Re: [Tikiwiki-users] PhpWiki import

[Bob A. <apt...@cy...>]

Hi,

On Tue, 27 May 2003 14:33:24 +1200 "Rasheed Abdal-Aziz"
<ra...@si...> wrote:

> Hi there list..
> 
> In the manual it says:
> 
> The format used to import and export Wiki pages in Tiki is compatible
> with the PHPWiki system so you can import pages from PHPWiki or from
> other Tiki systems. A link called _Wiki import dump_ can be used to
> import pages.
> 
> But I cannot find it anywhere in the app.. Am I missing something obvious?

It's not completely obvious...

> BTW, Tiki 1.6.1 - download not cvs.

Expand "Admin (click!)" and it's the link 4th from the bottom, between
"Referer stats" and "phpinfo". The link should look like:

http://www._your_domain_here_.com/tiki/tiki-import_phpwiki.php

I've used it, it works but not very well (my bad for not mentioning this
or suggesting a fix earlier; I've been busy.)

If you're importing pages from phpwiki, there are different options to
use if you're importing from a zip snapshot (only the most recent
version of each wiki page) or zip dump (all archived versions.)

The easiest method is to import from a zip snapshot and check Y on both
options:

Overwrite existing pages if the name is the same: [Y/N]

Previously remove existing page versions: [Y/N]

I had trouble importing from a zip dump where wiki pages were imported
in reverse chronological order, meaning older versions overwrote newer
versions.

The other major problem once I sorted all this out was that phpwiki's
link syntax conflicts with tiki's syntax:

phpwiki: [ display term | WikiPageName ], e.g.:

  [ class topics | ClassIdeas ]

tiki: (( WikiPageName | display term )), e.g:

  (( ClassIdeas | class topics ))

Unfortunately, tiki-import_phpwiki.php doesn't take this into account, converting
  
  [ class topics | ClassIdeas ] -> (( class topics | ClassIdeas ))

which is completely broken and a pain to manually undo if you're
importing a lot of pages. To be fair, it's probably a simple fix in the
import code. I haven't had time to dig into it to see how difficult it
is to fix.

I like phpwiki for its simplicity[1] and ease of setup but it doesn't
seem to be actively developed. I'm still trying to get my head around
tiki, especially access control. That tiki imports phpwiki content at
all amazes me so don't take my comments as too critical.

-- 
Bob Apthorpe

[1] I set up twiki first. I'm sure twiki is a much better wiki than
phpwiki, with many more features, more active development, better
back-end version control, etc. When I first set it up I was not a wiki
user, didn't really understand the power of wiki tools or how one used
them most effectively; a total wiki n00b.

Twiki bludgeoned me with a wall of busy, self-congratulatory kruft and
no simple instructions on how to actually _use_ the system. The
welcome-to-our-elitist-cult default installation so thoroughly turned me
off that I installed phpwiki instead. And a year or so later after
building a sizable wiki, I miss some of the features that are in other
wikis, including twiki, and I don't relish the thought of manually
converting the pages to another system that's actively developed, nor do
I have a lot of spare time to actively develop phpwiki. Tiki looks like
it does what I need and a lot more; it's been surprisingly easy to
configure considering all the options and functions.