[Mediawiki-l] Ability to create multiple wikis through SQL

[Jan Steinman]

> From: Paul Coghlan <pcoghlan at usa.net>
>
> I am building a large Mediwiki site which will consist of about 40k  
> pages,
> all related through location.
>
> The pages are structured/related and I have the source for the wiki
> 'skeleton' or schema and can massage it in Access/Excel/MySQL into any
> required format for an import into Mediawiki.
>
> For example:
>
> Florida
> +Miami
> ++South Beach
> +++Restaurants
> ++++MyRestaurant
> +++Bars
> ++++MyBar
> +++Shopping
> ++++MyShop
> ++North Miami
> +Fort Lauderdale
> +Palm Beach
> Georgia
> +Atlanta
>
> I think you get the idea!

Keep in mind that wikis are non-hierarchical. You can impose a  
hierarchy on them via content links, but if the structure you want to  
import *assumes* anything hierarchical, you'll have trouble.

It's also a bit confusing that you refer to "a large Mediawiki site"  
in one place, and elsewhere to "each wiki." I think you mean "each  
page" in the latter case, but if you are really wanting to generate a  
number of wiki sites, then it's a different problem. ("Wiki"  
generally refers to a site, not a page on that site.)

In the first case, I agree with Kasimir to dump the database to one  
plain text file per page, then do a text import. But that will  
probably lose the hierarchy information, unless you create it in the  
output text. So with a little coding, you could generate a  
"breadcrumbs" style hierarchy navigator for each page that would  
preserve the hierarchy information on import.

For example, the page for "MyRestaurant" could include the text  
"[[Florida]] --> [[Miami]] --> [[South Beach]] --> [[Restaurants]]"  
at the top of the page. But this sort of imposed hierarchy may be  
difficult to maintain, if you plan to move things often.


:::: I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's  
business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female  
the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of  
continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind. -- George  
Bernard Shaw ::::
:::: Jan Steinman http://www.EcoReality.org ::::