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1.2.Convert what?
Conversion from one old to a new constists of the software/the code, the design/style and the data/the content. The case just played is based on a new installation of pWS 1.0, not an update of the code. That regards also the suggestion from Matt.
1.3.Convert data
At the moment, let unordered begin with the data. In pWS 1.0 is prepared a convert procedure for data, callable by the site link
//your.domain/convert/
where an index.php leads to a convert panel.
Preliminary aspects
| Before doing this, let discuss about what will happen and what should known before. The data content of pWS in all versions is stored in a database. Remember, when installing pWS there are questions about the access parameters for that database (name, user account ...). Each pWS site has an associated database, where the content is stored in module dependent tables. For example, the former pagemaster module has tables, one for storing pages and another one for sections of the corresponding pages. The newer webpages module, that is the replacement for pagemaster, also has tables.
| But the concept differ: webpages do not have sections, but a pageheader and linked subpages. For example, the tables are one table (webpages_volume) for each pageheader, and one table for the corresponding subpages (webpages_page). But that is not the full truth. Each of such a table has an associated seq-table. The seq-tables are only a value for maintening the last primary key, most an id field, of the adjacent table. At the moment, we can ignore the existence of such tables. More important is to treate the primary keys of the tables.
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PageMaster and WebPages
| pWS modules pagemaster and webpages both use, like most modules, an id field for pages. A first page born receives a primary key value "1" for a page. This primary key is used in several circumstances, like for a link in menumanager to that page. Let us regard, a page id - the primary key - is the native order mark of a page. Each page has a unique primary key value. What now, when converting page content, where one old page may have an id of "1" and, at the receiving site, a new page may exists also has an id of "1".
| We know, equal primary key values are not possible. Should the older page get a new unused id value? This probably is the only way to run a convert. But what happens with the associations of menu links, pointing to a wrong id just soon (soon when converting menus). Of corse, the ideal precondition to convert pages is to have not one page written in the new system. In this case, the id values can used without the need to alter.
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Sections and SubPages
| What about pagemaster sections (0.10.x) and webpages subpages (1.0.0)? When converting, there is the choice between taking all sections of one page to a whole subpage, or build one separate page for each section. The first choice selected most meets the logic when viewing the content.
| Sections are parts of a page and only used for having the possibility of different styling - most together with pictures. Probably nobody has used sections to style autonome content. But you have the choice.
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Current frontpage
| A pWS site has a homepage for the function to be displayed as first page to a visitor of the site. A pagemaster page with state "current" activated acts as the homepage. In pagemaster, only one of several pages can have that state. In WebPages, the homepage function is named "frontpage" and also only one page (pageheader) may have this attribute.
| When converting PageMaster pages to WebPages, when done, probably two frontpage exist; at least when a fronpage exist before the convert. How to free double, contradictional frontpage states? That is easy: in ControlPanel > Content > WebPages check the wrong page and run the (most far down) action link "move off frontpage". That's all.
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eZine
