QUESTION importing wordpress to GS

[abuhayyan]

Hi,

Is there a simple and quick way to import Wordpress posts in GS or I should continue doing it manually?

Thank you,
Abuhayyan

[Tyblitz]

Back in 2012, someone already asked this question. 
Someone also developed a script to import static pages with SSH, though this doesn't really sound like what you need.

Unfortunately, there's still no easy way; but it's a nice idea for a plugin I could make, if I ever get the time =).

[abuhayyan]

Back in 2012, someone already asked this question. 
Someone also developed a script to import static pages with SSH, though this doesn't really sound like what you need.

Unfortunately, there's still no easy way; but it's a nice idea for a plugin I could make, if I ever get the time =).

Hi Tyblitz, 

I read the thread couple of days ago. I wish there was a plugin for it. Its boring and tedious migrating the posts manually! 

Regards, 
Abuhayyan

[datiswous]

Getsimple Blog seems to have a RSS Auto-Importer. Couldn't get it to work though with a rss-feed from a wordpress site.

Maybe you can make the site first static via a plugin, for example:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/staticpress/    (not tested)

Also, Wordpess export function creates xml files which look somewhat similar to the GS xml files.

[Tyblitz]

Coming soon, a utility that will allow importing Wordpress posts to GS with multiple options.
I'm not going to make it a plugin, as it is not worth installing because usually you'd only import once or twice.
By simple entering your WP export file, you'll get a ZIP generated with all converted GS pages.

[abuhayyan]

Back in 2012, someone already asked this question. 
Someone also developed a script to import static pages with SSH, though this doesn't really sound like what you need.

Unfortunately, there's still no easy way; but it's a nice idea for a plugin I could make, if I ever get the time =).

Coming soon, a utility that will allow importing Wordpress posts to GS with multiple options.
I'm not going to make it a plugin, as it is not worth installing because usually you'd only import once or twice.
By simple entering your WP export file, you'll get a ZIP generated with all converted GS pages.

Hi Tyblitz, 

How soon?

Abuhayyan

[Tyblitz]

Hi Tyblitz, 

How soon?

Abuhayyan

By the end of the week or so.. The prototype is ready; now I need to upload it to Github. Some options are not fully working as expected yet. If you want I can give it a test with your WP export (put it in a ZIP & send me a private message with the ZIP attached) & I'll send the export back to you.

[datiswous]

An option to generate posts for GS Blog and News Manager might also be interesting.

[Tyblitz]

An option to generate posts for GS Blog and News Manager might also be interesting.

It is interesting, but that's just too much dev time for me. I haven't extensively used either of them, so that means I would need to test both first and learn their ins and outs. This will just be a basic utility to import WP posts as regular GS pages. 

[shawn_a]

imo , those plugins should provide their own method of converting pages to news posts.

[Carlos]

@shawn_a I already had it in mind. In NM if you move a GS page to the posts folder, it more or less works. AFAIR you'd only have to change fields <metak> to <tags> and <pubDate> (or <creDate>) to <date>

Anyway when Tyblitz has done the hard work ;-) , I may adapt the script for NM.

[shawn_a]

Yeah I never understood why blog plugins didn't just use standard pages.

[Tyblitz]

@shawn_a I already had it in mind. In NM if you move a GS page to the posts folder, it more or less works. AFAIR you'd only have to change fields <metak> to <tags> and <pubDate> (or <creDate>) to <date>

Anyway when Tyblitz has done the hard work ;-) , I may adapt the script for NM.

Is it THAT simple? If so, it would be implemented in no time..
Perhaps if you have a sample page built with NM so I can look at the format.

[Carlos]

Example: file data/posts/post-id.xml

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<item>
    <title><![CDATA[This is the post title]]></title>
    <date><![CDATA[Thu, 03 Dec 2015 17:56:00 +0100]]></date>
    <tags><![CDATA[a tag,another tag,_hidden_tag]]></tags>
    <private><![CDATA[]]></private>
    <image><![CDATA[images/image.jpg]]></image>
    <content><![CDATA[&lt;p&gt;This is the content.&lt;/p&gt;]]></content>
    <author><![CDATA[admin]]></author>
</item>

- author is not used by default, unless you enable it (NM 3.0-3.1)
- image is supported since NM 3.0 (can be full URL or relative to data/uploads)
- the post id (or slug) is not stored, the file name is used instead
- title is treated as text, not as html

[Tyblitz]

Ok that's good to know, I'll have a look at how to implement it later.
BTW I built the app's infrastructure so that it will actually support converting from any cms platform which has text-format exports, to GetSimple.

EDIT: Anyone have a suggestion on how to import comments (especially without blog plugin) ? Should they go lost or be included statically in custom markup??? If they are included as XML nodes, will GS not strip them away on first save?

[Tyblitz]

First prototype online: http://webketje.com/projects/gs-blog-import

Issues: 
 - <private> tag is currently not mapped; meaning you will get a PHP warning in your admin dashboard when loading the 'Pages' tab, if GSDEBUG is on. However, an empty tag will be added upon first 'Save updates'
 - Disregard the 2 properties about setting a creDate & user tag, they don't work.
 - URL conversion is buggy and might result in undefined replacements. So choose 'Keep'.

[abuhayyan]

First prototype online: http://webketje.com/projects/gs-blog-import

Issues: 
 - <private> tag is currently not mapped; meaning you will get a PHP warning in your admin dashboard when loading the 'Pages' tab, if GSDEBUG is on. However, an empty tag will be added upon first 'Save updates'
 - Disregard the 2 properties about setting a creDate & user tag, they don't work.
 - URL conversion is buggy and might result in undefined replacements. So choose 'Keep'.

Hi Tyblitz,

I gave it a test. It worked flawlessly. I noticed one thing; images were exported as xml and missing in the imported posts.

Other than that, all other details are intact i.e. author name, tags, post format, etc.

Thanks a lot. It's literally a life saver for bulk migration of posts.

Cheers,
Abuhayyan

[Tyblitz]

I gave it a test. It worked flawlessly. I noticed one thing; images were exported as xml and missing in the imported posts.

Yes, that's related to the URL replacement I mentioned was buggy. Externally linked images should be fine, but at the time I built it, I didn't take into account that uploads in WP are usually in the wp-content/uploads/ directory. Then again, you might store your images in the root, so ideally you could set both, but atm I have no time to enhance it. I'll have a look at it in July probably.

[abuhayyan]

I gave it a test. It worked flawlessly. I noticed one thing; images were exported as xml and missing in the imported posts.

Yes, that's related to the URL replacement I mentioned was buggy. Externally linked images should be fine, but at the time I built it, I didn't take into account that uploads in WP are usually in the wp-content/uploads/ directory. Then again, you might store your images in the root, so ideally you could set both, but atm I have no time to enhance it. I'll have a look at it in July probably.

Hi Tyblitz,

No worries. Whenever you have it ready let us know. It should help others handle the migration smoothly. As it is, it's still a big time saver and fast too.

Cheers,
Abuhayyan

[paknoukri]

Hello I also saw a script in some other thread let me search it and paste it here for you.

[sidotij]

I'm in the process of converting from NucleusCMS.
I was hoping that with an xml export of all the posts from nucleus I'd be able to use this tool to convert

on upload it does show the correct filesize and number of posts but when I hit the convert button there is no preview and the download is an empty zip file.

I'm going to keep looking at it tho.. or export the sql directly and see how i can massage the data into a format gs can use

[shawn_a]

Is there a standard blog post format, like RSS, and we can use that as an intermediate conversion for an importer ?

[sidotij]

Is there a standard blog post format, like RSS, and we can use that as an intermediate conversion for an importer ?

Here is what I am working with
http://www.libertyvillestars.com/xml-rss2.php

and one exported post

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<rss version="2.0">
   <channel>
   <title>Libertyville Stars</title>
   <link>http://www.libertyvillestars.com/</link>
   <description></description>
   <language>en-us</language>          
   <generator>Nucleus CMS 3.8</generator>
   <copyright>©</copyright>            
   <category>Weblog</category>
   <docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss</docs>
   <image>
       <url>http://www.libertyvillestars.com//nucleus/nucleus2.gif</url>
       <title>Libertyville Stars</title>
       <link>http://www.libertyvillestars.com/</link>
   </image>
   <item>
   <title>2016 Knights of Columbus Tootsie Roll Fundraiser</title>
   <link>xml-rss2.php?itemid=101</link>
   <description><![CDATA[<p><font color="#000000">September 16 - 18, 2016</font><font color="#000000"> - Thank you to all the Stars' families who helped collect donations on behalf of the Knights of Columbus Cardinal Strich Council #3674 for their annual Candy Drive! A special thanks to the management and employees of Libertyville Jewel for allowing us to greet your customers- and especially to all the generous customers who supported this great cause. What an awesome community we live in!</font></p>  <p><font color="#000000"><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0701.jpg"><img title="IMG_0701" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0701" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0701_thumb.jpg" width="288" height="217" /></a><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0711.jpg"><img title="IMG_0711" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0711" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0711_thumb.jpg" width="288" height="217" /></a></font></p>  <p><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0713.jpg"><img title="IMG_0713" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0713" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0713_thumb.jpg" width="294" height="222" /></a><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0709.jpg"><img title="IMG_0709" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0709" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0709_thumb.jpg" width="294" height="222" /></a></p>  <p><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0702.jpg"><img title="IMG_0702" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0702" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0702_thumb.jpg" width="192" height="255" /></a><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0704.jpg"><img title="IMG_0704" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0704" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0704_thumb.jpg" width="193" height="256" /></a><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0706.jpg"><img title="IMG_0706" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0706" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0706_thumb.jpg" width="192" height="256" /></a></p>  <p><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0715.jpg"><img title="IMG_0715" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0715" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_0715_thumb.jpg" width="365" height="275" /></a><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4105.jpg"><img title="IMG_4105" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_4105" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4105_thumb.jpg" width="207" height="275" /></a></p>  <p><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4107.jpg"><img title="IMG_4107" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_4107" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4107_thumb.jpg" width="289" height="385" /></a><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4102.jpg"><img title="IMG_4102" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_4102" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4102_thumb.jpg" width="289" height="384" /></a></p>  <p><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4106.jpg"><img title="IMG_4106" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_4106" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4106_thumb.jpg" width="295" height="391" /></a><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4110.jpg"><img title="IMG_4110" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_4110" src="http://www.libertyvillestars.com/media/8934ae0d7e7a_11620/IMG_4110_thumb.jpg" width="295" height="392" /></a></p>]]></description>
   <category>General</category>
   <comments>xml-rss2.php?itemid=101</comments>
   <pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 2016 01:05:13 +0000</pubDate>
</item>

I was looking at the XML for a page last night and I was figuring on scripting out a way to strip with I have and inserting it iinto the format GS uses

[shawn_a]

in 3.4 there is a create page xml function that might make it easier, you can use it instead of writing your own.

in 3.3 it is a bit cumersome and all in-iline code.

[sidotij]

when is 3.4 due?