*** I thought I would repost this three-part blog from StGelais.com GBlog.NET category. It kind of fits right into this category too. ***
Part 1 - December 29, 2008 16:14
Where do I start? Well, it really started on December 5th, 2008 when I received notice from my web hosting provider telling me of an upgrade for StGelais.com. I was told the upgrade would take place on December 19th, 2008. Here are the specs:
- 80 GB of Web Storage
- 1 TB of Monthly Transfer
- Server Redundancy (for increased reliability and stability)
- Enhanced Security Controls
- MySQL 5 Database
- 1 GB of Database Storage
- Unlimited Databases
- 1GB of MSSQL Storage (unless you are paying for more space)
- Latest Developer Tools:
- ASP.NET 3.5
- PHP 5
- PERL 5
- Python 2.5
As most of you know, my mother passed away in February of this year (2008). StGelais.com has hosted some of my mothers genealogy records for many years, and became the most visited pages. I had been looking for a sign as what to do with the genealogy databases my mother left behind and this was it! New site, new platform, and plenty of cool features (same as ‘GiP’). I had redesigned the family ‘Crest’ a couple of years ago, but never integrated into the site. The Guest Book had become a target for hackers, so I had to eventually take it off-line.
And when it came right down to it, I just had plain ignored StGelais.com. I started working with ASP.NET earlier this year on another site (GiP), I wanted to ‘code’ to that platform (C#), but StGelais.com was still on an older Windows platform. Everything was kind falling into place, if you see where I’m coming from. I had everything I needed, content and a deadline. For those of you that don’t know me, I never miss a deadline. So I was on my way.
First thing, convert twelve genealogy databases from Family Tree format to ASP.NET pages. Where to start? First, I exported the Family Tree files to GEDCOM format. Then I used GED4WEB http://www.ged4web.com to convert each database into its own separate directory. It created over 9,100 web pages!!! I was able to configure GED4WEB to write them all with .ASPX extensions, but the code was still HTML format. And with over 9,100 pages to edit, this was no laughing matter.
But being a little ‘Old School’ pays off sometimes. All of the code (.HTML and .ASPX) is basic ASCII text characters. You can edit them in a text editor like Notepad. With this in mind, I found a batch text editor called ‘Find and Replace Multiple Items At Once Software’. A few test scripts later, and like magic, 9,100 .ASPX pages!
Time for a break. I will continue this saga later...
Scott St. Gelais