this article, it's a page from the book Changing Hosts - a Dummies Guide.