7 replies to this topic

[David Finnigan]

I am using RM 7.5.5 and the 'Generate Files for a Website' in Rootsmagic 6 Style. I am using my own website.

I really like the format used in the website created and would prefer to stick with the RM option (rather than switching to something else based on a GEDCOM file) if at all possible.

The RM process generates a large number of files - typically about 12,000 files in several folders for 8,000 names.

I was hoping to update the website content fairly regularly - say once every month or two.

With a relatively slow internet connection (in Australia) uploading this number of files is very time consuming - typically many hours. So I was looking for ways to minimise the number of files that need to be transferred each time (ie new and updated files only).

I then discovered that all the files appear to get new names and dates each time the site gets generated - even if the content for a specific person hasn't changed. So any updating process will not work. Also as the names are changing any sync process (between PC and website) will also not work.

So to perform a website update I have to first delete all the existing website files and then copy all the newly created files - at least a day's work each time (which is not practical).

Am I missing something? Does anybody have any suggestions on how to easily maintain a website? Thanks for your help

Regards David

[TomH]

It has been too long since I looked at the site files but I thought RIN and MRIN were used in the filenames so I am surprised to hear they are different each time. Since that's the case, then I think you should switch to a server-side website generator that accepts GEDCOM or the RM database. Or a local generator if it has static filenames except for new things. You might check GEDsite for that possibility.

[Jerry Bryan]

I think that even if you solve the "new file names" problem you will still have the "new file date" problem. That's assuming you publish from your PC to the hosting server using something like FTP and if you replace on newer file date. It's been a long time since I used the RM6 style web sites, but that's what I remember from when I used it. And that's also my experience with GedSite. Remaking the site remakes all the files with new dates, even if most of the files don't really change.

 

I don't know if you are publishing via FTP or via some other way. If you are publishing via FTP, I would recommend Filezilla as far and away the best FTP client - free, fast, retries better than other products after transmission failures, etc. That won't solve your slow Internet problem, but it might mitigate it slightly. And for example, you could start the publish when you go to bed and maybe it would be completed when you woke up the next morning.

 

Another possibility would be to have two copies of your Web Site on your local PC, one you publish to from RM and another from which you publish to your web site on a server. You would then need to copy the files from those produced by RM to those which will be published to the Web. If that's all you did, it wouldn't solve anything. But you could maybe copy the files disk to disk on your machine, replacing only on different contents rather than on newer dates. There are a number of file management and file synchronization tools that will do that. The one I use is called FolderMatch. It's not free and I make no claims about it being the best. It's just the one I settled on many years ago and it works for me. But I know that there are many other similar products.

 

Jerry

[David Finnigan]

Tom & Jerry, thanks for your quick and detailed responses. I will clearly have to look at the alternatives that you are suggesting.

David

[TomH]

Filezilla FTP client has the Upload option "Overwrite if file size differs" which means that the date stamp is ignored and the older file will stay on the server if its size is the same as the newer file at the client. Of course, there is no guarantee that a file cannot be edited in such a way that its size would remain the same but it would likely be a rare exception. That risk is acceptable when the damages are  not life or death or serious injury or financial. But it still leaves open the file name variance... 

[TomH]

Having a look at the RM6 style website:

Folder                Filename                    Comment
data>person folder:   RIN.xml                     -should be the same for existing persons
data>name             serial#.xml, surnames.xml   -each serial#.xml contains names of all people with same surname; surnames.xml contains all surnames
data>family           MRIN.xml                    -contains father, mother, children IDs; should be same for existing families
data>media            MediaID.xml, MediaID-size.jpg -MediaID is a constant for existing media so should stay the same 

So, as far as I can tell, if you are generating the successive websites from the same database file (same, apart from edits, adds, deletes), you should be able to use Filezilla to upload only those files that don't exist on the server or whose size has changed. That should reduce the load on your Internet connection.

 

The only folder that reuses a filename for completely different data is the name folder so that is the only one that risks missing an update. You could change the Filezilla overwrite setting for this folder, or before you do the bulk upload with the Upload option "Overwrite if file size differs", simply delete the name folder from the server.

[David Finnigan]

Tom, once again you have gone the extra mile to help resolve a problem. Thanks for this insight. I will use it to help minimise the updating.

[David Finnigan]

I'm pleased to report that the revised update process, suggested by Tom, has worked well. Thanks again.