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#1 11.11.2022 11:39:41

mikejd
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Migration to WBCE??

Hi all, I have just registered with the forum as a long-time WB user. I have a number of websites which i have coded over the years but retired about 8 years ago and stopped regular use. I still get asked to sort issues with some of the old sites  and I also still maintain a couple with personal interest.

I have recently been having problems on one particular site where I have been trying to set up a survey form using the MPForm module. Martin Hecht, the developer, is kindly trying to sort this which is on-going. He, and another responder, both mentioned WBCE as a possible consideration. So i would like to find out something about it.

I have a number of immediate questions, before I look at actually committing to it:
1. How can I migrate an active WB website to WBCE? Is there a documented procedure I can read?
2. How difficult will it be? I believe it was relatively simple from WBv2.8.3 but is less so from v2.13.0 (which is where I am).
3. Template design? The template for my site was my own design, not downloaded from another designer. Can this be easily adapted to WBCE?
4. Can existing content be transferred across to a new CMS? Or does it all need to be re-entered?
5. I can see that a lot of the old modules I am familiar with from WB exist for WBCE. Can these be used straight away from a migrated site?

For information - the site I am particularly concerned with just now is www.rhyniecharitabletrust.co.uk

Look forward to your comments, thanks
Mike

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#2 11.11.2022 12:31:34

florian
Administrator

Re: Migration to WBCE??

Hi Mike,

Q1/Q2
Migrating from WB 2.8.3 to WBCE is usually as easy as updating WBCE (upload files, run updatescript). Instructions can be found in the online documentation.
Migrating from WB 2.10 and newer is less easy. I have older instructions for 2.10-2.11, but I don't know whether this still works with 2.13.x too.

  1. Make a backup of the files on your server and the database, store the files of the frontend template in use seperately - you need them lateron

  2. Login to the 2.11 site and uninstall all modules which can be removed without data loss, e.g. admin tools, not used frontend modules

  3. Access the site via FTP and delete everything except the file config.php and the folders media, pages and modules (and their contents)

  4. Upload the WBCE files into the root (so that you have again diectories like /admin, /framework  and so on)

  5. Copy the frontend theme you had in use into the /templates directory

  6. Call yourdomain.com/install/update.php in the browser and run the WBCE update script

  7. Login to your website and update the modules for which updates are available in the WBCE Add-On Repo

  8. Finally, check all pages in the backend and frontend carefully.

Personally, I have no experience with migrating sites from newer WB to WBCE, so I cannot promise that this works and that there will be no issues afterwards.
According to the amount of content/pages and other updating needs (is the design still up to date, is all the content still necessary) setting up the site completely new from the scratch might be an option too.

Q3.
Probably Yes, but I must confess that I don't know if there are new features/differences between newer WB and WBCE templates. WBCE still uses basics like page_content(1) and so on. If a template does not work with WBCE, it might be helpful to have a look into the Error Log, maybe the template requires some special modules, snippets etc, which were not (re-)installed.
There might be some difficulties with the order of scripts to load, if register_frontend_modfiles() is not used, but this is nothing what cannot be fixed. 
Have a look into the default WBCE template WBCEZon or the tutorial template Out Of the Blue, there are some instructional comments inside.

Q4.
If the manual above works, and the content is not stored in modules which are not available for WBCE CMS or differ completely, the content stays in place.

Q5.
Yes (hopefully) - I'm honest, as I stated before I have no real experience with migrated sites, so there might (but have not to) be issues.

The most secure way to proceed would be: making a working copy from the current site and then perform an update/migration on that first to see if any issues appear.


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#3 11.11.2022 13:12:35

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

Hi Florian, thanks for your advice.

I will consider what I am going to do. I did wonder if it might be possible by, say, making a new installation of WBCE, adding my front-end template to test, then exporting content from the old database and importing into the new one using sql.

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#4 11.11.2022 13:38:08

florian
Administrator

Re: Migration to WBCE??

See my answer in the other thread. There's no really simple way, I'm afraid.


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#5 11.11.2022 14:31:21

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

Thanks Florian.
More thinking needed!

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#6 15.11.2022 17:36:16

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

@florian
I decided to go ahead and try to migrate my website.
I have created a copy of the site separate to the original with WBv2.13.2 r133. I had difficulty with the export and import of the database but that's another story.
Now I plan to try your procedure given above for 2.10. I'll let you know how I get on.

Mike

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#7 16.11.2022 13:51:16

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

@florian
Checking through your process for uploading WBCE above could I just clear up one query:

In 3. you say to delete all files except modules, media and pages plus config.php
and then in 4. to upload all WBCE files. Should this also exclude config.php, modules, media and pages, i.e. don't overwrite these files?

Thanks

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#8 16.11.2022 14:12:32

florian
Administrator

Re: Migration to WBCE??

- The config.php must not be overwritten (but I think it needs to be checked if the contents of the file still fit for WBCE as well),
- the media directory of a new WBCE installation is empty, has not to be copied from the WBCE installation
- pages directory: contains only the accessfiles, but Idk if the WB accessfiles still work with WBCE, maybe they have to be renewed
- modules directory: According to the process description, the WB modules directory should contain merely frontend modules (like gallery modules and so on), but maybe also WB core modules like WYSIWYG editor, form, cookie consent.
It's a difficult decision, overwriting everything may cause problems as well as keeping WB modules which will not work with WBCE.
So I would say keep the directories*  of third-party modules (like Topics, FolderGallery etc.), remove / rename directories of WB core modules with names equal to WBCE core modules and add all WBCE core module directories*.

Additionally: Probably, also the directory theme_fallbacks* has to be copied into the template directory.

*and their contents of course

Beitrag geändert von florian (16.11.2022 14:13:29)


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#9 19.11.2022 17:09:54

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

Okay, i have tried to migrate to WBCE following the process given by florian:
1.Access the site by FTP, delete all files except config.php and folders pages, media and modules.
2. Upload files from WBCE, all except config.php, and folders pages, media and modules.
3. In modules folder, rename all modules from WB which are common to WBCE, then copy modules from WBCE
4. Run update.php. Didn't appear to have completed.
5. Open website admin and log-in. Success.
     All pages and media files can be accessed. Settings and Preferences seem to be OK.
     Addons - no modules or templates are listed. Unable to update modules.or change template.
6. Try to open website - Fatal error:
     

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Failed opening required '/homepages/4/d576307659/htdocs/wb/templates/rct2015/index.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php8.0') in /homepages/4/d576307659/htdocs/wb/index.php:73 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /homepages/4/d576307659/htdocs/wb/index.php on line 73



Am I right in assuming that this is an error opening the template index file? I don't appear able to change the template to one of the default templates.

I would appreciate any comments but accept that this may mean I am unable to migrate the site. The next possibility may be to set up a new site using WBCE then trying to transfer content to it.

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#10 19.11.2022 19:11:00

florian
Administrator

Re: Migration to WBCE??

Is there a folder /templates, including the folder of the template used before (rcd2015)?


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#11 20.11.2022 13:29:47

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

There is a folder /templates, but I'm not sure what you mean by 'the folder of the template used before (rcd2015)'?

I am wondering now if the possible solution would be to install a fully functional install of WBCE and then think about getting the content included.

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#12 20.11.2022 18:55:50

colinax
Developer

Re: Migration to WBCE??

hi mikejd,

florian is referring to the error message from #9:

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Failed opening required '/homepages/4/d576307659/htdocs/wb/templates/rct2015/index.php'

in your file system there should be a template named rct2015 with an index.php in it, but according to the error message the whole directory or index.php does not exist.

If the file rct2015/index.php exists, a certain code in it prevents WBCE from loading this file.

In some very special cases it is possible to merge a broken WBCE installation with a fresh WBCE installation, this requires a lot of manual work and a basic understanding of how WBCE works.

Since a migration from WB 2.13.0 was attempted in your case, which according to the posts did not go very well, I don't know how functional the overall state is.

My recommendation:
Restore the WB environment from the backup, move the entire WB structure to a subfolder, reinstall WBCE in the root and transfer the site data manually

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#13 21.11.2022 11:07:26

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

Hi @colinax,
There is a folder /rct2015 in the /templates folder with an index.php file, so something must be wrong with it. The folder was just copied over by ftp, not installed through the backend.

I had pretty much decided to abandon this migration, as you suggest, and try a fresh install of WBCE and then copy the content.

Thanks both yourself and @florian for trying to help.

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#14 23.11.2022 17:23:47

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

I have installed a new WBCE site and it is working OK. I have only added one page, at the moment without content, just to see how it appears. I added a couple of templates downloaded from the WBCE website and both are working. I have also added my own rct2015 template which works with WB, but it does not work with WBCE, it's just completely blank. I haven't looked at the coding of the template yet but there is obviously something wrong. One of the templates I downloaded is outoftheblue which I understand has notes so I will compare with mine. I also uploaded all my media files by ftp and these are visible.

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#15 23.11.2022 20:59:23

florian
Administrator

Re: Migration to WBCE??

Look at Admin Tools > Error Log Viewer, there might be some information, why the rct2015 template does not work.


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#16 24.11.2022 11:58:41

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

Thanks @florian. The log files report a syntax error in the index.php file at line 68. This is an unexpected '<' which is the opening of a comment. The file has been working fine for some years so I'm not sure why this is now a problem. i will try to sort it out.

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#17 25.11.2022 12:06:25

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

I have been trying to amend the index.php file to remove the problem but it appears to be a more widespread issue with the code. I deleted the comment which seemed to cause the problem, and the issue then transferred to the next occurrence of the '<' tag. Looking at the file in an editor which has code highlighting shows that other '<' tags also seem be the same. There appears to be different ways that the tag is rendered, if that makes any sense, and I can't make any change. If I delete and re-enter the tag it makes no difference.

This is now becoming more of a difficulty than I expected and I think i should just forget about the whole idea of migrating.

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#18 25.11.2022 12:09:59

florian
Administrator

Re: Migration to WBCE??

attach/post the index.php code here, so we can have a look


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#19 25.11.2022 13:06:16

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

Thanks @florian
File attached. The problem occurs at line 69 with the comment:
<!-- Add your site or application content here -->
but I think it recurs after that as well.

Appreciate any help you can offer.

Beitrag geändert von mikejd (25.11.2022 13:21:10)

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#20 25.11.2022 13:33:04

florian
Administrator

Re: Migration to WBCE??

line 67

<body id="<?php page_title('','[PAGE_TITLE]'>

is incomplete. Change it to

<body id="<?php page_title('','[PAGE_TITLE]'); ?>">

Beitrag geändert von florian (25.11.2022 13:34:24)


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#21 25.11.2022 13:36:20

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

Thanks @florian, I was thinking it could be something in an earlier line but couldn't see where.
I'll make the change and upload again.

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#22 25.11.2022 14:05:11

mikejd
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Re: Migration to WBCE??

That worked, thanks.
Now I can think about adding the content, but I think that will have to wait now until next week

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