User account import

[Sam Oliver]

I've read in other posts that there isn't a user account import facility yet, and it doesn't seem possible to create user accounts via the API - so we can't write our own.

My client would like to migrate a site with about 30,000 members over to ning, but a primary objective is to make it as transparent to the users as possible. The require activated, ready to go user accounts from day one. The apparent lack of this facility unfortunately means they can't consider ning as an option (yet).

Can anyone tell me if this might be a feature that will be added within the next few months?

[Phil McT]

Hi Sam,

I'll ask around at HQ for you.

[Sam Oliver]

That would be great, thanks.

[David Kadavy]

I would like to second this request. I would like to import members and forum content from a PunBB forum.

[Ted Cohn]

I third the request. I asked Ning internally just recently and it doesn't sound like this is easy or under serious consideration. My guess is that this kind of feature/function is a security risk, so Ning would prefer people sign up one at a time through their currently user interface.

I thought of a convoluted hack method of doing this but haven't had time to implement. It involves a combination of action methods in a widget that emulates a user signing up. The first action would sign up programmatically, then sign in so the second action thinks that the browser "user"/session is in the process of signing up, then setting user profile data or whatever. Not sure what happens next, but the user object needs to be set up based on the signed in profile, then sign out and go back to action #1 to process the next account to set up.

Crazy?! Yeah....

[Nicole Radziwill]

I would definitely like to fourth this request.

I have a collection of about 2500 people that I'd like to migrate to a network structure. In order to do this, I really only need two things: 1) ability to batch import members, their passwords, a whole bunch of fields, and an object called an "affiliation", and 2) ability to authenticate against the ning system using APIs. My "nice to have" would be a description of the connections between the individuals within the network, preferably visualized as a graph, but alternatively the way it's done in LinkedIn.

Until we have 1 & 2, I'm dead in the water or we are left to code our own. Or something I haven't thought of yet.

Thanks for listening!
Nicole

[geminiimatt]

this is a very disappointing limitation of ning. i am hacking around though. is anyone working on this on their own? if so please let me know. i could use help. are you working on auth.php and profile.php alone? are you working with the following part of the API?

static XN_Profile::create ( $ email,
$ password
) [static]

[Matthew]

Supposedly KickApps can implement member friend relationships via a friend API call. Has anybody heard of this one?

[adam]

can i fifth the request, i have 400,000 members and want to move them over to ning!

[Astrida]

Any update on progress here? It would be helpful... Anyone over a ning HQ listening???