Wikidot Community

Well Wikidot and it's API are web applications so… Am I that far off in thinking that PHP would be a good language to create a backuptool?

How would you go about?

Yeah, a backup tool wouldn't be hard to write in PHP. The only issue I'll have is storing the data. I'd suggest saving the data in an SQLite3 database (so information like title, tags, parent pages, etc…) can also be saved. Otherwise, just dump each page using the file_write_contents() function.

I know wikidot is not set up as a platform for professional use

Like Kenneth, I disagree with this. I see many companies, organisations, local authorities and charities increasingly wanting to use Wikidot for their website or their intranet (or both) because of its power and flexibility, speed of development, ease of updating, great integration with cloud platforms like the Caspio Bridge database and the fact they "get it" better than other platforms. I hope this continues because my mortgage depends on them wanting to use it.

Are any of you concerned that maybe a serious crash could wipe out your site?

No, I have confidence in Wikidot's methods of replicating data.

Ok… Wikidot can be used for professional purposes, however it does not allow me to do things I wish to do: for example calculate how much somebody needs to pay in a wikidot-webshop…

I saw you (rob) mentioning Caspio before… I need to look in to that, maybe there lies the answer to some of my questions.

So backing-up is a waist of time you think. I will probably agree with you both but I still would like to build a better bulk-import and export tool… So that business-data mostly from a database can be imported into a site.

…example calculate how much somebody needs to pay in a wikidot-webshop…
I would have a look on http://www.ecwid.com/ - but this moves your question for a backup to "this" site than..

A database Loader with the input built out of "datafields"-pages backed up on a zip file ( as source available I mean) - looks good
The idea can be realy usefull if someone needs a working subset on his own database. .. but I can remember Rob made this with the output on a page and than copy&paste in into Excel—?

Ok i'm convinced… Backup not needed
How about exporting data from dataform pages into a database… Did anybody try this? And in general what tools did you use.

I was planning on using the API of course and PHP and an MySQL database, which can dump a SQL-file that can be imported into other systems… Status: have to start working on it.

How about exporting data from dataform pages into a database… Did anybody try this?

The problem is that the data displayed from dataforms is not displayed in a friendly database or spreadsheet format but as html. As yet I have not found a way to handle this other than to produce a ListPages table of the data I want then copy and paste the source code, then do lots of tidying up. That's why, if I need a complex or secure database or one where I will need to import/download/export the data I use Caspio Bridge integrated into the site, but it's not free (or cheap if you have a lot of user screens). Zoho Creator is a good alternative and can also be embedded in Wikidot sites. Dataforms is a very good but is not there yet as a full database.

Sorry, I am immerced in my "programming" did not look at your Caspio-thing yet… Do you have a public site that featers this? Is it all in Iframes…

Unfortunately it has to be iframed either via the wikidot [[iframe https://...etcetc code or via the provided html code inside an [[html]] block. But the speed of entering and retrieval of data is very quick.

Unfortunately all my Caspio databases are private but I will be producing a public demo one shortly so will share that when its done.

that would be nice to see…

Hi Shane,

All meta data is simply dumped into an SQLite3 database. Tags are imploded from an array to a space-separated list. When restoring and when parenting exists, the actual parenting restoration occurs at the end to ensure all pages exist before parenting can occur.

Kenneth

Hmm, nice solution. Perhaps I should look into using a mini database (e.g. SQLite) as storage for STE - it's better than what I was planning to do.

An updated and working version coming soon… turns out I left off some DLLs for PHP… I also found a fix for the Unicode characters… Spoke too soon, unicode still doesn't work.

Sorry guys…
@Helmuti: can you try again… I forgot to remove the IE message…
@Ed: Looks like I left off an s in backups… I've uploaded a new version.. Can you please try again?

EDIT: didn't really answer your question, Ed. No, you shouldn't need any additional software installed. Everything is packaged within the self-extracting archive.

.. I forgot to remove the IE message..

I had FF(12) open - but click in IE (9) on the Link in your post…
That is the penalty for agressive messages…. :)

Haha… I changed the message to be less "aggressive" for this site.. (asking you to use chrome to have the best experience). But I forgot to change the redirect URL which is different from my main site :P

Works fine after you fixed your typo.

Thanks!