Importing MySQL data into vB as threads/posts
 

I'm trying to import book review data from another MySQL db and have a capable friend who's willing to give this a shot. I have the data in an Excel sheet, and my friend is already familiar with the original MySQL db, if that helps.

As a head-start he's asked me to find out which fields/tables he needs to alter in order to pull in the data as threads in a specific vB forum.

Could someone identify the fields & tables that we need to map for the import? Below are the existing fields we need to map. (the format is "existing-db --> vB db")

title --> Thread Title
author names --> vB custom field (provided via a mod, we'll figure it out)
category --> Thread Prefix
cover photo --> 1st attachment of thread's 1st post
review title --> Post Title (or thread title if first post)
review --> Post Contents
date --> Date
rating --> Thread Rating
username --> Username

Firstly, I have previously imported the old db's users. They're in vB with the same username & email address, and I used the 'hidden' field via ImpEx to maintain the old db's userids.

Some of the reviews ("threads") have multiple reviews ("posts") per book, so each review/post after the first would just be replies to the thread. I mention this because I'm not sure if vB differentiates between the same fields depending on thread-starter or reply-poster.

I also need to know where to put the cover photos -- vB attachments are currently in the filesystem, not the db, so I would think I can just copy those into the attachment directory. I'm not sure how to reflect that in the vB db filed re: filenames.

I had hoped that ImpEx would have an open-import option that might allow me to just map source fields to destination fields so that I could to this myself, but since there isn't such an option I'm appealing to anyone who can point me in the right direction.

Thanks so much. I couldn't find developer documentation on the schema (if there is a resource for this, I'd appreciate someone pointing it out for me!).

cheers.