DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

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Mon, 10/02/2023 - 08:48

alkeeling

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DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

Hello everyone,

Regular posters will have noticed that the website has continuing issues with notifications and uploading images - which is due to these parts of the functionality becoming obsolete. Although I have spent quite some time trying to repair the problems, this seems fully unfeasible as the website becomes progressively out of date. The core of the website was designed by a group of enthusiasts many years ago and the project will fully close and become unsupported by November. So a replacement website is currently in preparation and November is the target delivery date. This is expected to resolve all the visible problems, tighten up security and tame some of the more intrusive advertising.

In terms of commitments, I should say that I'm just a volunteer from the club membership and not retired, so managing my availability during a very intense period of business over the summer has been a big challenge. So I understand and apologise for user frustrations through this transitional phase.

Fri, 10/06/2023 - 16:07

janwerner

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Thank you, Al. Sorry for the late response, I was not checking the website for some time for obvious reasons. Happy to see your message. Your efforts despite busy times are much appreciated and let's hope we will be able to actively contribute in due time. Kind regards, Jan

Wed, 10/11/2023 - 15:06

binnsboy650

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Good news, Al. I was beginning to despair as I felt that the site might disappear.
Thanks for your efforts.

Sat, 10/14/2023 - 09:21

DavidT

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A big thank you from me, have enjoyed this website immensely being in contact with all the experts and enthusiasts, so your efforts are very much appreciated.
Just one question with regard to the wealth of information on this site, is it all transferrable or should we all contribute to copying all the information.
We are now into October, so November is just around the corner, looking forward to noting what has been going on in the Dinky community. Myself, a few more illusive trade boxes and managed to fill a few more.
David

Tue, 10/17/2023 - 00:51

alkeeling

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All the data and membership settings should migrate to the new website version so nobody should need to transfer anything. When I'm ready to step into the new instance, I'll retain this one as an archived fallback, until we're all reasonably positive that everything is still present and working as expected.

Sat, 10/21/2023 - 20:31

kasvd

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I’m looking forward to posting again. Thank uou for all your effort.

Mon, 10/23/2023 - 19:55

RaviBee

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Many thanks for your efforts, Al. Much appreciated.

Tue, 10/24/2023 - 13:54

alkeeling

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Thanks, Ravie... The task is to upgrade the technology of this website to the latest version ... like going from an Austin 1100 to an Austin Maestro, skipping the Allegro that nobody wants. Easy enough, you would think, but no.

Our 1100 is still running but it's really hard to get the spares now, so things like the picture uploading are not working properly. I've been able to partially repair the email notifications. This is just a bandage and we are limping painfully along with it because, first of all, I've struggled with scheduling the time required due to intense work commitments over the last few months. Now that I have that time, I find that the dealer (aka, our web host) hasn't quite got that shiny new Maestro model to actually start yet.

There was originally a deadline for the end of this month to get our new car on the road and the old one to the scrap yard - but that has just been extended to 2025! An indication what's going on (or not) under the hood of this technological miracle. Of course, we don't want to wait that long and I want the switchover to happen in the next week or so ... even if it isn't exactly by November 1st.

Wed, 10/25/2023 - 03:47

(Reply to #8) #9

RaviBee

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I hear you, Al - this is a non-trivial endeavor.

I was wondering if it would be less painful (or even possible TBH) to migrate the Drupal site to WordPress (perhaps using "FG Drupal to WordPress")? I only say this because I've just started exploring WP as a possible alternative for my handcrafted site ravib.com which was created using the state-of-the-art technology called Notepad in 1997. :)

Although I'm a full stack dev, my front end expertise is limited to desktop and Android apps. Otherwise I would have offered to help.

Wed, 10/25/2023 - 08:18

(Reply to #9) #10

alkeeling

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Thanks, Ravi. I hadn't really thought about WP but, yes, maybe it could be a viable alternative. Maybe, when this site was built, WP was still more of a blogger app than a cms - but I guess times change. One disadvantage is that there's no budget for fancy themes or premium modules. Then again, maybe they are not needed. Meanwhile with the Drupal 7 to 10 migration, I've given the host a deadline of the end of the week to resolve the problems with their Drupal 10 click and build before I move on with another strategy/host. I tried a clean Drupal 10 installer of course, but the host's Apache config is blocking the creation of some dynamic css/js folders.

EDIT - After some more investigation, FG Drupal would cost 50 euros to do a meaningful data migration. This sort of cost for "extras" is typical for WP and, again, there is no budget for this. I think I'd prefer to look at a managed WP installation, if going down that road. But the managed costs are too high to make WP a viable option.
I also looked at Joomla and there are no migration tools available into Drupal. A quote from an agency that does that kind of work was in the hundreds of euros.

Fri, 11/03/2023 - 06:04

(Reply to #10) #11

RaviBee

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Hi Al, I'm close to completing an 8 hour tutorial on WP and really like what I see. With more than 40% of all websites using WP, I'm convinced it's the way to go.

I don't think a magic bullet exists to import a Drupal site into WP. However, there are are some well established WP plugins that will import CSV content (e.g. users, posts, images, etc), the most popular one being WP-All-Import, which is currently being offered with a one-time payment perpetual license for unlimited sites.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-all-import/

If the Drupal site can be exported as CSV, I think is is a viable approach to keeping the site going with a minimal amount of support. I'm going to install WP on my PC and start building a site to get my hands dirty. Perhaps if you could export a few posts of one of the DTCA forums to CSV I could try importing it?

EDIT:
It seems there's a free version of WP All Import:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12ELo1qxsUM

Fri, 11/03/2023 - 21:23

(Reply to #11) #12

alkeeling

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Hello Ravi,

To answer your main question straight away, yes, the database data on this site can be exported as csv or xml.

Now, I had a look at the promo video for wp-all-import. Like almost all plug-ins for wordpress, there is a free version. Unfortunately these tasters only include the most basic features - and this one is no different. As the presenter tells us, picture importing is a premium feature. Also we would need to import all the users. If you skip to 4:22 on the video, you can see the premium version with that feature is $299. There is no budget for this - and I couldn't guarantee that it would actually work perfectly. Some of the user feedback is ... well, let's say it is less than complimentary. There's no mention that the utility can handle forum data structures and I suspect that it can't for that reason. We see the presenter showing how to import page or "post" data, but this isn't forum data. WP can install forum plugins like bbPress but, again like any other plugin, it's just the basics. Any further desired features ... uploading images... inline images... notifications... quickly turns into a premium product and there is no budget for any of that.

So my plan is to continue with the next generation Drupal when it is finally working. I see version 10.1.6 just arrived - but again my first attempt to install this with the host shows their config is still in conflict. I'll hound them again of course. Meanwhile, this website's drupal generation has had its support extended to 2025 - a truly abject climbdown after all the fanfare. There is now an update that might cure the bug that's hiding the wysiwyg editor on some pages types - which is really the only problem from a user perspective. The two year cushion might persuade me now to fix the ssl issue (might just be a dns config) and do something about the missing gdpr notices.

Sat, 11/04/2023 - 05:41

(Reply to #12) #13

RaviBee

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Hi Al,

Thanks for checking out wp-all-import. I understand your point about additional costs.

Cheers,

--Ravi

Tue, 10/24/2023 - 14:11

#14

janwerner

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