[thesite] old link converter...

jeff jeff at members.evolt.org
Tue Nov 28 15:02:59 CST 2000


walker,

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: From: walker
:
: I changed index.cfm (in the site root) and added
: a file called change_old_links.cfm in the test directory.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

lookin good so far

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: index.cfm looks for a url variable called menu.  If
: that variable exists, it includes the change_old_links.cfm
: file and aborts everything else.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

that's one way of handing it i suppose.

for now that makes for double the work with our design process as there are
now two files with the site design in them.  give me a few days to think
about this approach.  i'm sure there's a way to do this with a smaller
footprint.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: on change_old_links.cfm: the old url variables are
: changed to their new names, and a splash screen
: is shown that tells the user that their old bookmark
: is invalid.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

except where they don't exist and menu=8 you'll need to query the database
to get the appropriate cat_id.  defaulting it to 10 (news) won't work
because the new site uses the tid (cat_id on the old site) as part of the
query.  if they don't exactly match - no article.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: The splash screen has a 4 second meta-redirect on
: it, so the visitor will get relocated to the article they
: were trying to get in the first place. If the redirect
: doesn't work, there is a link that they can click on to
: take them there.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sounds fine.

dan & rudy, we'll also need to have a table for recording these hits.  it
should have columns for things like url requested, http_referer,
remote_addr, etc.  the more details we have about a particular visit the
easier it will be for us to track down these bad links to us and get them
fixed.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: In the event that the link comes from an article that is
: already on the site- like Bob's links in the article he just
: wrote (he links to other articles on the site) - then the
: splash screen will not show- you will go immediately
: to that article.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

this also sounds good.  i would encourage every author to edit their
articles to reflect the new url format though.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: So basically - the converter works in both instances, but
: since we only really care about people who have
: bookmarked the site, they are the only ones who get the
: splash screen reminder.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

of course.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: Jeff, let me know if there is a better place to put the
: redirection (if there is a better place than index.cfm)
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i'm thinking that the template that handles the conversion from the old to
the new should set the value of section to something like "not_found" and
then i can just add a case for that in the app_chooser file.  that way we
can still wrap the current design around the error message without having to
use a separate file.  (i already asked for a couple of days to figure this
out though  *grin*)

thanks for all your hard work, walker,

.jeff

name://jeff.howden
game://web.development
http://www.evolt.org/
mailto:jeff at members.evolt.org





More information about the thesite mailing list