14 replies to this topic

[Remi]

Below, I'll write how you can move your site from Drupal to ProcessWire. It's quite simple.

In Drupal you will need:
- Views Module,
- Views Data Export Module,
- Views UI Module (integrated with Views),
- Chaos tools Module - required by Views.
Install these modules and switch them on.

In ProcessWire you need only:
- CSV Page Import Process (Import Pages from CSV).
Install this module.

When you are ready, you have to create a new View (select: "Create a page") in Drupal with all fields which you want to export. Then, add "Data export" subpage and make sure, that format is CSV file. It's a good idea, to use Pager when you have lot of nodes (pages). You have to setup an url to download your CSV files. When you are ready - download your data.

Next step:
In ProcessWire, you have to prepare a template with your fields. When that's finished, you can import your data from CSV files using "CSV Page Import". That's all.

If you have any questions, write them below. I can also write complete scenario for my website (if there will be anyone interested in that).

[raydale]

Haha! Thanks RTurala!

I didn't think of doing this having recently switched my site over from Drupal to PW. It could have saved me a lot of time if I'd thought about it.

I have another site I want to migrate over and will test this then.

[Bill]

Now that's AWESOME, RTurala! If people can port from Drupal that simply - imagine (@raydale) some of the other types of sites that it can port from - awesome module!

Thanks for taking the time to spell-it-out .

Bill

[apeisa]

Since both are "custom field" cms, basic import should be simple. Of course if you have little bit more complicated site you do have much more to think about (stuff like drupal taxonomy => page relations, other relations, user import, drupal navigations => pw page tree, custom modules etc).

[Remi]

apeisa has right. In some cases, switching from Drupal will be complicated.
I've spent a lot of time to find the best and the fastest method to export my nodes. For example: Node export module is good to export nodes one by one, but not lot of them at once.

On my site I've used simple taxonomy (for repeatable words related to my pages) and I don't have any pictures related to my dictionary right now.
And what's the most important - I have simple page tree (almost all of my pages are using the same template in PW).

My current site is based on Glossword. It's dictionary/glossary CMS. It's very limited system in many aspects.
So, my first thought was to switch to Drupal. I've done that. And the nightmare begun:
- database (with 28k "pages") growned from 23MB (Glossword keeps data in XML format in database (sic!) and also templates there!) to over 200MB in Drupal!!!
- Drupal with many custom fields is extremely slow. Drupal's support recommended me to switch my hosting to a dedicated server :/ I've lost few months on fighting with Drupal, just to make it faster. Finally I gave up.

In the meantime I've tried other CMS'es without any bigger success.

So, right now I'm switching my site to ProcessWire. Maybe there is many things to improve in this system, but I don't care about that, because PW is lightweight (15MB DB with 28k pages!!!), fast as hell - at least as Glossword and at least flexible as Drupal.

P.S.
About relations between pages and taxonomy (constant taxonomy in my case). I've done that this way (simple example):
1. I've exported relations from Drupal with names of articles (en, ei, et, etc... - words related to nouns),
2. In PW I've added "articles_RAW" and "articles" fields to my template and made similar structure of "taxonomy" like I had in Drupal,
3. Using CSV Page Import Process I've imported articles to "articles_RAW" field together with the rest of data (title, translation, etc...),
4. I've made simple script in JS for Scriptish (for Firefox) to set up "articles" field (based on "articles_RAW"), clear this last field and finally save a page. One by one.
I know, that it's not the best method, but it works for me.

[raydale]

Interesting to hear your case study RTurala. I have had a similar experience with the memory footprint you mention - though with a much simpler site (my own portfolio site). PW seems A LOT quicker and less hungry on memory.

I wonder if Ryan is thinking of putting together a PW case studies section? This could be in the forum or as a series of pages on the PW website. Letting users give a summary of how they built their sites and problems that were solved using PW. Maybe a nicer version of the Drupal one: http://drupal.org/success-stories

[ryan]

I wonder if Ryan is thinking of putting together a PW case studies section? This could be in the forum or as a series of pages on the PW website. Letting users give a summary of how they built their sites and problems that were solved using PW. Maybe a nicer version of the Drupal one: http://drupal.org/success-stories

Good idea! Perhaps this could be part of our Showcase forum, or a subset of it.

[Soma]

Then Nicos migrate thread from Typo3 or Wordpress could be added

[ryan]

If I can get anyone to commit on writing a success story, I'll go ahead and add the forum. So whoever writes the first success story gets to lead the forum. Here's the catch, you have to write it and post it first. Then I'll create the forum and move the topic to it.

[Pete]

I won't be first, as the one I'm working on has been in production for well over 3 months now, but I reckon I can post the first one about a gaming magazine style site

[raydale]

Well, I have only completed one PW site so far with another one in the works. The completed site I have is my portfolio site (www.ray-dale.com) and I'm not sure it's the best representation of what PW can do as it doesn't really stretch the boundaries.

I'll gladly write up an overview / case study for it - from a newbies perspective - if you think it's relevant?

[Remi]

I'm still working on my PW site and it's hard to say when I'll finish. But when my site will be finished I can also write my "story".

[ryan]

Thanks guys, keep me up to date. I think this sounds like a great idea, and looking forwarding to adding it.

[raydale]

Thanks guys, keep me up to date. I think this sounds like a great idea, and looking forwarding to adding it.

Ryan, I have gone ahead and created a case study here: http://processwire.c...a-a-case-study/

Hopefully this will help other people write some more as the structure follows a 'problem', 'process', 'solution', 'conclusion' structure.

I hope it's okay - I'll try and write a case study the bigger projects I tackle with PW as well.

[adamkiss]

Just a note: The rule of thumb of moving Drupal to PW is: do it ASAP.